Kendermore (Preludes Book 2) by Mary Kirchoff

Author:Mary Kirchoff [Kirchoff, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780786963300
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Published: 2012-05-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Phineas awoke the next morning feeling as if he had dreamt all night, but unable to recall anything specific. The sky was overcast, and a strong wind blew. Phineas shivered in the cold autumn air and drew the blanket tighter around his shoulders. Dry leaves rustled against his face. Reluctantly, he sat up. His face was covered with grit, his back ached from the cold, damp ground, and each tooth felt like it was wrapped in its own wool sweater. All in all, he was in a foul mood.

Scrubbing a finger vainly over his teeth, he looked to where Trapspringer should have been sleeping and saw that the kender had already awakened and packed up the camp. Peering around, Phineas spotted his ‘guide’ sitting nearby on the remains of a stone wall. He was kicking his heels happily while chewing on a stale chunk of thick, grainy bread.

Hearing Phineas’s approach, Trapspringer sang, “Good morning!”

“That’s one opinion,” snarled the human, slapping his arms to warm them up.

“Someone woke on the wrong side of the bed today,” Trapspringer said glibly, observing the human’s dark expression.

“If I had slept in a bed, I wouldn’t be in this mood,” was Phineas’s sullen response. “Do you have any more of that bread?”

Trapspringer broke off a hunk, handed it to the human, and looked up at the gray sky. “This should be a great day for exploring the Ruins. Sunny weather brings out more kender from the city and all sorts of creatures from underground.”

Phineas’s open mouth stopped in mid-bite. “Creatures?”

The kender nodded vigorously. “Oh, you know, the sorts of monsters you find in ruins: lizards, snakes, rats, bats, beetles, spiders, goblins, giant slugs, norkers, owlbears, goat-sucker birds …”

“I get the point.”

Trapspringer shrugged. “Care for some water?” He extended the skin to the human.

Phineas swallowed hard. The bread felt like a lump in his stomach. He took the skin and half emptied it in two gulps. “Why didn’t you tell me about the monsters?” he asked at last, his voice unnaturally high.

Trapspringer gave him a peculiar look. “What did you think you’d find in the ruins of a city? The local bakers’ guild?”

“No! I expected to find empty ruins.”

“Oh, this place is lousy with monsters,” Trapspringer said plainly. “Once, out here, I saw an owlbear bite the head off a pony. And the rider, well …”

Phineas felt the bread coming back up. He concentrated on keeping it down and on not hearing the details of Trapspringer’s story.

“… But you’re a doctor—I don’t have to tell you what the inside of a person looks like.” The kender blithely jumped down from the wall and took his pony by the bridle. “Are you ready? Say, you don’t look very well.”

Phineas pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose, trying to massage away a spreading headache. “The bread just didn’t sit well,” he said feebly.

“We can go back to Kendermore anytime you like,” Trapspringer offered. “I’ve been here plenty of times—not much left to discover, really.”

“Then why did Damaris come here?” the human asked.

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