“Will you be alright?” Kalos asked Nava. The young pair had been staying as close as possible to Grimm since attending the fair, especially after what happened with Sef and Reid a little earlier that morning.

“Yeah... I’m not so worried now that they’re gone.” Nava shifted from one foot to the other and crossed her arms, intentionally trying to appear unconcerned for his benefit. Her charade was obvious to Kalos, though. She had been experiencing small bouts of trembling at random intervals since the encounter.

“I wonder if the Mercari Fair will ever come back...”

Immediately following Grimm’s intervention, the three of them had returned to the village and paid Barnum a visit, which only lasted a few moments before he took action. As soon as Grimm had finished telling him the story about how Sef and Reid had treated them, his face turned the darkest shade of crimson Kalos had ever seen on the old man’s face. Barnum immediately jumped up and stormed off to gather the other elders.

Less than a half-hour passed before the aged troop went marching off to the fair, rallying as many locals as possible to join them along the way. The village had been on good terms with the Mercari merchants for nearly a decade, but things seemed different this time. What happened to Nava and Kalos wasn’t the only unfortunate encounter triggered by the Mercari’s presence.

Earlier that morning, a pair of children were playing together unsupervised while their parents browsed the wares. Amidst their antics they discovered one of the old Mercari steeds tied to a wagon all by itself and quickly grew curious, wondering how much fun they might have by throwing rocks at the poor creature’s hooves.

Eventually, the old fellow arched his neck and started stamping around to ward the pests away. Like a fly, he soon snapped one of them in the face with his long, whip-like tail, which caused the child to scream and trip into a nearby rack of lances that hadn’t been used in decades. The whole lot toppled over after that, slamming into a nearby wagon with such a loud crash that it woke one of the Mercari merchants’ spoiled wives from her daily nap and sent her roaring outside in a fit of rage.

Additionally, when the lances came crashing down, the old horse started bucking wildly against his rope to such a degree that he completely ripped the window away from the wagon he was fastened to. Then he proceeded to “rampage” through the Fair, as Barnum put it in his own words, to a nearby field for a moment of solace and a few tufts of grass.

The children who triggered the “worst disaster of the year” found the whole situation hilarious. They laughed hysterically until their parents finally latched-hold of them and made them recant the whole story in front of everyone, though it did nothing to settle the matter for everyone involved in the end.

After hearing of the aggression the two Mercari workers showed Kalos and Nava, Barnum’s temper erupted all over again, driving him to join forces with every village elder he could find and confront the merchants in full force. As a result, the Mercari decided to strike camp and end the fair right in the middle of the day. All unfilled transactions, deals, and agreements were immediately cancelled and they closed shop to depart from the village as soon as possible.

Grimm snickered, “You two probably don’t remember Barnum’s starling crisis, do you? One day he started yelling at everyone in town about how all the village’s crops were going to be ravaged by thousands of little black birds that had been circling Ark for several minutes. It was the biggest migration flock I’d ever seen.

“Well, he was ready to move the entire village over the mountain before they had even landed. If it wasn’t for the combined efforts of his wife and all the other elders telling him that the birds wouldn’t destroy our crops like he feared, he would’ve left entirely on his own the very next morning. He claimed that their arrival was some kind of terrible omen, and that our village was on the verge of total ruin.

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“As I recall, he refused to even come out of his house again, for he was praying all the way up until the flock departed that very afternoon without plucking a single grain from the fields.”

Kalos watched Grimm scoop one of two dark-leather saddles from the ground before easily tossing one of the large, heavy leather configurations onto the first of two steeds he had manged to procure from the merchants before all transactions were cancelled. Grimm quietly reminisced the “Starling Crisis” in his mind as he continued securing it to the the horse.

Kalos reached down to grab a satchel with each hand before carrying them over to Grimm, who quickly strapped them to the saddles. Suddenly Nava stepped up with another bag and held it out as well.

“Do you think you’ll catch up to them?”

Grimm shook his head, “If we had more than a few hours’ worth of daylight left, we most likely would. As it stands, we’ll make camp an hour or so behind them, tonight. We’ll take the East Basin route at sunrise and avoid them altogether in the morning.”

The East Basin route was actually more of a small game trail than a well-traveled path, and was barely wide enough for three men to walk side-by-side next to one another. It was well secluded and offered a quick path over the mountains for knowledgable travelers.

Several years after Ark was founded, before any safe paths had been carved through the wild to Port Blefcynn, explorers had to scour the mountains to find any resources they could.

Those who came back to the village after the route was established turned to hunting and gathering exotic, hard-to-find resources in order to keep Ark on the map as a trade stop on the way to the port. Eventually dozens of secret trails were forged throughout the wilds surrounding the village, but a few of the more popular ones eventually became alternative routes to important destinations that only the locals knew about. The East Basin route was one of them for years before it finally fell into disrepair and was eventually overrun with wildife and greenery.

“Is it safe? No one’s used that path in ages.”

The villagers of Ark had become more reclusive over time. The years had grown quieter and the passing of visitors less common. An ever-increasing sense of insecurity had been sowing seeds of fear and suspicion for decades, entirely cutting them off from the rest of the kingdom.

“We’ll be fine,” Kalos casually replied despite the fact that he was feeling more anxious as their departure drew near. They were both worried about the trip and each other, but neither could admit it.

Despite the anxiety in his heart, he yearned to travel and discover far away lands filled with mysterious people. Something was beckoning him away, calling for him to reach far beyond Ark and see the world.

Understanding struck. Her eyes glistened with subtle sadness. They’d had many conversations about how he wanted to get away from Ark. She knew he'd always wanted to know what life would be like elsewhere.

Concer faded to subtle resignation. All she could do was surrender to the inevitable. She slowly looked back up at him as if what she’d been dreading for years was finally coming to pass right in front of her. Seeing the sadness in her gaze made his heart hurt, especially since it was entirely his fault.

“I know you will be... You’ve been wanting this for so long.”

Suddenly Kalos’ destination seemed much farther than it did just a few moments ago. A strange longing feeling pricked his heart as she reached into a small pocket near her waist.

Nava pulled out a long strand of leather decorated with multiple knots that were interwoven with several small, earth-toned beads, and held it up for him.

He noticed that a random, aqua colored bead had been worked into the pattern at regular intervals along the center of the weave. The bracelet was only about half a thumbs’ width wide, but was still rigid and sturdy by design.

“Gimme yer wrist,” she demanded.

“What’s this?”

“I got it at the fair before I saw you. Wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it until now. The merchant I bought it from said it’s for an ancient custom from somewhere far beyond Sultra. You’re supposed to give it to someone you might not see for a long time. It’s called a Frenlan. Make a wish when you put it on and it's supposed to come true when it falls off all by itself. I’ll make the wish, though.”

She wrapped it snugly around his wrist before beginning to braid together three long strands that were left to secure it with by its maker.

“May the road rise up to meet you, and may it keep you safe wherever you go.” She quietly finished braiding a complicated series of knots that would never come undone on their own before saying more.

“As for me... I wish that all of your dreams come true, and that you find your way through life long before fate chooses one for you.”

Nava’s somber expression broke into a mischievous grin, “But only the good ones, of course.”

©2024, K. M. Plum, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED