Weeks later, Shea perched wearily on one of the tall wooden stools in the inn kitchen and studied blankly the plate of food on the counter in front of him. At his elbow, Flick was already starting on his second helping. It was early in the evening and the Ohmsford brothers had spent the entire day repairing the veranda roof. The summer sun had been hot and the work had been tedious; yet, although he was tired and vaguely disgruntled, Shea found himself unable to locate his appetite. He was still picking at his food when his father appeared in the hall doorway, mumbling blackly, to himself. Curzad Ohmsford came up to them without a word and tapped Shea on the shoulder.
«How much longer is this nonsense going to continue?» he demanded.
Shea looked up in surprise.
«I don’t know, what you mean,” he answered truthfully, glancing at Flick, who shrugged blankly.
«Not eating much either, I see.» His father spied the dinner plate. «How do you expect to get your strength back if you don’t eat properly?»
He paused for a moment, and then seemed to recall that he had gotten off the subject entirely.
«Strangers, that’s what I mean. Now I suppose you’ll be off again. I thought that was all done with.»
Shea stared at him.
«I’m not going anywhere. What in the world are you talking about?»
Curzad Ohmsford seated himself heavily on a vacant stool and eyed his foster son closely, apparently resigned to the fact that he was not going to get a straight answer without a little unnecessary effort.
«Shea, we have never lied to each other, have we? When you came back from your visit with the Prince of Leah, I never pressed you about what went on while you were there, even though you left in the middle of the night without a word to anyone, even though you came back looking like your own ghost and very carefully avoided telling me exactly how you got that way. Now answer me,” he continued quickly when Shea tried to object. «I never once asked you to tell me anything, did I?»
Shea shook his head silently. His father nodded in satisfaction.
«No, because I happen to believe that a man’s business is mostly his own affair. But I cannot forget that the last time you disappeared from the Vale was right after that other stranger appeared asking for you.»
«Other stranger!» the brothers exclaimed together.
Instantly all the old memories came back to them — Allanon’s mysterious appearance, Balinor’s warning, the Skull Bearers, the running, the fear… Shea slid down from his stool slowly.
«There’s someone here… looking for me?»
His father nodded, his broad face clouding darkly as he caught the look of concern mirrored in his son’s furtive glance at the doorway.
«A stranger, like before. He got in several minutes ago, looking for you. He’s waiting out in the lobby. But I don’t see…»
«Shea, what can we do?» Flick interrupted hurriedly. «We don’t even have the Elfstones to protect us anymore.»
«I… I don’t know,” his brother mumbled, desperately trying to think through his confusion. «We could slip out the back way…»
«Now wait a minute!» Curzad Ohmsford had heard enough. He gripped their shoulders tightly and turned them about to face him, staring at them in disbelief.
«I did not raise my sons to run away from trouble.» He studied their worried faces a moment and shook his head. «You must learn to face your problems, not run from them. Why, here you are in your own home, among family and friends who will stand by you, and you talk about running away.»
He released them and stepped back a pace.
«Now we’ll all go out there together and face this man. He looks a hard sort, but he seemed friendly enough when we talked. Besides, I don’t think a one–handed man is any kind of a match physically for three whole men — even with that pike.»
Shea started abruptly.
«One–handed…?»
«He looks like he traveled a long way to get here.» The elder Ohmsford did not seem to have heard him. «He’s carrying a little leather pouch that he claims belongs to you. I offered to take it, but he wouldn’t give it to me. Said he wouldn’t give it to anyone but you.»
Now suddenly Flick understood.
«It must be something important,” his father declared. «He told me you dropped it on your way home. Now how could that happen?»
Curzad Ohmsford had to wait awhile longer for his answer. In a rush, his sons were past him, through the kitchen door, and halfway down the hallway to the lobby of the inn.