Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy (8 page)

“
Yes, we are. We are very grateful.” Sarah looked to Steve, still in conversation with Kornal. “We haven’t eaten anything for the better part of the day. The last thing I had was a couple bags of beef jerky.”

“
Beaf jerkie? What is that?”

“
Ummm, dried strips of meat. For traveling.”

“
Ah! I understand.” Nilhanu gestured towards the hearth where a small, iron kettle was hung over the flames. “I have put some dried meat in the stew. Bolger meat is quite tasty, dried or fresh.”

“
Bolger?”

“
Aye, bolger. Is that not the type of meat ye ate earlier?”

“
Ummm, no. It was, well, it was cow meat.”

“
Kow?” Nilhanu said the unfamiliar word slowly. “What manner of creature is that?”

“
One that is bred for its meat in my homeland.” Sarah paused, never believing in her wildest dreams that she’d one day have to describe what a cow was. “It’s quite good.”

Nilhanu smiled hospitably. She still didn’t know what a
kow
was, but it was not important to her. She rose and left the room, to return moments later with four bowls and four flat, wooden spoons.

Sarah again looked over to Steve. He was still talking with Kornal.

“
Steve?”

Steve’s eyes snapped over to lock on hers. “Yes?”

Sarah gestured to the bowls. “Have some stew.”

“
Great! I’m famished.” Steve walked over to his wife and took his bowl of steaming stew. The spoon was half-way up to his mouth by the time he sat down in front of the fireplace. The fire flared just then, giving off enough light for him to catch sight of the contents of the bowl. Chunks of green meat caught his eye, with unfamiliar vegetables and bits of leaves and other unknown greens floating around in a light green broth. His eyes widened, and then narrowed in speculation.

Sarah, who had suspected this behavior would come from her culinary-retarded husband, elbowed Steve discreetly in his ribs. Hard, but not hard enough to spill the stew. Fortunately, their hosts were busily consuming their own bowls.

Sarah whispered a fast set of instructions to her hesitant husband. “Hon, just eat it. Don’t ask.”

Steve looked at his wife, back at the bowl of stew/glop, back to his wife and took a bite. Fortunately, his hunger prevailed. Besides, it wasn’t that bad. With a side-long grin at his wife, he ate another spoonful. And another. “It’s very good.”

Steve awoke the following morning blissfully unaware of where he was. He turned on his side and snuggled closer to his wife, only Sarah wasn’t there. Nothing to worry about. His wife usually started moving around long before he did.

He smiled. Today was Sunday, wasn’t it? That meant that Sarah was most likely in the kitchen cooking something wonderful for breakfast. Sighing contentedly, he started daydreaming, wondering if it would be fresh cinnamon rolls, or maybe some french toast and bacon.

I really should get up, he thought. See if I can be of some help.

He cracked open his eyes and inhaled, hoping to smell something good. Instead, he instantly locked eyes with his wife from across the room. She wasn’t smiling.

“
So you’re finally up, huh? Good. There’s a lot to do and I don’t want to appear like ungrateful guests. Go see if you can help Kornal with anything.”

“
Kornal? Oh, man. It wasn’t a dream.” Steve sighed. “Okay, okay, I’m up. Where is he? Probably outside chopping wood or something, huh?”

“
He’s outside, but I’m not sure doing what. I’m going to go try and help out with breakfast. You just try not to hurt yourself, okay?”

“
Hurt myself, huh? Think highly of me, don’t you, babe?” Steve grinned at his wife.

“
Do you really want me to answer that?” Sarah smiled back as she walked to the opposite side of the small cottage.

Steve stretched and sat up. His gaze traveled about his immediate surroundings. The hearth on the far wall already had a steady fire going. An iron kettle was hanging over it with some steam escaping now and then from the lid. It smelled wonderful. He didn’t want to think about what it might have in it. Nilhanu was busy mincing some type of root and adding diced something-or-other to the mixture whenever she paused. She gestured for Sarah to stir the kettle on the fire.

Steve got up and walked to the door. Kornal was nowhere to be seen. Okay, now what was he supposed to do?

The flowers that had previously acted as sentinels swiveled again to face him, but did not start chiming, or glowing, or whatever it was that they were doing last night. Steve got the feeling that they were keeping an eye on him.

“
Kornal? Are you out here?”

There were rustling sounds coming from around the back of the cottage. Jamming his hands in his pockets, he headed off to investigate.

When he made it to the back of the house, he still didn’t see or hear anything. Just then, he heard a shout of surprise, followed closely by several splashes and a slew of curses coming from the general direction of the river.

Steve sprinted towards the riverbank, ready to help out in whatever way he could. What he saw when he got there, however, drew him up short. What the hell? Steve blinked a couple of times.

Kornal was wrestling with what appeared to be a salmon-sized, eight-legged fish that was making it quite clear it preferred not to be a meal. The “fish” kept wriggling and kicking its way out of Kornal’s grip and managed to flop back into the water. With a fresh string of curses, the young man dove after the creature.

“
Get back here, ye stinkin’ pile o’ naka dung! I am not finished with ye!”

