Chapter 5
Departure
The boys were still having a hard timegetting accustomed to using their fathers’ names, but nobody spokeof it. Konic was laying out the plans for the day. “I figure thatif you two leave tomorrow morning, that should be soon enough. Whatwe need to do today is get everything organized for your departure.Alan, your first task will be to see if the bandit left town or ifthe witch has returned. I will go round up whatever money I canfind so that you will not have to be beholden to anyone until youfind a place to settle down. You two will talk and try to decidewhere it is that you are going. You will not tell anyone where youare bound for, not even Alan or myself. If nobody knows, there willbe no chance of anyone discovering it. We will be back in a coupleof hours.”
As Konic and Alan turned to leave,Kalina tapped Garth on the arm and he turned soundlessly and movedalong a path back to town. Once he was out of hearing range, hebroke into a run. He would be back at the inn well before Alancould make it walking through town.
Kalina waited silently for over tenminutes after everyone had left and then she noisily started alongthe path that would enter the clearing. Almost as soon as shestarted walking, Arik started and turned towards her. Kalina couldhear the two boys talking quietly, but could not make out what theywere saying. She waved to them as she got closer and called to themjust as she entered the clearing. “Hello there! I seemed to havegotten lost on my morning walk.”
Neither boy called back to her, but shecould see one eyeing his bow and the other looking around for thebest escape route. When she got all the way into the clearing, sherealized that the two boys had intentionally divided themselves sothat her attention would be split between the two. She wonderedwhether it was the result of talking or they had done itsubconsciously. She walked right up to within ten paces of Arik andstopped. “Good morning,” she began. “I am staying in Lorgo and Iwas taking a morning hike. I feel silly admitting this to two boys,but I have become lost. Can you point the way back totown?”
Both boys spoke at the same time andpointed to the path that their fathers had taken. “Thank you, kindSir,” she said to Arik and turned towards Tedi. “And you, as well,Sir. That is a most beautiful necklace that you have,” she said asshe walked closer. “Would you consider selling it?”
“No,” Tedi almost shouted.More reservedly, he continued, “I mean no, I would not considerparting with it.”
“Well, I don’t blame you,”Kalina cooed. “It is very beautiful. Your mother must have been aPrincess. Well, thank you both again for thedirections.”
Kalina headed along the path that theboys had pointed out and returned to her room at the Fisherman’sInn. She paid no attention to Garth sitting on the front stoop orthe fisherman across the street watching him.
“Well, what did you make ofthat?” Tedi asked.
“What do you mean?” questionedArik. “She seemed to be what she said to me.”
“Perhaps,” Tedi pondered, “butit is not every day that a beautiful woman comes walking throughthe woods into this particular clearing. And why does everybody eyeup my necklace?”
“It is a beautiful necklace,”commented Arik. “I never knew it was your mother’s. I alwayswondered why you didn’t sell it with money being tight like it is.Now I understand.”
“Does this necklace meananything special to you?” Tedi asked.
“Special?” quizzed Arik. “Iguess it is very special if it was your mom’s. I wouldn’t part withit either if it was my mom’s.”
“Yeah, well, we better getback to making plans,” Tedi said suddenly. “I was pretty surprisedwhen our fathers didn’t object to our leaving. It is to protectthem, but I still thought they would argue.”
“We are to think we are doingit to protect them,” chuckled Arik. “If you had seen your father’sface at the time you suggested it, you would probably recognize thetruth.”
“What do you mean?” askedTedi.
“They were both glad when youstarted to suggest us leaving,” explained Arik, “but my father hadto restrain your father when you gave your reasoning. I suspectthey sat and talked for a long time on the beach last night andcame up with the same solution. I also suspect they have adifferent motivation for us leaving. For some reason they feel thatthey would endanger us if they came along. Neither man wouldsubject us to harm to save himself.”
Tedi nodded slowly as Arik’s logic sunkin. What he didn’t understand was his father’s logic, but he couldponder on that later. Right now they needed to plan their journey.Arik started gathering up the belongings that were scattered aroundthe campsite and came to a halt by his blanket. He bent down andpicked up a gold ring that hadn’t been there before. Tedi lookedover and asked, “What is that? Where did you find it?”
“It was on top of my blanket,”Arik stated. “It must be that woman’s. Did she say what inn she wasstaying at?”
“Don’t be a fool, Arik!” Tediscolded. “You can’t possibly be thinking of returning it? Whatbetter way to lure us into her trap then to make us feel obligatedto come to her?”
Arik at first thought that Tedi wasjust arguing to keep the ring, but by the time Tedi stoppedspeaking, he realized the truth of his friend’s statements. “You’reright,” Arik agreed. “We can leave it with our fathers and if sheis still in town after we leave, they can return it to her. I haveto learn to start thinking skeptically like you.”
“You’re darn right aboutthat,” laughed Tedi. “If what your father said was true, everybodyis out to kill us and your father doesn’t lie.”
“All right,” Arik said whileslipping the ring on his finger, “let’s figure out where we aregoing before our fathers come back and we can’t talk aboutit.”
* * * *
Garth entered the Fisherman’s Inn andwalked up to his room. Kalina was sitting at the small tablestaring at her hands. “I think I gave him enough of a viewing thathe is convinced that I’m not up to anything today,” Garthstated.
“That’s good,” Kalina replied,“because they are heading south at first light. They plan to travelalong the beach as far as they can because it will be low tide andtheir tracks will be washed away in the course of an hour. Neitherof these boys are stupid, Garth. They both show a remarkableintelligence and a strong determination. Our own plans must befool-proof.”
“They may be smart,” agreedGarth, “but they are still boys. I suspect that the Black Ridersmight be here as early as tomorrow morning.”
“We will leave here thisafternoon and camp a few miles south tonight,” Kalinaordered.
“As you command,” chuckledGarth, “always as you command. You shall make a fine Generalsomeday.”
“One doesn’t need to be agreat General when you know what your opponent is going to donext,” chuckled Kalina. “That damn Arik was actually going to tryto find me so he could return the ring. They plan to leave it withtheir fathers, but if you read Konic properly, he’ll insist theboys keep it as a reserve in case they run out ofmoney.”
“That he will do,” smiledGarth.
“There is also a LocatingSpell on Tedi’s necklace,” frowned Kalina. “I can sense it, but Icannot break it. As long as he wears the necklace, the caster willbe able to find him and there is not much we can do aboutit.”
“Do you think it is Wolinda’sspell?” asked Garth.
“There is really no way ofknowing,” admitted Kalina. “We will just have to be prepared forwhatever comes.”
* * * *
“You fools!” shouted thewitch. “I don’t care how tired your men were, you are to follow myorders. Perhaps you would prefer taking orders from anogre.”
The Dark Rider shuddered at the thoughtof taking orders from an ogre. There were too many stories aboutwhat happened to a person who disobeyed an ogre order and most ofthem centered on being eaten by the ogre. “A thousand pardons,Mistress Wolinda,” bowed the Dark Rider. “I wanted the men in topform to assure your success. We will ride like the wind to make upfor lost time.”