by V. M. Sang
He made sure he had enough provisions, although how much was enough? He had no idea how long it would take him to locate the artefact with the gem. He sharpened his sword and stacked a large number of arrows in his quiver. He mentally offered thanks to Torren that he had insisted Pettic learned the arts of weaponry with him. At least he would be able to defend himself from any hostile natives, and maybe even hunt some food if necessary. When he thought he had everything he could think of, he went to see Lucenra.
The princess was ready to go to visit the magician when Pettic knocked at her door, and they left immediately.
When the pair entered his room, Blundo went to a cabinet and unlocked it. He reached in and took out a wooden box, also locked, and lifted a beautiful pendant from it.
'This opal in the amulet has been imbued with the magic for you to understand and be understood,' he said, handing it to Pettic.
The young man slipped it over his head.
'I have something else too,' continued Blundo. 'You'll need to know the gem when you see it, so I've made this little amethyst earring for you. It's fairly unobtrusive but it'll warm when it gets near something magical. The gems will have been imbued with magic, you see, so they can act as keys. Remember, if you get near an emerald, ruby, sapphire or diamond and this warms, it's very likely the gem we want.'
Pettic put the earring in his ear. Lucenra smiled. It made him look quite fetching.
'One more thing.' Blundo continued to speak. 'Time doesn't flow at the same rate in these other worlds, I've been told. It might be quicker or slower, so you may find much time, or no time at all, has passed when you return.
Pettic frowned at this thought, but resolved to continue regardless, even if he found that he had come back here after many years. He still needed to rescue the Crown Prince so he could take his rightful place on the throne when his father died. It was inconceivable this usurper become king. Even more so since the people would not know he was a usurper and would think their beloved Torren had changed into a tyrant. Pettic had no illusions that Dilrong would be anything other than a tyrant.
Chapter 3
Two days later, at ten o' clock in the evening, Lucenra knocked at Pettic's door. The young man was ready, dressed in leather armour for lightness, with his sword at his side and backpack on his back. He had tied his bow to his backpack along with his arrows. His eyes opened wide to see Lucenra standing there in a pair of her brother's trousers and a shirt.
'You aren't planning on coming after all, are you?' demanded Pettic.
'No, but I'm coming to the standing stones with you. I think you should go and get Cledo. He'll help to protect you and give you some companionship too. You'll be all alone there.'
'Good idea, Luce,' replied the young man. 'We've time to go and get him now and still get to the stones in time. Thank you for coming with me.'
The pair crept out of the palace and along the road to where the stable boy who was looking after Cledo lived. Pettic knocked on the door and a loud barking came from inside. The door opened a crack and the boy's father peeped round. A grey flash knocked him unceremoniously aside as Cledo came bounding out to greet Pettic. The young man was nearly felled by the exuberance of his dog.
'Steady, boy,' Pettic told the animal, 'Get down please.' This last as the dog placed his paws on his master's shoulders and began to lick his face. Then he turned to the family standing looking on in awe at the Crown Prince's friend and his sister who were in their cottage.
'Thank you so much for looking after Cledo for me,' he said. 'I'm going away for a little while. I'm not sure how long I'll be so I'm taking Cledo with me. Here's something for your trouble and the expense you incurred in looking after him.'
He handed over a pouch of gold coins—much more than it would have cost them for the dog's keep.
At first the stable boy's father refused, saying it was a pleasure, and what a good dog he was, but Pettic insisted. He, Lucenra and Cledo then went on their way, leaving the family wondering if they were witnesses to an elopement.
It took a while for the three to pass through the town and up onto the little hill where the standing stones were situated. The stones had been there for centuries and no one knew what their original purpose had been. Many rumours grew up around them over the intervening years, though, and many believed them to be haunted.
Pettic now remembered hearing a rumour a long time ago that they were a gateway to other lands. He smiled to himself remembering how he had dismissed that idea as the most preposterous of all of them. How wrong he had been.
