unless there got to be so much melt that it filled the whole tunnel.
"But suppose a dragon comes?" he asked.
"Then I vtrike the vupport, and the tunnel collapvev," the vole replied confidently. "No predator ever caught a vole in a hole."
And of course the dragons would not be foraging far during the storm, Esk realized. They didn't like getting battered any more than other creatures did. That meant that Chex should be safe enough too.
After a brief time the storm passed on. Esk sought to return to the surface, but the tunnel was entirely blocked by hailstones.
"Have no convern," Volney said. "I will make a new ekvit." In moments he did so, tunneling down, then around and up. The excavated dirt piled into one side of the main chamber, evidently intended for such storage.
Esk followed the vole, amazed by the velocity of the digging. "How do you do it so fast?" he asked.
Volney paused in the darkness, turning within the tunnel though it was only his own body width in diameter. "My vilver talonv," he explained. "Feel."
Esk felt, cautiously, and found cold metal. It seemed that the vole donned the talons as a man would gauntlets. "Where do you carry such things? I never saw them before."
"I have a pouch for nevevvary toolv," Volney explained. Then he turned again and resumed his digging. Esk had to crowd to the left to avoid the dirt flying on the right.
Soon they broke surface. A shower of melting hailstones came down. They scrambled up through them, and stood knee-deep on Esk, waist-deep on Volney, in the forming, colored slush. Much had fallen in that brief span!
Chex was under her shelter, almost hidden, for the stones were mounded above and around it. "I was worried you would drown down there!" she called.
"No, Volney has a really cozy den below," Esk said. "He is a truly amazing digger!"
"No, only average," the vole demurred. "It is merely my volivh nature."
Nevertheless, Esk was discovering Volney to be as interesting and useful a companion as Chex. This group of travelers was random, but seemed about as good as could have been chosen for such a journey.
They set up a three-way guard roster, with Esk taking the first watch and Chex the last, in deference to the amount of time she had spent the
prior night. Esk doubted that any dragons would appear until the slush had subsided, but he didn't care to gamble, and neither did the others.
Volney disappeared into his hole, and Chex settled down on a nearby elevation she cleared of slush. The shelter was useless for the time being, because of the mass of dripping slush on top.
He walked up and down the path, keeping himself alert as long as he could. The stars came out and flickered at him through the waving foliage. It was pleasant, and he was not at all lonely. He knew he would have been, by himself. It was nice making new acquaintances who had a similar mission and dissimilar talents. Too bad they would soon find the Good Magician's castle and have to separate.
When sleep threatened to overtake him despite his efforts, he went to the vole hole and called down it. "Volney! Volney! Are you ready for your watch?"
There was a subterranean snort as the vole woke. "Ready, Evk." The snout poked into the starlight.
Esk crawled down and around and into the den and curled up hi the warm spot left by the vole. The den was rounded in such a way that the earth tended to support a curled body, and was really quite comfortable. He had hardly completed that realization before he slept.
When he woke, there was a warm body next to him. Volney was back, and Esk realized that the vole had finished his shift and turned it over to the centaur.
He crawled out, and discovered it was dawn. Chex was picking fruits and setting them on the platform. "No dragons!" she said briskly as she saw him.
Esk had a call or two of nature to answer. He nerved himself to do it hi her presence, knowing that the sooner he navigated this social hurdle the better it would be. He started to take down
"But suppose a dragon comes?" he asked.
"Then I vtrike the vupport, and the tunnel collapvev," the vole replied confidently. "No predator ever caught a vole in a hole."
And of course the dragons would not be foraging far during the storm, Esk realized. They didn't like getting battered any more than other creatures did. That meant that Chex should be safe enough too.
After a brief time the storm passed on. Esk sought to return to the surface, but the tunnel was entirely blocked by hailstones.
"Have no convern," Volney said. "I will make a new ekvit." In moments he did so, tunneling down, then around and up. The excavated dirt piled into one side of the main chamber, evidently intended for such storage.
Esk followed the vole, amazed by the velocity of the digging. "How do you do it so fast?" he asked.
Volney paused in the darkness, turning within the tunnel though it was only his own body width in diameter. "My vilver talonv," he explained. "Feel."
Esk felt, cautiously, and found cold metal. It seemed that the vole donned the talons as a man would gauntlets. "Where do you carry such things? I never saw them before."
"I have a pouch for nevevvary toolv," Volney explained. Then he turned again and resumed his digging. Esk had to crowd to the left to avoid the dirt flying on the right.
Soon they broke surface. A shower of melting hailstones came down. They scrambled up through them, and stood knee-deep on Esk, waist-deep on Volney, in the forming, colored slush. Much had fallen in that brief span!
Chex was under her shelter, almost hidden, for the stones were mounded above and around it. "I was worried you would drown down there!" she called.
"No, Volney has a really cozy den below," Esk said. "He is a truly amazing digger!"
"No, only average," the vole demurred. "It is merely my volivh nature."
Nevertheless, Esk was discovering Volney to be as interesting and useful a companion as Chex. This group of travelers was random, but seemed about as good as could have been chosen for such a journey.
They set up a three-way guard roster, with Esk taking the first watch and Chex the last, in deference to the amount of time she had spent the
prior night. Esk doubted that any dragons would appear until the slush had subsided, but he didn't care to gamble, and neither did the others.
Volney disappeared into his hole, and Chex settled down on a nearby elevation she cleared of slush. The shelter was useless for the time being, because of the mass of dripping slush on top.
He walked up and down the path, keeping himself alert as long as he could. The stars came out and flickered at him through the waving foliage. It was pleasant, and he was not at all lonely. He knew he would have been, by himself. It was nice making new acquaintances who had a similar mission and dissimilar talents. Too bad they would soon find the Good Magician's castle and have to separate.
When sleep threatened to overtake him despite his efforts, he went to the vole hole and called down it. "Volney! Volney! Are you ready for your watch?"
There was a subterranean snort as the vole woke. "Ready, Evk." The snout poked into the starlight.
Esk crawled down and around and into the den and curled up hi the warm spot left by the vole. The den was rounded in such a way that the earth tended to support a curled body, and was really quite comfortable. He had hardly completed that realization before he slept.
When he woke, there was a warm body next to him. Volney was back, and Esk realized that the vole had finished his shift and turned it over to the centaur.
He crawled out, and discovered it was dawn. Chex was picking fruits and setting them on the platform. "No dragons!" she said briskly as she saw him.
Esk had a call or two of nature to answer. He nerved himself to do it hi her presence, knowing that the sooner he navigated this social hurdle the better it would be. He started to take down
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