Well before midday, Avery and Mirfak emerged from the forest. Avery carried some nuts and a pair of rabbit carcasses. He had apparently trapped and cleaned them in the forest. "Here's lunch," he said and he passed the meat and nuts to Calista who had been tending the fire.
"I must admit that I’ve missed some of those trail meals you seem to enjoy all the time," Ultrecht laughed as he came over from the shade of a tree where he had been dozing. He walked to Calista's side and quickly nabbed a nut before she could slap his hand.
Avery laughed. "Young lady," he said, "he may not look it, but if you want to keep any food around for long, I suggest you keep it out of his reach. He makes food disappear as if by magic."
"Speaking of magic," Ultrecht said as he sat on the log and cracked the nut open. "Armegon and I have managed to disguise our magic and have stayed hidden from that warlock that caused us so much trouble when we first arrived. How is it that you have not been detected?"
Avery sat on the ground and propped himself up against one of the stones. "Simple," he stated. "I haven’t used magic directly. The sword does it for me. I pretty much tell it what I want and it does it. It drains the energy from me, but the sword actually does the work."
"I’m beginning to suspect that this sword of yours is more than just a common enchanted item," Armegon spoke up from the wagon where he had been watering the mules.
"It’s the most powerful magic item I’ve ever encountered," Avery commented.
"Is it intelligent?" Ultrecht asked.
"Absolutely," Avery replied. "It speaks to me on occasion by telepathy."
"What does it say?"
Avery shrugged. "Usually it just tells me that someone is lying," he said. "Hence my success as the Forester."
"Does it have any other abilities?" Armegon asked.
"Several," Avery replied. "It’ll warn of the presence of an enemy and it also allows me to gain a certain amount of influence over the weak minded. It also has a shielding affect against magical attacks."
"It sounds as if you’ve found a real item there," Ultrecht said thoughtfully.
"I'll say," Armegon agreed.
"Say, Avery," Ultrecht suddenly changed the subject, "are you still cursed?"
"Yes," Avery replied with a sigh.
Ultrecht glanced at Armegon. "Tell me," he said, "how’s my health?"
Avery's expression grew puzzled, then he shrugged and inhaled deeply. The amber, featureless eyes trained on Ultrecht momentarily. "You seem to be doing well," he announced.
"Am I aging?"
Avery leaned close. He stared long and hard at Ultrecht. "Yes," he whispered slowly. "Yes, you are. Your cells are dying faster than they are being replaced. But we countered that long ago!"
"Apparently," Armegon observed, "our enchantments from home did not all survive the summoning. Remember how Seymore and Scarlet had lost their anti-hangover charms when we arrived?"
"What’re the chances of recasting the charm?" Avery asked.
"I’m not certain we can," Ultrecht replied. "I’ll have to research what we can use as the base of the spell. Either way it won’t be easy. The first time was an accident to begin with."
"If we can't stop the aging completely," Armegon added, "we may look into slowing it down. We might try realigning our biological time to a longer cycle." He shuffled the a foot in the dirt. "We could recalibrate our bodies to age one year for every turn of the seasons. That would extend our lives tenfold."
"We’ll keep it in mind," Ultrecht assured him. He turned back to Avery. "Say, have you made any significant discoveries recently?"
"Only one," Avery informed him. "I think that this solar system has been captured."
"Come again?"
"Think about it," Avery urged. "We have two suns. One of them is greenish the other is blue. What is wrong with this?" He did not wait for an answer. "A blue star burns hotter, brighter, and faster than a green one. In fact, a blue star will not last more than about a billion years."
"That is far too short a time for a planet to evolve to this stage," Armegon surmised.
"Right, but a yellow-green star burns more slowly and therefore can last long enough for this society to form. In fact it’s possible that the green star was once yellow or even orange and simply attracted some of the blue star's mass." Avery gestured at the two burning lights in the sky. "That’s why I think the blue star is a wanderer and this system fell into its gravity well."
"That might also explain the very eccentric orbit we noticed when we got here," Armegon put in. "But it hardly seems to be of any significance other than a point of interest. What good can this do us?"
