“You two will accompany me toour camp,” Klarg stated authoritatively. “We shall let othersdecide what to do with you.”
Klarg’s two men immediately becamealert to the possible outbreak of trouble. Garth casually stood upand turned towards the two men.
“We will favor you with ourcompany,” Kalina said, “but we will not be gone from our wagon fora great period of time. There may be bandits around and we do notgive up our belongings easily. You will assure us that thequestions will be asked quickly so that we may return in a shortspan of time.”
Klarg did not reply, but waited for thegypsies to mount up. “You will respond to Kalina,” Garth prompted,“or we will not travel with you. You have assurances togive.”
Klarg snorted, “You are assured.” Klargsilently laughed at the gypsies’ demand for assurance. Any fool whotook the word of a Dark Rider was a fool indeed.
Garth and Kalina untied their horsesfrom the side of the wagon and mounted them bareback. Klarg led theprocession while his two men rode behind Garth and Kalina. Severalmoments after Fredrik heard the horses ride out of the campsite, heundid the straps holding him tight to the bottom of the wagon.Fredrik looked around the campsite from under the wagon beforequickly undoing Niki’s straps and the two of them stretched theirmuscles. Fredrik jogged over to the horses and peeled back a smallsection of canvas from each of the holes. Arik and Tedi climbed outand inhaled deeply.
“I will never feel comfortablebreathing through a tube,” Arik quipped. Looking around he added,“Where are Garth and Kalina?”
“The Dark Riders took themaway,” Fredrik said. “They asked about the horses and whether theyhad seen anyone since camping here.”
“You were able to hear theconversation?” Tedi asked, shivering with the thought of being thatclose to Dark Riders.
“All of it,” Fredrik declaredas the three boys headed towards the wagon. “Garth and Kalinacertainly sounded pretty calm in front of the Dark Riders. I’m notsure if they will be coming back.”
“Where is Niki,” Tedi asked.“Didn’t you untie her?”
Fredrik froze by the campfire andstarted looking all around the campsite. “I did untie her before Icame to get you two,” he exclaimed. “Where has she gone offto?”
Just then, the three boys heard a thumpfrom inside the wagon. They scrambled over each other in theirattempt to open the wagon door. Arik was first to get there andthrew open the door. Niki shot bolt upright at the sound andfinally let out her breath when she saw who it was.
“Are you trying to scare me todeath!” Niki exclaimed as she returned to her searching.
“What are you doing?” demandedArik. “She will skin us alive if she catches you inthere.”
Fredrik and Tedi crowded into thedoorway, craning their necks to get a good view of inside of thewagon. “This may be our only chance to find out who they are,” Nikiasserted. “Why don’t the three of you go back outside and watch tosee if they are returning?”
The three boys tumbled out of thedoorway and paced around outside. “I can’t believe she is doingthat,” declared Arik.
“I think it is a good idea,”remarked Tedi, “if she knows something good when she seesit.”
Niki came out of the wagon, strugglingto carry a long package wrapped in canvas. “This was too long tounwrap inside,” she smirked, “but I think it is important. It wasso well hidden, that it must be very valuable. The wagon had beenmodified just to hide this.”
Tedi smiled and thought he might growto like this red-haired girl. The four of them gathered to helpunroll the canvas wrapping. The article had obviously been wrappedfor years and the ties were old and brittle. When they hadsucceeded in unrolling the canvas, they discovered an ancient swordin a jewel-bedecked scabbard. The hilt of the sword was gold withintricate carvings, but it was also devoid of the gems that soobviously once adorned the hilt.
“Somebody has already stolenthe gems from it,” Tedi remarked. “This probably once belonged to aking. Do you think Garth and Kalina stole it?”
Four pair of hands probed the emptysockets in the hilt as if measuring the huge size of the gems thatused to be there. “I’ll bet if they were diamonds, one of themwould have been worth enough to live like a prince for a lifetime,”Fredrik spoke.
“What are a pair of gypsiesdoing with something like this?” Arik mused, unaware of the pair ofeyes that were watching him from the woods.
