"What a nice day out
it is," Jackel said to his brother.
"Yes, what a nice day
indeed, perfect for the Naming Ceremony," Johnathan replied. "We must
get ready as for this is the year the Heirs to the thrown will be named.
This is not an event to be missed." He got his robe from the nearby
hook and put it on. "Off to get ready. See you at the ceremony."
"I will be there.
I would not want to miss the naming of your children as the Heirs to the
kingdom." He winked at his brother as he walked out the door.
***
As Krys called the Adie, Jessie
looked on in shock. The little flame-like creatures started to gather
in the air around them. :What want: the little creatures Mindsent
in unison.
"Gate down, erase persons" he
said while he Mindsent them a picture of Jessie and himself. The little
creatures nodded their understanding and dispersed. Krys then turned
back to the Gate he was building.
"W..what was that," Jessie stuttered.
"The Adie. They will erase
the both of us from peoples memories and also from material things like
pictures and computer data.," Krys replied as he finished the frame for
the Gate. Jessie continued to watch Krys using her Insight to see
the strands of energy as they wove in and out of each other like magic.
What am I thinking. Of course its like magic; it is magic.
The structure of the Gate was almost finished and she could See the energy
that came from Krys as it went in search of a destination and then finally
found it. The Gate started to pulse with a golden glow. As soon
as the glow steadied Radon flew through it and disappeared.
"Walk into it," Krys said in a
stern voice. Jessie started to have second thoughts about this.
She would never be able to see her family again and they wouldn't even remember
that she ever existed. Even though they aren't my real family I
still think they should be left with some memory of me, she thought.
"I can't hold it for very long.
Get through." Krys was starting to feel the strain of holding the
Gate open. If Jessie kept this up his energy would drain, the Gate
would close, and the Adie would erase both of their memories. On top
of that he would never see Radon again since he had already gone through
the Gate. Jessie hesitated again and Krys pushed her through.
I'm so cold and empty.
Krys, Krys where are you? I can't see. Jessie's body
was going numb and she blacked out.
***
What are they doing?
Billy wondered as he peeked around the side of the tree he was hiding behind.
When he saw Jessie sneak out of the house he had followed her to see where
she could be going this late at night. When she had meet up with Krys
and they took off toward the woods Billy's imagination started to run wild.
He could never have even imagined
what he was seeing now. A strange golden glow was coming from between
the two trees right in front of Jessie and Krys. When he looked closer
the glow was in the form of an arch using the trees as its sides.
Jessie looked uneasy as if she were afraid of it. Then Krys pushed
her into it and she disappeared.
"Jessie!" Billy yelled as
he started at a full run toward Krys and the Gate. Krys turned around
just in time to see Billy's fist before it made contact with his face.
"What did you do to Jessie?" he demanded as he went after Krys again.
Krys was to weak to fight back and Billy was showing no merci for him.
He took a hit in the stomach and doubled over to receive a kick to his ribs.
The fight continued and the Gate's glow was starting to fade. Dammit!
I don't have enough energy left to use a spell against him or to keep the
Gate open long enough to win the fight. Guess he's coming with us.
Won't Jessie be surprised. Krys used all of his remaining energy
to push himself and Billy through the Gate.
***
What happened? Jessie
thought as she started to regain consciousness. Her vision was blurred
and she was having trouble trying to sit up. When she finally managed
to sit up and lean against the wall she noticed she wasn't the only occupant
of the room. At the other end of the room was a person sitting at
what seemed to be a desk. The person noticed that she was awake and
started to come toward her. As her vision got clearer and the person
got nearer she could see that he was a boy of about 14 years. His
dark brown hair came down to his waist with braids and various colors of
beads, ribbons, and feathers in it. He wore the outfit of a performer.
The bright colors and beautiful embroidery suggested that he was very good
at his job. Jessie remembered seeing performers at the palace and
in the courts of the towns they visited. She was puzzled at why he
was here in a room when he should be in the town performing.
"Good morning miss," he said as
he stopped right in front of the bed. "Your kin is at the hot springs,
but he will be back soon. Drink this and get some more rest.
I will wake you when he returns." He handed her a ceramic cup
that contained some sort of beverage and she drank it in one gulp.
She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and handed the cup back to him.
He gave her a large smile and headed back to the desk. Jessie laid
back down and soon the herbs in the drink took affect and she fell asleep.
When Jessie woke for the second
time a tray of meat, bread, cheese, and a cup of water was sitting on a
small table next to the bed. There was also a pile of fresh cloths
and a pair of boots on the chest at the bottom of the bed. She slowly
sat up and picked up the cheese and started to nibble on it. As she
ate she looked around the room. It wasn't very big. At the other
end was the desk where she had first seen the boy. She noticed that
there was a window above the desk that revealed that wherever she was, it
was in the forest. Jessie set down the cheese and tore off a slice
of bread to eat and went back to her examination of the room. She
noticed that there was one other bed and that there were some large sitting
pillows pilled up on the far side of it. At first she couldn't find
a door but then she noticed that on the wall to her left there was a slight
discoloration in the wood. When she looked closer she could see the
button that opened and shut the door and the tracks it ran on. There
had ben a few of this type of doors in the palace. They normally lead
to some sort of forgotten room that Krys and she had played in when they
were kids. Those in the palace were made to look like the area around
it so that you wouldn't notice it unless you knelt down next to it and looked
at it very closely. Of course, being three years old they were at
the right level to see the hidden buttons that opened them.
