Bakkian Chronicles, Book I - The Prophecy (23 page)

“
Okay, hon, your turn. I need you to dry these.” She handed the soggy pile of clothes to her husband. Seeing him rubbing his eyes, and clearly not quite awake, she plopped them down on his lap.

“
Damn, babe!” Fully awake, Steve held up the wet clothes. “What happened? Did you wash these already?”

“
You fell asleep. I’ll let that slide for now. I’ve washed them. You get to dry them.”

“
Dry them.” Steve repeated, chuckling. “I think I can handle that.”

Ten minutes later, dressed in their clean, dry clothes, they were ready for the knock on the door. The same small serving boy again delivered a tray of food and drink. Without asking permission, Ellis silently moved over to the far wall and retrieved the dishes from last night’s dinner, quietly shutting the door behind him.

“
Doesn’t say much, but he’s efficient as hell.” Steve eyed the bottle on the new tray. “Are you kidding me? Wine for breakfast? Maybe they should consider joining Alcoholics Anonymous.”

Sarah opened the bottle and sniffed the contents. “Smells non-alcoholic. I think you’re in luck.”

Breakfasted, refreshed, and with their pack repacked, they made their way down the hall to pay their respects to Thacken and his wife. The burly proprietor was chatting with a soldier when he spotted his new friends.

“
Steve. Sarah. Slept well, did ye?”

“
We did, thanks,” Sarah answered. “We sure do appreciate the food you sent up. Both times actually.”

“
Good deeds are rewarded in this house, I can assure ye. Bolli is busy in the back, but she told me what ye did for her early this morning, Steve. She made this for the two of ye.” He held out several tightly wrapped packages of varying
sizes
. “This should see you to R’Tal. Good journey to the both of ye. Thanks again for yer help.”

Steve grasped his arm with his, giving a friendly shake. “You’re welcome. Please convey our thanks to your wife.” He hefted the wrapped packages. “This was very thoughtful of her.”

“
If ye come by this way again, stop by t’ say hello, will ye?”

“
We will,” Sarah assured him.

Stepping out into the bright daylight, Steve hoisted the pack on his back and looked around. The village was just starting to awaken. Local merchants were already setting up their carts to display their wares to passing onlookers. Taking Sarah’s hand, he guided them through the maze of clay pottery, bolts of fabric, and carts of various fruit and produce.

“
Do you know where you’re going?” Sarah asked.

“
Yep. That way.” Steve pointed past the swarm of merchants. “We’re heading towards the river.” Gesturing in the direction of all the eager salesmen, he chuckled. “Don’t look ‘em in the eye, don’t smile at ‘em, and maybe we’ll get through with our lives.”

Sarah laughed. “I wish I had some of the
local
currency. I’d love to buy a few things. You know, support the local economy.”

One merchant, a silversmith, overheard her remark and quickly selected a green crystal pendant on a silver chain. Catching Sarah’s eye, he handed her the necklace. “A pretty necklace for a pretty lady!”

Sarah smiled warmly at the salesman. “Thank you, sir, but I cannot pay at this time. Another time perhaps.” She moved to return the necklace.

The jewelry was gently pushed back into her hands. “Take it. Wear it with pride. If ye be asked who made it, tell them Kahtro o’ Donlari, finest silversmith this side o’ the Zylan River! Can ye do that for me? An’ ye can, then the necklace belongs to ye.”

The generous merchant was rewarded with one of Sarah’s million dollar smiles. She slid the chain over her neck and admired the pendant. The cabochon was of the purest green, shining brilliantly in the sun. She showed her new jewelry to Steve. “This is beautiful. A truly masterful work. Kahtro of Donlari, I’ll tell everyone I see about the amazing silversmith who can make such beautiful things.”

The merchant flushed with pride. “That is all I ask, milady.”

Once they were out of earshot, Steve looked at Sarah. “Keep flashing those pearly whites, babe. We can probably get all kinds of cool stuff here.”

She playfully smacked his arm. “I’m not looking for any freebies here. These merchants need to make a living. I’m halfway tempted to buy something just to cash in this grif.”

“
And how do you know you won’t be hosed by some greedy salesman?”

“
True. I guess we really don’t know how much our grif will buy. We could be cheated and not know it.”

The activity in the street steadily increased until husband and wife were forced to walk one in front of the other, with Steve forging a path through the bustling throng of people. Villagers had come from all around to barter for various goods; housewives browsed for the freshest produce, farmers inspected new tools, and small children shrieked with delight as they ran from cart to cart.

A small skirmish broke out as one child tried to snatch a shiny trinket from a cart laden with rings and necklaces. Unfortunately for the would-be thief, the owner of the tiny shop, having years of experience with street rats, had been watching this particular little monster since he had started eyeing potential marks. The hand snaked out and grabbed the medallion, but the shop owner was quicker. Shaking the youngster by the arm, drawing him up and away from his prized wares, he forcefully snatched the jewelry back from the bawling brat. Flinging the crying child away from his cart, he turned to discover that four more necklaces had been pilfered, thanks to the rest of the brat’s gang.

They could still hear the curses from the merchant as they finally reached the outskirts of the village and approached the steadily flowing river. Once there, they stepped back onto the enchanted road and continued east towards the Lentarian capital city of R’Tal.

