“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 direction, 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 an Egg McMuffin, 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 lake, 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 tha
t??”
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 lurking 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, sweetie.”
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. Damn, 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 are you doing? Are you 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. We aren’t even close to home. We got here by some magic portal in your grandparent’s house. Griffins exist here and apparently so does magic.”
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 th
ings.” 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.”
Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy Page 6
