Abigail gave Berg a hug, telling him that he will see them again. Mai acknowledges in a low voice, telling them that all of them were yearning for better times. Looking at Mashaun, you were the first one here what do you suggest?
Why are you staring at me!? I don’t know any more than you do! Berg suggests that since he is the most comfortable in this environment, then he should take the lead. Kazimir stands in the back with his arms crossed shaking his head. He will wait, learning, sizing up his opponent, before making a move. Just like in the ring.
Mashaun tells them they won’t learn anything staying here, besides this place is a trap. He suggests they spend the night in the cave for warmth and protection. Then leave in the morning before the owner of the wagon comes looking for it.
Mai and Abigail, shake their heads in unison. “You mean leave the cave and go out there!” There’s no telling what creatures roam these lands. I would rather stay here.
Mashaun, studies them for a moment, before telling the group that he is leaving in the morning, they can come with him or stay. Turning and walking to the entrance where he scans the outside from the safety behind the illusionary wall. Dalistra can tell that he is not used to leading, never having the responsibility for the safety of someone else before, and it terrifies him. She cannot let him know that she admires his concern.
After an uneasy silence, Mai suggests that everybody take a bath since it might be a while before they get another chance, and get a good night sleep. They all promptly agree and head to the water room. The girls get the pool first while the guys look over the weapons. Mashaun considers showing them the weapons room, but Dalistra suggests that he shouldn’t, asking him how well he knows any of them. He couldn’t argue the point, so he keeps it a secret.
Mashaun slips into the weapons room unnoticed and looks around the chamber, trying different weapons. Finally, he settles on a couple of short, slightly curved swords to Dalistra’s amazement.
“Two swords? You have me, what do you need with them?” she inquires with her usual pompous tone.
Mashaun tells her that he used that method before in a live action game that he used to play back home, and they are just in case someone gets too close.
“You are full of surprises, aren’t you?” she states, not fully able to hide her amazement.
Mashaun exits the room to find Kazimir has joined the twins in the pool, and since it seems that no one minds, he goes outside to have a look around and watch the day fade into night as the first stars begin to peek out of hiding as the darkness overtakes the sky.
Berg joins Abigail at the food table, engaging Abigail in light conversation as she enjoys the fruit and nuts, never touching the meat. He starts to reach for some jerky but grabs an apple-like fruit instead. While still munching on the fruit, Berg steps close to the wall and squints, running his hand down the wall. He turns and asks if anybody else has studied the walls as Abigail moves closer to see. In the faint light, she barely sees the color pictographs. Abigail calls Mai over to show her the new images. She gets Mashaun, showing him the new pictures on the wall as they examine the wall for some time, looking for the pictures from before, but they are gone, replaced with new ones. Berg traces a pictograph with his finger, and it begins to glow.
Three evenly spaced circles—red, blue, and yellow—rotate around a larger green square in the center. Each of the smaller circles connects to the center of the green square by a slim line. The three rotate at different speeds until they align at the top where the lines fall straight down to the bottom where they stay hanging while the circles continue to orbit. A second image appears with the circles aligned at the bottom, and they become one again with the circles. All of them study the movement, not saying a word until Abigail asks what it means. They look at each other, puzzled until Berg suggests that it could be a planet with three moons. The lines represent some kind of connection between them and the planet, but he’s really only guessing. “Follow me.” Mashaun rushes to the map, and they follow. After studying it for a while, Berg points out that the three cave pictures are larger than the others. The caves are equal distances apart, and if you draw three lines connecting these, mountains south of the lake that look like a claw is in the center of the triangle. Next, he points out that each cave has a color staff next to it with a symbol similar to one of the cave walls. Mashaun tells them not to go anywhere and rushes out the cave to get the mage’s staff. Though made of solid stone it weighs about the same as Dalistra. Yes, there are symbols on the staff, and he hurries back to Abigail, Mai, and Berg at the map. Mashaun shows them the markings on the staff, and it doesn’t take long for them to match the symbols to one of the caves. However, it doesn’t make any sense. It shows the cave on the west side of the mountains, but the afternoon shadow covers the cave entrance, and the morning sun shines on the cave entrance.
“If I only had some paper and a pencil to copy the map,” Berg says with a sigh.
Everyone is trying to figure out the sleeping arrangements when the twins exit from the water room, with Kazimir following close behind. They only have five pedestals and three fur blankets to divide among the three girls and two guys. Mai and Mashaun will use the skins they cut up for warmth. Mashaun suggests that the twins can share one. Kazimir will need one because of his size, and that leaves one for Abigail and Berg. Berg offers the last one to Abigail, telling her that he will lie down by the fire. Mai gives the fur back to Berg. She will share hers with Abigail before asking Mashaun where he plans to sleep. By the door, he tells them.
She doesn’t like him so far away. He is really the only one that she knows, but Mashaun puts forth a good argument about watching the meadow just in case there are any more unwanted visitors. Eventually, everybody agrees to the sleeping arrangements and settles in for the night. Berg and Abigail sit on one bed just talking—like a father and daughter— about where each is from and what they did in their other lives, trying to forget their current isolation from all they know and love.
