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Of Ancient Passages: Chapter 23: Two Girls Too Many

“Blasted where are those stables.” Alunda mumbles.

They jog through the streets. Not a very suspicious activity. But in their minds, it is indeed. Ahead the road breaks into three. The break to the left has three red robed figures headed their way. Apparently not having seen them yet.

“Oh shit.” Alunda spatters.

“To the right.” Maleen guides.

Running they take to the right. The way is clogged with street vendors. People congest around them. As Tsuk walks he watches as the figures comes strutting this way. Zipping in and out of people’s way they move. Here the figures come, still not having noticed.

Maleen takes down an alley. They follow her in. Sol does his best not to run. The figures pass by without any knowing. Alunda exhales deeply.

“Do you think any of them know us from the Valley?” Sol whispers.

“How can they walk so freely in the streets?” D’ereen mules.

“Damn Vesekraug.” Tsuk growls.

The walk out of the other side of the alley. “Here it is.” Maleen notices.

“Which?” Asks Tsuk.

“The black one with the tassels.”

“Looks like he did not supply us with horses.” Alunda’s frown twizzles his beard.

Tsuk walks two horses over and sets them to walk and even run the carriage. “We don’t want to be seen on the streets right now. Or we could just rent them.”

“Great plan. Do not pay the owner to be caught anyway.” Alunda’s sarcasm is noted but not noticed.

Maleen, Sol and D’ereen sit in the back. While Alunda and Tsuk ride in the front, leading. Alunda gets them going through the streets, keeping a keen eye. People spread out of their way. They tense as the Vesekraug pass but it does not move when they do. The gates are ahead.

“Keep it cool old man. At least until we are out of the gates.”

“Do not call me old durafan. Or do you want a knock on the head?”

A guard looks up to them. “Good day gentleman.”

“And to you too, sir.” Alunda says. The voice sounds fake, ridiculously so. Noticing what he has done he swallows hard.

The guard gives him a double take. He tries to hide his laughter. “Safe traveling.” It escapes some in his words.

They do not speak until they are hours down the road. Alunda brandishes a smile that says, oops. Tsuk touches his head, shaking it back and forth. The sky is a cotton candy blue. The crickets chirp loudly in the tall grass on either side of the road.

“Of all the moments to use a silly voice.” Tsuk mourns fizzly.

“Mind yourself. It was an accident. I am not the kind.”

“You crazy old—“the staff went hard on his head. “Ouch. Why did you do that?”

“I do not like being called old.”

“Okay, okay. Touchy.” Tsuk says in good spirits.


For a while they ride. Until the sky is a vanishing pink. Sweet smells of opening nightdust carry on the soft wind. How shall I describe a smell, a feeling, an emotion so perfectly harmonized with fall? It is heartbreaking. The sparkle of the dust skitters passed. Leaving the flowers to hum and vibrate their colors.

Alunda stops the horses. “Let us stop for a moment. We are well out of mind.” Getting down he knocks on the door with his staff.

As they get out Maleen is holding the key. “Wow.”

“Is she up to speed?” Alunda’s question is unneeded but it reassures him.

Sol nods. “About the more important things.”

“I’m sleepy and this grass seems cozy.”

“Only you Alunda would think grass as cozy.” Tsuk remarks.

“What?” The princess almost sounds appalled.

“We will just use some sleeping bags tonight. No need to spell up a camp.” Alunda says.

Flattening the grass, they make a nice little circle. A small lantern is set in the middle for minimal light. Each takes to their own sleeping bag, even D’ereen. Maleen has slight difficulty in adjusting. After an hour of tossing and turning, she lies still. Alunda extinguishes the light sometimes later that night. Unable to sleep he does all he can, pondering.

Sol twitches his nose. Cold sprinkles dot him, turning over he pays no mind. This sensation easily wakes Maleen. It is snowing but lightly. It makes slight patters as it hits the sleeping bags. She tussles her hair appropriately and gets up. Looking over at him she finds D’ereen embraced close. She bites her lip, brows tense.

“Sol you big idiot.” Stomping over she yanks D’ereen away.

D’ereen awakes first. “What are you doing?”

Sol second. “What happened?”

“What are you doing?” Maleen demands.

“I was sleeping.”

“You…you….” The princess stammers. “Lord Sol why do you allow her in your bed?”

Sol sits up noticing the snow. “You think I let her?”

“What’s the matter, jealous?” Finger touches Maleen’s brow.

Blushing she swats the finger away. “I am not!”

D’ereen wraps her arms around Sol. “Face it. You know I have something with him you never will.” The tease is hard.

“You devil. You demon.” Maleen grabs a stick, raising it. Trembling over to D’ereen.

D’ereen runs laughing. Maleen is after her, swatting the stick. Sol squats near the lantern, turning it on. As heat comes from it, he waits his hands there. Watching he shakes his head, smiling beside himself.

