“In the forest. They’ve only been there for a short while. I can take you to them if you’d like.”
We walked out of the tent and into the sunshine, surprised to see Brodnik and Rolf walking toward us. Brodnik held a limp Princess Esmelda in his arms. Terminus intercepted them and looked with wide, fearful eyes at his sister.
“We found her lying near a small pond. There were no signs of her attacker that we could see.”
“Olive,” Rolf said, “you’ve returned! Where are the king and his sister?”
I cringed at his question. “I’m not sure. They got lost in the crossing. I’m hoping they are somewhere close.”
The princess opened her eyes as Terminus took her in his arms.
“Sister, are you all right?”
“Yes,” she said, wincing as she rubbed the back of her head. “A man attacked me. He hit me with something metal.”
“A man?” I asked. “Not a creature?”
“No, it was a man. I did not get a very good look at him. He was searching for my ring.”
“You’re sure about that?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me anything else about the man that attacked you? Even the smallest of details are important.”
She knitted her brow in concentration. “He used a strange metal stick. We do not have them on our planet. It was round, and flared at the top.” She clutched her head. “It still hurts.”
“We will get you inside the tent,” Terminus said. “I can create a poultice to help with the pain.” He turned to me. “Olive, would you like to come in as well?”
“I wish I could,” I said, “but since we’ve found the princess, I need to go search for my missing friends. With luck, they ended up not far from here.” And not splatted on a highway somewhere in El Paso.
Prince Terminus went inside the tent with his sister in his arms. I watched until he’d disappeared inside. Something nagged at me, although I didn’t know what. I didn’t know how to describe the feeling, except that something felt off.
“Shall we go to the festival?” Rolf asked.
“Yes. Hopefully they’re close. Your tracking skills would come in handy as well. Today is a weekday, so the crowds are gone, but we still have the shopkeepers and thespians to deal with.”
They followed me as we made our way through the maze of tents, onto the dirt-packed parking area, and toward the looming wooden gates. The guard at the gates recognized me as a shop owner and let us inside.
On days like this, when the crowds were gone, most shopkeepers spent their time cleaning and restocking. I was thankful the crowds were finally gone—fewer targets for the killer to take his pick from; and it would also make it easier to find our missing friends, assuming we found them at all.
I took a deep breath as panic tried to well up inside me. We’d find them. They would be okay.
“How did ye say you lost them again?” Brodnik asked as we walked toward my shop.
“My spell didn’t work as it was supposed to,” I said. “I’ve been having trouble with my magic. I knew it was a dumb idea to use it, but Kull insisted.” I sighed, rubbing at a tension knot in my neck. “I just hope I didn’t kill them both.”
“Kill that cranky bastard? Nay, t’would take more than a spell to kill him.”
I had to agree.
“Look there,” Rolf said, pointing, “at the Boar’s Head Inn. Is that them?”
I followed his line of sight, and sure enough, Kull and Heidel stood eating turkey legs and drinking Dr. Pepper, smiling and laughing. Kull, particularly, seemed to be in good spirits.
Anger bubbled up inside me. They were eating when I’d nearly lost my mind looking for them? Was what wrong with these people?
Heidel spotted us first and waved us over.
“Olive,” she called, nudging her brother. “You see? She didn’t die as you suspected.”
We walked toward them and stopped at their side. The smell of food wafted from inside the restaurant, reminding me I hadn’t eaten since yesterday.
“We should have known you would be here,” Brodnik chuckled.
“I am glad to see you, Olive,” Heidel said. “After we crossed and landed quite unceremoniously near your shop, we worried you might not have made it.”
“It looks as if you weren’t too worried,” I said, eying the food, and especially the drinks.
“This was Heidel’s idea,” Kull said. “I flat refused her at first, until she noticed that the shopkeepers were selling the elixir. Have some, Olive. It will help you regain your strength. You’ll need it if you wish to continue our quest.”
He thrust the drink in my face. I politely pushed it away.
“You don’t want any?” he asked.
“Thanks, but no.”
“Are you upset that we didn’t search you out? In all honesty, I assumed you had made it safely as I saw no evidence to the contrary.” He took a long, slurping gulp of soda. “This really is quite an astonishing beverage. I feared that after I’d lost my loot in the Sea Ghost tragedy, I’d never have the opportunity to drink it again. But now I’ve found it, and the shop owner parted with two cups for only a few of the paper bills. Truly astonishing.”
I tried my best not to roll my eyes.
“It tastes appalling,” Heidel said. “I don’t know how you drink this.”
“You don’t like it?” he asked, his eyes lighting up. “May I have yours?”
“Take it.” She gave him her drink. “You amaze me sometimes, Brother.”
The shopkeeper returned to the window, and Heidel took several turkey legs from him. Rolf and Brodnik gladly accepted the food, but I hesitated, still feeling angry that they’d decided to eat when I could have possibly been dead.
“What’s the matter?” Heidel asked.
“Nothing,” I mumbled, finally accepting one of the turkey legs. Kull led us to a set of tables under an awning near the restaurant, and despite my worries for the princess and her attacker, I sat and decided to eat something. Besides, Kull was right. We’d never find the attacker if