One of the boys turned the sword overto look at the other side. This side of the hilt was similar to theother side, except in place of the large holes where the gems usedto reside, was a single line of glass beads and one of them wasmissing. Niki looked down at the canvas and found the missing glassbead. “Look what you oafs have done,” she scowled holding up thebead.
“Why blame us?” Fredrik asked.“You’re the one who brought this thing out of the wagon. Maybe wecan just stick it back in and wrap the sword up again.”
Niki tried to stick the bead back intothe sword hilt, but it would not stick. “It is no use,” she sighed.“I think we ought to wrap it back up and plead ignorance if theyever notice it was disturbed.”
“That is if they ever returnfrom the Dark Riders,” Fredrik mentioned.
As if summoning a great evil would callit down on yourself, the four children looked up at the sound ofhorses entering the clearing. Garth and Kalina continued to ridetowards the group of children and the expressions on their faceswere not friendly. Niki was still holding the glass bead and sheimmediately put her hands behind her back.
“So,” Kalina admonished, “thisis the type of children we protect from the Dark Riders. Childrenwho rifle through someone’s belongings the moment they are out ofsight.”
“Perhaps we waste our time onthese vagabonds,” Garth added. “Surely, the Children of theProphecy would not be the type to steal from people who aredevoting their lives to protecting them.”
The four children backed themselves upuntil their feet were pressed against the stone ring around thecampfire and, still, Garth and Kalina rode slowly towards them. Thepair of eyes in the woods opened widely as they watched the scenebelow in the clearing.
Garth and Kalina dismounted and let thehorses roam free. Together they continued forward towards thechildren. Kalina looked down at the sword and gasped. She noticedthe missing glass bead and her face contorted in fury. “Garth,” shesteamed, “they were vandalizing it for the stones.”
Garth stopped and bent down and pickedup the ancient sword. He turned it over and looked at the jewels inthe scabbard and then turned it over to examine the glass beads inthe hilt. Seeing the bottom glass bead as the only missing piece,he slowly lowered the sword to the canvas.
Straightening up, he approached thegroup of children who were standing with their backs to the fire.The children tried to cringe away from the imposing gypsy, butthere was nowhere to go.
“We didn’t mean to harm it,”Arik blurted out. “It was an accident. Honest!”
“He’s telling the truth,”Fredrik offered. “Besides, Arik and Tedi had nothing to do with it.They didn’t even know that Niki and I were looking through yourwagon and we were only doing it to try to determine who youare.”
“Nothing gives you the rightto go through our belongings,” Garth bellowed. “Nothing! If Tediand Arik had nothing to do with it, at least they could havestopped it.”
Niki brought her empty hand out infront of her and prepared to hurl a Force Bolt at Garth. As her armstraightened in front of her, it grew cold and blue. Niki stared ather arm in disbelief as it grew colder and bluer and ice began toform on it. She looked over at Kalina and saw the thin smile ofsatisfaction on Kalina’s lips.
“She’s a witch!” Nikiscreamed. “She’s a witch and she’s frozen my arm.”
The three boys looked at Niki’s arm andturned their horrified gaze towards Kalina. Kalina simply continuedto smile at them.
Fredrik glared at Kalina. “Release herfrom your spell, witch,” he demanded. “Release her atonce.”
When Kalina made no move to restoreNiki’s arm, Fredrik reached for the power to teach the gypsy themeaning of real power. His face turned to wonderment and continuedits transformation to a mask of rage when he found out thatsomething was blocking his ability to reach the power. No. Notsomething, someone. He looked over at Kalina again and, still, shestood smiling.
“Do not try any more of yourtricks,” she said softly. “I find them offensive andinhospitable.”
Fredrik realized that if Kalina couldshut him off from the power, any other spell he might try on herwould result in disaster. “So, you do work for the Dark One,” hesaid. “Your little ruse about the Dark Riders being after us, wasjust an excuse to make us think we were safe until you could getout of us whatever it is you are after. Well, you will get nothingout of me. I would rather die than serve you.”
Garth stepped forward and thrust outhis hand. “Give me the glass bead,” he demanded.