Mashaun finds some oil and uses it to turn the wagon into a funeral pyre, watching as the flames lick at the night sky. After which he wonders if that is really such a good idea as the flames pierce the night, revealing their position for a long way, not to mention the smell of burning bodies filling the night air, and then what if it catches the forest on fire? He watches from some rocks along the cliff face not far from the burning wagon, making sure that the fire doesn’t spread. A few times, it tries, but he snuffs the embers out quickly.
Kazimir joins him, watching the burning wagon dying flames. Mashaun can tell that something is troubling him. He is not good at hiding his emotions. After some prying, Kazimir asks him if he searched the wagon before torching it. Mashaun tells him that all he found is a metal box with eight marbles and a couple of pieces of paper that look like legal documents and will have them translated later. Kazimir’s face seems to sink when he hears that, suspecting that the papers are what he wants. Kazimir asks about the documents, but Mashaun would only tell him that they are safe. The two discuss the papers for a few minutes before Kazimir returns to the cave for the night. He isn’t going to tell the twins—not that he can—just yet. He might still be able to get the papers down the road though he doesn’t know why. After the wagon’s flames die down, Mashaun returns to the cave entrance and gazes into the night sky filled with millions of stars that are not much more than tiny pinholes in the veil of night. Since moving to the city, it seems like ages since he has seen so many stars at one time. Too long, he thinks. Dalistra senses a tinge of sadness—not at being here, but more about not being here, and that makes no sense to her. Mashaun tries to find a recognizable constellation but doesn’t and believes that it’s because he has lived in a city for the last few years and forgotten what they look like.
Mai joins him, at the entrance. After a bit of small talk, she asks how he understood the Ericka. Without even looking at her, “I have no idea what was being said.” She seems to accept the answer and waits a bit be
fore returning to the safety of the cave.
Mashaun asks Dalistra what she means about how easy it was to kill the mage. She tells him, “Most mages have a variety of protections, and clones don’t. After a mage creates their clone, they have to spend time teaching them. Most use magic to prevent the clones from learning any magic. After all, who wants a servant that could be more powerful than the master? The wizards give a few clones limited magical abilities, such as scrying or some protection spell. There is an extraordinary bond between the mage and their clone. Every action that a clone does can be dictated by the wizard that created them, including most that allow the mage to scry through the clones’ eyes, much the same way I can see through your eyes.”
Mashaun asks her, “Why don’t the mages create several clones of themselves?” She tells him that making a clone is time-consuming and dangerous, leaving the mage weak and vulnerable for some time. She relates a story about a mage’s clone that goes out of control and kills the mage before going on a rampage, killing several others before the city guards kill it. Many mages won’t create a clone because of the dangers and will shun any known clones. Mashaun sits there, thinking how different the two worlds are. He ponders all the new information staring into the night sky.
The moon begins to peek over the trees, lighting up the ground with a faint blue light, creating eerie shadows across the meadow. Rising above the trees, Mashaun notices that the moon is different somehow. It doesn’t have the usual features of the moon he is used to seeing. It is smaller with a slightly blue hue, not what he’s used to seeing. The plants have different shades of the blue with some sparkling. Dalistra tells him that the darker the blue the more magical. Alchemist and artificers used to go out on full moons to harvest the dark blue and sparkling plants for their potions. They would also make the strongest potions on the full moon.
He tries to comprehend the discovery but quickly gives up and decides that he should hide the staff. He sneaks into the weapons room, removing several swords on the back row, laying the staff down, then replacing the swords, making sure that no one sees him as he slinks back to the cave entrance and drifts off to sleep.
CHAPTER 4
Follow the Road
The morning sun begins to climb into the sky, chasing the stars away, as Mashaun awakes. He sits watching the first streaks of the morning sun peek over the trees, basking the cave entrance, noticing light barely pierces the darkness of the cave when it should have lit up the pedestals in the back, puzzling him. He walks out into the meadow, looking around. The sun’s rays streak over the trees, squarely hitting the cliff face that sparkles and shimmers as light reflex off the rock face, except for the cave entrance. Realizing the sun rays reflect off the cliff face, but not the illusionary wall hiding the cave entrance. He examines the cliff to his left and right but there is only the reflection of the cliff. However, the light vanishes like the cave about halfway up the cliff face. He looks for a path but shortly loses it as the sun climbs into the sky.
The golden rays of the sun warming the early morning air create a low ground fog as the forest comes alive with the morning light. After enjoying a few more minutes the early morning sounds, he goes to wake the others. Berg is at the map with some parchment and ink writing down everything he can. When Mashaun asks him about it, Berg thought Mashaun found it on the wagon and left it for him. They looked at each other confused for a moment before continuing.
Even though the sun is fully above the trees, the cave is still gray, and it takes a moment for his eyes to adjust before touching Mai on the shoulder. She stirs, looking up at him with her sleep-filled eyes.
“Is it that time already?” she asks groggily.
