Close Encounters of the Magical Kind Read online

  “We know,” Sarah gently told him. “That’s why we’re here. We’re doing everything we can to help.”

  “Then there’s no time to lose.”

  Thinian sprang to his feet and in less time than it took for the two of them to straighten up from their crouch, the tiny Fae had leapt toward Sarah, latched on to her pant leg, and scrambled up her clothes. Before she knew what was happening, Thinian was sitting on her right shoulder and resting a hand on her right ear lobe to keep from falling off. The Fae’s touch, Sarah noted, was reminiscent of a very slight caress. Thinian’s touch made her want to rub her ear, as though something had tickled it. Unfortunately, the sensation made her think a bug had landed on her ear. The first swipe of her hand almost knocked Thinian off his perch.

  “Be careful!” Thinian scolded. “Are you trying to dislodge me?”

  “You’re holding on to my ear,” Sarah told the Fae. “It makes me think that there might be a bug on me. I’m sorry. It’s an automatic reflex.”

  “You are forgiven, hu-… I mean, Sarah,” Thinian hastily corrected. “We should be off.”

  “Where to?” Sarah wanted to know.

  “North,” Thinian answered, pointing at the distant mountains.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because that’s where I was headed next,” the Fae dryly answered. “Before I stumbled upon you two.”

  “So are you telling me you think this is an island?” Steve asked, after nearly ten minutes of silence had passed.

  “Indubitably,” Thinian agreed.

  Sarah clapped her hands excitedly.

  “I’m getting my purple bathroom! Yay!!”

  “Now hold up there,” Steve argued. “How do you know this is an island? You’re telling me you’ve found the borders and were able to look down at the ground far below?”

  Keeping a hand on Sarah’s ear, Thinian spun on his seat and looked at Steve.

  “As a matter of fact, I have. I had my doubts, as did you. However, make no mistake about it, this is an island and it is floating above the ground. We will pass through Lentari in just a few hours.”

  “And then where will we be?” Steve asked. “What country will we be over then?”

  Thinian shook his head, “We won’t be over any land. We will be over water.”

  “The Erudian Ocean?” Sarah asked, appalled. “How long before we’ll be in Lentari again?”

  “Nearly a full week,” the Fae answered with a sigh.

  “That will never do,” Sarah decided. “Either way you look at it, our search ends once the sun goes down, which is about the same time we’ll move away from Lentari.”

  “So how big is this place?” Steve wanted to know. “How much area have you covered since you’ve been here?”

  “As you have probably noticed, Ranal has several vastly different zones,” Thinian began. “I have thoroughly explored the tundra, grasslands, and desert. I had just finished the jungle and was working my way toward the last area I’ve yet to explore: forest.”

  “You’d think that the forest would be the first place you’d check after the jungle,” Steve quipped.

  “Do you see those mountains?” Thinian countered. “Please remember, I am unable to fly. Fae and mountains are not a good mix.”

  “You’ve been saving the best for last, is that it?” Steve guessed.

  “Aye.”

  “Have you encountered griffins in all the areas you’ve searched?” Steve asked.

  Thinian silently regarded him for a few moments.

  “What kind of question is that? Obviously. This is Ranal after all.”

  “I don’t buy it,” Steve muttered.

  “What?” Sarah asked. “What’s the matter?”

  “If what Thinian says is true, and he’s searched all of the other sections of Ranal, then that means the three flowers will be found in this forest section?”

  “Make that two,” Thinian quietly remarked. “Only two flowers remain.”

  Sarah froze in mid step and whirled about, forgetting Thinian was sitting on her shoulder. The tiny Fae had to grab ahold of Sarah’s ear to keep from tumbling to the ground. “What? You’ve found one of these orbsceia flowers?”

  “I found what was left of one of the plants in the grasslands,” Thinian corrected. “I can only assume it had been eaten.”

  “By a griffin?” Steve asked, incredulous.

  Thinian groaned and shook his head, “No, the wyverians are to blame.”

  Steve blinked in surprise, “Really? Dragons don’t eat flowers, do they?”

