Elvenshore: 03 - Elf's Bane Read Free Page B

It will not make much of a difference, but you will feel better with some cold steel in your hand.”
    Aron nodded that he understood, but Sali scowled at the both of them to show her displeasure. Then folded her arms and sat back.
    The wa gon train continued all day. Fritred had wanted to stop for dinner, but Darnic would have nothing to do with it. “We will eat when we stop for the night,” was all he would say. Darnic would have preferred to travel through the night, but  the children and the older clan members were tired and would not go any further that day. Darnic decided that he just couldn’t follow through with that idea.
    They made camp and lit their fires to warm themselves against the chill of the night and to cook their evening meal. All of them were very hungry at this point and getting some food inside them felt great. It was a clear night, which helped because very few of the clan members had tents.
    Sali was still worried about her son . “Will he be alright?” she finally asked Darnic.
    “Last time it took three days from when the mountain shook before the monsters attacked. I suppose that they will attack those areas on and near the mountain before they move to the outlying areas , like Fritred said. I don’t think that they will be anywhere near Bon Tewl, but I don’t know,” Darnic answered.
    Sali didn’t say anything more, but kept her silence the rest of the night.
    After a cold breakfast and packing up of the tents, the clan was back on the road again in the morning. The land was leveling before them as they went. Finally Sali broke her silence, “What we will eat when we get there? Will they have enough food for all the clans?”
    “We ate a lot of fish last time we were there. Fish is plentiful in the swamps. It takes a bit of getting used to. There is also rice and the roots of reeds. We will be eating differently for sure, but we will be eating,” Darnic replied.  
    Sali seemed satisfied with his answer. It would be one less thing to worry about. Her worries about her son, however, would continue.
    It was afternoon when the group stopped. Darnic was upset and walked forward to see what the matter was. When he looked he saw another clan on the road ahead of them.
    “What is going on?” he asked the man at the crossroads. 
    “Clan Jul is ahead of us; they traveled all night and arrived at the crossroads before we did. Now they are having problems with some of their carts breaking down and have stopped to fix them.”
    “We cannot afford this delay,” Darnic protested. He was very frustrated. 
    “From here to the swamplands there is only this one road. You can head cross country or wait for them to clear the way. There are a lot of bogs out there and the soil is sandy, so I would not suggest going cross country.”
    “Very well, send men up there to help them fix their wagons then. The rest of us will eat a noon meal,” Darnic said.
    “Very well,” the man replied , and after gathering four other men to him, started up the road to help.
    The clan brought out bread and cookies and tarts to eat , all of those things that they had in their pantries for when guests came to visit. Since no guests would be coming to their houses anytime soon, they had brought them along.
After an hour, clan Jul was on the move again, so clan Tewl started moving too, although at a much slower rate. The two clans reached the village of Bon Garle just at sundown.
    One of the village elders, Marken Garle , and ten men were there to greet them. “Our people have made it to the swamplands ahead of you. The road gets bad from here as too many carts have gone over it and it is becoming a quagmire. There is no reason for both clans to head out at once. Since it will be slow going, one clan will stay here and the other will go ahead. When the road is clear of the other clan we can let the second one go.”
    That was completely unacceptable to D arnic, but Fritred spoke up first, “Good, we will stay and