“Old man? Watch your tongue. I’m just as spry as I was when I was a youth.”
“Says who?”
“Says me, and I’m the only who counts.”
The boy, Rolf, smirked, but he didn’t press the matter.
The Wults passed around a waterskin and shared their meal of nuts, dried biscuits, and leathery strips of meat. It all tasted strange to me, as I hadn’t tasted food from Faythander in a decade, but I had no complaints. What would I have done if they hadn’t shown up? Eaten the caterpillars?
I debated on how I was supposed to leave this world. Creating another portal was the obvious answer, but without knowing where I was, getting back home to Earth seemed impossible. Portals worked best when I knew where I was going to and from, otherwise I’d get stuck out in the cosmos somewhere. My best choice was to help the Wults track the beast, and if the creature was able to communicate, learn our location, then create a portal back home.
There was also the possibility I could be stuck here forever. That thought didn’t sit well with me.
I had to get back home. I had no other choice.
When the fire died down, the Wults arranged their sleeping packs on the ground. Heidel, the woman, offered me an extra blanket. Holding it, I stared at the ground littered with damp leaves, sticks, and a trail of red ants. I wasn’t sure how much sleep I would be getting.
“It’s easier to sleep when you’re lying down,” the blond man said. He lay not far from where I stood. What was his name again?
“I’m not used to sleeping outdoors.”
“You get used to it after a while. Just be glad it’s not raining.”
I knelt, spreading out the blanket, wondering if it would be better used to cover me. But I had no desire to sleep atop the sticks and insects, so I laid on top of it.
“Here,” he said, handing me his blanket.
“Don’t you need it?”
“Not on a night like this. It’s too hot anyway.”
After I took the blanket from him, I spread it out over me. It smelled of sandalwood, a strangely calming scent, and here in this forest in an alien world, I felt at peace.
I glanced at the man across from me. The dying coals illuminated the strong line of his jaw, the light color of his hair, and the depth of his blue eyes, which were the color of a glacier. Who was he?
“Rolf said you were a prince. Is that true?” I asked.
“I’m the son of the Wult king, King Herrick.”
“Ah.” Made sense. I’d heard of this guy. “You’re the Prince Kull?”
“Yes. The one and only.” He smiled, showing his teeth—white and evenly spaced—and the expression made my heart flutter.
“Are the rumors true?” I asked.
“No. They’re all underexaggerated.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Underexaggerated?”
“Greatly.”
“He’s lying,” his sister from the other side of the fire. “The story of him defeating the wyverns was entirely made up.”
“Was not,” he called to her. “I slayed them all.”
“But they were common winged snakes, not wyverns. There’s a difference.”
He shrugged. “They looked like wyverns to me.”
I couldn’t hold back a smile. The Wult prince was certainly a character—a cocky, overconfident one, yet I got the impression there was more to him. It must’ve been the intelligence in his eyes. Wisdom beyond his years.
He looked at me, and I had trouble holding his gaze. I was again taken aback by the feeling he had the ability to read my thoughts—not an altogether pleasant feeling.
I turned away from him to stare at the fire instead, fascinated by its colors of amber and blue. Like my magic.
#
When morning came, I felt horrible. Insects had feasted on me all night, and I had itchy red bumps all over my body to prove it. My eyes felt swollen, and my neck cramped every time I turned my head to the left. Not a great way to start the day.
Sleeping outdoors was definitely not my thing.
I’d leave it for the Wults. They all seemed unusually cheerful as they gathered up their sleeping pallets and strapped them to their backs. I did my best to be helpful as I knelt on the ground to roll up my blankets.
Heidel crouched beside me. She held a pair of Wult-style boots—made of some sort of reptilian hide. Dragon. Wyvern. I wasn’t sure.
“You can have these.”
“I can?”
She nodded.
“Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. Just give them back when the quest is over, assuming you’re still alive after confronting the beast. If not, I’ll simply pull them off your corpse.”
“Ah.” What was I supposed to say to that? I pulled on the boots, a tad too wide for my feet, but otherwise a good fit.
As the sun rose, we stood in the camp and prepared to set off. The Wults shared more of the same food with me, and I was starting to get accustomed to the taste. This whole quest felt extremely surreal, and I still had trouble imagining I was actually here. I’d only crossed from Faythander to Earth a few times. I’d never gone to an alien world in some distant universe. I would’ve lost my wits if I thought about it too much.
This is why I hate portals.
We set off before the sun had fully risen, the sky still gray and pink, the color of pre-dawn. In this place, as the suns rose, the atmosphere remained pink, never turning to the familiar blue I was accustomed to.
When we reached the cliff, rain clouds loomed on the horizon. A stiff wind blew at our backs.
“Should we find somewhere else to cross?” Heidel yelled over the wind. “It’s a long way down. I don’t know if our ropes will reach the bottom.”
“Agreed,” Kull said. “We’ll hike along the cliff until we find a shallower place.”
We followed him along the cliff’s edge. As we walked, I surveyed the jungle. The dark trees loomed, broad leaves that cut through the sky. Across the canyon, the mountains