  “No, of course not,” Thinian grumped. “Obviously it was a griffin. Only they are allowed on Ranal.”

  “Yet you are here,” Steve observed.

  “As are you,” Thinian countered.

  The three of them approached the lake and moved east so they could start walking around it.

  “You mentioned five of you set out?” Sarah asked. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to the other four?”

  “I can only assume they didn’t survive,” Thinian sadly reported. “Five of us snuck onto the backs of a mated griffin couple both set to make their final journey together. I’m sorry to say that during the approach to Ranal, the male griffin noticed they were carrying passengers.”

  “And?” Steve prompted.

  “And it’s a long way down,” Thinian finished.

  “How did you manage to survive?” Sarah asked, curious.

  Thinian fidgeted uncomfortably on her shoulder.

  “I’d rather not discuss the matter any further, thank you very much.”

  “My guess is the male griffin warned the female and both took measures to ensure they rid themselves of their unwanted guests,” Steve mused. “Of the five of you, only you alone made it here. You must have either really hung on when the griffin tried to dislodge you or else you found a really good hiding place. Where –”

  “By all that is sacred, stop talking,” Thinian begged. His wings must have fluttered because the cloak he was wearing suddenly whipped up, as though the Fae had been hit with a blast of air from below. “I’ve been trying to suppress that horror for two months now. Please, let us not speak of this anymore.”

  Husband and wife shared a look. Steve bit his lip and looked away.

  “So have you found any hands?” Sarah asked, hoping to keep their Fae friend talking.

  Thinian looked down at his own appendages. “Hands? That is a strange question to ask. Why would I be looking for hands?”

  “So you didn’t know to look for hands?” Steve asked, picking up the thread of conversation.

  Puzzled, Thinian stared at the two of them.

  “Whose hands are you referring to?”

  “Before we left R’Tal,” Steve began, “which is, uh, the castle where the human king lives, we…”

  “I know where R’Tal is,” Thinian interrupted with a scowl.

  “Right. Anyway, we spoke with our wizard. He said that in order to find what we seek, we must find some hands.”

  Sarah shrugged, “Close enough.”

  “Hands?” Thinian repeated, puzzled. “What does that mean? Someone has harvested one of the flowers and we must therefore steal it?”

  Steve shook his head no, but before he could say anything, Sarah cut in.

  “No. I believe it means we need to find something that resembles hands. It could be a pool that looks like hands. It could be rocks shaped like hands. I honestly don’t know.”

  “I have covered many areas of this island,” Thinian told her, tightening his grip on her ear as Sarah stepped over a fallen log. The Fae ducked just as Sarah brought up her hand to absently rub her ear. “I have observed many pools, peculiar trees, strangely shaped shrubs, but I have yet to encounter anything that even closely resemble hands.”

  “Excellent,” Steve breathed.

  “Excuse me?” Sarah sputtered. “Would you care to explain yourself?”

  Steve shrugged, “If Thinian hasn’t come acr
oss it yet then it means we’re heading in the right direction.”

  “Have you been looking at the stones?” Sarah asked. “Rock formations, maybe stones that look like hands when viewed from a distance, or from a higher elevation, or anything like that?”

  “I wasn’t paying attention to the stones,” Thinian admitted. “I was more interested in looking for exotic flowers.”

  “Do you remember seeing anything that might qualify as a hand?”

  “Hands,” Steve reminded her.

  “Right,” Sarah said, nodding. “Thanks, dear. Thinian, does anything come to mind? Anything at all?”

  The Fae shook his head, “I am sorry, no. While I was looking for the flower I will say that I did not see anything like that. I would have remembered anything standing out like that.”

  Sarah smiled at her husband and looked up at the distant northern peak they were angling for. As they walked around the large lake the terrain turned rocky, much to Sarah’s delight. Large and small stones alike were pushing up through the ground, forming a myriad of strange and unusual shapes. Sarah pointed one out.

  “I’d say we’re on the right track. Look at that. What do you think that circle of rocks looks like?”