Eventually they reached the top of the hill. It was a clear night and the moon threw its dim light across the land. As it climbed higher, the light came nearer and nearer to the arch and Pettic became more nervous, as did Lucenra.
Just as Blundo had said, at six minutes past midnight the first rays of light passed through the arch. Both young people peered through, perhaps hoping to see something of the land beyond, but all they saw was the city spread out below them.
'This is it then,' said Pettic, still looking at the light now streaming through the arch. 'I'd better go before the moon goes and the light no longer passes through the arch.' He turned to the princess. 'Take care of yourself and the others, and try to see if you can control Torren a bit.'
'Not much chance of that, I don't think,' the girl replied. 'Take care of yourself and come back.' She stood on her toes and pecked him on the cheek. 'Now go quickly or you'll be too late.'
She stood and watched as Pettic walked through the arch and disappeared as if going into a mist. She walked slowly down the hill wondering if she would ever see him again, and if his quest would be successful.
Pettic felt no sensation as he walked through the arch, but a mist engulfed him and his dog. It quickly dissipated and they emerged into a cave.
Pettic looked around him and saw that the cave seemed to be a narrow crack in the rock. He had no choice but to follow it as the wall behind him was now solid. The passage quickly opened out into a large chamber.
Stalactites hung from the ceiling and stalagmites climbed from the ground. Some had joined into columns giving the cave a cathedral-like feel.
Then he noticed the people. They surrounded a large flat stone with a goat on it. A dark-skinned man had just cut its throat if the bloody knife he held was anything to go by. The people were kneeling down and chanting. This was obviously some religious ceremony.
Pettic did not want to disturb them. People often became quite angry if anyone disrupted their religious ceremonies so he tried to slink out past them.
Then the man with the knife, who seemed to be leading the ceremony, spotted Pettic and he cried out.
'Look,' he called. 'Our prayers have been answered. Here is Jintor himself with his hound, Oro, come to save us. Praise be to Holy Jintor.' He got down onto his knees and bowed down to Pettic and all the other people did the same.
'Hang on a minute,' said Pettic. 'I think you've got this wrong. I'm not Jintor. My name's Pettic and this is my dog, Cledo.'
'If you wish to be known as 'Pettic', Your Holiness, then so be it, but I saw you come out of the wall in a mist. There is no way out or in to the Holy Cave that way. You must be the god himself. Holy Jintor always travels with his hound, so that is how I knew you. You'll come with us to see our chief?'
Pettic decided he had little choice in the matter. That was the only way out of the cave it seemed. As a god, he supposed, he could pull rank and insist on going his own way, but as he had no idea where he was nor what he faced here, he decided it would be wise to go along with these people, but he would not pretend to be a god. That way lay disaster. Gods were not well known for their tolerance of impostors.
A little procession formed with Pettic and Cledo at its centre. They wanted to carry him, but protestations from Pettic, and a growl or two from Cledo soon got them to agree to allow him to walk.
The procession left the cave and began to walk slowly down a muddy path. A cliff rose up on o
ne side and a dense forest grew on the other. Pettic could hear a stream flowing somewhere ahead and soon they passed a waterfall cascading down the cliff. The stream then continued on its way alongside the path.
Eventually they reached a village surrounded by a palisade made of sharpened stakes. The people led Pettic through a gate in the palisade. The village comprised many round huts with thatched roofs scattered around in what seemed like a random fashion. None were very far from the stream that had turned away from the cliff and flowed towards a lake in the valley below.
Villagers ran out to see what was happening. The people accompanying them, along with the priests, made their way to a much larger hut at the far end of the village.
Once there, the chief priest, the one with the knife, banged on a drum he carried and an imposing man came out from the large hut. He looked to be around forty five years old and was dressed in a white robe that contrasted with his dark skin and hair. His nose was straight and his mouth wide and generous but he had a look of sadness in his brown eyes. He spoke to the chief priest.
