she insists it is much greater. Sometimes I think that reality doesn’t exist in her mind. Even in the area of health where she has some special gift that I have never seen before, she will not take my word for anything. I have to get the book out and show her before she will accept what I am teaching.”
“How about the cloak or her parents?” Garth inquired. “Have you gotten anything further out of her?”
“Not a thing,” Kalina sighed. “Every time I bring it up, she develops a bad mood and stalks off. That is what happened to our session today. I was probing about her mother and whether or not her mother had magical ability. She got moody and claimed she had a headache. Then she just got up and walked away. It is so damn frustrating working with her.”
“You should try showing her how to fight with a knife as I have,” Garth laughed. “I think she might stab herself in the arm trying to get her knife out of the sheath.”
“Maybe I am just expecting too much too soon with her,” mused Kalina. “Your push to get through the path to avoid Lavinda did not fool the Children, Garth. They know there was time to detour through Tagaret and one night in Lavinda would not have been far off the track.”
“You know I have a hard time dealing with some things, Kalina. So they know it now, too. Does it really matter? We have a task before us and the sooner we get to it, the sooner we will get to our goal.”
Kalina laid her hand gently on Garth’s arm. “No, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. You cannot hide the truth about the end of Alex and Jenneva forever, though. Some day we will have to atone for our sins.”
“Perhaps, but that day is not today,” denied Garth. “I am not ready to live with mine yet. I am going to halt the practice for tonight. I think we should get an even earlier start tomorrow. We are very exposed this close to Sarac and I want to put some miles between him and us. Is the Sword of Heavens still providing direction?”
“It is actually getting stronger,” Kalina acknowledged. “It is swinging more West than North now. I suspect we will be going over the West Mountains and into what was Cordonia.”
Garth nodded as he rose to break up the practice sessions.
The early morning start allowed the group to be within sight of the West Mountains before stopping the next night. Early practice consisted of tracking, camouflage, and stealth. During the after dinner talk session, Garth got tired of hearing about Alexander Tork again.
“Why do you not ask questions about Oscar Dalek?” Garth inquired of Tanya. “Your uncle must have been full of stories about him, being a traveling merchant.”
“Oh, he was,” conceded Tanya. “Most of Oscar Dalek’s life is fairly open and well known, though. You can not be the Prince of Targa without having books written about you.”
“I’ve never read anything about him,” Tedi interrupted.
“Nor I,” Arik added. “Was he a friend of Alex’s?”
Garth groaned and shut his eyes. “Yes, they were very good friends,” Garth sighed. “Oscar’s fame did not have anything to do with his friendship with Alex, though. He could have been a great warrior as well, but he never trained his skills in those areas. Instead, he used his head to amass a great fortune while benefiting Targa. In fact, his contribution to Targa far outweighed Tork’s. Without Prince Oscar, there would have been no Targa ships on the Targa Sea, no canal connecting the Targa Sea with the Sordoan Sea, and probably no victory in the war with the goblins. His ships and wagons allowed the Targa Army to move quickly to entrap the goblins.”
“That hardly sounds as exciting as the life of Alex and Jenneva,” Arik said.
“No?” chuckled Garth. “When Oscar was young he lost his father to bandits and his mother was so poor that they could not put food on the table. He rose from that miserable disadvantage to become the richest man in the world and the Prince of the mightiest nation in the world. Killing goblins is easy work compared to that. A thousand men could grow up to lead armies and kill their foes, but I do not think anyone will ever duplicate Oscar Dalek’s tremendous feats. And what is even more exciting about him is that one of you is his son.”
“But he was not a warrior,” protested Arik. “We are training to be warriors, not merchants.”
Garth sighed again. He dared not tell them of some of Oscar’s contributions to Targa because they were still too secret. He could not tell them that while Alex was creating the Rangers, Oscar was creating the Spiders, because the Spiders still existed and still gathered sensitive information.