Alunda throws his sleeping bag off. “What’s all the noise? A person cannot sleep this way. He gets up catching some heat from the lantern.

“Don’t ask.”

Maleen screams, running from a snow tiger. Arms flail up. The tiger chases teasingly. It seems all the more otherworldly in this small flurry. Alunda and Sol both laugh.

Soft snoring is heard. Alunda looks for the noise, finding it. “How can Tsuk sleep?”

“We all have had moments of not being able to sleep. What with all we have been through.”

“We have almost finished your first mission. It is getting close. This one is particularly dangerous. Sometimes you never know.”

“Why a mace?” Sol finally asks.

“Because we obtain relics from our past. Because Exezla asked us. Because it seasons you for the future. Because it may help us in some way. Have faith in Exezla, he will not steer us wrong.”

“Do you think it will stop Zaladen or Shentra?”

“No, I do not. This is not about the relic. It is about training you. Do you not think you are more? You have grown in the time we have spent together. Your next mission will make you grown even more. That is the way of being and becoming a wizard. It is not always about recovering relics. It is about understanding what you are.”

“What am I?”

“On the way to becoming a wizard. That is all I hope for.”

“What about Zaladen?”

“Someone will stop him. It needs not fall on us to do it. History changes and all we can hope for is to survive it. I have done my part in warning the council.”

Tsuk stirs. “It’s snowing.”

“Yes it is. Well I guess we better get going.” Alunda grunts as he stretches.

It takes Sol nearly fifteen minutes to get the two into the carriage. They spend much of the traveling looking out the windows. Unwanting to catch each other’s gaze. The tension fizzes but clogs stagnant. Dare he even move lest he touch anyone. Dare he even breathe.

Getting up he switches seats opposite them. “What are you doing?” Maleen asks.

“I’m getting out of the danger area.”

They are both looking to him now. “Danger area?” Wonders D’ereen. She pats the spot where he was sitting. “Come sit back over here with us.”

The princess twiddles her fingers quietly. “Yeah.”
He folds his arms together. “Are you two going to play nice?”

“For now?” D’ereen looks to Maleen.

“For now.” The other agrees.

He sits back with them. “I guess that is all I suspected.”

Many miles pass easily now. Sol can see the tree line of Ye’lith. Something about these trees is different, alien. They seem much more grown, not ancient but odd. It is a hard thing to place. The apprehension swirls into foreboding. A gut wrenching prickly feeling.

The road suddenly stops. It is not that it is grown over or a dirt path. There is no road. The bricks end. There is yet another unsettling thing, the trees are groaning, as if stretching. It disappears some seconds after. The horses stop dead at the paths end.

They nay and whine as if some sense or feeling forbids them going on. Alunda slaps the reigns but they will go no farther. He does this a few more times; they seem to register the instructions but it is useless. Their legs give out beneath them and they lay still as stone. Their screeches are low and bellowy.

“What is this?” Tsuk says getting off the carriage.

Alunda is down as well. “This is the power of Ye’lith.”

The rest have gotten out. “An evil power to do this to horses.” Maleen says.

Alunda taps the ground with his staff. “It is not evil nor is it good. It simply is. Let’s rest near the carriage tonight.” He cuts the horses loose and they bolt in the other direction.

This time tents are spelled up. Tsuk guts and cooks some wolf meat on the fire. It is an excellently adequate taste. Considering that it is warm, no one seems to argue. The night is chilly and everyone disappears into tents. Perhaps hoping to dream away the foreboding.

Sol sits in his tent by a candle. Using magic to flick the fire out and alight. The flap opens and Maleen looks in. She looks cute in her bed wear. Her black hair flows down about her shoulders, tumbling in slight curls.

“Yes Miss Maleen?”

“I was wondering why the light was flickering.”

“Sorry. I haven’t kept you up have I?”

“No. I was just curious. Why have you become a wizard?”

Sol lets the light alone. “A lot has changed since we were kids. I was living alone.”

She sits next to him. “Where is your mother?”

“She is dead.”

“No.” She hugs him. “I wish I could have been there. No one deserves to suffer like that.” Their eyes lock. “Least of all you.”

The closeness sends him into a shallow breath. Her lips pucker and move close to his. She draws back cheeks blushing heavy. A warm hand presses to his face. Biting her lip she draws it away and gets up.

Opening the flap she looks back in. “You need to remember me Lord Sol. With every fiber in me I need you to remember.”

“I am starting to.”

For a second it seems she will rush back into his arms. Then with a quick breath, she looks back to him. “G-goodnight.”

“To you too,” the flap closes behind her. Extinguishing the light he gets into bed. The sleeping bag pulls open and then closed in on him. With a long relaxing breath he rests. “These girls are going to kill me.” Sol whispers faintly.
Written by MrE (C. R. Powers)
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