Page 24 of Ruins of Magic
“Humans are best left to believe our kind are no more than the imagination of fairytales. They are narrowminded and do not have the capacity to understand our kind. You should separate yourself from them as quickly as possible.”
“They are my friends,” Arion argued.
“You are druid. They are no friends of yours,” Ragar growled.
“Thank you for the gifts, but you are wrong about them,” Arion said as the dwarves retreated back into the darkest corners of the tunnels.
Arion rose and gathered the gifts. There were enough blankets for them each to have two. First he stretched one out to place over Garron, leaving a second near his head. Next, he laid one out on the cave floor and gently moved Valaria onto it. He used a second to cover her body.
Staring down at the princess he was overwhelmed by his need to protect her, even from the bigotry of others, like the dwarf. Ragar had been wrong. Perhaps it hadn’t always been the case within the royal family of Gavalon, but he was certain that Valaria did understand, and wouldn’t judge any creature the way the dwarf had judged her.
He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “Sleep well, princess,” he whispered before tossing a few more logs onto the fire and setting up his own bed for the night. The food would wait until morning. He only hoped his friends would awaken by then.
Chapter10
The next morning Arion awoke to the smells of roasted meat. His stomach growled loudly as he stretched, slowly opening his eyes.
Valaria was kneeling next to him heating the smoked meat the dwarves had left for them. She turned and smiled when she heard Arion stirring.
“Good, you’re awake. We were beginning to worry.”
“What happened last night?” Garron asked. “I can’t remember a thing.”
“Do you remember the zanzar?” Arion asked.
“What’s a zanzar?” Garron questioned.
Arion groaned.
“Wait, are you saying there was another zanzar here last night?” Valaria asked.
“Yes, you cuddled him,” Arion said with disgust.
Valaria just laughed and shrugged. “Did he leave us the meat and blankets?”
“And those amazing swords,” Garron added.
“No, but he went to find us help and his, um, friends brought that stuff.”
“Why can’t we remember any of that?” Valaria asked.
“I’m afraid they spelled you to forget using some sort of magical dust,” Arion tried to explain.
“Like fairy dust?” Garron asked.
“Not here,” Valaria said. “Wait, were they dwarves?”
“How could you possibly know that?” Arion asked.
She shrugged again and this time blushed a little. “I read a lot of books.”
As they sat around the fire eating their meal and packing up camp, Arion filled them in on everything they had forgotten.
“What are we going to do with all this stuff?” Garron asked.
There was a stack of blankets and weapons and a portion of meat they had chosen to save for later not knowing when or where their next meal would come from.
“Psst, over here,” a tiny voice said.