'Who is this man? Where did he come from?'
'We were praying for aid when this man and his dog came through in a mist from the dead-end passage at the back of the Holy Cave. He can only be a god. Since he has all the accoutrements of Holy Jintor and his hound Oro, we assumed it was the god himself. However, he says he's not the god, but a man called Pettic. We brought him to you immediately.'
The tall man beckoned to Pettic to step forward. As he did so the priest and his followers stepped back. The tall man looked Pettic in the eyes and then turned, and beckoning him to follow, returned to the hut.
Pettic followed and entered past a curtain of beads rather than a door and found himself in a dim room. The hut had no windows so it was rather dark, the only light coming through the doorway, where a tie held the curtain back.
When his eyes became accustomed, he noticed mats on the floor with a woman sitting on one of them. She appeared to be a few years younger than the headman, for this man was undoubtedly the leader of this community. Pettic assumed she was his wife.
The headman bade him sit and went to another mat where he, too, sat.
'Now, tell me who you are. Are you the god, Jintor with his hound Oro? It would seem you must be because of the way you appeared here on Terra. There's no other way into the Holy Cave other than the main entrance, yet my chief priest tells me that you came from the little passage at the back.
He smiled. 'This means you're either what he said, the god Jintor, or an impostor who somehow got into the cave before my priests went in. Since there have been people in there praying for help for the last seven sunrises and there's no food and water in there, if you're not Jintor, then it's a mystery.'
'I'm not your god,' replied Pettic carefully, 'nor is my dog the hound, Oro, of whom you speak. I'm just a man, but have come here by magical means. I passed through an arch in some standing stones in my world when the full moon was shining through. I went into a mist and ended up in the cave passage you describe. My name's Pettic and I'm here because the Crown Prince of my country is in grave danger and there's something here I need in order to rescue him.'
'Yet you've all the accoutrements of Jintor. You have a grey hound, a sword at your hip and a bow slung across your back. You've white-fletched arrows, your hair and skin are fair and your eyes are blue. Fair skin and blue eyes aren't known in this world. My priests have been praying for aid for many long sunrises and the hunter god would be just the one we need. Perhaps if you aren't he, then he's sent you?'
'Why do you need aid?'
The headman sighed.
'There's a large, nay, gigantic phantom boar that's been attacking my people and their animals. Everyone who's gone up against it has been killed. We need a seasoned hunter—one who's fearless and indestructible—to rid us of this phantom. It seems the gods have sent you and your animal to aid us.'
Pettic shuddered. A phantom boar? That he did not believe. He could believe there was a large animal out there but he had never put much credit in tales of ghosts. He wondered why people said it was a phantom and he asked the headman.
'It's all white and appears at night. Boars are creatures of the sun but this one shuns the day. You, a great hunter, must go out and kill this menace to my people. Only last week he killed my eldest son. He thought himself great enough to kill it, but he wasn't.'
A tear escaped from the headman's eye. He allowed it to roll down his cheek. His wife, on hearing the mention of their son began to wail. The headman got up and went to comfort her, calling back to Pettic that he may leave.
When Pettic left the headman's hut he found the whole village gathered together waiting for him. As he emerged, they all fell to their knees and began to chant as one, praising him as Holy Jintor. Pettic raised his hand and told them to stop, that he was not their god.
A silence fell and the Chief Priest stood and said, 'We obey you, Holy Lord. If you wish to be known as Pettic and Cledo, then so shall it be. We, however know who you are truly by your face, hair and eyes. Only the gods are so fair.'
Pettic sighed and resigned himself to the situation. At least he had got them to stop treating him with such reverence. (At least he thought he had.) He stood looking round as the people got to their feet and wandered away and the priest came to speak with him.
'I'll escort you to the guest hut, Ho…Pettic,' he said. 'If you care to follow me.'
