out of the campsite, he undid the straps holding him tight to the bottom of the wagon. Fredrik looked around the campsite from under the wagon before quickly undoing Niki’s straps and the two of them stretched their muscles. Fredrik jogged over to the horses and peeled back a small section of canvas from each of the holes. Arik and Tedi climbed out and inhaled deeply.
“I will never feel comfortable breathing through a tube,” Arik quipped. Looking around he added, “Where are Garth and Kalina?”
“The Dark Riders took them away,” Fredrik said. “They asked about the horses and whether they had seen anyone since camping here.”
“You were able to hear the conversation?” Tedi asked, shivering with the thought of being that close to Dark Riders.
“All of it,” Fredrik declared as the three boys headed towards the wagon. “Garth and Kalina certainly sounded pretty calm in front of the Dark Riders. I’m not sure if they will be coming back.”
“Where is Niki,” Tedi asked. “Didn’t you untie her?”
Fredrik froze by the campfire and started looking all around the campsite. “I did untie her before I came to get you two,” he exclaimed. “Where has she gone off to?”
Just then, the three boys heard a thump from inside the wagon. They scrambled over each other in their attempt to open the wagon door. Arik was first to get there and threw open the door. Niki shot bolt upright at the sound and finally let out her breath when she saw who it was.
“Are you trying to scare me to death!” Niki exclaimed as she returned to her searching.
“What are you doing?” demanded Arik. “She will skin us alive if she catches you in there.”
Fredrik and Tedi crowded into the doorway, craning their necks to get a good view of inside of the wagon. “This may be our only chance to find out who they are,” Niki asserted. “Why don’t the three of you go back outside and watch to see if they are returning?”
The three boys tumbled out of the doorway and paced around outside. “I can’t believe she is doing that,” declared Arik.
“I think it is a good idea,” remarked Tedi, “if she knows something good when she sees it.”
Niki came out of the wagon, struggling to carry a long package wrapped in canvas. “This was too long to unwrap inside,” she smirked, “but I think it is important. It was so well hidden, that it must be very valuable. The wagon had been modified just to hide this.”
Tedi smiled and thought he might grow to like this red-haired girl. The four of them gathered to help unroll the canvas wrapping. The article had obviously been wrapped for years and the ties were old and brittle. When they had succeeded in unrolling the canvas, they discovered an ancient sword in a jewel-bedecked scabbard. The hilt of the sword was gold with intricate carvings, but it was also devoid of the gems that so obviously once adorned the hilt.
“Somebody has already stolen the gems from it,” Tedi remarked. “This probably once belonged to a king. Do you think Garth and Kalina stole it?”
Four pair of hands probed the empty sockets in the hilt as if measuring the huge size of the gems that used to be there. “I’ll bet if they were diamonds, one of them would have been worth enough to live like a prince for a lifetime,” Fredrik spoke.
“What are a pair of gypsies doing with something like this?” Arik mused, unaware of the pair of eyes that were watching him from the woods.
One of the boys turned the sword over to look at the other side. This side of the hilt was similar to the other side, except in place of the large holes where the gems used to reside, was a single line of glass beads and one of them was missing. Niki looked down at the canvas and found the missing glass bead. “Look what you oafs have done,” she scowled holding up the bead.
“Why blame us?” Fredrik asked. “You’re the one who brought this thing out of the wagon. Maybe we can just stick it back in and wrap the sword up again.”
Niki tried to stick the bead back into the sword hilt, but it would not stick. “It is no use,” she sighed. “I think we ought to wrap it back up and plead ignorance if they ever notice it was disturbed.”
“That is if they ever return from the Dark Riders,” Fredrik mentioned.
As if summoning a great evil would call it down on yourself, the four children looked up at the sound of horses entering the clearing. Garth and Kalina continued to ride towards the group of children and the expressions on their faces were not friendly. Niki was still holding the glass bead and she immediately put her hands behind her back.
“So,” Kalina admonished, “this is the type of children we protect from the Dark Riders. Children who rifle through someone’s belongings the moment they are out of sight.”
“Perhaps we waste our time on these vagabonds,” Garth added. “Surely, the Children of the Prophecy would not be the type to steal from people who are devoting their lives to protecting them.”
The four children backed themselves up until their feet were pressed against the stone ring around the campfire and, still, Garth and Kalina rode slowly towards them. The pair of eyes in the woods opened widely as they watched the scene below in the clearing.
Garth and Kalina dismounted and let the horses roam free. Together they continued forward towards the children. Kalina looked down at the sword and gasped. She noticed the missing glass bead and her face contorted in fury. “Garth,” she steamed, “they were vandalizing it for the stones.”
Garth stopped and bent down and picked up the ancient sword. He turned it over and looked at the jewels in the scabbard and then turned it over to examine the glass beads in the hilt. Seeing the bottom glass bead as the only missing piece, he slowly lowered the sword to the canvas.
Straightening up, he approached the group of children who were standing with their backs to the fire. The children tried to cringe away from the imposing gypsy, but there was nowhere to go.
“We didn’t mean to harm it,” Arik blurted out. “It was an accident. Honest!”
“He’s telling the truth,” Fredrik offered. “Besides, Arik and Tedi had nothing to do with it. They didn’t even know that Niki and I were looking through your wagon and we were only doing it to try to determine who you are.”
“Nothing gives you the right to go through our belongings,” Garth bellowed. “Nothing! If Tedi and Arik had nothing to do with it, at least they could have stopped it.”
Niki brought her empty hand out in front of her and prepared to hurl a Force Bolt at Garth. As her arm straightened in front of her, it grew cold and blue. Niki stared at her arm in disbelief as it grew colder and bluer and ice began to form on it. She looked over at Kalina and saw the thin smile of satisfaction on Kalina’s lips.
“She’s a witch!” Niki screamed. “She’s a witch and she’s frozen my arm.”
The three boys looked at Niki’s arm and turned their horrified gaze towards Kalina. Kalina simply continued to smile at them.
Fredrik glared at Kalina. “Release her from your spell, witch,” he demanded. “Release her at once.”
When Kalina made no move to restore Niki’s arm, Fredrik reached for the power to teach the gypsy the meaning of real power. His face turned to wonderment and continued its transformation to a mask of rage when he found out that something was blocking his ability to reach the power. No. Not something, someone. He looked over at Kalina again and, still, she stood smiling.
“Do not try any more of your tricks,” she said softly. “I find them offensive and inhospitable.”
Fredrik realized that if Kalina could shut him off from the power, any other spell he might try on her would result in disaster. “So, you do work for the Dark One,” he said. “Your little ruse about the Dark Riders being after us, was just an excuse to make us think we were safe until you could get out of us whatever it is you are after. Well, you will get nothing out of me. I would rather die than serve you.”
Garth stepped forward and thrust out his hand. “Give me the glass bead,” he demanded.
Niki tried to lean back away from his outstretched hand and tripped over the rock ring of the campfire. Garth’s hand shot out and grabbed her tunic just before she fell into the fire. Niki’s hand opened in a reflex action to break her fall and the glass bead rolled off her fingertips into the fire.
The glass bead exploded in a shower of sparks and a great cloud of smoke erupted over the campfire. Arik and Tedi each dove to one side of the campfire and Fredrik turned around and fell on his back. Garth pulled Niki towards him and squatted as she turned to face the fire. Everyone stared in amazement as the smoke billowed up and radiated every color imaginable. The center of the cloud of smoke cleared and the distinct image of a blue