Niki tried to lean back away from hisoutstretched hand and tripped over the rock ring of the campfire.Garth’s hand shot out and grabbed her tunic just before she fellinto the fire. Niki’s hand opened in a reflex action to break herfall and the glass bead rolled off her fingertips into thefire.
The glass bead exploded in a shower ofsparks and a great cloud of smoke erupted over the campfire. Arikand Tedi each dove to one side of the campfire and Fredrik turnedaround and fell on his back. Garth pulled Niki towards him andsquatted as she turned to face the fire. Everyone stared inamazement as the smoke billowed up and radiated every colorimaginable. The center of the cloud of smoke cleared and thedistinct image of a blue fairy appeared next to a large, bluesapphire. The fairy appeared to be addressing a large gathering ofgreen and blue fairies gathered in front of a huge oak tree. Onlythe oak leaves gave size and dimension to the fairies, which lookedlike they could ride an oak leaf like a magic carpet.
The blue fairy next to the sapphire hadwings on her back and spoke to the assembled audience. These arethe words that she spoke:
Your blood will flow ‘til none isleft
While darkness around you descends
On Holy Sapphire all you have
Fate of the Fairies do depend
The Crown of Light the Fairies’Life
Without it all are doomed to die
The Holy Sapphire just a patch
Redemption only just a lie
The vision slowly faded until only theblue sapphire remained and then it, too, winked out. The cloudcongealed and was sucked into the fire. As the stunned watchersgazed, the fire erupted in sparks again and a blue glass bead flewout of the campfire and struck the ancient sword exactly at theplace where the glass bead had been. The sword vibrated withmelodious metal tones and started spinning around and around untilit finally stopped with a jerk, pointing north.
Chapter 13
Children
Everyone sat and stared at the sword asKalina walked over and picked it up. She held it out in front ofher and turned in a circle. Each time she passed the position atwhich it stopped spinning it vibrated in her hands. She quicklyrealized that the sword was acting as a compass, but if she wascorrect in her guess, it was not merely pointing north, it waspointing towards the Holy Sapphire of the fairies.
Kalina looked over at the coweringchildren and focused her eyes on Niki’s arm. Immediately, it beganto warm and return to the normal color of flesh. “Fredrik,” shecalled, “come over here and hold this sword. Turn in a completecircle holding it out before you and tell me what you think. Tedi,get some coffee going. I think we all need to have a goodtalk.”
Tedi scampered off uneasily and Fredrikslowly came over and took the sword. Niki rubbed her arm as iftrying to speed the cold away. Fredrik confirmed what Kalina hadfelt and she had each of the children repeat theprocess.
Out in the woods, the pair of eyesclimbed down out of the tree as Tedi put the coffee over the fire.Arik took the reins of the two horses that Garth and Kalina hadridden and tied them to the wagon. Nobody seemed anxious to talkabout the prior events except for the display that took place inthe campfire.
Garth disappeared and finally Fredrikbroke the dreaded silence. “Will the magic call the Dark Ridersback or are you really working for them?”
Kalina looked at Fredrik and smiled. “Ido not work for the Dark One and the magic I used was extremelysmall. Their witch will not notice.”
Fredrik looked at Niki with a stunnedexpression. He could not imagine being cut off from the power beingconsidered small, but that was not what he had meant. “I mean thefireworks display over the campfire,” Fredrik explained.
Kalina’s face frowned. “I hadn’tthought of that,” she admitted. “I was so involved with watchingand listening, I don’t know how powerful a broadcast it might havemade. Did either of you feel anything?”
Niki and Fredrik shook their heads andKalina looked around for Garth. When Kalina’s eyes saw Garth, hewas marching a young boy before him into the clearing. The boy wasobviously not happy about having Garth prod him on. Fredrik, Niki,Arik, and Tedi immediately recognized Tanya, but Kalina had no ideawhom Garth was corralling.
“I found this one spying onus,” Garth declared, “and a feisty one he is.”
“I was not spying,” Tanyaproclaimed as she took off her leather hat and let her long goldenhair cascade down her back, “and I am not a he.”
