***
As the day progressed, the landscape gradually changed from flat, empty plains to grassy knolls covered with yellow and white flowers. The road they were following sometimes went directly over the mounds, but mostly it snaked amongst them, weaving about, sometimes appearing to reverse course and head the other way.
Chatting amicably about how quickly they would be able to return home, they rounded the last knoll and approached the seemingly endless coastline of the Great Sea of Koralis.
Sarah whistled. “Kornal mentioned we’d hit the sea sooner or later.”
Hooking a thumb in the direction of the water, Steve looked at his wife. “That’s a sea? Damn! Look at the size of that sucker! Looks more like an ocean to me.”
Sarah inhaled, testing the air. “Freshwater. That’s got to be the largest freshwater sea I’ve ever seen. Glad we don’t have to cross it.”
The road they had been travelling on dead-ended abruptly. Sarah and Steve eyed their choices: left, heading north to the mountains, or south, towards an open prairie devoid of any trees or hills.
Steve looked towards the empty prairie and grunted. Sucker was flat as a pancake. “That way, right?”
Sarah shook her head. “Nope. We head north, towards the mountains.”
“You sure?”
“Positive. Not only that, it’s the way Kornal told us to go. Besides,” she continued, “don’t you remember the carving on the doors?”
Steve nodded.
“The castle in that carving was in the northeast.”
“You think that carving depicted Lentari?”
“You don’t? It had the mountains, forest, valley, sea, and castle. So far, we’re four out of five here.”
Steve had to admit it made sense. He hadn’t really given much thought to those mammoth doors from his grandparent’s master suite lately. Was that really only three days ago?
Walking together, they watched the rhythmic undulation of the waves cresting on the beach. Steve would have preferred to walk along the coast seeing how the road they were traveling on had started to veer away from the enormous body of water.
The terrain became rocky, and eventually started to ascend. Thousands of years earlier, the small tectonic plate that ran under the kingdom of Lentari was pushed upwards by the much larger plate running adjacent to it, creating the extensive Bohani Mountains to the north, and the Selekai Mountains to the south. With relentless erosion from the Sea of Koralis, a gradually sloping plateau had formed that had created Lentari’s curved eastern coast. The northern road followed the rising highland, at times coming right up against the vertical dropoff.
Proceeding north, they started encountering other travelers. A squad of soldiers came up on horseback from behind. Paying no attention to the two strangely dressed peasants standing well out of the way, they continued to head towards R’Tal, laughing and joking amongst themselves all the way.
They passed an old peasant walking slowly alongside his donkey powered cart, laden with firewood. He smiled at Steve and tipped his hat to Sarah. It was the smile that prompted Sarah to ask the friendly villager for directions.
“Excuse me, sir, is this the way to R’Tal?”
The wizened man nodded his head. “Aye, that it is. Just around that bend up there ye will find an outcropping of rock where ye will be able to see for leagues in every direction. Ye will be able to see the castle from there.”
Smiling again, Sarah patted the donkey and thanked the villager. Hand in hand, they walked around the bend and stopped dead in their tracks. The old man was right. The ledge of rock extended some twenty feet out over empty space and gave an excellent view of the lay of the land, with the shores of Lake Koralis forming a gentle crescent curve off in the distance. And there, some five or so leagues distant, Steve could see the capital city of R’Tal, with the castle situated up against the base of the heavily forested Bohani Mountains and also jutting up against the far edge of the great sea. Steve even saw the turret that in their carved representation had the key-shaped window.
“Is that cool or what?”
Sarah was ecstatic. There was the castle! An actual kings-and-queens-live-there castle! What history must exist within those walls? Who was the architect? When was it built? A thousand questions sprang to her mind as she gazed upon the castle and the surrounding countryside. From her vantage point she could make out hundreds of thatched cottages within the perimeter walls, with hundreds more dotting the green valley south of the capital.
“Think we can make that before sunset?”
Steve looked at the distant castle and then looked up, judging the position of the sun in the sky. Not quite overhead yet. Good. If they picked up the pace, then they could probably make it with time to spare.
“We’re going to have to double-time it,” Sarah observed, still staring at the distant castle. “I’m guessing that’s, what, ten miles or so away? If we pick up the pace, we should be able to do it. Don’t you think?”
Steve wasn’t sure if he could maintain a walking pace that fast, but he was certainly ready to try. Following closely behind his wife, he sighed with relief as their pace automatically increased due to the gradual declining slope. They had finally reached the apex of their climb and had started downhill.
Two hours later they were better than halfway to the castle. Progress was good. Steve, being much more accustomed to walking downhill than uphill, was walking as fast as he thought Sarah could handle. Sarah, on the other hand, already much more acclimatized to walking than her husband, was easily maintaining the increase in velocity.
Trying to keep his mind off of his tired legs and aching back, Steve did what he always did when travelling with Sarah: he quizzed her on some pointless movie trivia. In this manner, they had completely missed exits on freeways, ended up in wrong cities, missed turnoffs, landed on wrong streets, etc. Submerged in a world of Star Wars trivia, Steve later figured this lack of attention to the immediate surroundings accounted for what was about to happen.
The vegetation was also starting to pick back up, with small clumps of shrubs starting to appear, and a lone tree here and there. The first clump of large oak trees they came across drew them both up short. Camped by the copse of trees was the group of soldiers that had passed them earlier, resting their horses and having their midday meal.
In unison, all soldiers stopped eating and talking and looked with astonishment as two peasants in strange clothing boldly walked right into their camp. As one, they all turned to look at their lieutenant who was in the process of taking a bite out of a piece of meat skewered on his dagger.
“Hoo-boy,” Steve muttered. “Umm, sorry to disturb you. We’ll just leave you people alone.”
“Methinks not, peasant,” the lieutenant said, rising to his feet. “Who are ye and what business do ye have here? Where are ye from?” The soldier slowly walked around husband and wife. “What manner of attire are ye wearing?”
Sarah had once again surreptitiously moved behind her husband. Steve took a deep breath.
“Uh, we are visitors to this kingdom, on our way to seek an audience with the king and queen. As a matter of fact, we already met the captain of the royal guards. Maybe you know him? His name was Rhenyon. He gave me this.” The act of reaching under his jacket to fumble for the jewel-encrusted dagger attached to his belt had every soldier in the clearing jumping to their feet. Swords were unsheathed and two soldiers took aim with bow and arrow.
“Whoa, hang on a sec there, guys. You don’t want to do that.” Steve raised both arms, hands open, palms up. “We really don’t want any trouble. Look. On my belt. See the dagger?” He rotated slowly in place, lifting up his jacket to expose the dagger to everyone present. “You can take it out, if you prefer.”
The lieutenant, with his sword drawn, looked at the stranger’s belt. Was that one of the captain’s personal daggers? Wizards be damn
ed! He reached out and pulled the knife out of its sheath. Yes, it was. There was his crest. How did two foreigners acquire this?
“Explain yourselves, strangers. How came ye by this dagger?”
Steve relayed the events of the previous night, explaining how he had encountered the captain at Thacken Lodge.
The soldier nodded thoughtfully. Luckily, the story corresponded with what he knew of the captain’s trek across the kingdom, seeking signs of the Scribes.
“The captain gave this to ye? Did ye tell him yer intentions to seek an audience with their majesties?”
“We did, yes. That’s when he gave us that.”
“Curious, I am, to find out why he gave ye that, but it is not my business. Go then, be on yer way.” He handed the dagger back to the wary peasant who had to unclench his fists. As he took the dagger, the soldier couldn’t help but notice the stranger’s hands and face. Was he feverish? His face was flushed, and parts of his hands had turned an ugly, mottled red. If he caught some type of sickness from this dim-witted peasant, dagger or not, there will be hell to pay.
“Gladly, sir. You people have a nice day.”
With that, Steve pulled Sarah along behind them and practically ran down the path, away from the group of soldiers. Once they were out of earshot, Sarah had to pull her arm out of Steve’s grip, as he was intent on putting as much distance as possible between Sarah and those men.
Finally slamming on the brakes, she spun Steve around until he was looking her directly in the eye.
“Steve, you have to let go. Now!!”
Alarmed and annoyed, Steve released his wife’s arm. “What is it? What’s the matter?”
She held up her forearm, with the beginnings of a slight burn on her arm. Steve was horrified.
“Did I do that? Oh, man! I’m sorry!”
“It’s okay. It feels rather like a sunburn. It stings a little, but I’m okay. You were nervous, it’s understandable.”
Steve wasn’t about to let it drop. His wife was in pain, and he was directly responsible. He had to get her to the safety of the castle and see about getting some type of ointment for her arm.
“I’m so sorry. We’ll get some help and I’ll get some type of medication for it. Something like that has gotta exist there.”
“Honey, it’s trivial right now. Let’s just get going, okay?”
The Prophecy Page 11