“All right, I’ll go first.Watch how I do it. You must ride the wind currents.” Mazarka leaptoff the cliff edge with his arms and legs spread wide and startedgliding across the valley. The wind seemed to lift him up and carryhim to the distant mountain ledge. He landed and looked across thevalley at Michio.
Toemeka couldn’t figure out howMazarka flew across the valley. Flying wasn’t possible in thephysical world and yet she’d just seen him do it. Michio steppedforward. Toemeka felt the hammering of his heart as if it were herown. He leapt off the ledge and soared toward the other peak.Suddenly, he faltered as if realizing flying was impossible. Hestarted tumbling downward. Toemeka manifested beside him and grabbedhis hand, stopping his fall. Together they were suspended in air.
His eyes widened in surprise.“Toemeka! Where did you come from?”
“I was drawn to you. Fly withme and together we’ll ride the wind.”
“I can’t fly!”
“Here, you can. Somehow you’vecrossed into the Inner Worlds where flying is possible.” Togetherthey rose upward and flew across the sky. The wind tore at their hairand clothing as they flew over the lush valley below. At last, theymade it to the other side and landed beside Mazarka. Toemekadisappeared before his astonished gaze.
Back in her body, Toemeka sat uptrembling. Even though Michio wasn’t in the physical world, a fallin the Inner Worlds could have killed him. If the tenth test was thisdifficult and dangerous, what were the next ones? She pulled herknees up to her chest and rested her head on them. “Please returnsafely to me, my love,” she whispered.
In the early morning, Toemekarose and changed into her Coalition uniform. She spent the day goingover the planet’s defense plan with Erling and was impressed withall he’d done to unite the countries on Borko. Even so, there wasmore to do.
Erling and Toemeka left in thelate afternoon for the military space station. When they arrived, itwas a buzz of activity. Aircraft and pilots were arriving from allover the planet and Jaipar’s fleets were running drills.
Toemeka and Erling stayed at thespace station the rest of the week. They continued to work withleaders from all over the planet in a coordinated defense effort. Itwas an enormous job and seemed as if most of their time was spent inmeetings. King Zanton was noticeably absent and Toemeka’ssuspicions about him increased. She’d checked her laptop to see ifthe Coalition had done a more extensive report on him, but with theirheadquarters destroyed and the war on Alandra, her request had beenignored.
That weekend, Koriann hiked fromher spacecraft to the mountain trailhead where she was to meet Erlingand Toemeka. She asked them to join her for a hike and looked forwardto spending time with friends away from the stress of ruling Jaipar.Fall, with its fairy dust of bright colors, had transformed theforest into another world. The wind whistled through the trees,sending leaves floating gently to the ground.
“Blessings, my fair Queen,”Erling said with a smile when he spotted Koriann. He came over andbowed. “I see you managed to give your ardent lover the slip.”
“He’s not my lover! I toldyou to stop calling him that!”
“Your heart-struck betrothed,then.” He smirked and Toemeka pinched his arm. “Ouch! What wasthat for?”
“You know,” Toemeka said,placing her hands on her hips.
“You’re supposed to be on myside. Kori is going to find herself dominated by Zanton the rest ofher life if we don’t intervene.”
“Look, this is our first dayoff since I arrived and I want to have a good time,” Toemeka said,starting up the path. “If you don’t stop teasing Koriann, I’llpush you off the top of the mountain when we get there.”
“I’m real worried. It’sbeen bliss these last few months not having to put up with you,”Erling kidded back.
With a mischievous grin, Toemekapicked up a long thick stick and swung it at him. He ducked andgrabbed a stick of his own, blocking her blows with his. They foughtas if the sticks were swords in such a vigorous and agile fashionthat Koriann soon realized they were both skilled swordsmen. Toemekastarted laughing as Erling almost tripped over a root and barelymanaged to parry yet another blow. Taking advantage of her divertedattention, Erling knocked the stick out of her hand.
“I see you haven’t changedany,” he said. “Has Michio discovered how feisty you are underyour soft exterior?”
“What do you think?” Toemekaasked.
“I imagine he has by now. Didyou notice what a good friend I am? I never told him.”
“I’m surprised you both knowhow to fence,” Koriann said, breaking into the conversation, “Itwouldn’t think that would be part of your Coalition training.”
“It’s not,” Toemeka said.“We fence for sport and to keep in shape.”
“And, it appears, for fun. Canwe get going?” Koriann headed toward the woods.
Erling caught up to her. “It’snot my fault that Toe’s so rowdy.”
“I’m rowdy?” Toemekaexclaimed from behind them on the trail. “Who started a brawl inthat bar on Moona Kea Island?”
“Quiet, Toe, Kori doesn’twant to hear that story.”
Koriann glanced back at Toemeka.“Yes, I would; it sounds interesting.”
“It was over a woman,”Toemeka said.
“Now don’t put me in a badlight in front of Kori. She already thinks I’m a player.”
“Does she? I can’t imaginewhy.” Toemeka’s voice rang with sarcasm.
They fell silent, enjoying theforest. Tall evergreens stood among clumps of white-barked,yellow-leaved trees. Ferns, moss and a variety of bushes providedlush ground covering along the dirt and granite rock trail.
They crossed a small woodenbridge that passed over a mountain stream and picked up the trail onthe other side where it followed the stream bank. Some trees hadexposed roots that looked like arms reaching down to hug the largerocks below. The trail led to a scenic overlook and Koriann stoppedto show her friends the view of a deep valley and the mountainsbeyond. The lower part of the mountain was covered with a sea of fallcolor. Tucked at the bottom of the valley was a clear blue lake.
“I love it here,” Koriannsaid. “My father used to take
