When the forest path widened slightly,Garth dropped out of the lead and signaled to Tedi to take over.Garth brought his black stallion alongside Kalina’s white mare andtalked softly to Kalina. “How sure are you that the cloak she wearswas Aurora’s?” he asked.
Kalina looked over at her mate with awry grin. “Positive,” she answered. “There has been only oneEmpress of Sordoa and the symbol on the cloak is the one Aurorachose for the position. Also, the burn marks are magical in nature,but the most telling of all is the stitching of Aurora’s name onthe inside of the hem. I doubt that Niki has ever noticed it, or ifshe did, the name meant nothing to her. It was a good idea of yoursfor me to check it out while they were inside the Royal Palace. Whyare you so concerned about it?”
“It is not the cloak that I amreally concerned about,” confessed Garth. “It is Niki that I amconcerned about. She is so childish and unpredictable. It is hardfor me to picture her wielding the Sword of Heavens against Sarac.Right now, she cannot even hold the Sword, never mind use it. Somuch depends on our ability to control the Children that I worryabout Niki being uncontrollable.”
“Garth, you worry about thingsthat you cannot change,” smiled Kalina. “We do not get to choosethe Prophecy Children. We can only work with whom the Prophecy hasdelivered.”
“That may be easy for you toaccept,” Garth returned, “but a warrior must make plans for allcontingencies. Have you tried asking her where she got thecloak?”
“Several times,” sighedKalina. “She always reacts the same, as if I am trying to steal itfrom her. She insists that it is hers and refuses to discuss itfurther.”
“Well, at least Tedi iscontrollable,” Garth said changing the subject. “You are fairlycertain that he is the heir?”
“I am positive that thenecklace belonged to either Prince Oscar or Princess Callie,”Kalina corrected. “As with Niki, he refuses to discuss it except toinsist that it was his mother’s. It seems unbelievable thatPrincess Callie ended up married to a fisherman in Lorgo, though.That would mean Prince Oscar died and we know from the General thathe survived the Collapse.”
“Not necessarily,” Garthinterjected. “General Gregor said that Prince Oscar was last knownto be searching for Princess Callie. Maybe he never found her andshe somehow survived the sinking of the Princess Lydia. Maybe thisfisherman rescued her and married her.”
“It is as plausible as anyother story,” mused Kalina. “Certainly, the Children do not knowthe truth themselves. Tedi’s description of his mother does notmake her sound like Princess Callie, but I am sure about thenecklace.”
“Well, perhaps it was thechild who was rescued by the fisherman, then,” continued Garth. “Iguess there is no real way of knowing. You are right. We will justhave to accept what the Prophecy has given us and go fromthere.”
Arik whistled softly and caught Garth’sattention. Garth dropped back to Arik’s position to see what wastroubling him.
“We are being followed,” Ariksaid nervously. “I can’t see anyone, but I know they arethere.”
“Elves,” Garth simply stated.“You have done well noticing them. They are known for their silencein the forest. We are traveling a line that cuts between theKingdom of Klandon and Elderal, Land of the Elves. They should notbother us if we continue traveling in this direction; still, youshall keep a close watch and let me know of anychanges.”
Garth rode to the front of theprocession and came in alongside Tedi. Tedi looked over at himquickly and returned his eyes to the path ahead.
“So, you have heard them,too,” Tedi stated. “They seem to be curious more than threatening.I just wish that I could get a glimpse of them so I would know whatthey are.”
“They are elves,” declaredGarth. “We travel the edge of their homeland. They should notbother us if we do not stray to the right of the path. The leftside of the path is the Kingdom of Klandon, but their patrolsseldom come out this far. If you have to diverge from the path,choose the left side.”
Tedi’s eyes opened wide in amazement,but they never left the path ahead except for quick darts to eitherside. Garth dropped back behind Tedi and rode in silence. His mindwandered from pride at the incredible level of skills most of theChildren had obtained to the dismal feeling he got when he thoughtof Niki as Sarac’s descendant. As far as Garth was concerned, Nikiwas a child in a woman’s body. Before he was aware of the passingof time, Tedi had led the group into a clearing on the left side ofthe trail to camp for the night.
The Rangers quickly divided up thechores required to get the campsite set up. Garth volunteered tohunt so that the rest of the group could practice. Spring wasalready turning into summer, yet the forest felt cool. Heremembered a time when the cool of these woods would have been awelcome relief at this time of year, but those memories were notrecent. Of course, there were no elves nearby then and they werethe reason Garth volunteered to do the hunting. He told the boysthat the elves would not bother them, but he wasn’t too sure ofthat himself.
Garth was dressed in his blacksuit andthe darkening hour brought little light into the forest. Quietly,he moved away from the camp and deeper into the forest on the leftside of the trail. After moving about a mile along the parallel ofthe trail he turned and crossed over the path into Elderal. Hequietly plunged deeper into the woods, moving away from the trailand then doubling back towards the direction the Rangers originallycame from. When he felt he had gone about a mile, he turned towardsthe trail again and crept forward.
Slowly and silently, Garth made his waytowards the trail until he finally saw what he was searching for.Directly ahead of him was an elf in a brown tunic and twenty horselengths to his left was another. Garth waited for a few moments toobserve them and to search for others that might be nearby.Satisfied that there were only two observers close by, Garth movedsilently up behind one of them and nocked an arrow in hisbow.
Garth squatted five paces behind theelf and spoke softly so his voice would not travel to the otherelf. “There is no need to spy, my friend. You are welcome to joinour campfire and share whatever meager rations we have.”
The elf did not spin around abruptly asmost humans would have. He turned slowly and focused on Garth andthe arrow pointing at him. “Would a friend point an arrow atanother friend's back?” the elf quizzed.
“Only the threat of a signalto your brethren required the arrow,” Garth said as he lowered thebow and returned the arrow to his quiver. “It has been many yearssince I walked within the Elderal and I do not know much of whathas transpired since then.”
Garth stood erect and the other elfimmediately swung his attention to the stranger in black. The elfnearest Garth squinted his oval eyes as if measuring the characterof a man who could move like an elf. Garth could feel the secondelf moving into position as the first elf spoke.
“How is it you move like anelf?” he inquired.
Garth casually moved to one side of thefirst elf to delay the other’s approach. “I was taught many yearsago by one who is like my brother,” Garth stated.
The first elf signaled his partner. “Iam Garong,” he announced. “My partner is Rhula.”
Garth watched as the second elf came tojoin the conversation and was mildly surprised to notice that shewas female. “I am known as Garth Shado,” Garth stated. “My partymeans no harm to the elves and we shall be out of Elderal on thesecond day from today. We travel this trail for it is the shortestpath to our destination.”