The Long Journey Home (The Legend of Vanx Malic Book 8) Read Online Free Page B

its embrace. The trek downhill was going to be easier, for on this side of the ridge, all the way around the crater-like depression, the trees were sparse and the ground was covered in lightly weedy turf.
    “We’ll camp there.” Zeezle pointed to a large collection of tumbled rocks a few dozen yards below the ridge line.
    It was a good place, Vanx decided after a long look. It would be easier to protect the group if they had the boulders at their back.
    For the first time since they’d heard the native creature, Vanx let Poops have his head to go sniff around their prospective camp.
    If there was a snake, or a den of badgers or worse, living in the nooks and crannies, then the pup would find it before it found them.

Chapter Seven
    If you seek peace and solitude
,
    you may or may not find what you’re after
.
    But if you seek risk and adventure
,
    you’ll always find more than you asked for
.
    T he night was uneventful, save for a short burst of the “Cuck! Cuck! Cuck!” sound around dawn that had everyone on high alert—especially Poops, who was barking out their presence to the whole island, as if it were his now that he’d pissed on it.
    Vanx was trying to hush the dog, to no avail, but he managed to gather his bedroll and ready himself for the day. Luckily, Chelda knelt down and began petting the agitated pup. This calmed him enough that Vanx could slip out of the dog’s anxiety-ridden perception and do something he’d been wanting to do for some time.
    “I’m going to go piss,” Vanx said. He eased away from the group. Once he was leaning against a tree, he did let loose his britches and urinate, but he was focused on the jagged piece of the Mirror of Portent he’d pulled from his pocket, nothing else.
    To his great surprise, he saw the amber gem the wizard had mentioned when he’d given him the map. It was right there amid the wreckage of a small cargo ship. There was a busted chest full of coins, too. They were coppers and copper clippings, but there was a chest full of them. There were a few other items of interest, but Vanx only caught the glimmer of them. The shadow of something came scrabbling in from an opening that clearly led to daylight, and then Vanx saw himself—running into the cavern alone from a different, darker opening.
    The thing coming round the corner was large and terrible looking. Crab-shaped but covered in pale skin, it had a pair of pinchers, one quite a bit larger than the other. It had an odd, bat-like head that protruded from a flat body, supported by several multi-jointed legs.
    It had a pink nose and a maw full of spiked teeth, but its eyes were on stalks that raised up high and then drooped over. Vanx watched the scene unfold in his palm. The thing was only getting a dragon’s eye view of what was immediately ahead of it.
    It was funny, he thought, as he laced his britches up and put the mirror away. Out of all the portents the magical mirror had shown him, this was one he didn’t want to change.
    He saw himself dash right in, grab the jewel, and then disappear back into the darkened opening he’d arrived in before the terrible monster even noticed him.
    Now all they had to do was find the wizard’s mark, which should lead them down the passage he’d entered the creature’s cavern through in the mirror. The idea that there had been water on the floor in the vision wasn’t lost on him, but he couldn’t know if it was sea water or water from the glassy lake below.
    The latter, he hoped. Otherwise, the tunnel the wizard had marked would be long and at a decline most of the way.
    After stashing the mirror and fixing his pants and belt, he returned, holding the wizard’s map. Zeezle gave it a look, and so did the sea mage. Chelda didn’t care. She was still adoring Poops, who was lavishing the attention.
    Vanx chuckled, for he could have slipped into the dog’s senses and enjoyed all the scratching, too, but he didn’t.
    “I think we go down and around so our track