More splashes and angry shouts. After a few more moments, Kornal emerged triumphantly with his catch. He strode out of the water with the limp fish and spied Steve.

“
Ah, Steve, good mornin’ to ye.” He held up the creature. “I caught breakfast!”

Steve gestured to his catch. “What is that? We don’t have any fish that look like that where I’m from.”

“
This is a rypo. There are plenty of them all throughout the river. They are a bugger to catch. Practically impossible to see in the river. Ye have never seen a rypo before?”

“
No, I’m sorry, I haven’t. I’m curious as to what other types of creatures live around here. Anything dangerous?”

“
Dangerous? Well, there are the dragons, naturally. Ye do not want to tangle with one o’ them. They can be… Steve, are ye well? What is the matter? Do ye not know what a dragon is?”

Steve’s eyes had gone wide open and had an utterly shocked expression on his face.

“
Dragons!! Hell yeah, I know what a dragon is. Holy crap, are there really dragons here? Are they big? Do they breathe fire?”

“
Ye sound like ye want to encounter one. If ye did, ye would not live to see another day. Very dangerous, are dragons. Thankfully, there are none in these parts.” Kornal pointed to the mountains far to the north. “Ye would have to journey many days into the Bohanis if ye truly wanted to see one.”

Steve thought a moment. “Okay, no dragons around here. What other types of animals live in this land? We saw a pair of griffins yesterday. I was almost dinner for them.”

“
Aye, there are plenty of griffins in these parts. They can be very dangerous if provoked. Ye are not allowed to hunt or kill a griffin. Considered to be sacred. Not sure why.” Kornal scratched his beard. “There are no shortage of griffins here, that is for sure. The best advice I could give ye would be to steer clear of ’em.”

“
How many people live here? Are there others like yourself and your wife?”

“
There are several large villages. The closest can be found to the west. Avin. ”

“
Kornal, think carefully, have you encountered any other travelers that appear to be total strangers, like us? More specifically, an old man named Simon, or a woman named Grace?”

Kornal thought a moment. “We do not get many travelers throughout these parts of the mountains. Of the few that we have met and spoken with, there has not been anyone calling themselves by those names.”

“
What about people that looked completely out of place, such as ourselves? Do you get many visitors like that?”

“
Nay, no one like that.”

Steve suddenly brightened. “What about points of interest? If someone were to come to this place from a far away land, what do you think they would like to see? ”

“
A‘poynt o’ intrehst’?”

“
Okay, okay, let me think. What about a ruler? Someone in charge? If a distant traveler came to this land looking for the representative of…” Steve paused a moment. “Exactly what land is this? What do you call it?”

“
Ye are standin’ smack in the middle o’ the kingdom o’ Lentari.”

“
Kingdom? Then there must be a king and queen?”

“
Aye, Kri’Entu and Ny’Callé.”

“
Where do they reside? I mean, how would I find them? They might be able to help us.”

“
Their majesties are very kind and generous. They would find a way to help ye. The king and queen hold court in R’Tal. That’s several days journey from here, due east as the griffin flies.”

“
How difficult do you think it is? I mean, do you think Sarah and I could make it?”

“
Aye, there are several roads that will lead to R’Tal. We will give ye enough supplies so that you can make it there.”

“
Thanks. Again. We really do appreciate all you’ve done for us.” Steve paused for a moment. “Is there anything that can pose any problems to us on our way there?”

“
There is always a chance that somebody or something would do ye harm if given a chance. Their majesties, however, have enchanted the roads to keep folk from harm.” Kornal’s look became stern. “Do not risk yer lives. Do not stray from the passageway, at least until ye have the castle safely in sight.”

“
If the roads are safe, then we have nothing to fear, right?”

Kornal shook his head. “Friend, ye do not have knowledge of our kingdom nor our ways. That in itself will put ye in grave danger. Just get to the king an’ queen as soon as ye can. Do not stray,” Kornal repeated.

“
Stay on the road. Got it.”

Kornal went around to the back of the hut to clean the rypo. Suspecting their host was going to prepare the fish for breakfast, Steve wisely walked the other direction, deciding to seek out Sarah. He was pretty sure he’d be unable to eat the fish if he saw the poor thing cleaned.

He ducked back inside the hut and discovered his wife and Nilhanu seated at the table, chatting away as though they were the best of friends. It never fails. Leave two women in the same room and even if they didn’t know one another, they’d find something to talk about.

Sarah looked up at him and smiled. “Hi! Were you able to help out?”

Steve looked down and shuffled his feet. “Well, not exactly. I had a feeling that if I tried to jump in and lend a hand that I’d be in the way. He’s very versatile. I do have some info for you that might help us out.”

“
You do? That’s great! Nilhanu and I have been chatting as well. After breakfast, we’ll compare notes.”

They feasted on roast rypo and boiled grains. It was not an Egg McMuffin, but it wasn’t too bad. The rypo didn’t taste like fish at all, more like pork. The meat had too much fat in it, but that didn’t seem to stop Sarah from enjoying it. Steve, meanwhile, was nonchalantly trying to trim the fat off of his piece of fish without making it look too obvious what he was doing. He was determined to eat this meal without making too much of a fuss.