“I will, Jenn; I swear it. Don’t worry, I will ensure his safety.” Jenn gave Edwyrd’s hand a quick squeeze then backed through the gateway, looking longingly up the passageway from the cave. Edwyrd watched her go through, feeling her fear.
With the departure of the wizards, the Were Light was also gone. The cave was quite dark. It had certainly not been that way before. Since he was going to be here for a while, there was no reason to limit himself in his search. He might as well be comfortable and have all of his abilities available to him. Quickly, Edwyrd stripped off his clothes and put them on the table. With that done, he let himself relax completely.
Even as he did so the room began to lighten. Within moments, not only had his viewpoint shifted upwards by five or six feet, his eyesight was able to see everything in the room as well as if it were day. Marching determinedly, he went up the passageway to the cave’s exit.
As he reached the small ledge that marked the cave’s mouth at the top of the mountain, he found a pile of human clothes. It didn’t take much looking to realize they were Rupert’s and it didn’t take much to guess what the kid had done. Kids, Tom sighed to himself. He scanned the red sky above, looking for any flying silhouettes. He didn’t see any. He then turned his gaze downward toward the valley.
He had to stare for a while, but eventually he found an unusual spot on the valley floor below. It was only a few hundred feet horizontally from him, but about a couple thousand vertical. His cave was on a very steep mountain. He swooped down off his perch towards the speck below. As he came upon the spot, he shook his head.
A small winged, burgundy humanoid was laying on the ground. It waved at him as he approached. Actually, it was sort of tilted over backwards. It’s lower legs, below the knee were stuck in the ground, his upper body bent over and resting on the ground, almost like sitting. Tom knew the position. “Legs hurt?” he asked Rupert.
Rupert smiled slightly and nodded strongly. “Like crazy. I’m also stuck.”
“Flying is not as easy as it looks, is it?” Tom said with the air of a learned expert. He had to remind himself that it had only been a couple weeks ago that he’d been in the same position. “Here.” He reached out his hands so Rupert could grab them. As the boy did so, Tom pulled straight upward, lifting the boy and his legs out of the hole. He met a slight resistance and Rupert groaned, and then popped free of the dirt.
“Oh...” Rupert moaned as Tom set him back down on the ground gently, before landing himself. He looked down into the boy’s eyes. “You know, of course, that Jenn went into hysterics when she found you missing?”
“I’m sorry.” Rupert said sincerely. “I just went out for a look again, and-well, I couldn’t help myself. I had to try.” He bowed his head. Tom sighed, he understood.
“Well, they’ve gone back to Astlan,” he pulled the boy forward, “we’ll follow in a few hours when Tizzy summons me again. I’m just glad you’re all right.” He gave Rupert a hug. Once again, proportion was balanced between them, and Rupert’s horns only came up to Tom’s ribcage. He hugged the boy tightly, patting him between the wings. Rupert smiled fondly upward at him. “OK, boy. No son of mine is going to go around putting holes in my front lawn. We’ll have to teach you what to do with those wings, aside from cooling yourself!” Tom shook his head and smiled as Rupert grinned back. Rupert’s smile didn’t look anything but what it was now, in no way was it frightening. Interesting, Tom thought.
Like most young kids, Rupert was a fast learner. Within a half hour, Tom had Rupert soaring over the valley with him. Showing him some of the finer points he himself had mastered just recently. After one extremely high dive, in which they nearly scraped the bottom of the valley, they pulled up to near the same height as the top of the mountain. There they rested for a moment, just hovering in the air.
“Wow!” Rupert exclaimed. “This is so excellent. I can’t believe how much fun it is.” Tom had to smile, flying was fun. It was even more fun when you had someone to enjoy it with. It was also fun to watch the boy’s enthusiasm.
“Ah-hem,” a voice said behind and below them. Tom started slightly. He looked down and over to the voice. About twenty feet away, standing in a respectful pose, was another demon. This was not a demon Tom had seen before. Instantly he was on guard.