"It means," Avery continued, "that the blue star is not a natural part of the planet's life cycle."
"Ah," Ultrecht beamed, "so the blue star can be used as a power source without causing damage to the planet."
"What?" Armegon asked. "I don't follow you."
"Not surprising," Ultrecht commented. "Your magic is internal. Let me explain. This planet, named Asille by the way, is a part of the primordial cosmic cloud that formed the green sun. By the laws of sympathetic magic, they are tied together so that if I had the ability and could drain the energy of the green sun, the energy of the planet would follow as well. That would lead to ice ages, droughts, etc."
"But the blue sun was not part of the original cosmic cloud, and therefore is an independent source," Armegon inferred. "So we’ve identified a potentially powerful energy source."
"In this case," Avery commented, "'powerful' is an severe understatement."
The discussion continued for quite a while and as the day wore on, Sam and Calista disappeared for about three hours. When they returned, Calista prepared them a meal that earned her great praise. Sam had a mischievous grin on his face and as soon as he was fed, he took Calista by the hand and the two cuddled up in a blanket next to a snoozing Mirfak. The huge beast raised it's head momentarily and surveyed the situation, snorted once and then went back to sleep. By sunset, the food had been eaten, and beds were laid out.
Avery suggested a full night's sleep. He assured Armegon that the scent of a coyodiak in the camp would frighten off wild creatures, and Mirfak would alert them of any enemies' approach, so they were generally safe. He recommended letting Sam and Calista take the first and second watches since they had slept all afternoon. Ultrecht agreed, and after Armegon gave the two love birds a brief set of instructions, the three adults bedded down.
The night was very boring and only the occasional giggling of the young bride disturbed the lonesome crackling of the fire. When morning arrived, the camp was hastily broken and the happily reunited travelers started into the forest.
At first Armegon was sure Avery had lost his mind about taking the mules and wagon through the woods, but after the first half kilometer, they struck an old trail that Avery said traveled north parallel to the mountains. They traveled relatively fast and the mood was good. At about mid afternoon the suns disappeared behind the mountain peaks--so close were they--and the temperature dropped enough that a few blankets and cloaks came out of the luggage. Otherwise a good day was enjoyed.
That night, they camped far from the village of Calista's birth and the stone circle. Avery and Calista concocted a stew of some sorts and the taste was most appealing. Armegon and Ultrecht agreed that Calista was the best cook they had had the pleasure of taking to trail with.
For her part, Calista was not above accepting praise. With this minimal encouragement, she began gathering herbs and berries to experiment with as they traveled. Avery helped her by pointing out those items she had picked that were poisonous. He urged her to get a small book and write down the descriptions of the poisonous herbs and the good herbs and to note their properties. He told her that a person who knew herb lore was respected as much as a wizard in many places.
Sam began to have strange feelings. He was gladdened by Calista's acceptance, but he was not happy about all the fuss everyone was making about her. He had begun to take delight in her errors, and he competed with her to prove his superiority.
Armegon did not miss the signs. Sam was beginning to feel left out. During a lunch break one day, he took the young man aside and had a little chat.
"Sam," he said. "We need your help."
Sam folded his arms. "Is that so?"
"Yes. We have been trying to teach Calista some useful trail skills so that she will feel useful. That and the fact that every chore she does is one less that we men have to worry about."
"So what do you want of me?"
"You have superior night time senses. You see well in the dark and you can detect the different scents of those around you. We need you to stay awake during the night shifts."
"What about Avery?" Sam asked sarcastically.
Armegon frowned making his displeasure quite clear. "Watch your mouth!" he growled. "If you stay up with Avery a few nights, he may just teach you a few things that you will find very useful."
Sam clenched his teeth. He thought about making a few smart remarks. "Okay," he said backing down. "I’ll take the night watches with Avery and his pet." The last was a reference to Mirfak.
Armegon gazed at his prote'ge' coldly. "Over the next few months, you’re going to make the acquaintance of many wild creatures that he is friends with," Armegon scolded softly. "Try to remember that they’re free to come and go at will. He has no hold on them at all save friendship."
