Our Journey

“Whoop—oh—whoa…” my eyes widened as the creature I had mounted began to stand. It was an unnatural sensation, as if to have climbed a big tree, but to have the tree walk on all fours.

“Yee-ha!” Josh let out a whoop as he galloped around the courtyard on his wayaton, that for some reason he kept calling “giraffe”.

The wayatons, native to Erisea, were long-necked creatures that were astonishingly fast on their feet, as if they didn’t notice they were twice the size of regular horses. The upside was that these creatures could carry twice a horse’s load while traveling at the same speed. The Prince had commissioned several of these creatures along with a number of his men to accompany us in our journey.

The last of the supplies were being loaded as obviously the trip was expected to last a while, seeing as we had absolutely no idea where to start looking for what we didn’t even know to look for in the first place. Just that the plan was to travel as far East as possible.

We would cross the forest that led to the shoreline of the northlands of Erisea where a ship was prepared to take us to venture forth out into sea. We were bringing Dia along so that if we needed to, we could send Gazen to scout ahead if conditions start to become too risky for the ship.

Gazen was stroking Dia’s feathers while he fed her. I met his gaze and he gave me a reassuring smile and a wink. I smiled back in reply. I had no reason to distrust Gazen. He had nothing to gain from me. But the others…

Prince Caleb had come to see us off before he went to attend the important war matters. He was talking with Josh on his wayaton, as if giving some last-minute travel advice. They both laughed at something and exchanged handshakes of good luck. Josh was still talking, he tilted his head in my direction as he said something and they both looked over at me.

The smile felt frozen on my face as Caleb gave me a short nod in greeting and Josh mocked a salute for a wave. I averted my gaze quickly, closing my eyes. Darn those Council bastards. I gritted my teeth resolutely, shaking it off.

“If we set out to sea and keep going, we’d end up nowhere!”

I overheard several men discussing our journey—rather conveying their doubts and skepticism at what we were intending to accomplish.

“There is nothing at the edge of the world,” another was saying. “There’s explorers been there and just got disappointed at wasting their time.”

“Would you lot shut yer traps?” the one whom the Prince had introduced as Captain Braze, the man who would take charge of the mission, scolded as he passed them. “We’re goin’ to follow the Prince’s orders. That’s the deal of it.” He was a big guy with a big voice, who knew it and knew exactly how to use it. He shut them all up pretty quick.

“All right everyone,” Josh called out to everyone in the courtyard, as he steered his giraffe towards me. “Let’s get moving.” He didn’t look the least bit troubled that we didn’t know where we were moving to. I guessed what mattered to him was that we just moved. “You ready?” he asked me.

I managed a nod as all the creatures began to march in formation headed out of the castle. I glanced back at the courtyard where the Prince was standing, holding his hand up in a wave, near the door that led into the magnificent castle behind him, the flags of the Kingdom of Erisea waving gaily in the fine sunny day’s breeze.

But for some reason, an image seared into my mind—of the secret dark room, deep inside where a solitary figure dwelled enclosed in a bubble saying over and over ‘We are tired…’ And I dragged my eyes away from the castle.

--

Dia looked comfortable, gnawing at her feathers, as she sat in her carriage, pulled by several wayatons, one of which Gazen was on. He looked back at the large bird creature with a knowing grin. “Go and get as comfortable as ‘ya can there, Dia. We might have our work cut out for us later on,” he called out.

I met his gaze and laughed with him. I leaned back in my seat on the wayaton with a sigh, looking up at the branches of the trees all around us. It was mid-morning. The rays of the Great Star and the gentle wind filtered through the leaves of the abundant green forest. Although I still had no idea how much longer it would take before we finally reached the ship’s cove.

“Goddammit—,” Josh let out a frustrated groan.

I looked over at him, seated atop his wayaton. He was still poring over maps and maps of Arcadia, looking for the impossible, in my opinion. Despite the irony of my question, I asked conversationally, “Something wrong?”

He muttered his complaint out loud. “Goddamned maps make no sense,” he was putting several maps side by side as if trying to figure out where they fit together.

“What are you doing?” I creased my forehead as I watched him fool around with the worn scrolls.

He shook his head irritably. “There’s like some parts of the map that’s missing,” he relayed. “Look,” he held out some of the scrolls to show me, “there’s nothing after this mountain range here and on this other map, it just starts out from the water—I mean, where’s the rest of it?” he asked, sounding annoyed. “Doesn’t anyone else have a better map of Arcadia?”