  “A shield,” Thinian answered.

  “A pizza,” Steve suggested.

  Sarah shook her head and giggled.

  “A pizza? Really?”

  Her husband grinned at her and pointed at the closest rock.

  “Sure. See those pock marks on the surface? Reminds me of pepperonis. Those could be sausages over there.”

  “I do not understand,” Thinian began. “What is ‘pizza’?”

  “It’s a type of food,” Sarah answered. “According to Steve, it’s single-handedly the most important discovery the human race has ever made.”

  “Of course it is,” Steve retorted. He looked over at Thinian and nodded. “It is my world’s super food. It’s a perfectly balanced food. It’s got your bread group, meat group, sauce group, veggie group…”

  “Veggies?” Sarah laughed. “Pineapple does not qualify as veggies. And ‘super food’? You’re delusional, dear.”

  “I’m talking about tomatoes, thank you very much,” Steve quipped, ignoring the look of incredulity that was on Sarah’s face. “And we mustn’t forget the most important group: the cheese group. You can’t get a more balanced meal than that.”

  “I do believe I’d like to try this pizza,” Thinian decided. “I believe I would enjoy it.”

  “Of course you would, pal,” Steve jovially told the Fae. “Everyone loves pizza.”

  “Well, I don’t care for it that much,” Sarah informed him.

  “I know you don’t. You’re weird.”

  Sarah felt a gentle tap on her cheek and glanced down at Thinian. The Fae pointed to the right, at a second group of rocks.

  “Behold. Another formation. Does that look like hands to you?”

  Sarah shook her head, “No, not really. Do they to you?”

  “Possibly,” Thinian shrugged. “That could be a palm and that could be a thumb.”

  “So where are the rest of the fingers?” Steve asked, looking at the misshapen mound of rocks. “Those really don’t resemble hands in any way, shape, or form.”

  “The problem is, we don’t know if we’re looking for rocks,” Sarah reminded him. “It’s just a theory that would fit Shardwyn’s prediction.”

  They emerged into a clearing with a small river flowing south. The river, Sarah decided, had to have been fed by a natural spring located at a higher elevation. The excess spilled down the mountainside and formed a small pool at the base of the mountain before flowing off. The excess spring water must have spent hundreds of years flowing down the mountainside as there were deep trenches cut into the surface.

  The ground sloped steeply up, eventually rising well over a thousand feet to form the southern side of the barren mountain they had seen earlier. Sarah craned her neck to look up at the distant mountaintop. She gasped with surprise. The river, it would seem, did not emerge from within the heart of the mountain, as she had originally surmised. The water was the excess flow coming from a waterfall high up on the mountain, near the top in fact. Sarah groaned. While she couldn’t quite tell if the stony outcropping were made to resemble hands she just knew they had found what they had been searching for.

  Chapter 9 – Pool with a View

  “Anyone got any bright ideas?” Sarah heard her husband ask. She glanced over to see him staring up at the mountain towering high above their heads. She craned her own neck and tried to estimate how high up the side of the mountain they were going to have to go. She shook her head. At least a thousand. From that distance she was unable to make out any identifying characteristics. She may not be able to see any fingers – or hands – but her instinct was screaming that they had found what they were looking for.

  “It’s up the side of the damn mountain,” Steve groaned. “Of course it is. Why would it be otherwise? We should’ve just searched for the most inaccessible area of this island and saved ourselves a lot of time.”

  “You complain a lot,” Thinian observed.

  Sarah stifled a smile as she watched her husband’s eyes narrow.

  “Dude, I will flick your tiny butt right off this island.”

  She glanced down at the miniature figure on her shoulder. The Fae, it would seem, felt that he was more than a match for her husband and was preparing to jump off her shoulder to launch his own attack.

  “Take it easy,” she told the Fae. She looked over at her husband and frowned. “And you. Cool your jets, Sparky. We have a bigger problem to solve.”

  “You’re certain that we need to get up there?” Steve asked, frowning. “I don’t see any hands.”

