Wind Rider (Return of the Dragons 2)

I opened my eyes.

Elias was smiling. You need to work on keeping your eyes open but otherwise that was pretty good. At first your shield was kind of weak but you really brought it up at the end there. What did you do?

I shrugged. I don’t know. I just put my will in it.

Elias nodded. If you keep practicing, the spell and the protection will become automatic, and almost permanent. You will be protected when you sleep. Until then, I think you should reimagine the protection every hour or so, and whenever you wake up at night.

There was someone else then, there, at what served as a door. I felt my face flush in recognition, and was glad at least all my thoughts were not on display. It was Ulrike, and she was smiling at us.

Are you working magic?

Elias smiled. We’re just about done.

We need to go and eat now, Anders and Elias. The others are waiting, and there are decisions to be made. My father urges you with all respect to come at once. Woltan sends the same message. He tried to contact you with his mind but everything bounced off.

She smiled again and I was glad now she couldn’t read my thoughts, although I was afraid she could read them all too well on my face.

He found this so alarming that he wanted to rush over here himself, but my father said I could handle it. Your friend Kara didn’t look too pleased.

Now I knew my face was red.

“Let’s go,” I said, out loud. My thoughts were so mixed up now I did not trust myself to send them selectively.

Ulrike may not have understood my words but she must have understood the messag

e. She nodded and then we were walking out the door onto the tree, up a few stairs and then into a room that seemed impossibly large. There were long green tables and green people sitting at them. Everyone looked up as we entered. I looked around for Woltan and the rest of them and did not see them, and then realized I was tuning out the green people.

Ulrike smiled. You’re starting to look like us. Green and transparent. Very handsome. I fear the effect is temporary, however.

Can you read my thoughts?

Just on your face, Anders. Your mind is closed to me now, except when you direct thoughts my way.

Someone was calling me then. “Anders!” It was Woltan, sitting at one of the tables, gesturing at me. There was Kara as well, and in between us, an empty space.

Ulrike put her hand on my shoulder, and smiled. My face grew hot, and I imagined she could read that as well. Oh well. I need to go sit down.

Ulrike nodded and let her hand drop.

What was she playing at? I walked over and sat down between my two friends. Woltan was talking to me. “They can’t understand when we talk, but then again you couldn’t either when you first came to stay with us. So we must think with our minds, but be very careful — look at everyone you are talking to, and send only to them. There are no spies here, and the tree should protect us. But we can’t take any chances. The dark lord is too powerful and too angry now.”

I nodded. Seated across from me was Ulrike’s father, looking impatient. I found everyone present with my inner eye, and sent a message. Sorry I took so long. My companion Elias was helping me with something. I beg your pardon.

Boy, that was clever. Helping me with something. But did I really want to tell everyone my weakness in hiding my thoughts?

Erik nodded. I know you have barely rested, but the longer you stay here, the more dangerous it is for all of us. We want to send three of our people, warriors and scouts, with you, and then send a larger party of several dozen to help you defend your city. More than that we cannot spare — we must defend the tree, as well. She is our mother: for generations she has kept us safe and we must return the favor.

She has protected us now as well. Woltan smiled. We will always be in your and her debt.

This seemed to please Erik; he clapped his hands and suddenly the tables were laden with food. There were pine nuts, of course, but also all kinds of mushrooms and potatoes, and other vegetables I’d never seen. The tree people seemed to be vegetarians. There was no meat, and no fish either. Everything tasted faintly of pine. Perhaps it was the pine nuts. They were larger than any I had ever seen. They filled me with strange sensations, and when I looked at myself, I swore I was turning greener and more transparent. Maybe it was just a trick of the light — it filtered in through the pine needles around us, and through the green webs of protective energy that encircled the tree.

Our first gift is the gift of camouflage; with the food that you eat here, and the time spent with the mother tree, you will be difficult to see in the best of light, and if you press yourself against a tree or any other plant, you will be invisible. This will not last forever, of course, but if you snack on our nuts and other foods, the effect should last for several days.

Time enough for us to reach our destination. At least I hoped so.

This invisibility will hide you from the dark lord as well. He is so corrupt and evil now, so disconnected from nature and natural magic that anything as green as our tree and your bodies will be just another tree to him. He should not sense the humanity in you until the effect wears off.

But my thoughts keep you from your meals. Eat, now, for strength, and invisibility. And to share one meal with us, with those who would call you friends, those who would eat with you, fight alongside you, and if need be, die with you.