Where then would our sprightly Flic
Now be in this incredibly fast race?”
“Oh, I know, I know!” cried Flic, jumping up and down on the frond, Buzzer bouncing beside him.
“ ’Tis not yours to answer, Flic,” warned Skuld.
Again she turned to Borel, and he said, “Flic would then be second.”
Skuld grinned and nodded. “Well answered, Borel.”
“What?” cried Flic. “Second? But I passed that one. Why not first?”
Borel smiled and said, “Flic, my lad, when you pass the second-place Sprite, you have not yet passed the one who is first, hence, you would be second.”
“Oh,” said Flic, his face falling. “I thought I would have been in first.” Then he sighed and said, “It’s a good thing it wasn’t my riddle to answer, for I seem to be no good at it. I mean, I didn’t know what women want, nor could I choose between night and day, and-”
“Flic, you are a valuable member of this quest,” said Borel. “Again I say, without you and Buzzer, I wouldn’t be here.”
Flic grinned and said, “That’s true. Besides, it wouldn’t have been but a moment before I would have passed that Sprite in first place anyway.”
Both Borel and Skuld laughed at Flic’s cockiness, but Borel then turned to Skuld. “My lady…?”
Skuld smiled. “Ah, yes. Aid.”
She pondered a moment and then said: “Heed me, Borel: “Long is the journey lying ahead.
Give comfort to those in dire need,
And aid you will find along the way,
Yet hazard as well, but this I say:
Neither awake nor in a dark dream
Are perilous blades just as they seem.
“And this I will add for nought: you must triumph o’er a cunning, wicked, and most deadly steed to find the Endless Sands.”
Borel frowned, taken aback by her answer, and he said, “My lady, I do not under-”
But in that moment the persistent sound of the loom swelled, then vanished as did Lady Skuld.
27
“She’s gone,” said Borel.
“Vanished into thin air,” said Flic, his mouth yet agape. Then he scowled. “Isn’t it just like fate to strike unexpectedly and then as quickly disappear and leave the victim-or beneficiary-to deal with the consequences?”
“You are right, Flic. None knows when the Fates will come and go, nor whether they might bring good or ill.” Borel sighed and shook his head. “But this I wonder: whenever they speak, why can’t the Fates-the Ladies Wyrd and Lot and Doom-ever answer straight out? Why must they always couch their words in riddles?”
“I don’t know,” said Flic. “However, my prince, it seems to me that Lady Skuld did tell you something of worth.”
“Oui, she did. She spoke of finding the Endless Sands, whatever and wherever they are, yet she did not say what might be there.”
“Whatever it is, my lord,” said Flic, “it surely will help in the quest.”
Borel frowned. “Endless Sands… they’re in many a childhood tale, but I know not where they are. Do you?”
Flic shook his head. “Non.”
“What about Buzzer?”
“I’ll ask.”
After a moment, Flic said, “She has flown over sands, but they were not endless. Besides, I think that something called the Endless Sands would not have flowers abloom.”
“Well, then,” said Borel, “we’ll seek another way.”
“My lord,” said Flic, “Lady Skuld did tell you what must be done to find them: you must triumph o’er a cunning, wicked, and most deadly steed. Hmm… perhaps you are to slay some terrible monster.”
“I think not, Flic, else she would not have called it a steed. I think I am meant to ride it, perhaps to tame it and even ride it to those Endless Sands, wherever they are.”
“That could be,” said Flic. “Tell me: do you know how to ride?”
Borel sighed and nodded and said, “Not as well as my brother Alain, but I have spent time ahorse in saddle.”
“I think you are not likely to have a saddle on a cunning, wicked, and most deadly steed. And it might not be a horse at all, but, rather, as I said, some terrible monster, a fell beast of some sort-a Gryphon or Wyvern or even a Dragon.”
Borel took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “You might be right, Flic. But come, get Buzzer and let us be off and discover what we can in the town. It could be that someone there knows of the Endless Sands or can otherwise aid us with Lady Wyrd’s rede. As for you and me, we can ponder as we trek.”
And so, with Flic and Buzzer riding the tricorn, Borel set out along the meandering river, heading for the community lying upstream a league or two off.
As Borel strode townward, Flic said, “What about that verse she spoke. How did it go?”
Borel intoned: “Long is the journey lying ahead.
Give comfort to those in dire need,
And aid you will find along the way,
Yet hazard as well, but this I say:
Neither awake nor in a dark dream
Are perilous blades just as they seem.”
“Well,” said Flic, “we’ve already journeyed far and no doubt have farther to go. And you’ve given comfort and found aid, and I am sure that will continue. And there has been hazard along the way, and, as things are going, there will likely be more. As to the blades-”
“I think Lady Wyrd was referring to the daggers surrounding the turret,” said Borel.
“Oui,” agreed Flic. “I believe she has simply verified what we suspected all along-that the daggers aren’t daggers at all but rather represent some other peril, such as terrible guardians or even an army. We won’t know what they really are until we find the turret.”
“Oui, Flic. But here is the true riddle as I see it: just why did Lady Wyrd speak the verse at all?”
“Your meaning, my lord?” asked Flic.
“Why did she utter those particular words, when all it told us was how we already act and what we already know or suspect?”
Flic frowned and shrugged a shoulder. “That is certainly a riddle, my prince, yet who can comprehend the ways of the Fates?”
Even as they passed dwellings on the outskirts of town, Flic said, “You know, at first I thought I should have seen that the crone was not what she seemed, and that I should have detected the glamour. But after she revealed her true self, I realized that her bewitchments would always utterly defeat my Fey sight.”
“Fey sight?” asked Borel.
“Oui. I can at times see when something is not what it seems. Oh, if the glamour is strong enough, it defies my vision. Or, if the being is powerful enough, again I am helpless to see… as was the case with the invisible monster in the swamp.”
“But you can see through some glamours?”
“Oh, yes. But not all. And sometimes when I do not see what I expect to be there, then I think an