“Oscar Dalek was no merchant,” Garth insisted. “He started out as a merchant, but that is akin to calling Alex an infantry trainee. Besides, you are already warriors. Imagine being an Oscar Dalek and a great warrior.”
The boys perked up at that and started eyeing each other, looking for the signs of greatness that a king would exhibit.
“Oscar Dalek had visions inside his head that no other person had ever possessed,” Garth continued. “When he saw opportunities, the glee in his eyes was not only for himself, but for Targa. Imagine being able to have that vision to shape your country and the skills of a warrior to demand the respect of your enemies.”
The boys were clearly excited at the prospect of being a warrior and a king. Garth smiled to himself at successfully changing the topic of conversation for several days.
“Do you know which one of us is Oscar’s son?” Fredrik asked.
“I don’t know for certain,” confessed Garth, “but I believe he is among us. Would you really want me to tell you if I knew?”
Affirmative response rang from everybody’s lips and Garth was actually surprised. Being a Prince was a heavy burden and Garth would not want to know if he was in their position. “Very well,” Garth replied. “I will tell you the only clue that I possess. Remember that what I am about to say is not proof of a claim to the throne, but Prince Oscar and Princess Callie were given very special gifts from Jenneva. One of you carries that gift today. How it was come by, we do not know, but its identity is certain.”
“Do you mean a magical gift?” Arik asked. “That would have to be Fredrik. Tedi and I have no magical gift whatsoever.”
Garth watched the boys’ expressions to see if there was resentment created by Arik’s statement. Fredrik appeared shocked and both Tedi and Arik seemed pleased for Fredrik.
“I do not mean a gift of magic,” Garth finally said. “I mean a physical gift. The necklace that Tedi wears belonged to either the Prince or the Princess. We do not know which.”
Tedi turned bright red and Arik and Fredrik slapped him on the back. Tanya looked curiously at the heir to the Alcea Crown, but Niki actually moved to sit between Fredrik and Tedi and examined the necklace.
The next few days were a welcome relief to Garth. The questions about Alexander Tork had ceased and Prince Oscar became the topic of conversation. The most dramatic change in the Children was in Niki. She would not leave Tedi alone. Instead of magic lessons with Kalina, Niki started challenging Tedi at knives and the Lanoirian Star. She even tried to battle him with a staff, but that lasted as long as one swing in which Tedi disarmed her and she complained of a broken wrist.
The Sword of Heavens was vibrating so vigorously now that Kalina could not control it. Tedi took over the job of using the Sword of Heavens to point towards their destination. The terrain of the headwaters of the Black River changed from mountains to rolling hills and eventually flattened out to forested woods just outside the village of Dani. The group had a discussion about entering Dani for provisions and after Kalina pointed out that this area had very few visitors and they would surely be talked about, they decided to bypass the town.
Just west of Dani, the pine forest gave way to an ancient wood of old oak trees. At this point the Sword of Heavens was vibrating so wildly that only Garth and Arik had the physical strength to handle it. Garth gave the job to Arik so he would not be encumbered if trouble arose. The woods were dark and whatever light the day brought was quickly fading, so Garth announced that they would camp for the night and start fresh in the morning.
The camp was full of excitement as everyone realized they would probably meet the fairies in the morning. During the talk period after dinner, everyone had questions about the fairies and what they were like. Unfortunately, nobody had any answers. No one had ever seen a fairy, not even Garth and Kalina. Garth cautioned about being overly excited.
“You must remember,” Garth stated clearly, “that the Universe inhabited by the fairies was also inhabited by ogres. If we are near to finding the fairies, we may also be in the vicinity of ogres and they are ferocious fighters. An ogre is typically stupid, but they are large, strong, and will eat people. If we have to fight ogres, the bow is your best weapon. Their strength will make sword fighting dangerous because their blows, even if they are blocked, can knock your sword from your hand. Knives will be useless unless you score a direct hit in a vital area like the throat or eyes.”
Everyone’s attention was riveted on Garth. No one expected to find the land of the fairies to be a dangerous
