Jens Hoffmann - Simon Knox and the Prophecy of Asragur

"It's a nice warm day. Let's take off our sweaters and jackets and have a bite to eat.I'm dying of hunger! Where's your backpack with the blanket?", Simon wanted to know and removed his jacket. Richie, working on taking his sweater off, replied: "I must have lost it when Grewels blew us through the Gateway", he grumbled sullenly. "Do you have any idea how far it is to Leyhda?"

"No", replied Simon and looked at the scale of the dragon king that he had pulled out of his pants pocket. The scale had turned light grey and was gradually losing its magical shimmer. Simon sighed and showed it to Richie. "We will only take a short break and eat something. We have to ration our food. Who knows when we will get something to eat again?”

Richie nodded. He was also quite hungry. And so the two boys looked for a nice place on the cliffs and each of them had a sandwich and shared an apple, all of which Aunt Aby had given to Simon for his trip to Ilfracombe.

It was good that Simon had brought his pocket knife along to help him cut the apple in four parts. They looked out over the sea and Richie asked: "Do you believe we will ever see home again, Simon? Maybe they're already looking for us. What time is it, anyway?"

Simon looked at his watch. "Hm, that's strange. Look, it says it's quarter to two". Simon held up his watch to Richie.

"That must have been the time when we went through the Gateway. Could be that the watch stopped and will start up again normally when we go back through the Gateway?", Richie guessed.

"That might be", Simon replied. "We will find out", he added with a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. They remained sitting for a while and Simon checked to make sure his compass was working. "Perfect!", he said relieved. And so the two friends started out on their adventure into the unknown.

It was a beautiful summer day, which gave them the impression that they had never passed through the Gateway to Morana, for Xuria was so similar to Exmoor. Far below at the foot of the cliffs, the waves thundered against the rugged rocks. Xuria stretched out before them as far as the eye could see. The familiar moorland turned into a range of small woods, murmuring brooks and expanding wet meadows. Jagged rocks shining brightly in the sun jutted out here and there into the lovely countryside. Beautiful coloured butterflies, in such a size they had never seen, lingered on flowers here and there to be refreshed by their nectar. And cobalt blue birds, with breasts of red and funny black caps, fluttered around them and filled the fragrant summer air with their song.

The sun was up high as Simon and Richie came to the edge of a small wood, and so they decided to take a short break under the shade of some trees. The colourful goings-on fascinated them so much that they didn't notice movement in the heather and dirt being kicked up behind them. Something or other was making tracks directly towards the two unsuspecting friends.

"Finally some shade", Simon groaned and they sat down on the soft moss at the foot of a great oak tree. Just as Simon realized that there were only three lamb chops and a little bread left, they both felt the ground shake, and the quake grew stronger. Paralyzed by fright they looked on as something was headed their way below the woodland ground. Before they could even think about escaping, a huge mound of dirt rose up in front of them. A hairy creature of some kind peaked out of the dirt at them curiously, with cheeky little button eyes.

„AAHHH!“, Simon and Richie screamed together, still holding lamb chops in their hands.

„AAHHH!“, screamed the small hairy fellow back, more amused than afraid. It seemed he was having fun by frightening the two boys. He crawled out of the mound of dirt and hopped around boldly. After shaking all the dirt off himself, he stood in front of them and looked at Simon and Richie boldfaced and challenging. The furry animal apparently wasn't dangerous, the boys concluded, and so they relaxed a bit.

The creature standing before them was half mole, half beaver, with wiry dark-brown fur, the strong teeth of a rodent and friendly black eyes covered by a few long, coarse hairs. His paws were those of a mole, however covered on top also with thick fur. The little fellow's beaver tail tapped eagerly on the ground.

"Hmm, that smells quite delicious", mumbled the furry animal with a quaking voice, whose sniffing nose came closer to Simon's lamb chop.

"Do you want one as well?", asked Simon, holding the last lamb chop towards the nosy visitor, who was apparently very hungry.

"Oh how nice of you! I would love it", said the funny creature and grabbed for the chop with a paw of strong claws. The funny "molebeaver" leaned back against the mound of dirt and relaxed. One paw was on his rather large belly and the other one was holding on to the meat, which he was sniffing delightedly with his eyes closed.

"Oh, pardon me. I forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me. I'm usually not that way, you must know", said the friendly rodent, who then bowed to them politely. "Welcome to Morana. My name is Biggs and I am the best and fastest tunnel builder of all of us Wulloms", he said proudly with a puffed out chest. After the formalities were taken care of, he sat back down as before and turned his full attention to the lamb chop again.

Simon and Richie liked the chubby Wullom.

"Hello Biggs, nice to meet you", Simon replied with a laugh. "I am Simon and this is my best friend Richie.

"We just arrived in Morana a few hours ago", Richie added with his mouth full.

"Oh, I am fully aware of who you humans are. Lately we have been hearing about all kinds of things", Biggs replied, who was now chewing on the bone. Simon and Richie were amused to see that he was about to eat the bone as well. And that he did with great relish, thanks to his sharp teeth.

"We're on our way to the city of the moor elves", explained Simon. "Can you perhaps tell us how much farther it is?"

"So, you're headed to Leyhda, to the moor elves", Biggs said looking at the two, while licking off each and every claw. "Hm, that was delicious", he said and patted his belly in contentment.

"Would you like some bread?",Simon asked and offered Biggs a piece of Aunt Abygale's freshly-baked bread.

"Only if it's no trouble", the hungry Wullom grabbed the piece from Simon's hand.

"Oh what an excellent aroma", he raved and let each bite melt in his mouth. "Well you want to go to the moor elves", he began in reply to Simon's question. "Elian will be happy that his underground existence will soon be coming to an end", Biggs continued. "You should know that the moor elves have been hiding underground for years now for fear of Rodan's wrath. Nobody knows for sure where their underground city is located, except for me, of course", the fat rodent said importantly. "I helped them to dig a few tunnels back then, which was only the neighbourly thing to do. Those moor elves are such friendly and helpful beings. But as neighbours they are simply too loud. The constant music, all that moving around, day in day out, ghastly! My wife Elda and I put up with it for half a year. After having our hibernation interrupted by so much noise, we decided to move to a quieter place.

You know, I always told Elian that he wouldn't have these problems if Rodan had been given a good smack as a kid. Then he wouldn't have turned into such a creep, they would still be living in moorland and Elda and I wouldn't have had to move. But now that you are here, it seems everything will take a turn for the better", Biggs sighed in contentment and locked his paws behind his head. "In any case, everybody is longing for your arrival", he continued apparently forgetting Simon's question.

He looked at Simon cheerfully. "I guess there is not much time left otherwise the mightiest of Morana wouldn't be doing everything to make sure you're prepared for the task at hand. It's a good two day's march from here to Leyhda. But I know a shortcut", Biggs announced, proud to be of help to his new friends. "You can save at least a day's journey, or more."