Having finished breakfast, in a very good inn, in which Fracius had also rented two rooms, one for him and one for them, nothing more kept them from going in search of Faffa's father, the guildmaster.

"Do you have any idea where he might be, Fracius?" asked Sat. In the meantime, he was eating, he had a paper bag in one hand and in the other a kind of cream puff, inside which was a green, pistachio-like cream.

"More or less... You have to know that Prionzo, that's the guildmaster's name, loves to fish, and there happens to be a little river not too far from town that only he and I know about. He first took me there a couple of years ago. Before that... He used to go there with his wife."

"I see... How did she die, if I may?"

"She was sick, that's all you need to know." he took off his hat "I tried to heal her, with one of my inventions, but I couldn't, unfortunately. You should have seen Prionzo's face when I told him I might have found a cure, he was happier than ever... Just as he was more devastated than ever when it didn't work." he smiled, if you can call it that. "But enough of this talk, if we had to think about the dead all the time, we wouldn't have time to think about the living. That's what my mother used to say, and my grandmother before her."

"Yeah, maybe... You've got a point." as he said this, Sat thought of Gio and Ve. In his heart, he not only hoped, but wished they were alive. He categorically rejected the fact that they might be dead.

After a while, they passed the southern entrance to the city, to the right of the one they had come through. A long path leading far, who knows where, occupied their vision.

Sat asked why they had not hired a carriage, and Fracius replied that it was better to go on foot. He did not want to risk the coachman finding out about the river, also because the river had something very special, which they would discover once they arrived.

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So, a half-hour's walk from the town, they left the path and headed for a grove at the foot of a small hill.

"How much further is it? I am tired, had I known there was so much walking I would have stayed at the inn."

"Trust me, you won't regret it."

"Yes, you've already said that." he leaned closer to Dricea "I don't suppose you would help me walk?"

"In what way?"

"By supporting me. After all, it's also your fault that I can't walk properly, my back still hurts."

"You used to walk just fine in the city, though."

"Yes, that's true, but..."

"In any case, it's fine, I'll help you walk, Sat."

"Really?! Thank you so much, Dricea!" he told her, a smile on his face. He then put his arm around her neck.

Once inside the grove, they slowly began to hear water flowing, but Sat could not understand where the noise was coming from. He was confused; it was as if water was flowing from all sides.

"Follow me, this way." said Fracius to them, after passing under the trunk of a tree, arriving in front of two species of stone columns. I say species of columns, because they looked more like petrified logs.

"Beyond those two rocks lies the little river I was telling you about, but do not pass them until I tell you, either in the middle or on either side."

"Whatever you say, Fracius."

Seeing the demon begin to pick up stones and leaves here and there, but never passing beyond the two columns, Sat sat down on a boulder nearby, as did Dricea.

"Are you alright, Sat?" she asked him.

"Yeah, it's fine, I'm not athletic like you, so I get tired sometimes, but only sometimes, mind you."

Yeah, he had made a joke, intending to at least make her smile, but that was not to be. He even demoralised himself a little, as at home he was considered a rather funny guy, at whose jokes everyone always laughed a little. Nah, that's not true, he wasn't a funny guy at all, and he knew that very well, but, as they say, it doesn't hurt to try.

"That's it, finished!" exclaimed the demon, after placing the last leaf on top of the turret of stones and leaves he had built in the middle of the two columns.

"Now, stand back, or you may be blown away." indeed, all of a sudden, a very strong wind began to blow towards him, hitting too Sat and Dricea, who had promptly placed herself in front of the hero. The wind came from the empty space between the two columns, but despite this, the tower of stones and leaves did not seem to be affected, it was still standing, as if immune to it.

"Brace yourselves, and on my go, jump!" shouted Fracius. Finally, the wind changed direction, beginning to suck them in, rather than push them away.

"Three, two, one... Go! Jump!"