Chapter 11: Rest Cont'd

   "Celeret is wise and mighty and powerful. A magician who can teach you many great things, but can also seduce you with promises. You must learn all you can, but be wary once we reach the mountains. I do not wish to be the reason that you are lost to the dark arts, to greed or the hunger for power. Even immortality may be offered to you, but you must resist all of these temptations for they always lead to despair and great loss. They are forbidden magics and are so for a reason. You will have to be very strong, little one."
   "But you will be there to protect me? And Rheto?" Ardan asked, now more concerned than excited. What if he was walking into a disaster?
   "Yes. I will stay, and Rheto loves you too much to let you freely walk into such atrocities, but these things are very tempting. Men have turned from their families and killed their friends for the knowledge that will be offered to you. Know this though, and do not be dismayed, for all the doubt that you labor yourself with, I see much good in you. You shine like a star in my eyes. There are not many I have seen that shine so brightly. I do not think you will need us to guide you to what is right." Ardan sat, chewing slowly on his sand cake as he contemplated these things. Was it worth the risk to go to the mountains? Could Celeret really teach him so much as to risk his being, risk the light that Fulkar saw. He did not believe that Fulkar would lead him knowingly into danger, and Rheto would never allow him to become dark.
    Ardan was about to ask another question, but closed his lips when Rheto came scurrying back onto sand. Ardan watched as his fur shifted from browns and greens to the pale yellow of the sand. It thrilled him every time he saw Rheto change, and even now a smile spread across his face. Rheto carried a rat in his mouth. It hung limp, and a little blood was gathered in the corners of his mouth. He had never known Rheto to be a hunter.
    "Good hunting, I'm guessing?" Fulkar asked as Rheto dropped the small, furry, brown creature into the sand. It's long tail lay limp, and it's beady eyes held no light of their own anymore. Rheto nodded and then began to eat. It didn't take him long to finish off the rat, tough he left behind the tail, claws, and head. After burying them in the sand, he cleaned his paws and looked up at them.
   "How long until we reach the mountains?" he asked licking his muzzle clean.
   "Do you need to rest here or can we carry on?" Rheto looked at Ardan for the answer.
   "I am fine to continue," replied Ardan.
   "As am I," agreed Rheto.
   "Then, if we fly without ceasing, we could be there as early as the day after tomorrow."
   "Well then, let us go. No need to sit here and stare at each other," Ardan said.