Free Dragon Sleeping (The Dragon Circle Trilogy Book 1) by Craig Shaw Gardner Page B

green man stared down at the severed limb of the tree. “This is another injury that Nunn will pay for.” When the Oomgosh didn’t smile, his face looked frightening, like an angry mask carved from wood.
    The others didn’t speak for a minute.
    “Maybe,” Todd said for all of them, “Nunn wants to kill us, after all.”
    “At the moment,” Raven answered drily, “I believe the magician has had a change of mind.”
    The rain stopped as the bird spoke, and the clouds broke apart to show the sun. The storm had ceased as quickly as it had come. It seemed that the last falling limb was too close even for the mysterious Nunn.
    “This,” Bobby remarked, “is just too weird.”
    “It is time to see Obar,” was the green man’s reply. “Before Nunn gets other ideas,” Raven agreed.
    So they marched again, returning to the forest. Nick wondered who Obar was; but they were all so shaken that none of them, not even Todd, chose to ask their guides.
    In the space of a dozen steps, the clearing sky was lost beneath the thick greenery. Once truly into these woods, Nick thought, they wouldn’t know whether the sun was shining or Nunn was hatching the storm of all storms. Here, on the forest floor, it always seemed to be twilight.
    Nick sloshed after the others. The perpetual gloom they walked through did nothing to help dry his clothes. Raven fluttered his wings but remained on Nick’s shoulder. Now that he had found a form of free transportation, the large bird seemed to expect to ride forever more.
    The Oomgosh held up his hand for the party to stop. In the sudden silence, Nick heard a rustling in the trees above. At first, he thought it might be the wind, back now that the unnatural storm had passed.
    But when he looked up, he noticed that not all the branches above were moving. Only certain leaves shook on certain trees, shifting in lines over their heads. Something was moving with them up there, tracking their movements as it crept from branch to branch, always just out of sight. Nick suddenly thought of a great, undulating serpent crawling from tree to tree.
    Nick looked at the others. Raven and the Oomgosh didn’t seem at all concerned. Surely, they’d be aware of movement in the trees. Todd was too far ahead to talk to without shouting. Bobby looked as if he liked every minute here less than the one before, shifting from foot to foot as their marching had stopped. Jason simply shook his head and kept on moving, his eyes always on the Oomgosh, watching his every step, walking when he walked, pausing when he stopped. Maybe, Nick thought, that sort of resignation was the best way to go.
    The rustling stopped overhead as well, and there was a moment of total silence, as if the trees that surrounded them masked sound as well as light. What was up there? It might be some of those small almost-humans; like the one that the Captain had shot down. The soldier had said the things were everywhere. Why couldn’t Nick stop thinking about snakes?
    “This is the way to Obar,” the green man suddenly announced. He turned right and began to march. Raven squawked and rose from Nick’s shoulder with a great flapping of wings.
    Something happened with the next step Nick took. He felt what he thought was a breeze, maybe from Raven’s beating wings. But it came and went suddenly, then flashed by again, the forest growing bright, then dark again. Nick got the feeling that they were passing through something, like walls of air and light. Even though he felt no real resistance to his movements, and still saw the forest all around him, he got the oddest feeling. It was like stepping from one room to another, one very definite place to somewhere else altogether.
    The Oomgosh made a short sharp cry, as if he was in pain. But then he smiled and pointed ahead.
    Nick blinked. The world around them had suddenly brightened and changed. Charlie barked sharply. Everyone but the Oomgosh had stopped to stare.
    “Holy shit,” Todd said.
    Nick