Five Runes: Prologue - At Least the Tree Isn't a Cold Hearted Bitch Page 3
of history and the arcane. As Kotomos often joked, Pretia knew about history because the old bat had lived through most of it. This usually earned Kotomos some sort of physical trauma.
“Well, if you know where you're going, we might as well keep going. Hell, it's not like I can leave. I have no clue how to get out of here,” Kotomos shrugged his giant shoulders, turned around and started walking. Then stopped, turned a complete circle, and looked at Pretia. “Which way again?”
“70 degrees northeast. Warren?” Pretia's mood improved. Any argument she won without too much trouble made her happy.
“That way,” Warren pointed, looking down at his compass. It was large, about the size of his hand fully extended and made out of silver. It cost him a considerable amount of copper coins to purchase the materials and make it. He would literally stab anyone who tried to take it.
Kotomos walked roughly 100 paces before stopping again.
“What's the hold up?” Pretia stepped forward and saw the problem.
The woods in front of them shimmered. This struck all three as odd because nothing in these woods shimmered. It was a strange shimmer and it almost looked like the trees in front of them mirrored the trees behind them. Of course, in these woods, that was a frequent feeling, but Kotomos knew enough about magic from hanging around Pretia to know that shimmering things were probably bad things.
Pretia walked up and down the shimmer for a few moments, uttering the words of magic. The shimmer began to glow blue.
“It's magic,” she proclaimed. “We've found it. This must be an illusion set up by Gravi to hide the temple!”
Without another word she walked into the shimmer and promptly disappeared. Kotomos and Warren exchanged glances.
“There are worse ways to die, right?” Kotomos looked at the little gnome. Warren looked up at Kotomos and smiled.
“Probably, but come on big guy, when we get to the next life, how many of them are going to be able to say they were dissolved by a shimmering glow in some cursed woods?”
“Good point,” Kotomos smied back and the two walked through.
Sunshine. It had been weeks since the trio had seen it. The sun seemed quite angry at the three of them for not having visited it in some time and the light in their eyes literally pushed them back through the shimmer and back into the woods.
“Ugh, well that was anti-climatic,” Warren commented, blinking away tears. They stood up and, squinting, walked back into the shimmer. The sun poured over them. It took the chill away from their bones and the gloom away from their spirits. After a few painful minutes of squinting, their eyes adjusted.
In front of them stood a small building. It was two stories high with a steep, sloping roof that made it look much taller than it really was. There was a 3-step, nondescript stairway that led to a nondescript door. In fact, this wouldn't pass for a hovel in most communities and not even as a real building in most cities.
Except it was made out of solid silver.
The sun actually was not that bright, but the reflection of the sun off the structure made it appear almost too bright to look directly at. Indeed, it seemed to shine as though it were made out of light itself.
“Gravi's temple,” Pretia breathed the words rather than said them. It had taken them a month. A month in those accursed woods eating rationed food and drinking rationed water. Food and water that had gone stale weeks previous. Walking around in a desolate wasteland with nothing more than gigantic trees to keep them company, but they had found it.
At that moment, she heard a thunk to her immediate left. She looked over and saw an arrow sticking out of Kotomos' plate mate.
“Well, shit,” said Kotomos.
***This marks the end of the chapter. If you want to keep reading, the next short story should be available in August 2013. Just check back wherever you bought this book! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story.***
-Joe Hindy
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