As they walked, they continued to pass merchants and villagers alike, all who smiled at them and tipped their caps. There were even a few passing soldiers who nodded in their direction, preventing Steve from having to present the captain’s dagger.

This is a nice place to live, Sarah thought; a much simpler way of life exists here. The people here are friendly, courteous. Citizens of this kingdom, whom they didn’t know, had taken them in for the night. For the entire night! How many people would do that in her neighborhood back home? The village they just left clearly had a strong economy, with merchants coming far and wide to trade their goods. Law and order seemed to be well established, so clearly the king and queen were doing a good job governing their people. She was starting to see why her husband’s grandparents spent so much time here as opposed to their own world.

“
Penny for your thoughts,” Steve said.

“
Honestly? That I could see why your grandparents spent a lot of time here. All appearances suggest that this is a peaceful kingdom. The people are friendly. And the king and queen here had given them positions with responsibility. They must have felt important here.”

Steve frowned. “I still think family should come first, but then again, I can see your point. To tell the truth, this wouldn’t be a bad place to live.”

Not being accustomed to using one’s legs as the main method of transportation, the predicted one day journey to R’Tal, Steve recalculated, was going to end up taking them a day and a half. Disheartened, he started looking for a suitable place to camp for the night. His legs were on fire and he had developed a stitch in his side, but was determined to not let Sarah see how much he was in discomfort. Sarah, on the other hand, was starting to come in to her traveling legs. She was walking at a steady pace, had regulated her breathing, and was generally fine. Being the astute observer that she was, she had noted Steve’s labored breathing and an overall decrease in his pace. Time to find a place to rest for the night.

With the sun setting, and dusk starting to set in, they came upon a small clearing surrounded by large oak trees. Without knowing what the other was thinking, both simultaneously decided they were done traveling for the day. Grinning at each other, Steve took off the pack and leaned it against the closest tree. Stretching his back, he looked up at the darkening sky.

“
I don’t know about you, but I’m beat.”

Sarah gestured at some nearby stones. “If you make me a fire, I’ll see about heating up whatever it is that Bolli left us.”

Steve grunted. “Deal.”

Minutes later, with the fire blazing, Sarah sorted through the various packages given to her by the innkeeper’s wife. She carefully unwrapped a package that appeared to be a dried brick of something. Studying the solidified substance closely, she discovered dried vegetables and chunks of meat. It was soup! She could fix this. She just needed to add some water and heat it up. Retrieving the small sauce pot given to them by Nilhanu, she added some water from the river and was ready to drop in the brick of soup when she abruptly stopped and stared at the clear water swishing around in the pan.

Noting Sarah’s sudden cessation of movement, Steve glanced her way. Walking over, he looked in the pot.

“
What’s the matter?”

“
What if there are germs and bacteria and stuff in this water? I don’t want to make us sick using contaminated river water. I mean,” she hesitated, “animals could have, you know, pooped in this water.”

Steve started to laugh out loud but sobered as he thought about it. Coming to a decision, he gently took the pot from his wife and started heating the water. It only took about ten seconds to bring it to a full boil. Maintaining the heat for a minute or so, he then pulled his jhorun back, allowing the pot to cool. Once it was safe enough to touch, he returned it to his wife.

“
There you go. All sterilized.”

Smiling warmly at her husband, she gingerly felt the pot and its handle before taking it back. Perfectly cool to the touch. Hoping it was the right amount of water, she dropped in the block of dried soup. She moved to put the pot on the fire when she discovered the next problem: there wasn’t any way to heat the pot without having to place it directly on the fire. Not only that, there wasn’t even a flat surface to balance the pot on. What was she supposed to do? Continuously hold the pot over the fire? Thinking back to watching some of those outdoor cooking shows she was fond of, she tried to remember those that had been cooked by campfire. If memory served, there was usually some type of contraption that held the pot safely over the fire. She looked back to her husband, raising an eyebrow in the process. Noting Steve’s inquiring look, she held up the pot and looked at the fire. Steve wandered over.

“
How the hell did people in medieval times not starve?” Steve peered around the fire, looking for a place to put the pot. He sighed. “Oh, well, what the hell.” He ignited his right hand and held it under the pot. Within moments, their dinner was cooking, right in his hand. Humming to himself, he watched as the solid thing in the pot broke up. It was clumping in the middle, not really mixing too well with the water.

“
Do you have something I can use to stir this with?”

“
Nilhanu gave me a wooden spoon. Don’t move.”

He furrowed his brow. Don’t move? What was that supposed to mean? He wasn’t going anywhere. Suddenly, a wooden spoon materialized in his left hand, which was hooked in his jeans pocket. His left hand instinctively grabbed it before it fell. He grinned.

“
That’s cool! You’ve been practicing?”

“
Yes, I have. That one was actually a test. I knew that spoon was in the pack, but I didn’t know exactly where. I just ordered it to move to your hand. And it worked!!”

Steve’s smile was unmistakable. Without knowing for certain that she could use her jhorun in that manner, she attempted anyway, and voila! She must have been practicing that demonstration for a while now.

“
How long have you been working on that little move?”

“
Honestly, about five minutes.” Steve’s jaw dropped. Sarah continued. “You mentioned that you needed something to stir the soup with. I knew we had the spoon, and didn’t feel like digging through the pack to get it. So I thought I’d give it a try.”

Steve smiled again, pride for his wife emanating from every pore he had.