The pair, followed closely by Cledo and many pairs of eyes, made their way across the open area in front of the headman's hut to another hut on the right hand side of the area. Here stood a hut a little bigger than most of the others. The priest pushed aside the bead curtain and entered, followed by Pettic and Cledo.
Inside it was similar to the headman's hut—dark, but with rush mats on the floor instead of the more comfortable woolen ones he had seen in the headman's hut. He supposed there had to be some perks to being the chief man in the village.
The priest, who said his name was Woller, led Pettic round a curtain dividing the hut into two. A raised platform with a mattress on it dominated the space, with a small, low table next to it. Woller pointed out that this was the sleeping area.
Pettic smiled and thanked him. He said he would like to ask a few questions as he did not know anything about this world. In return, he would answer any questions Woller wanted to ask him.
The two returned to the living area and sat down cross legged on the mats.
'First, I'd like to know where I am. Your headman called this world Terra. I'm looking for a gem set in an artefact. If this is Terra, then I'm looking for an emerald. Have you heard of any such thing?'
Woller thought for a minute then replied, 'Do you have any idea what this artefact is?'
'No, unfortunately. Just that there's some magic on the emerald.'
Woller laughed. 'Magic?' he said. 'How old are you? Only little children believe in magic! Pettic, it doesn't exist.'
'Well, there's magic where I come from. I got here by magic, and we can only understand each other because of an amulet with an opal imbued with magic. Look, I'll take the amulet off and see what happens.'
He lifted the amulet over his head and continued to talk. He saw Woller's face take on a puzzled look.
The other man said, 'Ron droh brew nittrol? Tri frenthy miff scullen ma crynjug.'
Pettic replaced the amulet and said, 'I couldn't understand a word you said then and I don't suppose you understood me, either. The magic on this gem enables us to understand each other.'
Woller looked puzzled. 'How does it work?' he asked.
'No idea.' Pettic told him. 'I'm not a magician. A magician in my world made it.'
'Yet it works for you?'
'Yes.'
'There's no magic on Terra, yet I have to believe you. Only by magic can we understand each other. If you're not a god, (and I'm not truly convinced you're not), then only magic can have brought you here. Do you have magic items that can defeat the pha
ntom boar?'
'No. Only my sword and bow. And my dog, of course. He's a hound and will fight wild beasts.'
Woller stood up. I'll let you rest now. If, as you say, you left your world at night, then you'll be tired. Rest and we'll speak again. I expect the headman will want to see you again as well.'
When Woller left, Pettic stood up and stretched. He yawned. He was tired and so, calling to Cledo, he passed through the curtain and into the sleeping quarters where he slept deeply until dawn the next day.
Chapter 4
In the morning, Pettic woke to hear the sounds of the village coming awake. A cockerel crowed somewhere to the north, where he had entered the village. He heard the rattle of plates and the laughter of children as people prepared the first meal of the day.
He sat up and rubbed his eyes before dressing and going through to the living area of the hut. He found someone had been in and left water and a crude type of soap for him to wash. He rummaged in his pack until he found a razor and washed and shaved himself.
Just as he was finishing and towelling himself dry, someone rattled the bead curtain at the entrance. He assumed this was a request to enter and called out to the person to come in.
The curtain parted and a very pretty girl entered carrying a tray laden with unleavened bread and cheese as well as some kind of cured meat and a hot beverage. She smiled at Pettic as she set the tray down on a low table.
'I've brought you something to eat,' she said. 'My father would like to see you as soon as you're ready. He's the headman,' she added, seeing Pettic's puzzled expression.
'Thank you…er…I don't know your name,' said Pettic
She smiled and it lit up her face.
'Rolinda,' she replied. 'My name's Rolinda.'
'Well, thank you Rolinda for bringing me this food. I'm really quite hungry now you mention it, but even so I can't possible eat all this food. Would you care to join me?'
'I've already eaten,' replied the girl, 'and although I'd like to join you, I've my tasks to perform. My father would be angry with me if I dallied here with you.'