The Prophecy Page 5

  Chapter 3 - Encounter

  Steve awoke the following morning blissfully unaware of where he was. He turned on his side and snuggled closer to his wife, only Sarah wasn’t there. Nothing to worry about. His wife usually started moving around long before he did.

  He smiled. Today was Sunday, wasn’t it? That meant that Sarah was most likely in the kitchen cooking something wonderful for breakfast. Sighing contentedly, he started daydreaming, wondering if it would be fresh cinnamon rolls, or maybe some french toast and bacon.

  I really should get up, he thought. See if I can be of some help.

  He cracked open his eyes and inhaled, hoping to smell something good. Instead, he instantly locked eyes with his wife from across the room. She wasn’t smiling.

  “So you’re finally up, huh? Good. There’s a lot to do and I don’t want to appear like ungrateful guests. Go see if you can help Kornal with anything.”

  “Kornal? Oh, man. It wasn’t a dream.” Steve sighed. “Okay, okay, I’m up. Where is he? Probably outside chopping wood or something, huh?”

  “He’s outside, but I’m not sure doing what. I’m going to go try and help out with breakfast. You just try not to hurt yourself, okay?”

  “Hurt myself, huh? Think highly of me, don’t you?” Steve grinned at his wife.

  “Do you really want me to answer that?” Sarah smiled back as she walked to the opposite side of the small cottage.

  Steve stretched and sat up. His gaze traveled about his immediate surroundings. The hearth on the far wall already had a steady fire going. An iron kettle was hanging over it with some steam escaping now and then from the lid. It smelled wonderful. He didn’t want to think about what it might have in it. Nilhanu was busy mincing some type of root and adding diced something-or-other to the mixture whenever she paused. She gestured for Sarah to stir the kettle on the fire.

  Steve got up and walked to the door. Kornal was nowhere to be seen. Okay, now what was he supposed to do?

  The flowers that had previously acted as sentinels swiveled again to face him, but did not start chiming, or glowing, or whatever it was that they were doing last night. Steve got the feeling that they were keeping an eye on him.

  “Kornal? Are you out here?”

  There were rustling sounds coming from around the back of the cottage. Jamming his hands in his pockets, he headed off to investigate.

  When he made it to the back of the house, he still didn’t see or hear anything. Just then, he heard a shout of surprise, followed closely by several splashes and a slew of curses coming from the general direction of the river.

  Steve sprinted towards the riverbank, ready to help out in whatever way he could. What he saw when he got there, however, drew him up short. What the hell? Steve blinked a couple of times.

  Kornal was wrestling with what appeared to be a salmon-sized, eight-legged fish that was making it quite clear it preferred not to be a meal. The “fish” kept wriggling and kicking its way out of Kornal’s grip and managed to flop back into the water. With a fresh string of curses, the young man dove after the creature.

  “Get back here, ye stinkin’ pile o’ naka dung! I am not finished with ye!”

  More splashes and angry shouts. After a few more moments, Kornal emerged triumphantly with his catch. He strode out of the water with the limp fish and spied Steve.

  “Ah, Steve, good mornin’ to ye.” He held up the creature. “I caught breakfast!”

  Steve gestured to his catch. “What is that? We sure don’t have any fish that look like that where I’m from.”

  “This is a rypo. There are plenty of them all throughout the river. They are a bugger to catch. Practically impossible to see in the river. Ye have never seen a rypo before?”

  “No, I’m sorry, I haven’t. I’m curious as to what other types of creatures live around here. Anything dangerous?”

  “Dangerous? Well, there are the dragons, naturally. Ye do not want to tangle with one o’ them. They can be… Steve, are ye well? What is the matter? Do ye not know what a dragon is?”

  Steve’s eyes had gone wide open and had an utterly shocked expression on his face.

  “Dragons!! Hell yeah, I know what a dragon is. Holy crap, are there really dragons here? Are they big? Do they breathe fire?”

  “Ye sound like ye want to encounter one. If ye did, ye would not live to see another day. Very dangerous, are dragons. Thankfully, there are none in these parts.” Kornal pointed to the mountains far to the north. “Ye would have to journey many days into the Bohanis if ye truly wanted to see one.”

  Steve thought a moment. “Okay, no dragons around here. What other types of animals live in this land? We saw a pair of griffins yesterday. I was almost dinner for them.”

  “Aye, there are plenty of griffins in these parts. They can be very dangerous if provoked. Ye are not allowed to hunt or kill a griffin. Considered to be sacred. Not sure why.” Kornal scratched his beard. “There are no shortage of griffins here, that is for sure. The best advice I could give ye would be to steer clear of ’em.”

  “How many people live here? Are there others like yourself and your wife?”

  “There are several large villages. The closest can be found to the west. Avin. ”

  “Kornal, think carefully, have you encountered any other travelers that appear to be total strangers, like us? More specifically, an old man named Simon, or a woman named Grace?”

  Kornal thought a moment. “We do not get many travelers throughout these parts of the mountains. Of the few that we have met and spoken with, there has not been anyone calling themselves by those names.”

  “What about people that looked completely out of place, such as ourselves? Do you get many visitors like that?”

  “Nay, no one like that.”

  Steve suddenly brightened. “What about points of interest? If someone were to come to this place from a far away land, what do you think they would like to see? ”

  “A‘poynt o’ intrehst’?”

  “Okay, okay, let me think. What about a ruler? Someone in charge? If a distant traveler came to this land looking for the representative of…” Steve paused a moment. “Exactly what land is this? What do you call it?”

  “Ye are standin’ smack in the middle o’ the kingdom o’ Lentari.”

  “Kingdom? Then there must be a king and queen?”

  “Aye, Kri’Entu and Ny’Callé.”

  “Where do they reside? I mean, how would I find them? They might be able to help us.”

  “Their majesties are very kind and generous. They would find a way to help ye. The king and queen hold court in R’Tal. That’s several days journey from here, due east as the griffin flies.”

  “How difficult do you think it is? I mean, do you think Sarah and I could make it?”

  “Aye, there are several roads that will lead to R’Tal. We will give ye enough supplies so that you can make it there.”

  “Thanks. Again. We really do appreciate all you’ve done for us.” Steve paused for a moment. “Is there anything that can pose any problems to us on our way there?”

  “There is always a chance that somebody or something would do ye harm if given a chance. Their majesties, however, have enchanted the roads to keep folk from harm.” Kornal’s look became stern. “Do not risk yer lives. Do not stray from the passageway, at least until ye have the castle safely in sight.”

  “If the roads are safe, then we have nothing to fear, right?”

  Kornal shook his head. “Friend, ye do not have knowledge of our kingdom nor our ways. That in itself will put ye in grave danger. Just get to the king an’ queen as soon as ye can. Do not stray,” Kornal repeated.

  “Stay on the road. Got it.”

  Kornal went around to the back of the hut to clean the rypo. Suspecting their host was going to prepare the fish for breakfast, Steve wisely walked the other d
irection, deciding to seek out Sarah. He was pretty sure he’d be unable to eat the fish if he saw the poor thing cleaned.

  He ducked back inside the hut and discovered his wife and Nilhanu seated at the table, chatting away as though they were the best of friends. It never fails. Leave two women in the same room and even if they didn’t know one another, they’d find something to talk about.

  Sarah looked up at him and smiled. “Hi! Were you able to help out?”

  Steve looked down and shuffled his feet. “Well, not exactly. I had a feeling that if I tried to jump in and lend a hand that I’d be in the way. He’s very versatile. I do have some info for you that might help us out.”

  “You do? That’s great! Nilhanu and I have been chatting as well. After breakfast, we’ll compare notes.”

  They feasted on roast rypo and boiled grains. It was not his favorite egg breakfast sandwich, but it wasn’t too bad. The rypo didn’t taste like fish at all, more like pork. The meat had too much fat in it, but that didn’t seem to stop Sarah from enjoying it. Steve, meanwhile, was nonchalantly trying to trim the fat off of his piece of fish without making it look too obvious what he was doing. He was determined to eat this meal without making too much of a fuss.

  Once they finished their breakfast, Sarah helped Nilhanu clean up while Kornal presented Steve with an old, used knapsack. Together, they packed the sack with dried meats and other foodstuffs that would see them through the several day journey to R’Tal.

  “Kornal, I can’t thank you enough for your hospitality. I’m quite convinced we wouldn’t have been able to survive last night if it wasn’t for you and Nilhanu.” Steve offered his hand to Kornal. “I won’t forget this.”

  Kornal grasped his forearm warmly.

  “Steve, it has been my pleasure. I hope ye and Sarah find what ye are looking for and have a safe journey to R’Tal.”

  Nilhanu and Sarah joined them outside. Steve hoisted the pack onto his back.

  Their hostess smiled at the both of them. “Please, if at all possible, send word back to us that the two of ye arrived safely. I will not rest easy until I know ye are safe in the castle.”

  Sarah stepped up and hugged Kornal, then Nilhanu. “We will, I promise.”

  Steve cleared his throat. “Ummm, exactly how do we do that? Send word to you, that is. Tell me how and I will.”

  “My apologies, I keep forgetting that ye are not familiar with our ways. Ye can send word by trained kytes. All villages have them. Very useful. Or,” Kornal paused, “if ye gain the favor of their royal highnesses, ye could send word by jhorun.”

  “Kites. Jorren. Got it.”

  Kornal picked up a stick, smoothed the dirt in front of them.

  “Now, we are here.” Kornal drew a small house in the dirt. “A day’s walk should bring ye to here, where the Wanlu breaks off from the Zylan River.” Kornal drew a line about five feet long and drew a connecting line from the south that joined the main line at roughly the halfway point. “Ye can choose to follow either the river, or travel along the forest edge. Both will take ye to the great sea.” Tapping the line that stretched straight toward to the water, Kornal continued. “I would follow this. Ye will find the village of Donlari along the way if ye go that way.”

  “What about the other way? Any advantage to taking that route?” Sarah asked.

  “The forest path is less travelled than the river.” Kornal drew more marks into the dirt. “If ye choose, ye can follow that around the valley perimeter. That would take you directly to R’Tal. It is shorter, but there are no villages if ye need help. The other way, leading to the sea, ends here. From there, ye would have to turn north, following the coastline. In two days ye would find yerself before the castle. All told, this path,” Kornal pointed to the east-west path, “will take ye about three days, two if ye hurry.”

  “Which way would you take?” Sarah asked Kornal.

  Kornal pointed toward the line depicting the river.

  “Ye would be wise to take the river path. If ye encounter trouble, or need more supplies, ye can find what ye need in Donlari.”

  “Whereabouts would we find Donlari on this map?”

  Kornal made a small indentation in the dirt about halfway along the river to the sea. “About here.”

  Steve suddenly straightened up and glanced at Sarah, then back to Kornal. “When you mentioned if we needed anything we could stop by Donlari, what do you use for currency?” At Kornal’s blank look, Steve went on. “What do you use for money? If you wanted something, say, some food, how would you pay for it?”

  Nilhanu stepped forward. “I believe Steve is referring to our coinage. There are grifs, which are gold; tags, which are silver; and werts, which are iron.” She went back into the house and returned with a small, leather pouch. “Here, we do not have much, but we do have two tags and several werts.”

  She reached into the bag and pulled out two silver coins and several iron ones. She offered them to Steve, who started to reach for them when Sarah cut her off.

  “Wait a minute, there’s no way we’re going to take your money. There has to be something we have that… Hold on a sec.” Sarah started patting the pockets in her jeans. She reached into her right front pocket and pulled out the gold coin, the nine-sided crystal disk, and the marble, all taken from the forgotten safe.

  “I forgot about these.” Sarah held out the gold coin. “Is this a grif?”

  Both Kornal and Nilanu’s eyes widened in disbelief.

  Sarah was confused. “What’s the matter? This has got to be a grif. Look, it has a picture of a griffin on the back of it.”

  Kornal was gesturing at the marble.

  “Ye have a jorii! Blessed be the Wizards!!”

  “A what? A jore-eye? What did you call this thing?” Steve picked out the marble from Sarah’s hand and looked at it. The marble was still warm to the touch.

  “Only wizards and kings possess jorii! Ye did not tell us that ye were of noble blood!”

  Steve scoffed. “Noble blood? Nope, sorry, we don’t have any royal blood in us. At least, not that I’m aware of. Why? Do you have to be a member of royalty to have one of these?”

  Sarah took the marble from Steve. “Exactly what is this? What does it do?”

  “It is a jorii,” Kornal explained, refusing to hold it when Steve offered. “I have only seen one, when I was but a lad. It enhances the jhorun inside of ye and amplifies it. Most jhorun is minor. A jorii is capable of raising the level of yer own jhorun to that of the wizards. Kings and wizards have powerful jhorun, but do not want others to have a level equal or greater to their own, so they hoard their jorii. How did ye get that??”

  Sarah held up her hand. “Wait a moment. What exactly is ‘joarrun’?”

  Nilhanu tapped her chest. “Jhorun is inside of ye. Every human is born with it. Some manifests itself physically, whereas other jhorun manifest itself without ye even being aware of it. My jhorun enhances pontal. Ye might have noticed them by the door.” She gestured to the “sentinel” flowers Steve and Sarah had seen when they first arrived.

  Steve approached the flowers. “You enhanced these? What does that mean? You fertilized them?” Comprehension clearly still eluded him.

  “What I do is raise these from seed, enhance them, and have them perform tasks for me that they otherwise could not do.” Nilhanu started stroking the orange flowers.

  Sarah blinked. The flowers were all swaying softly back and forth under Nilhanu’s hand. Understanding was dawning on her.

  “You mean these flowers don’t ordinarily move?”

  Nilhanu smiled. “These pontal have been enhanced to warn us of intruders. Did ye not hear them ringing last night when the two of ye arrived?”

  “I do remember that. So these, uh -” Sarah pointed at the orange flowers again, “flowers don’t typically warn the occupants of the house that there are strangers lurkin
g about? What do these, uh, pontal normally do?”

  Nilhanu gazed blankly at Sarah. “Do? They share their fragrance with whoever admires them.”

  Steve suppressed a chuckle. Sarah fired a dangerous look at him.

  “Sarah, do ye not have pontal where the two of ye are from?”

  “Yes, we do. It’s just that there isn’t anyone that can take the function of a plant such as this and modify it to perform some other function. And your joarrun was able to do this?”

  “Aye. My jhorun is minor, but I have found ways to make it useful around our home.”

  Sarah turned to Steve. “Honey, I think they are talking about magic. They have to be.”

  “Magic? Why do you say that?”

  “She’s saying she took these basic flowers and modified them into something else.”

  “They still look like flowers.”

  Sarah sighed and faced Kornal and Nilhanu. “Let me see if I understand you properly. When you refer to joarrun…”

  “Jho-run,” Nilhanu said slowly, putting stress on the first syllable.

  “Jho-run. Jhorun. Got it. Thanks.” Sarah took a deep breath. “Okay, when you talk about jhorun, you’re referring to an ability that each person has to do something that typically they wouldn’t have been able to do without their jhorun, correct?”

  Nilhanu smiled. “Aye, that is correct. Without my jhorun, these pontal would be just average pontal and serve no useful purpose.”

  Sarah gave Steve her victory smile. Steve, however, was wearing a frown and thinking deeply. Sarah decided to move in for the kill, so she faced Kornal.

  “If you don’t mind me asking, Kornal, what is the nature of your jhorun?”

  “It is no important ability. My jhorun lets me predict where rypos will be the following morning.” He smiled at his wife and took her hand. “Makes catching breakfast easier!”

  Nilhanu smiled back. “It is very fortunate that rypo taste delicious and we live near a river.”

  Steve was still mulling over the existence of magic in this reality and therefore didn’t say anything. Yet. Sarah stepped forward and met Kornal’s gaze.

  “Kornal, that is a very important ability. You can locate food to help support your family. I can’t think of a more noble jhorun.”

  Kornal was all but glowing at this remark.

  Nilhanu looked at Steve, then to Sarah. “If ye don’ mind me asking, what is the nature of yer jhorun, Sarah?”

  Sarah let out a breath. She knew they were going to ask that. What should she tell them? She looked to her husband for help. She didn’t want it known that they were from another world/reality. No sense in scaring the hell out of their newfound friends.

  Steve caught the ‘request for help look’ from his wife. They gazed at each other for a few seconds, an unspoken argument raging full on. Steve finally stepped forward. “We come from a group of people that don’t have jhorun. Nothing to be alarmed about. Quite truthfully, I wish we had some.”

  Kornal shook his head. “I did not know that there were humans who did not possess jhorun. Amazing! Perhaps the castle wizard could grant ye jhorun.”

  Steve raised an eyebrow and looked at Kornal with disbelief. “Really? Can a wizard actually do that?”

  “Aye, friend, wizards are very powerful. If they wished it, or if their majesties ordered them to, they can give ye jhorun.”

  “Have the wizards given jhorun to people that haven’t had it before?”

  Kornal scratched his head. “Come to think of it, I do not recall ever hearing of a wizard that granted that gift because I have never heard of anyone that did not have jhorun.”

  Now Sarah was frowning. What was he doing? Was he trying to provoke an argument? Let’s not upset the locals, dear.

  “I have yet to meet another human that did not have jhorun of some type.” Nilhanu said. “Ye may yet have jhorun in ye that ye aren’t aware of or have not yet discovered how to invoke it yet.”

  Steve kept his best poker face on. “You may be right. We haven’t ever tried to use our jhorun, so it may be lying dormant.” Steve mentally rolled his eyes. Yeah, right. I have some type of magic ability that I’ve never discovered until now? What was in these people’s drinking water? Best to humor them. “Hey, if we had jhorun and wanted to learn what it was, what would we do to bring it out?”

  Nilhanu opened her mouth to speak, closed it, and then looked at Kornal. Kornal noted his wife’s behavior and interpreted it (correctly!) as it being his turn to answer a question.

  “Each person has a different type of jhorun. Where there may be jhorun that will accomplish the same task, the method of accomplishing that task might be different. It is difficult to say.” Kornal thought a moment. “Ye might try to will something to happen.”

  Steve took a breath but was cut off by Sarah. “I promise you, Kornal, we will try. Won’t we, dear.” Sarah’s tone indicated this wasn’t a question.

  Steve adopted a cheery expression. “Yeah, we’ll try our best!”

  Sarah looked back at the young peasant couple and smiled at both of them. “Again, we appreciate your hospitality. You have given us a lot to think about!”

  Steve spoke up. “Thanks again guys, for everything. We’ll send word when we reach R’Tal, that I can promise you.”

  They bid farewell to their new friends and started down the path. Once they were out of earshot Sarah smacked Steve on the arm. Hard.

  “What was that all about? Why did you have to press them? They have been nothing but nice and hospitable to us the entire time. Was making your point that important?”

  Steve looked down and shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t mean to be an ass about it.

  “So what exactly did you mean to do?” Sarah was pissed. “Just because you don’t believe in magic doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist! Look around you!” Sarah swung her arm in a wide arc. “This isn’t our home. It’s not even close! We got here by some magic portal in your grandparent’s house. Griffins exist here and apparently so does magic. You’d better get used to it.”

  Steve sighed. “It’s just hard for me to accept this. Like I said before, it’s one thing to read about this sort of thing. It’s quite another to experience it firsthand.”

  They continued on, heading east along the river. They had stopped for a drink and a brief rest when they heard a distinctive screech in the distance. Both husband and wife jumped to their feet. Steve started scanning the distant horizon. “Crap. Griffins. Let’s find some cover!” He pulled Sarah over to some fallen trees and several squat bushes. “Get under, quick!”

  They crouched in silence until they were sure that whatever it was had flown upriver and were out of range.

  “There’s got to be a way to safely avoid those things.” Sarah was still looking up. “Who knows what else calls this place home?”

  Steve smiled. “Funny you should say that. I asked Kornal the very same question.”

  “And?”

  “Well, he said the most dangerous creatures here were the dragons, and -”

  “Dragons!! Omigod!!!” Sarah rubbed her temples. “Oh, this is perfect. Just perfect. What happens if we run into one of those? We’ll be done for!”

  Steve tried to calm his wife. “Yeah, we probably would be if we were to seek them out. Relax. Kornal said that we’d have to walk many days north past those mountains there in order to enter their territory. We’re safe.”

  “Oh, thank God.” Sarah let out the breath she had been holding.

  “One other thing.”

  Sarah froze. Again.

  “No, nothing serious. Well, it kinda is. Anyway, we need to stay on the road. It’s supposed to be enchanted against harm. So as long as we stay on the road, we should be good.”

  Sarah glanced down and then followed the road east with her eyes. “If we step off, we could be hurt? Got it. No straying.”
>
  Steve picked up the knapsack, slung it over his shoulder, and helped his wife up.

  “Do you really think that we might have some magic ability?” Steve asked.

  Sarah bit her lip, thinking. “I’m not sure. I think it would be really cool if we did. I doubt it would be anything major, though. Still, I’m curious.”

  Hours later, Steve was tired. He was tired of walking, tired of listening for medieval monsters, tired of a general lack of civilization. “How much longer before we hit the fork in the river? We should be getting close.” Steve was looking north.

  Sarah chuckled. “If you’re looking for that other river, then you should be looking east, not north.”

  “Hey, according to that map Kornal drew, that other river, the main one, should approach from the north. We’ve been traveling northeast for the last two hours.”

  Sarah blinked. “You paid attention to the directions Kornal gave you? I’m impressed!”

  Steve shot her a dark look. “That’s a common misconception women have nowadays. Guys do pay attention to directions, and have been known to ask for them. Lordy, woman.”

  Sarah laughed.

  They continued on in silence for another half an hour when they reached the source of the river they had been following. The impressive Zylan River stretched out from west to east as far as the eye could see.

  “That sucker has got to be the size of the Mississippi! Wow!!” Steve whistled in amazement. “I sure do hope we don’t have to cross that.”

  The Zylan River stretched a mile and a half across at its widest point. The murky water was gently flowing east, prompting Steve to yet again wonder if he might be able to make a raft. Just as quickly as before, he dismissed the idea. A flock of light blue birds were floating on the river and another flock was circling overhead. The road, fortunately, continued east, running alongside the river as well as heading off west.

  “So far, so good,” Steve mused. “We have to head east for close to a day. That should bring us to that village. Piece of cake!”

  “Can we stop for a bit? My legs are tired.” Sarah sat down on the nearest rock. “Why don’t we have something to eat?”

  “Good idea.” Steve set down the knapsack and started rummaging through it. He handed some dried meat to Sarah and took a piece for himself.

  “I’ll say this,” Steve said, “I’m really starting to like jerky. Funny thing is, I’m pretty sure this ain’t beef jerky, but at least it ain’t green.” He gave Sarah a lopsided grin.

  “Think anyone will ever believe this when we tell this story?”

  Steve leaned back against the rock and looked to the east. “As long as we get to tell the story, I really don’t care.”

  After a brief rest, they resumed their trek east. Steve turned to Sarah. “Did you hear that we’re in the kingdom of Lentari?”

  Sarah nodded. “Yeah, that’s what Nilhanu said. She also said that Lentari is ruled by a king and queen.”

  “Right. Kornal said that, too. He said they are Cree Entoo and Nigh Kuhlay, or something like that. And Lentari? Where the hell is that? I may not be a geography buff, but I’ve never heard of that country. You?”

  “No, I haven’t.” Sarah suddenly stopped walking. “Wait. What were the names of the king and queen again?”

  “Ummm, I’m pretty sure he said ‘Cree Entoo and Nigh Kuhlay’. Maybe he said ‘Kallay’. I don’t know. Why?”

  “Hon, give me the journal.”

  Steve pulled the journal from his pocket and passed it to his wife. Sarah opened it to the first page and gasped.

  “Whoa! Look! Remember that inscription we couldn’t read? Look at it now!”

  Steve came up behind his wife and looked over her shoulder at the journal. In an elegant hand were the following words:

  Return to R’Tal whenever ye or yer friends would like to visit– Kri’Entu & Ny’Callé

  “What the hell? This just magically appears in English now?”

  Sarah smirked at her husband. “Magically, huh?”

  Steve grunted, electing not to comment.

  Sarah pointed at the names. “Look! Kree Entoo and Nigh Calay. Do you know what this means?”

  “I’ll say! R’Tal! That’s where the king and queen live. Hon, I think ‘Nayan’ refers to the queen! That means that my grandparents knew the king and queen!” Steve thought a moment. “I would say this confirms our theory. Since their names are in my grandparents’ journal, and there appears to be an open invitation to return, then clearly they have come here before and obviously had a way to return home.” He grabbed Sarah’s shoulders. “Honey, this is our proof!”

  Sarah was clapping her hands excitedly. “Oh, YES!! Just what I wanted to hear! Okay, so the plan is now to get to R’Tal. We need to seek an audience with the king and queen. They have got to be able to get us home.”

  Encouraged, they hurried back to the enchanted road and headed east once more. As they rounded a gentle bend in the path, neither husband nor wife noticed a faint shimmering over the road.

  Sarah was excited. “Hon, let me see that journal again. Yes, see? The entry makes it sound like your grandparents were either highly respected or else held positions of high status in the court. Might make sense why they were always gone. Maybe they had important work here.”

  “I can buy that, I guess. But to prevent them from coming back home to spend time with us? That would suggest that the king and queen are a couple of hard-asses.”

  “I’m just saying that there is obviously more going on here than we originally thought, so I think we ought to hold judgment until we get all the facts, ‘k?”

  Steve nodded. “That’s fair.”

  Another hour passed by, finding Steve and Sarah in high spirits. That came to a screeching halt, however, when the path they had been following unexpectedly vanished, leaving them in the middle of an open glade. Without realizing it, they had wandered well away from the river. No signs of their enchanted path or the mighty river they had been following were anywhere to be found.

  “Ummm, what just happened here? Where the hell did the path go?” Steve was looking around worriedly.

  Having been lectured very firmly by Kornal about straying from the path, neither Steve nor Sarah had taken a step in any direction.

  “The path is right where ye left it, miscreant. About three leagues back.”

  The voice sounded harsh and mean, and meant business. It belonged to a small, wiry man wearing rags and brandishing a wicked-looking dagger. He pointed it at Steve.

  “I must say that no one has fallen for my path trick in quite some time.”

  Sarah moved closer to Steve and whispered, “What do we do?”

  “Play it safe. Don’t provoke him.”

  The thief was looking them over. “So what do I have here? Yer money pouches. Toss ‘em over. Now.”

  Steve stepped forward. “I know you won’t believe this, but we don’t have any money. We are just a couple of travelers, on our way to Donlari. We don’t have anything of value.”

  The brazen thief walked over to Steve, brandishing his knife. “Aye, right you are. I do not believe ye. Toss over that pack. Turn out yer pockets.”

  Steve reluctantly handed the pack to the thief, who snatched it out of his hand. He upended the contents on the ground, kicking around the packages of dried meat and several small leather pouches.

  “So ye are playing games with me. Ye are hiding yer money. Not smart. Hand it over now and ye just might walk away from this.”

  It was then that the bandit caught sight of Sarah’s purse. “I’d be passing that over, girl. Ye don’ want to be trying anything stupid.”

  Sarah was stuck. She really didn’t want to give the thief her purse, but she didn’t want Steve to attempt anything heroic, either. It wasn’t worth it. Oh, wait! The gold grif and the jorii were in her change purse! If the jorii was as
powerful as Kornal said it was, it would be catastrophic to give it to someone like this! What was she going to do?

  Before she could decide, however, the thief made the decision for her. Quick as a fox, he leaned forward and snatched the purse off of her shoulder. After a couple of quick fumbles with the zipper, the contents of her purse joined the contents of their pack on the ground.

  The robber saw the shiny metal cylinder of her lipstick and snatched that off the ground, tucking it into an inside pocket. Her car keys, work keys, and package of Juicy Fruit were swept aside. The thief found her smaller change purse, opened it, and dumped the contents on the ground as well. Sarah held her breath. Maybe he wouldn’t find them! Wait a minute. Where were they? Sarah peered at the ground. Both the small sphere and the gold coin were nowhere to be found.

  The bandit shouted with triumph as he eyed the small pile of change on the ground. He grabbed a double handful of American coins and thrust it into another pocket.

  “I knew ye were not empty-handed. Not very smart, hiding ‘em with the lady.” He then pulled out a bundle of rope and tied both Steve and Sarah’s hands together. Throwing their possessions back into the pack, the wily thief then made Steve hoist the pack onto his back and carry it along with them.

  For several hours they marched in silence as their captor led them through thick brambles of dry, scratchy brush. They were following a trail all right, Steve noted, but this clearly wasn’t an enchanted one. They were forced to wade through several small, shallow streams until they finally came upon a clearing which had a small cottage in serious need of repairs.

  The diminutive thief led them inside the foul-smelling hut, pushing them into the far recesses of the shanty to what appeared to be a trap door in the floor. Turning around, he leered evilly at his prizes.

  “It ain’t that cozy, but I guarantee ye will be safe and sound.” The thief pulled back the locking bracket and opened his cellar door. “Naught but stone walls. Ye will not be escaping from there, rest assured.” He pushed Steve and Sarah down the stairs.

  Sarah had tears in her eyes. “What are you going to do with us? Why are you doing this?”

  “The two of ye will fetch a handsome price as slaves. Preparations must be made. I should not be gone for more than a couple o’ days.”

  “You can at least leave us food and water,” Steve demanded.

  “Ye can have yer pack, and that be all ye get.”

  With that, the cellar door was closed with a loud bang. The locking bracket was shoved back through, and the last thing they heard was the laugh of their captor.