“How about the cloak or herparents?” Garth inquired. “Have you gotten anything further out ofher?”
“Not a thing,” Kalina sighed.“Every time I bring it up, she develops a bad mood and stalks off.That is what happened to our session today. I was probing about hermother and whether or not her mother had magical ability. She gotmoody and claimed she had a headache. Then she just got up andwalked away. It is so damn frustrating working withher.”
“You should try showing herhow to fight with a knife as I have,” Garth laughed. “I think shemight stab herself in the arm trying to get her knife out of thesheath.”
“Maybe I am just expecting toomuch too soon with her,” mused Kalina. “Your push to get throughthe path to avoid Lavinda did not fool the Children, Garth. Theyknow there was time to detour through Tagaret and one night inLavinda would not have been far off the track.”
“You know I have a hard timedealing with some things, Kalina. So they know it now, too. Does itreally matter? We have a task before us and the sooner we get toit, the sooner we will get to our goal.”
Kalina laid her hand gently on Garth’sarm. “No, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. You cannot hide thetruth about the end of Alex and Jenneva forever, though. Some daywe will have to atone for our sins.”
“Perhaps, but that day is nottoday,” denied Garth. “I am not ready to live with mine yet. I amgoing to halt the practice for tonight. I think we should get aneven earlier start tomorrow. We are very exposed this close toSarac and I want to put some miles between him and us. Is the Swordof Heavens still providing direction?”
“It is actually gettingstronger,” Kalina acknowledged. “It is swinging more West thanNorth now. I suspect we will be going over the West Mountains andinto what was Cordonia.”
Garth nodded as he rose to break up thepractice sessions.
The early morning start allowed thegroup to be within sight of the West Mountains before stopping thenext night. Early practice consisted of tracking, camouflage, andstealth. During the after dinner talk session, Garth got tired ofhearing about Alexander Tork again.
“Why do you not ask questionsabout Oscar Dalek?” Garth inquired of Tanya. “Your uncle must havebeen full of stories about him, being a travelingmerchant.”
“Oh, he was,” conceded Tanya.“Most of Oscar Dalek’s life is fairly open and well known, though.You can not be the Prince of Targa without having books writtenabout you.”
“I’ve never read anythingabout him,” Tedi interrupted.
“Nor I,” Arik added. “Was he afriend of Alex’s?”
Garth groaned and shut his eyes. “Yes,they were very good friends,” Garth sighed. “Oscar’s fame did nothave anything to do with his friendship with Alex, though. He couldhave been a great warrior as well, but he never trained his skillsin those areas. Instead, he used his head to amass a great fortunewhile benefiting Targa. In fact, his contribution to Targa faroutweighed Tork’s. Without Prince Oscar, there would have been noTarga ships on the Targa Sea, no canal connecting the Targa Seawith the Sordoan Sea, and probably no victory in the war with thegoblins. His ships and wagons allowed the Targa Army to movequickly to entrap the goblins.”
“That hardly sounds asexciting as the life of Alex and Jenneva,” Arik said.
“No?” chuckled Garth. “WhenOscar was young he lost his father to bandits and his mother was sopoor that they could not put food on the table. He rose from thatmiserable disadvantage to become the richest man in the world andthe Prince of the mightiest nation in the world. Killing goblins iseasy work compared to that. A thousand men could grow up to leadarmies and kill their foes, but I do not think anyone will everduplicate Oscar Dalek’s tremendous feats. And what is even moreexciting about him is that one of you is his son.”
“But he was not a warrior,”protested Arik. “We are training to be warriors, notmerchants.”
Garth sighed again. He dared not tellthem of some of Oscar’s contributions to Targa because they werestill too secret. He could not tell them that while Alex wascreating the Rangers, Oscar was creating the Spiders, because theSpiders still existed and still gathered sensitiveinformation.
“Oscar Dalek was no merchant,”Garth insisted. “He started out as a merchant, but that is akin tocalling Alex an infantry trainee. Besides, you are alreadywarriors. Imagine being an Oscar Dalek and a greatwarrior.”
The boys perked up at that and startedeyeing each other, looking for the signs of greatness that a kingwould exhibit.
“Oscar Dalek had visionsinside his head that no other person had ever possessed,” Garthcontinued. “When he saw opportunities, the glee in his eyes was notonly for himself, but for Targa. Imagine being able to have thatvision to shape your country and the skills of a warrior to demandthe respect of your enemies.”
The boys were clearly excited at theprospect of being a warrior and a king. Garth smiled to himself atsuccessfully changing the topic of conversation for severaldays.
“Do you know which one of usis Oscar’s son?” Fredrik asked.
“I don’t know for certain,”confessed Garth, “but I believe he is among us. Would you reallywant me to tell you if I knew?”
Affirmative response rang fromeverybody’s lips and Garth was actually surprised. Being a Princewas a heavy burden and Garth would not want to know if he was intheir position. “Very well,” Garth replied. “I will tell you theonly clue that I possess. Remember that what I am about to say isnot proof of a claim to the throne, but Prince Oscar and PrincessCallie were given very special gifts from Jenneva. One of youcarries that gift today. How it was come by, we do not know, butits identity is certain.”
“Do you mean a magical gift?”Arik asked. “That would have to be Fredrik. Tedi and I have nomagical gift whatsoever.”
Garth watched the boys’ expressions tosee if there was resentment created by Arik’s statement. Fredrikappeared shocked and both Tedi and Arik seemed pleased forFredrik.
“I do not mean a gift ofmagic,” Garth finally said. “I mean a physical gift. The necklacethat Tedi wears belonged to either the Prince or the Princess. Wedo not know which.”
Tedi turned bright red and Arik andFredrik slapped him on the back. Tanya looked curiously at the heirto the Alcea Crown, but Niki actually moved to sit between Fredrikand Tedi and examined the necklace.
The next few days were a welcome reliefto Garth. The questions about Alexander Tork had ceased and PrinceOscar became the topic of conversation. The most dramatic change inthe Children was in Niki. She would not leave Tedi alone. Insteadof magic lessons with Kalina, Niki started challenging Tedi atknives and the Lanoirian Star. She even tried to battle him with astaff, but that lasted as long as one swing in which Tedi disarmedher and she complained of a broken wrist.
The Sword of Heavens was vibrating sovigorously now that Kalina could not control it. Tedi took over thejob of using the Sword of Heavens to point towards theirdestination. The terrain of the headwaters of the Black Riverchanged from mountains to rolling hills and eventually flattenedout to forested woods just outside the village of Dani. The grouphad a discussion about entering Dani for provisions and afterKalina pointed out that this area had very few visitors and theywould surely be talked about, they decided to bypass thetown.
Just west of Dani, the pine forest gaveway to an ancient wood of old oak trees. At this point the Sword ofHeavens was vibrating so wildly that only Garth and Arik had thephysical strength to handle it. Garth gave the job to Arik so hewould not be encumbered if trouble arose. The woods were dark andwhatever light the day brought was quickly fading, so Garthannounced that they would camp for the night and start fresh in themorning.
The camp was full of excitement aseveryone realized they would probably meet the fairies in themorning. During the talk period after dinner, everyone hadquestions about the fairies and what they were like. Unfortunately,nobody had any answers. No one had ever seen a fairy, not evenGarth and Kalina. Garth cautioned about being overlyexcited.