Mashaun nods as she slowly rolls out of bed. During the night, she had taken in the outfit so that it fits much better. Abigail must have heard them because she sits up and looks around, blinking and rubbing her eyes. She follows Mai to the water room to wash up before they head down the road. Shortly, Kazimir and the twins get out of bed and head into the water room. Mashaun uses the waterfall to wipe his face and clean up a bit before going to the food table. He turns one of the extra outfits into a knapsack, filling it with dried meats and fruits, suggesting that everybody do the same. He goes into the water room and fills one of the water skins they took off the soldiers. Kazimir and the twins are sitting in the pool with their clothes on the rocks.
Mashaun tells them they are leaving, and if they want to come along, they better hurry. Kazimir stands, telling him that they are staying. Everyone in the room looks at him standing naked waist deep in the pool, walking up the path until he is just inches from Mashaun, standing a good head taller and almost twice Mashaun’s size. The group waits to see Mashaun’s reaction. Even with the bubbling pool and the falling water, there is stillness in the room. Mashaun looks up at Kazimir and says, “Fine, do what you want, but I’m leaving in five minutes,” as he turns and heads into the main room. Elina and Ericka look at each other, realizing that did not go as expected. They watch Kazimir standing there almost dumbfounded as Mashaun walks out the door followed by Mai, Abigail, and Berg.
Mashaun makes a couple of holes with a dagger in his fur so that he can tie it across his chest as a cloak. Mai, Abigail, and Berg follow suit and finish filling their knapsacks before heading down the cave just as Kazimir and the twins exit the room. Kazimir and the twins quickly grab some food before hurrying to catch up with everyone else. The sun is well over the treetops, climbing into a cloudless sky, warming the morning air. The meadow is full of butterflies and the music of songbirds, bringing a smile to Mashaun’s face. It is something that he has not seen or heard in some time, realizing just how much he misses it. Putting the sun on the left, they head up the meandering dirt road with Mai walking on his right, followed by Berg and Abigail, with Kazimir, Ericka, and Elina following behind a few paces.
The road quickly exits the meadow, entering the forest on the right; water and mist bubble out of some rocks, forming a stream that follows the road. It’s still a bit chilly in the shadows of trees as the pine-like tall trees filter the sunlight, except for a few beams here and there to provide little pockets of warmth. The undergrowth is sparse with patches of ferns, wildflowers, and mushrooms growing on the fallen dead trees that crisscross the landscape. Moss-laden trees tell Mashaun that even in the warmest of days; it probably remains cool and damp in the forest.
From the back, Mashaun hears quiet complaining from the twins. For the most part, the two girls mainly complain to Kazimir. He knows that their complaints are falling on deaf ears not because he’s not listening but because he doesn’t understand, and that frustrates the three of them.
Kazimir figures out they’re cold, and goes forward to Abigail to get her fur, but she resists, and when Berg tries to intervene, he just pushes him aside as if he’s a leaf in the wind. Mashaun takes a few steps back, telling Kazimir that if he weren’t so busy flirting with the twins, he could have done the same thing and not left one of the cloaks at the cave. Kazimir says that he will go back to get it, Mashaun tells him that they aren’t waiting.
Kazimir stands there dumbfounded again, not knowing what to say or do. Everyone watches, as this is the second time this morning the two have faced off. Kazimir wants to take a swing at Mashaun, and for a moment, the two stare at each other, waiting for the other to blink. Mashaun waits for Kazimir to take a swing at him, but Kazimir steps back to Mashaun’s relief. Having won the battle, he gives his fur to Kazimir and tells him that he needs to pay attention if he wants to survive, before heading back to the front. The twins stare in amazement, hoping to see their champion in action, but are saddened when Kazimir backs down, but are happy when he returns with a fur.
Mai asks Mashaun why he gave Kazimir the fur. He shrugs and tells her he is too hot with it, and Kazimir looks like he needs it more to please his new girlfriends. She just grins as they continue down the road. Dalistra sees strength and compassion, and she likes it. After several hours of walking, everybody
starts dragging, and Mashaun stops the group by the stream for a break. They eat some fruit and wash it down with some fresh, cold water while sitting under the trees in silence. At first, they are hesitant to drink the stream water until Mashaun does, resting for about thirty minutes before continuing down the road. Kazimir and the twins complain it was too short, as they stand up and follow anyway, not wanting to be left behind.
It’s late afternoon when they come upon a nice open area with the stream running through it. The trees’ shadows are long, and the air has begun to cool. They gather some firewood, and with the flint and steel, Mashaun quickly starts a fire, impressing Berg and Abigail. Everybody sits around warming themselves, as Mashaun disappears into the forest without anyone noticing.
In the forest, Mashaun and Dalistra talk about the day’s events, which will become a daily practice for them. She tells him that she can help with the aim against a threat. Mashaun asks about hunting for food, and she tells him that would have to be his own skill. Mashaun asks how she is able to do that.
She says, “I can read the mind of anyone who holds me.” No kidding, he thinks.
“Quiet, and don’t interrupt me,” she snaps.
“That also allows me to see and hear what they see and hear. After a while, we will get to the point that we will be able to sense each other and speak to each other over short distances,” she finishes.
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