"Is that all?" Sam's attitude was getting lousy.
Armegon frowned. "Yes," he said with resignation. "Just remember that since the night is in your blood, you’re very valuable to us as our night scout." With that, Armegon turned and stormed off. What was that kid's problem?
They had been traveling for two weeks since the meeting in the stone circle when they pulled up a farm road to a quaint little cottage. The farmer and Avery greeted each other warmly and they spent the night camped in the farmer's barn. Avery announced that they were less than a day's ride to their destination. Calista asked how Avery could travel to the stone circle to pass judgment on those who had been sent. Avery responded by laughing and telling her that there were ways to move about in the forests very fast if you know how.
No one stayed awake very long that night, and the farmer assured them that they would have no need of a night watch while they were there. Avery thanked him and reassured him that Mirfak had gone on ahead and had been instructed to leave the farmer's flocks of sheep alone. This seemed to please the farmer and he bade them good night.
The younger couple turned in early. The hay loft made a comfortable bed. and Calista found tenderness in her mate's arms that had been lacking for over a week. She slept blissfully that night.
Below, Avery, Armegon, and Ultrecht talked quietly.
"So why’ve you hidden the truth from him?" Avery asked as they discussed Sam's belief that Marlena was dead.
"We thought it best," Armegon replied. "I know you’re opposed to deception of any kind, but if Sam knew that his mother was alive, he might try to follow her."
"Or," Ultrecht added, "he might grow resentful that she left him. No matter how much we may tell him that she didn’t know of him, he still might resent her. That might cost him his life in a bad situation."
"The shield?" Avery asked.
"Oh, you know of it," Armegon sounded surprised.
"In a manner of speaking," Avery explained. "He mentioned Marlena coming to his aid in his fight with those harpies," he said. "I deduced that he had a shielding spell."
"We’ve been sheltering him somewhat," Armegon admitted. "In fact the need to expose him to the world is why we;re traveling in the first place."
"That reminds me," Ultrecht cut in. "How did he behave when you first met?"
Avery shrugged. "I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I thought he handled the situation adequately."
"We were interested in how he handled an unforeseen situation on his own," Armegon explained.
"Maybe you were," Ultrecht disagreed, "but I’m more interested in what has happened to his personality. He has gotten fairly cynic and disagreeable recently."
Armegon nodded gravely. "I’d hoped that it was just my perception," he said. "I hope it is just a phase. We’ve seen him go through enough of them already."
"I can imagine," Avery commented. "Especially at the rate at which he matured."
"You said it," Ultrecht laughed. "You should’ve heard him go through his voice change at puberty."
Armegon chuckled as well. "Yeah, it all happened in one day. Puberty lasted about a week and then we arrived at that village. During their ceremonies of maiden celebration, Sam's hormones ran rampant on him."
"That’s how the whole affair started, if you remember," Ultrecht reminded.
The three talked a little longer, then they turned in for the night. The next morning they awoke and were treated to breakfast by the farmer and his wife. Avery explained that he and the druid they were traveling to see had often aided the farmer in his craft, and a beneficial relationship had resulted. Avery introduced Calista to some of the farmer's animals and the farmer's cat.
"Well good morning, Whiskers," the ranger said as he hoisted the large tabby up to his shoulder. The cat meowed back and Avery frowned. "No I didn’t see the mouse in the barn, but I wasn’t looking," he said. Again the cat meowed and Avery returned the animal to the ground. "I’m sure that you will," he said as the cat walked off.
Calista was bewildered. "Did you actually understand what that cat was saying?" she asked.
Avery smiled. "Of course. She was looking for a mouse that she chased into the barn and lost last night."
"Oh, would you please teach me to talk to cats?" the girl begged.
Avery nodded. "Of course," he said. Remind me sometime soon and I will help you learn how to say Me-ow."
Calista laughed. "No, I mean for real."
"Well," Avery said after a moment. "We'll see. Right now I’m hungry."
The farmer and his wife cooked up a little extra and fed their guests. The breakfast was delicious and they were soon back on the road and enroute to Avery's home.
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