  “Neither do I,” Sarah admitted.

  “Then how do you know the orbsceia flower is up there?” Thinian asked, genuinely confused.

  Sarah smiled at the Fae.

  “Woman’s intuition.”

  Steve sighed and looked at Thinian.

  “You know this place better than I do, pal. Do you have any suggestions for getting up there?”

  Thinian sadly shook his head.

  “Like you, I am grounded. I cannot get up there any easier than you.”

  Sarah sat down on a nearby stump and stretched her back.

  “There must be a way we can get up there. We wouldn’t have been sent here if we couldn’t handle it.”

  “Are you sure you can’t teleport?” Steve asked. “Your jhorun would come in mighty handy right about now if you could.”

  Sarah closed her eyes and ordered her jhorun to provide her with a mental picture of the top of the waterfall. As before, from the first moment she had stepped foot onto the island, she was unable to bring up any place they had been to before. She looked at Steve and sadly shook her head.

  “It just isn’t going to happen. I couldn’t teleport a dozen feet away on this island, even if I wanted to. This place just won’t let it happen.”

  “Well,” her husband said, “what if…”

  “If you’re going to rephrase your original question and ask me, yet again, if I can teleport something then I will personally help Thinian push you off this island. Steve, I can’t teleport. Stop asking me, okay?”

  Steve jammed his hands into his pockets. “You’re upset. I get that. Look, I’m trying to brainstorm here, alright? We know you can’t teleport. I’m not asking you to try. But what about the telekinesis facet of your jhorun?”

  “Her what?” Thinian asked from his perch on Sarah’s shoulder.

  “She has the ability to move things around without touching them,” Steve explained to the Fae. “We’ve always viewed it as another extension of her jhorun. The ability to teleport an object from one location to another, only keeping the item in sight.”

  Thinian turned to look at Sarah, a look of wonder on his face.

  “You can do that?”

  Sarah nodded, “Yes. I don’t know if I c
an do it here, though.”

  The Fae cleared his throat.

  “I, er, hesitate to side with him,” Thinian began, hooking a thumb in Steve’s direction, “but perhaps he is right? Could you try?”

  “What if I end up angering the island?” Sarah asked. “What if the island disappears, or turns back into that cloud, and we all plummet straight down? Do you really want to risk it?”

  Her husband finally shook his head no.

  “You’re right,” Steve conceded. “It’s not worth it. We’ll think of something else.”

  “She’s a teleporter,” Thinian recalled, giving Sarah’s earlobe a friendly pat. The Fae looked turned to Steve and smirked. “What can you do? Can your jhorun be considered useful? Can you do anything worthwhile to help us out?”

  “You really ought to find out what he’s capable of before you insult him,” Sarah quietly whispered to the Fae.

  “Why?” Thinian whispered back.

  “Because I’m a fire thrower,” Steve nonchalantly told the small figure as he approached. “Before you ask, yes, my jhorun will undoubtedly work here. However, I don’t want to piss anything off, either. So my hands are just as tied as hers. Besides, I fail to see how blasting out jets of flames would help us in this situation.”

  “Thanks to you we were able to make it here,” Sarah reminded him.

  “True. I wouldn’t want to push my luck, though. Our luck.”

  “I agree,” Sarah agreed. “So here’s what we do. We brainstorm. Thinian? You’re up first. Give me a suggestion, no matter how bizarre it may sound.”

  “We, uh, scale it?” The tiny Fae’s voice trailed off, as though he was uncertain he should have said anything.

  “No, don’t question yourself,” Sarah scolded. “I asked for ideas, no matter how bizarre. You suggest we climb it. That would be one way to get up there but there’s no way the three of us could scale that. Steve? You’re up.”

  “Well, I could call for help.”

  “You mean Pryllan?” Sarah clarified. “There are a couple of things wrong right off the bat. First, dragons aren’t allowed here. I doubt very much the island would let her approach. Second, and most important of all, she’s currently nesting. Her egg isn’t due to hatch for several more months. You remember what Pravara told us the last time we saw her, right?”