Richard Tuttle - Sapphire of the Fairies

Alan recalled stories of the BlackDevils from before the Collapse. The group was a society ofmagicians devoted to a wizard known as Sarac, the same Wizard whosupposedly had been chosen by Alutar, the Great Demon, to be theDark One and rule the world. If the stories are true, it was Sarac,as the Dark One, who had caused the Collapse of the Universes. “Youknow that I will stand with you until the end, Konic. No matterwhat the end may bring.”

Konic looked over and gave a weak smileto his friend. “I know that, Alan, without asking. It is not you orI that I am worried about. I would gladly trade my life for theboys, but even that will not help. The only thing that I can thinkof is to send the boys away.”

“How will that help?” Alanasked. He was just finally reunited with his son after three yearsin a bottle and he wasn’t too happy to even think of sending himaway. “They will be in danger no matter where they are. Whyshouldn’t they stay here?”

Konic rubbed the tears from his eyes.“Because if they stay here, the townspeople know how old they are.Someplace else, they can lie about their age and perhaps surviveuntil the rumors go away.”

“Well, why can’t we go withthem, then?” asked Alan. “That way, we could get them away from thetownspeople who know them and still be close enough to protectthem.”

“I thought about that,”replied Konic, “but we would stick out like a small bandit gangand, sooner or later, one of the larger gangs would eliminate allof us. If the boys go alone, they can make their way to anothertown or city and become apprentices without raising too muchsuspicion. If they lie about their ages when they first arrive,everyone in their new town will vouch for their ages because itwill be as they always knew. It is the only solution that I canthink of and I am going to miss them both very much.”

Alan could only nod in agreementbecause his throat was too choked up to speak. Konic reclined onthe sand and a few moments later was sleeping soundly. Alan figuredthe stress of the day had finally taken its toll on his friend andreclined to ponder the dilemma, hoping to discover some solutionthat was more palatable than losing the son he had justrediscovered. It was not long before Alan was also asleep andnobody woke Tedi to take his turn at watch.

Garth climbed the stairs of theFisherman’s Inn and opened the door to his room. Sitting in a chairreading was a beautiful woman in a long, black dress and long,flowing black hair. “Did you learn anything interesting?” sheasked.

“Quite a bit,” Garth smiled.“The father of one of the boys came to confront me. Even thoughmost of the people in town say that they are younger than what weare looking for, I believe they are all lying.”

“What makes you think thetownspeople would all lie to save two sons of fishermen?” shequeried.

“The townspeople are veryhesitant to talk about the boys, but quick to tell me their ages,”Garth answered. “The father’s face when I told him about theProphecies was the real teller. At least one of those boys was bornin the year of the Collapse, maybe both. I am sure ofthat.”

“Couldn’t the father be abetter actor than you think?” she teased. She knew Garth did notoffer an opinion as fact unless he was really confident about hisconclusion.

“The father is as honest a manas I’ve ever met,” Garth laughed. “He had the chance to lie to meabout their ages and he couldn’t bring himself to utter that lie,even when he knew the dire consequences. I like the man, Kalina. Heknew me for the type of man that I am and he still had the spunk tostand up to me and even threaten to kill me if I harmed either boy.He meant it, too. I have no doubt that if he thought I had harmedhis son, he would spend the rest of his life tracking me down andkilling me. I think you should meet the boys socially without thefathers around.”

“Do you know where they arestaying?” Kalina asked.

“Of course, my pet,” Garthsmiled. “Did you think for a moment that such a small detail wouldescape my grasp?”

“Certainly not,” sheresponded, “but if I don’t keep asking, you will get lax. How areyou going to get rid of the fathers?”

Garth’s face grew serious. “I willnever be lax about this matter,” he protested. “Normally, theywould go out fishing for the day, but I doubt those two will befishing tomorrow. They will react quickly. Arik’s father used to bea soldier. A long time ago, perhaps, but his training will takeover and he will start to make decisions like he was on abattlefield. We have a day at the most before the boys are sent ontheir merry way. I’m afraid I told him about the DarkRiders.”

“That is probably for thebetter, Garth,” Kalina responded. “In the morning you will show mewhere they are staying. When the time is right, I will move and youwill remain hidden. Now, we should get some sleep. Fishermen areknown to be early risers.”

* * * *

To the north two Dark Riders came to ahalt.

“There is no way that theywent north from the town,” the older rider said.

“As she half suspected,”sighed the younger rider.

“That will mean a fast rideback to the town and the men are beat now as it is. Let’s rest themen until morning and then decide that the boys didn’t come thisway,” ordered the older rider.

“You will get no argument fromme or the men,” answered the younger rider. “In the morning, wewill be sure that they did not come this way.”

* * * *

Tedi woke as the sky lightened somewhatand looked around the campsite. Fear set in when he could not seeeither of the two men and he quickly shook Arik awake.

“What is it?” Arik askedgroggily. “Is it my turn for watch already? It feels like I justgot to sleep.”

“It is past the time for yourwatch to end,” snarled Tedi. “Nobody woke me for my watch andneither of our fathers are here.”

Arik jumped to his feet and grabbed hisbow and quiver. Tedi also grabbed his and the two boys looked forsigns of a struggle. Arik quietly motioned to Tedi to search theinland side of the camp while he went towards the sea. When Arikreached the beach he saw the two bodies sprawled on the sand andshouted for Tedi to come running. At the sound of his shout, bothmen leaped to their feet and looked around in confusion. Seeing nodanger, the men sat back down as Tedi came running out of thewoods.

“What is it?” yelled Tedi.“What happened?”

“That is what I would like toknow,” demanded Arik. “Nobody woke either of us for our watch. WhenI got here I thought you both were dead. Why are you here on thebeach and why weren’t we awakened for our watches?”

“You will make a fine officersomeday,” Konic laughed. “I feel as if my Sergeant has just caughtme asleep at my post.”

“That is exactly how youshould feel,” Alan stated, “except it was my responsibility to wakeTedi. It is my fault, not yours.”

“Let us not start this day offwith ill feelings,” Konic decreed while looking at Alan. “I wantedto think last night and I like smelling and hearing the sea when Ithink. I’m afraid that I enticed Alan down here. That is not what’simportant though. You two boys get breakfast started. Master Markeland I will be along shortly and explain everything.”

Arik looked at Tedi and shrugged. Hecertainly was not about to argue with their fathers and breakfastsounded like a fine idea. Arik and Tedi went back to the campsiteand Arik started a fire while Tedi got a couple of pots of waterfrom a nearby stream. Within minutes the coffee was underway andthe two men showed up with handfuls of clams. “I think these willstretch that oatmeal a little bit.” Alan quipped.

Konic fished in his pouch and broughtout the Lanoirian Star. He handed it to Tedi as he began to relatethe basics of the story of the previous night. Both boys satlistening as Master Markel took over the cooking. When Konic hadfinished the story, he asked the boys what they should do next.Alan handed out the bowls of breakfast and sat studying theboys.