“It doesn’t sound like Renwick either,” Brand added.
“Will you all shut up!” Elbright hissed, slapping Kine on the head.
“It’s so deep you can’t see the bottom.” The faint voice spoke again.
“It’s very deep indeed.”
“There are no tracks near it.”
“They are still inside, still down there, still dredging up secrets and stirring old memories, but they are coming. Already they are quite near and they have the horn.”
“How do you know that?”
“Call it… an old man’s intuition.”
“That’s good, isn’t it? That they have the horn?”
“Oh yes, that is very good.”
The sound of crunching snow could be heard, growing louder.
“They’re coming this way,” Elbright said.
“Can you see them yet?” Kine asked.
“There are four of them. One looks like a priest in a black frock, two are soldiers, and there’s an old man in bright-colored robes with long white hair. The soldiers are kind of strange-looking.”
“What are they doing here?” Brand asked.
“Their horses,” a voice outside said. They were much closer now. The boys could hear the squishing of the slushy ground. “You can come out, young men.”
They looked at each other nervously.
“Renwick, Elbright, Brand, Kine, Mince, come, we are going to have breakfast.”
Elbright was the first one out, emerging from the tarp carefully. His head turned from side to side. They each followed him slowly, squinting in the sunlight, and just as Elbright had described, four men stood before them in the small clearing. They looked terribly out of place. The man with the long white hair was wearing purple, red, and gold robes and he leaned on a staff. To either side stood the soldiers, in gold breastplates, helms, and sleeves. They also wore colorful pants of red, purple, and yellow. Each held a spear and wore a sword. The priest was the only normal-looking fellow, standing with his weight on one leg in the traditionally drab black habit of a Nyphron priest.
“Who are you?” Elbright asked.
“This is His Grace the Patriarch of the Nyphron Church,” the priest told him.
“Oh,” Elbright said, nodding. Mince could tell he was trying to sound like he knew who that was, but his friend knew better. Elbright was always doing that, making out like he was more worldly than he was.
“These are his bodyguards and I am Monsignor Merton of Ghent.”
“Guess you already know us,” Elbright said. “What are you doing here?”
“Just waiting,” the Patriarch replied. “Like you—waiting for them to climb back out of that hole and change the nature of the world forever. Certainly you can’t begrudge us the desire of a front-row seat.”
The old man looked at his guards and they trudged off.
“How’s Renwick?” Mince asked. “Did he make it to Aquesta?”
“I’m sorry,” Monsignor Merton replied kindly. “We traveled by sea around the horn to Vernes and then by coach. We left quite some time ago, so it is entirely possible that he arrived after we left. Was he a friend?”
Mince nodded.
“He rode to Aquesta with news that the elves were attacking from the southeast,” Brand said. “They came right by here, they did.”
“I’m sorry I can’t tell you more,” the priest said.
“Pleasant little place you have here,” the old man mentioned, looking around. “It’s nice that you put your camp under the holly tree. I like the splash of green on such a day as this, when it seems as if all the color has been stolen. It has been a long, cold winter, but it will soon be over. A new world is about to bloom.”
Mince heard the distant sound of music and instantly he threw his hands to his ears.
“Is that…?” Elbright asked, alarmed, raising his own hands as Mince bobbed his head.
“Relax, boys,” the Patriarch said. “That melody is not enchanted. It is the “Ibyn Ryn,” the Ervian anthem.”
“But it’s the elves!” Elbright said. “They’re coming!”
“Yes.” The Patriarch glanced up the hill and then down at the hole. “It’s a race now.”
CHAPTER 26
THE RETURN
I love this chamber,” Arista said as they spread out blankets on the same flat rock. Overhead the glowworms glimmered and winked, and she noticed for the first time how much she missed seeing the sky.