Free Rojuun by John H. Carroll

apologized lamely.
    “Fine,” she said, biting the word. “Let’s
eat and then get some rest.”
    “Uhh, alright,” he agreed. They ate the stew
he had prepared then went to sleep in their bedrolls after cleaning
up. She didn’t say another word to him the rest of the night.
     
    Chapter
8
     
    Birds were cheerfully singing the next
morning as the cousins awoke. Liselle came over to Tathan. “I’m
sorry, Cousin. I didn’t mean to get mad at you. I get a little
tired when I do magic and I really like flowers.”
    “No . . . that’s fine. I’m not upset. I’ll
take the feelings of flowers into consideration . . .” he trailed
off, trying to contain a grin.
    She lowered her eyebrows. “It’s fine if you
laugh at me this time, but I want you to remember something.”
    Tathan was suddenly nervous. “Oh? ”
    She leaned forward until they were face to
face and said in a quiet, threatening tone, “The flowers like me
back.”
    A part of him wanted to burst into laughter,
but something in her voice made him realize the warning was
serious, even a little sinister. He looked around the clearing and
the flowers were all open. He could swear they were glaring at him.
With a gulp, he responded, “A . . . Alright. I’ll remember
that.”
    She smiled and hugged him again. He looked
over her shoulder at the flowers. They had gone back to the
business of being flowers. When Liselle released him, he got the
horses ready while she made breakfast. Tathan was very careful not to step on any flowers.
     
    ***
     
    Over the next few days, the forest path
turned into an ancient road leading them out of the valley into
mountains. Evergreen pines mixed with hardier varieties of trees
and lighter underbrush. Often, there would be a stream or river
next to the road.
    The scenery was some of the most beautiful
Tathan had ever seen in his travels. He and Liselle would stop to
look at lakes surrounded by snowcapped peaks. Wildlife teemed
everywhere they turned. They saw dangerous creatures such as bears,
carnivorous fairies, cougars and others. One time, a wyvern, which
was a dragon-like reptilian creature with leathery wings and five
barbed tails, eyed them hungrily. Tathan stood in front of Liselle
with his sword drawn, but the creature turned away, looking for
something not on the road.
    It rained most afternoons and even snowed
one day, but they were able to find decent enough shelter when it
got bad. During their travels, Tathan taught Liselle what he knew
about magic. It only took a week for her to learn all the various
spells he had picked up from wizards and tricksters in his travels.
Not only did she learn them, but she improved on most. He didn’t
know a large number of spells, or anything particularly powerful,
but it had taken him a lot longer than a week to figure them
out.
     
    ***
     
    Nine days after entering the forest, the
road led to a bridge over a deep canyon. It looked to be about five
hundred feet long and wide enough for two wagons to cross. They
stopped the horses and dismounted. Intricate stonework figures held
up the waist-high side rail.
    “Who do you think built this bridge Tathan?”
Liselle asked. “It seems very solid.”
    Tathan squatted to look closer at the
figures at the side. “It’s also ancient and I have no idea who
built it. There must be preservation spells on it for it to be in
such good condition . . . Ahh, yes. There are runes at the base of
each figure.” He pointed as she looked over his shoulder.
    “Oh, that’s neat,” she said. “I don’t
understand the runes. They don’t make sense to me, even though you
told me the theory behind them the other night.” She looked closer
at the figures. “They’re worn, but you can still see the basic form
of their faces. It looks like they were wearing nice clothing.”
    “Really?” he said, turning toward her.
“Really? We find a bridge that was made centuries ago and you
notice the clothing on the figures holding up the rail?” he