EXTRACT FOR
Selyna And The Mara
(Kelly Addams)

"What do you know of the road that lies ahead?" The Dwarf convoy of wagons and donkeys had been trundling sedately north for over an hour, and Selyna saw little difference between the north and south sides of the river despite the stories she had been told in Elvenholme. To listen to the tales it was easy to believe that within an hour of the river the grass and trees disappeared to be replaced by blasted heath and smouldering cinder piles. Conversely what she had found was gentle green dales and shady woodlands, all lying beneath a clear and cloudless sky.

Accalia turned her head to look down on her latest lover and smiled. "Much of the same until we reach Grannok, from there we will pass through the hills that mark the real boundary between north and south, then drop down over the barren moors that lie at the base of the mountains."

"I thought that this was a wild and desolate land filled with danger." Selyna stared ahead at a rise in the dales, a thin line marked an escarpment with a cleft cut through surrounded by tress and thick bushes.

"But it is," Accalia chuckled as she unbuckled the carrying strap of her shield and untied a leather lace that held her sword securely in its scabbard. "Ahead lies the first test, there is no way around this pass, we must travel through and already I sense unfriendly eyes waiting."

"Eyes?" Selyna whispered nervously as she looked from side to side at the empty grasslands, "Are we being watched?"

"We are always followed and observed," Accalia replied calmly, her tone belying the tension in her body as she gripped the hilt of her sword firmly, "And yes, we are being watched now, from above, a sentinel of the Lord who controls all of the lands to the west follows us beyond normal sight, even I do not see her, but I know that she is there."

"Above us now?" Selyna shaded her eyes with a slender hand and stared up into the cloudless blue sky, a sky devoid of life other than a tiny skylark fluttering high above.

"You see her?" Accalia whispered, "I now see her also."

"The skylark?" Selyna asked cautiously, her words met with a genuine guffaw of amusement.

"That is no skylark, that my dear Selyna is a Harpy. But you have nothing to fear from her, she merely follows our progress to ensure that we do not trespass, relations between the Dwarves and her Master are strained to say the least. No, the immediate danger lies ahead beyond the escarpment, and in that slot that beckons us so innocently. There peril awaits us. But do not fear, with this sword I will cleave a path to bring you through safely. And I will take great pains that you come to no harm... because I relish the prospect of using this sword on you again when we set our camp."

Selyna smiled, the suppressed a small shudder of anticipation. During the early morning hours she had returned to Accalia's side as the sisterhood retired to their own sleeping rolls, all contented with the new addition to their group.

"Are you tired, or are you ready for more?"

Selyna had grinned her response, then groaned deep and loud as Accalia drew her sword and tossing it to spin in the air caught it by the blade before thrusting the hilt deep. Selyna had writhed and mewled as the Mara warrior worked the hilt ever deeper. "Now you may turn the scabbard on me." Accalia had groaned, and thrusting in perfect time the two women had driven each other to the point of distraction and far beyond.

But such pleasures faded from her thoughts as Selyna studied every leaf and shadow in the entrance now looming close. She saw nothing, but also saw no reason the doubt the Mara's word.