Kalina tried to hide a smile and failedand Garth was obviously taken aback by the display of hair. “Soyou’re not,” Garth corrected. “Still, I would say climbing a treeand watching a group of people certainly constitutesspying.”
“I was looking for food andsaw your campfire is all,” Tanya stated.
“Where is your uncle?” Nikiasked. “I thought he was going into Toresh to get food.”
Kalina looked back and forth betweenthe two girls in confusion. “We were attacked by Dark Riders,”Tanya sobbed. “They killed my uncle and burned the wagon. I onlygot away by hiding.”
Niki went over and comforted Tanya andFredrik explained to Kalina whom Tanya was and how they had met.Arik added that they met Boris and Tanya in Lorgo before Garth cameto town. Kalina was so confused with everything that was happeningthat she sat and sipped at her coffee.
Fredrik stared as Niki took Tanya bythe hand and got her food. He had never seen Niki be nice toanyone, himself included. Women, he figured, the world’s greatestmystery, and created only to confuse men. Garth walked over anduntied the two horses that Arik had tied to the wagon, then helpedhimself to coffee and sat down. Eventually, everyone gathered atthe campfire with a mug of coffee. There were many unansweredquestions, but Arik chose to go first.
“Kalina,” he began, “you oncetold us that we were free to go whenever we wanted. Do you stillsay that?”
“I will not hold you againstyour will, Arik, but truthfully, I hope you will stay,” Kalinasaid. “We all have many questions that go begging answers. We willspend today discussing what we have seen and what it means to eachof us. If you still wish to leave after that, I will not stopyou.”
“That is acceptable, Arikanswered. “I must tell you that I am not comfortable in the companyof a witch.”
“Not many people are, Arik,”she sighed, “that is why I hide it. I should point out, though,that you are in the company of three people who can wieldmagic.”
“What is going on?” Tediasked. “Why are the Dark Riders after us? What was all of thatsmoke and images with the sword? I don’t understand any of thisand, frankly, I don’t like it.”
“Let me ask a question first,”Kalina interrupted. “Who among you actually touched thesword?”
“We all did,” Niki answered.“I was the one who took it out of the wagon, but once we unrolledit, everyone touched it. What is it?”
Ignoring Niki’s question, Kalinacontinued her search for information. “Who caused the glass bead tofall out? Was it you, Niki?”
“We are all to blame,” Fredrikstated. “Do not pick on Niki when we should all share in whateverpunishment you mete out.”
> “I am not talking aboutpunishment or blame,” Kalina insisted, “but I do need to know whichone of you caused the bead to fall from the sword.”
“We don’t know,” Arikanswered. “The bead was on the bottom of the sword because we werelooking at the side where the gems belong. When we turned it over,the bead was not in the sword. There is no way we could determinewhich one of us broke it. We are all to blame.”
“Okay,” Kalina saidexasperatingly, “let me say this again. There is no blame orpunishment involved. The sword is not broken. The sword is behavingexactly like it is supposed to. I will admit I was excited when Isaw the missing bead, but I was wrong when I accused you ofstealing it. I know that now. What I do not know is which one ofyou was the cause of it coming loose.”
“And we shall never know,”declared Tedi. “Everything that has been said is true. We do notknow how the bead came loose. We all touched the sword. Niki hadthe bead in her hand because she was trying to put it back on thesword. Why does it matter who was the cause?”
“Okay,” Kalina began, “I amgoing to tell you some things that very few people in the worldknow, but to tell you, I need your pledges not to repeat it toanyone if you decide to leave us.”
One by one, the children gave theirpledges and Kalina finally continued. “In the time before yourbirth, there was an evil magician known as Sarac. Sarac had visionsof ruling the world and he did not care how he achieved that goal.He caused wars and strife in which tens of thousands of people diedand still he failed. He created an organization called the BlackDevils and taught them magic. One of the spells he taught them tiedthem to his will with eternal allegiance. In effect, he created aprivate army that held no allegiance to country, but only to him.In a great battle, good magicians created a new Universe and exiledhim to it.”
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