I had to shake my head. “How you managed to travel all around this world before without a map is completely beyond me,” I commented.

“It’s not all maps, sweetheart,” Josh remarked with an arrogant air.

“Boy’s got good instincts,” Gazen supplied.

I had to chuckle. “Well, yours don’t seem to be as sharp as you need,” I quipped at Josh.

“I found you, didn’t I?” he gave me a pointed triumphant look.

I rolled my eyes and Gazen laughed.

“Oh yeah, ’cause I was hiding so well,” I countered sarcastically. “Any town idiot within a good radius around Arcain would know where to find me.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re legendary,” Josh dismissed. “We get the point.”

I cocked my head to one side in sudden recall. Trust a human… Can you, really? “So…” I started nonchalantly, “how did you know to look for me in the Southern Forest?”

“What, oh, from Caleb,” he replied carelessly. “I was going to take the short route but I got sidetracked when I ran into those goons from Guifan. Assholes,” he grumbled.

I creased my forehead. “The Prince knew the location of the relic?”

“I assume the Elders told him like they told us about the Land of the Mist, why?”

“What did the Elders tell you about the relic before? How did they say it would help you get home?” I wanted to know.

He shrugged. “Well, they didn’t exactly. All they said was that the relic is the only object in this world with enough power to be able to send me home and then pointed me in your direction.” At that point, he shot me a look. “Why? What’s with the twenty questions?”

I blinked puzzled, hearing wrong. “The what?”

He stopped, making a face. “Twenty—it’s an expression—ugh, never mind,” he dismissed.

“Halt!”

We all looked over as the Captain called suddenly, holding his hand up for us all to stop.

“What is it?” Gazen craned his neck to look.

“I hear something,” the Captain relayed in a hoarse whisper as Josh moved up beside him.

I looked towards the path before us and tilted my head slightly straining to hear for myself. My gaze darted towards the right side of the forest as I heard the rustling of leaves. There!

I heard the sound of weapons unsheathing just before a dark figure stepped out from the shadows behind the trees. But my eyes lit up instantly when a glimmer of light glanced off his armor and part of his blond hair.

“Be calm. I do not intend to fight,” Lance called out loudly to the men from Erisea.

I jumped off my wayaton and broke into a run towards him, a smile of relief already on my face. “You’re here!” I stopped short before him, somehow uncertain of the proper manner of greeting. As a royal? As a brother? A soldier? A friend?

Lance stepped towards me and before I knew it, he had reached for me in an embrace, and I blinked in surprise. “I am your shadow and always will be,” he vowed under his breath, against my ear.

Captain Braze had sat up in his seat, on high alert. His men all had weapons drawn and pointed at Lance. Although he had concealed all distinguishing marks of the kingdom of Cephiron, it was fairly obvious that he wasn’t from this land. It was fortunate that none of the Erisea men recognized who Lance really was. Very fortunate.

“He’s a spy,” the Captain narrowed his eyes, preparing to move his wayaton forward.

It was Josh who turned to restrain him. “It’s all right, Captain,” he advised firmly. “He’s not here to fight.”

Captain Braze met his steady gaze then looked at Lance and I, taking a moment before finally nodding slightly in acknowledgement, which signaled his men to put their weapons down—but not necessarily away.

“What’re you doing here?” Josh didn’t sound at all happy to see Lance again. He steered his wayaton forward, his eyes narrowing as he noticed several other heads discreetly hiding in the forest as well—the rest of Lance’s men. Naturally, he would not travel alone.

Lance held me for another second before he straightened up to face Josh.

Josh hopped off of his wayaton as well and walked towards us, shooting me a dark irritated glance, while I stood by Lance’s side, before he met Lance’s gaze evenly.

“I was worried,” Lance replied clearly, but so that only Josh and I would hear. “The other night, the necklace pulsed again, as if its light had gone out. I needed to make sure…” he trailed off, not needing to finish his sentence.

“Well, that’s great,” he replied with a big grin, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Now that you’ve seen for yourself that she’s fine, you will please excuse us. We have somewhere to be.”

“Are you looking for the Land of the Mist?”

Josh stopped short from his exit whirl and turned his head slowly back towards Lance, his eyes narrowing.

