Dandelion by Philip R Johnson

Author:Philip R Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781735878713
Publisher: Dataspace Publishing LLC
Published: 2020-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Part III

“Secrets are made to be found out with time.”

—Charles S. Sanford Jr.

Chapter 11

Sjívull Wylderrjorssían

Nothing proved how other the Otherfolk were than the trip to fetch water. Roí had somewhat bombastically led them up a short trail toward a small creek which ran with swift, clean water. He spoke loudly and cheerily to himself and Ember, as if nothing in the world could please him more than an excuse to do work.

To Sjívull, the trail was narrow and claustrophobic. He had to duck under low branches and weave between clumps of shimmerleaf that kept wanting to whip him in the face, while the dwarf in front seemed to just shrug through them as if they were barely there. The slim stems of a tree Sjívull wasn’t familiar with whipped back to deliver a stinging slap to Roí’s arm, and he ignored it like Sjívull might have ignored the spray off a wave.

Ember was clearing the path ahead of him. She had a short, straight blade for dealing with whatever foliage got in their way, which she swung with punchy speed and force, and when Sjívull checked one of the severed stems, it turned out to be a perfectly clean, sharp cut…through a tough stick as thick as Drynllaf’s thumb. Though she was a good deal slighter than her enormous companion, she clearly still had a dwarf’s prodigious strength.

When they arrived at the stream, Roí leaped clear across it without a hint of effort and spun around to face everyone. The leap itself wouldn’t normally have been impressive, but these dwarves seemed far too rooted in the soil for anything so dramatic as a standing long jump. Ember was certainly the more cautious of the two. She picked her way across where the stream was shallowest, making sure her boots were well secured before each step. Sjívull didn’t understand what she said to Roí as she did so, but he knew the tone—affectionate, playful teasing.

Whatever she said, Roí’s reply had a familiar tone, too. Sjívull had sounded like that many times himself when his sisters were poking at him…

They couldn’t possibly be actual siblings, he thought. She was so much darker than him, and a very different shape. But nevertheless, she treated him like a brother, and he treated her like a sister. Comfortable and familiar, and close.

Sjívull skipped across the river, bouncing from stone to stone with practiced sure-footedness. Roí gave him that too-white foreign smile and said something that was clearly approving.

“He say—uh, said—you very good with…um…” Amber paused, then stood on one leg and tapped her boot.

“One foot, two feet,” Sjívull supplied. “And thank you,” he added to Roí. The big dwarf grinned again and thudded away up the riverbank.

Ember nodded and murmured, “Foot, feet, foot, feet…” to herself a couple of times. Then smiled. “What he said was, you have ‘sea legs.’”

“Your people sail the sea too?” Sjívull couldn’t contain his surprise. Somehow he just couldn’t picture these people on a deck. Though he could see them hauling on ropes, now he thought about it…

“Many seas.

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