The Sorcerer's Ring: Book 05 - A Vow of Glory by Morgan Rice

up.
    Thor
surveyed the cozy cottage, and saw that it was roomy, enough to hold all of
them. The floors were lined with furs, a small fire roared in the fireplace,
and it smelled of food, making Thor’s stomach growl. Krohn must have smelled
it, too, because he began to whine.
    The
boy hastened to do his grandfather's bidding, hurrying over with a platter of
fruits that Thor did not recognize. Thor and the others each grabbed one, and
as Krohn whined, the boy took a piece off the platter, leaned down, and fed it
to him. Krohn snatched it from his hand, wolfed it down, made a funny face,
licked his lips several times, then whined for more. The boy laughed.
    Thor
examined his piece of fruit. It looked like a fig, but was much bigger, red in
color, and covered in a sort of moss.
    "What
is it?" Thor asked.
    "It's
a mooless," the boy said.
    “Try
it,” the grandfather chimed in. "It's bitter but also sweet. It will give
you energy after your long hike.”
    Thor raised
it to his nose, and it smelled unlike anything he had ever encountered—like an
onion crossed with a lemon. He could feel from his fingertips that it was
sticking to his hand, and as the others, he lifted it and took a tentative bite.
    He was
struck by the taste: it was delicious, and even this small bite gave him a burst
of energy. He gobbled it down and licked his fingers, and already felt like a
new man.
    Thor
sat with the others on the pile of furs on the floor, spread out around the
fire, Krohn coming up beside him, and resting his head in Thor's lap. Thor was surprised
at how good it felt to sit, the achiness in his legs slowly subsiding. He had not
realized how long they had been on their feet, how much his muscles hurt. They
were also all bruised from their encounter with that animal. These furs were so
soft and comfortable, Thor felt as if he could fall asleep sitting up.
    But he
thought of the Ring, under attack, and knew they had urgent business to attend
to, and did not want to waste any time. He leaned forward.
    "We
are most grateful for your hospitality," Thor said to the old man,
"but I'm afraid we haven’t much time. We are on an urgent journey. We must
find the Sword. Please, tell us where it went so we can be on our way.”
    The
old man took a seat, leaning back on a fur on the other side of the fire,
beside the boy, and he looked back at them and shook his head.
    "You
can't go back out there," he said. "Not now. Haven’t you seen? The
second sun is about to set.”
    “I
told them papa!” the boy said.
    “We
appreciate your caution,” Thor said, “but as I said, we have urgent business,
and we do not fear insects.”
    The
old man snorted.
    "You
don’t understand,” he said. “No one can be out there at night. No one . You would not last an hour.
After nightfall, sometime during the rising of the first moon, the rains come.
No one can survive outside during the rains.”
    "And
why couldn't one survive a rainfall?" Reece pressed.
    The
man turned and narrowed his eyes at him.
    "Because
it is not a rainfall," he said. "It is not water that falls from the
sky, boy, but Ethabugs.”
    “Ethabugs?”
Elden asked.
    "A
kind of spider, but larger and more deadly. In this part of the Empire, the sky
rains them, every night. You'll hear them falling against our cottage. It will last
for about an hour, then they scurry on their way. But if you are outside during
that time, without shelter, you'd be finished. I've seen a grown elephant devoured
by those things in five minutes. No, you will stay here. At first light, you
can go.”
    Thor and
the others exchanged a look of wonder, and he marveled at how different this
place was. As he thought about it, he realized he was exhausted, and while his
mind was in a rush to go, his body was not. His friends looked exhausted, too, and
he did not blame them. Thor realized that being a good leader sometimes meant
inspiring your people to go on—but sometimes it also meant allowing them to
rest. And if this old