After she finished the
food and drink she got up and put on the clothes that had been left.
The tunic was made of a soft green silk and the pants, belt and vest were
of a dark brown wool type fabric. She put on the pants and pulled
the tunic over her head. She then buckled the belt around the tunic,
put on the vest and slipped her feet in to the boots. Amazingly, the
cloths and boots fit her perfectly. She remembered seeing people in
these outfits when she was young. They would come to the palace and
report to the King. Then she remembered it was the scouts who she had seen
wearing them.
Jessie went over to the window
and looked out, or rather, down. She realized that this was one of the summer
towns. The summer housing was always inside the trees with only a
few ground houses for those who couldn't climb or were afraid of heights.
This room was inside one of those housing trees at least 100 feet up.
Each of the other housing trees seemed to contain at least 5 rooms each;
the lowest room being about the same height as this one. There were
only a few people on the trails below that ran through the village.
The ground houses and hot springs were mostly hidden by shrubbery, but she
knew they were there.
:Are you dressed yet?:
someone Mindsent her. She replied sending back an affirmation.
As soon as she had sent it, the door slid open. The boy from earlier
came through the door and then pressed the button to slide it back in place.
"It was rude of me not to introduce
myself earlier. I am Krys' friend Charley. It is nice to have
you staying here," the boy said as he walked over to the desk next to her.
As Jessie got a closer look at the boy than before she noticed that he had
pointed ears and cat-like eyes. For some reason this didn't startle
her but she couldn't remember where she had seen any one like him before.
Jessie noticed that she had been staring at him and quickly apologized.
"No apology is needed. There
are not many of us near the palace. I am a mixling. Half cat
and half human. Krys said that your mother told you stories of us.
Not all true but some were." Jessie remembered being told the stories
but she couldn't remember what they were, only that they contained a mixling
or two. One, she remembered, was about the Birdmen clan of mixlings.
"What clan do you belong to?"
she asked not knowing if it was an appropriate question.
"My mother was from the Naley
clan and my father was human, so I don't truly belong to a clan," he answered
as he went over to the sitting pillows and grabbed four of them. He
then walked to the center of the room and spread them out in a circle.
"Your kin will be up soon.
He has a gift for you," Charley said as he motioned for Jessie to come over
and sit down. She sat down on the pillow opposite Charley and started
to fiddle with the fringe in her boots. Charley watched her for a
while and then asked her about the world she grew up in. She started
by telling him of her parents, school, shopping, and electronics.
Charley was very fascinated and looked as if he were trying to memorize
everything she said as if it were very important. When she couldn't
think of any thing else to say, he started asking her questions about entertainment,
animals, if there were any mixlings left. That must be what bigfoot
is - a mixling.
:Nice to see that you are awake
and talkative sis. I have a surprise for you! I will be up shortly.:
Jessie knew that Mindvoice as Krys'. After a few moments the door
slid open and Krys stepped through and turned around to offer some one else
a hand up. When the other person was through Krys pressed the button
to close the door and stepped out of Jessie's view of the stranger.
"Billy," Jessie exclaimed half
choking. Krys had a smile on his face to see that his sister was so
surprised.
:He fallowed me home.
Can we keep him?: Krys sent her with a cheerful voice. Jessie
had been afraid to come because it was an alien world to what she was accustomed
to and she wouldn't know any one except her brother. Now she had her
life long friend to help her through. "I explained to him what
happened and where we are, but you have to explain the rest, my English
isn't all that good," Krys said to Jessie as he showed Billy where to sit.
Billy was so glad to see Jessie that he didn't even notice the mixling sitting
next to him. He asked Jessie all sorts of questions like, "Is he really
your brother?", "Has any one hurt you?", and "Am I dreaming?"
As Jessie tried to answer his
questions to the best of her ability, Krys and Charley started a conversation
of their own.
"The whole town is gossiping about
the Outworlder. If we do not stop it your Uncle will send soldiers
to investigate and if they find you and your kin you know what will happen,"
Charley said to his friend.
"Agreed. How are we going
to quiet the people. We don't want to use any magic because we already
used a lot to open the Gate. We can't use any of the elemental creatures
because that would also draw to much notice. Do you have any ideas?"
he asked Charley. Charley just sat there and shook his head back and
forth with a smile on his face. "What is it?" Krys asked when Charley
didn't stop.
"You have the strangest accent.
You spent to much time away. Do not speak to any one until your accent
is gone. We do not want to draw attention to you!"
***
The plan was made an it was time
to carry it out. First thing was to orient Jessie and Billy to the
customs of the people. It was agreed upon that they would be acting
as traveling performers. Jessie was to be a dancer and Billy a mime.
They had come to town to visit their old friend Charley. With this
set up it would be understandable why they were staying at Charley and Krys'
house and it would give Billy an excuse for not talking to anybody.
Being performers they could go anywhere and do almost anything and not be
questioned. It was the best way to make it so they could observe
the people and their customs. It was also the best way to hide them.
Who would expect them to be hidden in plain view? Charley was teaching
Billy a few tricks and how to act. Krys was showing Jessie some of
the more popular dances and how to use the tiny bells on the cuffs and skirt
to make the nicest sounds. When they weren't practicing they were
discussing their plan or reviewing what had happened in the last 13 year.
End Chapter 4
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