Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy (10 page)

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 things.” 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.”

Sarah laughed.

They continued on in silence for another half an hour when they reached the source of the river they had been following. The impressive Zylan River stretched out from west to east as far as the eye could see.

“
That sucker has got to be the size of the Mississippi! Wow!!” Steve whistled in amazement. “I sure do hope we don’t have to cross that.”

The Zylan River stretched a mile and a half across at its widest point. The murky water was gently flowing east, prompting Steve to yet again wonder if he might be able to make a raft. Just as quickly as before, he dismissed the idea. A flock of light blue birds were floating on the river and another flock was circling overhead. The road, fortunately, continued east, running alongside the river as well as heading off west.

“
So far, so good,” Steve mused. “We have to head east for close to a day. That should bring us to that village. Piece of cake!”

“
Can we stop for a bit? My legs are tired.” Sarah sat down on the nearest rock. “Why don’t we have something to eat?”

“
Good idea.” Steve set down the knapsack and started rummaging through it. He handed some dried meat to Sarah and took a piece for himself.

“
I’ll say this,” Steve said, “I’m really starting to like jerky. Funny thing is, I’m pretty sure this ain’t beef jerky, but at least it ain’t green.” He gave Sarah a lopsided grin.

“
Think anyone will ever believe this when we tell this story?”

Steve leaned back against the rock and looked to the east. “As long as we get to tell the story, I really don’t care.”

After a brief rest, they resumed their trek east. Steve turned to Sarah. “Did you hear that we’re in the kingdom of Lentari?”

Sarah nodded. “Yeah, that’s what Nilhanu said. She also said that Lentari is ruled by a king and queen.”

“
Right. Kornal said that, too. He said they are Cree Entoo and Nigh Kuhlay, or something like that. And Lentari? Where the hell is that? I may not be a geography buff, but I’ve never heard of that country. You?”

“
No, I haven’t.” Sarah suddenly stopped walking. “Wait. What were the names of the king and queen again?”

“
Ummm, I’m pretty sure he said ‘Cree Entoo and Nigh Kuhlay’. Maybe he said ‘Kallay’. I don’t know. Why?”

“
Hon, give me the journal.”

Steve pulled the journal from his pocket and passed it to his wife. Sarah opened it to the first page and gasped.

“
Sweetie! Look! Remember that inscription we couldn’t read? Look at it now!”

Steve came up behind his wife and looked over her shoulder at the journal. In an elegant hand were the following words:

Return to R’Tal whenever ye or yer friends would like to visit– Kri’Entu & Ny’Callé

“
What the hell? This just magically appears in English now?”

Sarah smirked at her husband. “Magically, huh?”

Steve grunted, electing not to comment.

Sarah pointed at the names. “Look! Kree Entoo and Nigh Calay. Do you know what this means?”

“
I’ll say! R’Tal! That’s where the king and queen live. Hon, I think ‘Nayan’ refers to the queen! That means that my grandparents knew the king and queen!” Steve thought a moment. “I would say this confirms our theory. Since their names are in my grandparents’ journal, and there appears to be an open invitation to return, then clearly they have come here before and obviously had a way to return home.” He grabbed Sarah’s shoulders. “Babe, this is our proof!”

Sarah was clapping her hands excitedly. “Oh, YES!! Just what I wanted to hear! Okay, so the plan is now to get to R’Tal. We need to seek an audience with the king and queen. They have got to be able to get us home.”

Encouraged, they hurried back to the enchanted road and headed east once more. As they rounded a gentle bend in the path, neither husband nor wife noticed a faint shimmering over the road.

Sarah was excited. “Hon, let me see that journal again. Yes, see? The entry makes it sound like your grandparents were either highly respected or else held positions of high status in the court. Might make sense why they were always gone. Maybe they had important work here.”

“
I can buy that, I guess. But to prevent them from coming back home to spend time with us? That would suggest that the king and queen are a couple of hard-asses.”

“
I’m just saying that there is obviously more going on here than we originally thought, so I think we ought to hold judgment until we get all the facts, ‘k?”

Steve nodded. “That’s fair.”

Another hour passed by, finding Steve and Sarah in high spirits. That came to a screeching halt, however, when the path they had been following unexpectedly vanished, leaving them in the middle of an open glade. Without realizing it, they had wandered well away from the river. No signs of their enchanted path or the mighty river they had been following were anywhere to be found.

“
Ummm, what just happened here? Where the hell did the path go?” Steve was looking around worriedly.

Having been lectured very firmly by Kornal about straying from the path, neither Steve nor Sarah had taken a step in any direction.

“
The path is right where ye left it, miscreant. About three leagues back.”

The voice sounded harsh and mean, and meant business. It belonged to a small, wiry man wearing rags and brandishing a wicked-looking dagger. He pointed it at Steve.

“
I must say that no one has fallen for my path trick in quite some time.”

Sarah moved closer to Steve and whispered, “What do we do?”

“
Play it safe. Don’t provoke him.”

The thief was looking them over. “So what dweo I have here? Yer money pouches. Toss ‘em over. Now.”

Steve stepped forward. “I know you won’t believe this, but we don’t have any money. We are just a couple of travelers, on our way to Donlari. We don’t have anything of value.”

The brazen thief walked over to Steve, brandishing his knife. “Aye, right you are. I do not believe ye. Toss over that pack. Turn out yer pockets.”

Steve reluctantly handed the pack to the thief, who snatched it out of his hand. He upended the contents on the ground, kicking around the packages of dried meat and several small leather pouches.

“
So ye are playing games with me. Ye are hiding yer money. Not smart. Hand it over now and ye just might walk away from this.”

It was then that the bandit caught sight of Sarah’s purse. “I’d be passing that over, girl. Ye don’ want to be trying anything stupid.”

Sarah was stuck. She really didn’t want to give the thief her purse, but she didn’t want Steve to attempt anything heroic, either. It wasn’t worth it. Oh, wait! The gold grif and the jorii were in her change purse! If the jorii was as powerful as Kornal said it was, it would be catastrophic to give it to someone like this! What was she going to do?

Before she could decide, however, the thief made the decision for her. Quick as a fox, he leaned forward and snatched the purse off of her shoulder. After a couple of quick fumbles with the zipper, the contents of her purse joined the contents of their pack on the ground.

The robber saw the shiny metal cylinder of her lipstick and snatched that off the ground, tucking it into an inside pocket. Her car keys, work keys, and package of Juicy Fruit were swept aside. The thief found her smaller change purse, opened it, and dumped the contents on the ground as well. Sarah held her breath. Maybe he wouldn’t find them! Wait a minute. Where were they? Sarah peered at the ground. Both the small sphere and the gold coin were nowhere to be found.

The bandit shouted with triumph as he eyed the small pile of change on the ground. He grabbed a double handful of American coins and thrust it into another pocket.