My breath had caught in my throat. I looked up at Lance, stunned. “You know of it?”

“It is rare…but there have been passages pertaining to it among my readings,” he replied.

I saw Josh roll his eyes as he knew what I was going to say—which I merely chose to say with my eyes as I shot him a look. I told you so.

“Vague,” Lance continued, “but rest assured it does exist. Or has existed,” he amended. “For all anyone knows, the place could have disappeared and been lost long ago.”

“No,” I shook my head fervently. “It still exists. We’ve been there,” I gestured to Josh.

He creased his forehead. “That’s not possible. No mere mortal—“

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Josh dismissed with a grimace. “We’ve covered this. I’ve been there, okay pal? All bets are off.”

“Did your readings say of the way to get there?” I asked Lance.

“There are mostly just references to the edge of the world or the end of the world—or both.”

“I knew this was pointless,” a soldier behind us overheard and I heard him groan out loud.

“On the contrary,” Lance began, now loud enough for everyone to hear, “I believe the myths about the edge of the world might not be all it has been said to be feared. There was a scholar of Cephiron once said that ‘if you cross the Mountains ranges of Cephiron, past the wailing winds and gorges, you will find yourself at the bay of the second kingdom’,” he quoted. “The second kingdom is an old term the people of Cephiron used to call Erisea before the second epoch,” he explained further.

“That’s impossible!” another soldier exclaimed.

“No one has ever tried that,” another argued. “It can’t be proven.”

“If you try to cross the gorges or the seas, you would fall off the world. Everyone knows it!”

Josh made a face, holding up his hand. “Wai-wai-wai-wai-wai-wait,” he cut everyone off. He stopped meaningfully before giving each of us a look. “Are you telling me,” he began with a catch in his voice, “that this edge of the world place is a place that nobody has ever gone to because it was said that if you walk to the edge of the world you would fall off??” he prompted.

“Yes,” the Captain himself nodded with conviction.

“No one has ever actually tried to cross the mountain ranges of Cephiron or seen what’s on the other side of the sea from Erisea?” Josh asked again.

“Yes.”

“Because they would—and let me get this straight,” he paused, his tone bordering on incredulity and annoyance, “—fall off the edge of the world?” Josh looked like he was going to strangle somebody.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, creasing my forehead in concern.

“What’s the matter??” Josh threw up his hands exasperatedly. “We’re sitting here worried about getting to this place that cannot be reached just because nobody’s ever tried to get there before!”

“But it is forbidden—“

“Oh my god,” Josh muttered, rolling his eyes. “Oh you people are so backward.” He threw up his hands, groaning in frustration.

Lance and I exchanged baffled looks.

What in the hell was wrong with Josh now? “Gaeans…” I mumbled with a condescending tone.

Josh snapped his gaze to meet mine. “Exactly!” he exclaimed, running to hop back onto his ride. “This Gaean is going to get us to the Land of the Mist. Let’s get moving people,” he clapped loudly to mobilize people to get back on their rides so we could move on.

My forehead was still creased and I looked around at everyone. Only Josh seemed to have understood what he had just said about exactly where we were supposed to go now. But then I saw Captain Braze give a shrug and signal the men to get ready to start moving again.

While everyone else was preoccupied, Lance signaled discreetly to his men in the bushes to quietly move out. Josh noticed this, but creased his forehead when Lance himself didn’t move to follow them, because he was assisting me to get back onto my wayaton. “Hey!” He called, “you’re not coming,” he asked with a tone that wasn’t really asking. “H-he’s not coming,” he told me pointedly, but I just rolled my eyes as I got back onto my wayaton.

Captain Braze heard the discussion and steered his wayaton towards us to give Lance a scrutinizing look. “Who are you?” he asked.

Lance met my wide-eyed gaze before he answered calmly, “Just a rogue soldier. I assure you I am no threat to this army,” he declared, giving the Captain a nod of reassurance. “I am alone. I have no intentions of espionage or the sort. I give you my word. I am merely here for the lady.”

“It’s all right. It’s safe,” I assured the Captain. “Josh, tell them,” I urged him.

Josh snapped his gaze to mine, with another strange kind of look, almost stunned, before his expression cleared, looking away from me to give the Captain a short nod, “I’ll take responsibility for him.”

Captain Braze evaluated his words for a moment before he acknowledged, “Very well.”