Free An Unexpected Deity (Book 7) by Jeffrey Quyle Page B

get ready to return to the mountain,” he added.  He looked at Bradstree and Putienne, who were eating their food and watching.  “Let’s get ready to leave in a few minutes,” he said in both travelers’ languages.  “Go get something warm to wear,” he told the girl as Stillwater departed, on his way to assist in fetching Wren from Seafare.
    Three minutes later the kitchen staff and Remy looked on with bemusement as the manor kitchen became the embarkation point for the arriving members of the mountain climbing expedition.
    Wren arrived in the midst of a trio of imps.
    “It’s awfully early, you know,” she commented to Kestrel.  “The sun’s barely up in Seafare.”
    “Do you have a cloak or anything warm to wear?” Kestrel asked in return.  “It’s pretty cold up on the mountaintop.”
    “Why do you need us on the mountaintop anyway?” she asked pettily.  “Couldn’t you just go back up there with the imps and the gnome and climb down to the warmth, then fetch Putty and me?”
    “If we’re going up there, you’re going up there,” Acanthus firmly answered, settling the question.
    “Are you prepared to return to the cave?” Kestrel asked Bradstree.
    “With all of these travelers?  Where were they on the way up?  It doesn’t seem fair to let them just climb down the easy side of the mountain,” the gnome groused.
    “The sooner we get there and start climbing, the sooner we’ll be done,” Kestrel replied philosophically.
    The imps closed in around them all.
    “Good bye, my lord,” the kitchen workers all called to Kestrel.
    “Good bye Putty.  Come back soon,” Remy said.  “Good bye lord Kestrel, too,” he added.
    And then the journey commenced, as the mixed crew left the kitchen.
    “Do you suppose there’s anywhere else in the Eastern Forest that sees the things we see?” Bernie the cook asked.
    “There’s no place in the all the lands of the entire Inner Seas that sees what we see!” Remy exclaimed.
    The travelers missed the conversation as they felt the suspension of sensation while the imps carried them to the heights of the southern mountains, and there were bursts of exclamations as they all arrived in the frigid conditions of the chilly cave.
    “Kestrel!  Why are we here?” Wren asked in annoyance.
    Because the imps have to know a place to go there, and so far this is the closest place the imps know to Proetec’s village,” Kestrel replied calmly.  He looked at the entrance to the cave, where a pink sky hinted at the arrival of sunrise.  “Let’s get going.”
    He motioned for Bradstree to lead the way, then he paused to tuck Putty’s cape around her neck more firmly.  As he did, she suddenly laughed.
    “Here, father-friend, give this to cousin Wren,” she told him as she undid his work and removed her fur.
    “But you need it!” Kestrel answered.
    “Wren needs it much more than I do,” Putienne answered as she handed the cape to Kestrel, and then suddenly morphed into a yeti, with a shaggy fur coat, intact and warm.
    Bradstree turned to discover the commotion behind him as he reached the entrance to the cave, they shouted in terror and bolted out into the breaking dawn as he observed the large monster in the cave behind him, while Wren started to laugh.
    “Let’s go catch our gnome,” she said to Kestrel, taking Putty’s discarded wrap from him and throwing it around herself as she passed him and headed towards the door.
    The imps fluttered out the cavern entrance, and Kestrel followed behind Wren and Putty as they all stepped out of the cave and made a quick journey through the short passage that opened to reveal the heights of the mountain range.  The sun was rising to their left, and there was no wind blowing.  The air was cold, but fresh and clear, so that they could see the mountains that stretched out for miles in either direction.  And directly ahead of them, spread out below them, was a large, green valley, a heavily forested low