Flames of the Dark Crystal by J. M. Lee

Author:J. M. Lee [Lee, J. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2019-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

The journey south was a strange one, accompanied by dozens of Drenchen warriors and Maudra Laesid’s personal entourage. Naia recognized all of the Gelfling who marched with them. They all smiled and greeted her, though if they had questions to ask her about her travels, they didn’t ask. Maudra Laesid was always urging them onward, discouraging idleness and small talk.

What struck Naia the most about it all was how their number changed the journey itself. When Naia had first emerged from the swamp on her own, the vast plains of the Spriton lands had seemed endless and infinitely daunting. Now, with so many Drenchen walking beside her, and having seen so much more of the world than she’d ever expected, the plains seemed small. Gentle and forgiving, especially compared to the brutal cold of the north or the arid, draining heat of the sandstorm-ridden desert.

How many of these Drenchen had left Sog for the first time to march north with her mother? Even now they treaded across the dry soil and grass without sandals. Naia’s feet ached in her shoes, remembering how uncomfortable and often painful the walk had been, full of sticks and brambles and sharp rocks.

“It’s finally happening, eh?” Amri asked.

Gurjin had gone up ahead to walk alongside Chapyora, as if putting as much distance as he could between the four of them without running all the way back to Great Smerth on his own. Naia wasn’t sure what had gotten into him, but after their confrontation she let him have his space. Still, Amri’s comment was a welcome relief from the quiet.

“Yep,” Naia replied. “By this evening we’ll be in Sog. Ready? You’ll have to take off your cloak, you know. It’s too warm and humid, and we’ll be doing a lot of climbing.”

“Sounds like my kind of place,” he said. “So you walk among the trees? I thought maybe we might take boats or something.”

Whatever had come between them before—the strange aloofness he’d shown when they’d been with the Mystics—was slowly wearing off over time. Now when she looked up, she saw him again. Looking back at her with those eyes like the night.

“No. The waterways are inconsistent, some deep and some too shallow to swim in, and they’re always changing. It’s more reliable to travel in the canopy. I hope you’re not afraid of heights.”

“Not me! What about you, Kylan?”

Kylan shrugged from Naia’s other side. He, too, seemed uncharacteristically light-footed. “It’s closed-in places I don’t like. I’ve wanted to see Sog for a long time.”

It felt as if a long-lost light was streaming out of her heart, and Naia could barely contain it.

“I can’t wait to show you,” she said.

The earth became wetter as they walked through the day, with marshes and ponds and lakes springing up more frequently until they were wading through reeds, up to their ankles in peat. The air was thick and wet, abuzz with darting bugs, and once when Kylan tripped over a big root, his yelp scared up a flock of a hundred squawking, blue-feathered bog-birds.

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