CHAPTER FOUR
The Middle Kingdom
Eldana had gotten up early. After they left the town of Kleas, there was no other big city nearby to hide in. Eldana decided to walk back into the center of danger. They wandered the forest and through the night back into the Middle Kingdom.
Hermon was absolutely baffled by this. “You just left the Middle Kingdom, Eldana!” He tried to find logic in it. “Why would you want to go back here? After just doing all that running away and fighting, you’re just going to walk right back into the center of danger? That makes no sense.”
“Let me explain it to you.” Eldana sat on the ground with her legs crossed and a flower she just found. She played with it while she explained.
“If you try to change something, you need to go where you can change something.” She looked at him “The warriors would never believe that we would come back to the Middle Kingdom, they are hunting us now. But to change something, we need to do it where it hurts.”
Hermon bit his lip, before his protest was heard. “All right, if you know how to end this and think this is the only way, let’s go back.”
Eldana nodded. “I do.” Siem just smiled but did not add anything.
During the day, they hiked. At night, they hid in the forest. They took turns keeping watch. Hermon was still asleep. Eldana was to replace Siem.
“You’re up already?” Siem asked Eldana.
“I couldn’t sleep any more. I feel the warriors are getting closer. I can feel their aura. Not quite the same as in the clearing but stronger than in Kleas...Maybe we should have made a bigger round trying to avoid them.”
Siem looked in the direction they came from. “I don’t think they have left yet.”
Siem looked back at Eldana and started to worry. “I feel your strength as well, stronger every day but far from what it needs to be. I would carry you to the end of the world if I had to, but you will need your full power to beat them all.”
Eldana looked baffled. “I think I did a pretty good job the last time. Don’t you think?” Her serious tone could not be overheard.
“Yeah, you did. But if Hermon and I hadn’t been there, how long could you have kept that shield up? Would you have defeated all seven? I’m going to assume that wouldn’t have been the case.”
Siem had led many before, but she was used to leading armies of mages, not such a small group like this. She realized that perhaps her words had been discouraging, so she added, “You are one of the strongest warriors I know. No one has ever been able to fight the seven warriors of the Middle Kingdom for even a minute, let alone surprise them all together.” Eldana took the compliment and nodded eagerly. “But when you meet these warriors in the future, you must be stronger, better.”
Eldana understood the point. There was still much training ahead of her. At that moment, Hermon awoke and yawned heartily. Just as he did so, a morning toot escaped him that made him stop immediately. Siem and Eldana laughed themselves to the ground.
“All right, enough laughing, let’s move on,” said Hermon, looking at Siem expectantly and with the hope that this would be forgotten in a second. She gathered her things, still giggling to herself over the farting Hermon. He took the whole basket on his back and set off. The women followed him.
“How long do you think it will take us to reach the city in the Middle Kingdom?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but we have at least one more day. We should be there soon.”
After another day of wandering further through the forest, they saw the first villages close to the Middle Kingdom. They were sparse and scattered at first. For Hermon it was normal, but not for Eldana, who had always been kept isolated from other people by Sinto. Nevertheless, she was doing well. She knew that attacks from the warriors in the Middle Kingdom should not happen so easily here. Siem was angry that she was constantly woken from her sleep in the basket on Hermon’s back by the loud noises surrounding her. “Silence!” she screamed from inside before snuggling back into the soft straw. Eldana and Hermon laughed at this desperate attempt to finally have peace.
It was by chance they had become such tight friends, especially as they were all brought up so differently. Siem had come in contact with Eldana and Hermon fighting at a stream when she went to fetch some water as a child. Sinto would use any possibility to make Eldana train, he would instruct her to carry two buckets of water with magic floating above her shoulders and not set them down until she had climbed back all the way to the camp. Hermon was just there to drink and was disturbing the training. They fought over who could take water first and Sinto was enjoying it, thinking this could lead to another training moment. Siem, who was just working to become a sorcerer, passed by to cultivate her skills to control water. She saw them fight, separated them quickly and made them reconcile. Amazingly, they had listened to her. Siem was as different from them as she could be, with her pointed ears and delicate features. She was very beautiful. Every evening, Eldana would go to the stream with her buckets and she would see Siem training there. She knew how to use her bow and would entertain Eldana by shooting at animals in the nearby wood. Soon, Hermon joined them. Many times, Eldana came back late from the stream, and always got shouted at by Sinto because of it.
“Siem, we are here,” Eldana said, smiling as she
