“There,” Lerfaf says loud enough to be heard over a gust of strong wind which threatens to take his words away. “Do you see it? Those caves tucked between the dunes on the right. It’s there. The portal is there.”
Lerfaf banks to the right and starts descending toward the ground. Diyrl, considering the safety of her riders, descends at a much slower pace.
Lerfaf drops lightly to the ground and prances toward the entrance of the cave in the middle. Diyrl follows his lead, allowing the chariot to gently come to rest on the sand. Lerfaf turns to his companions.
“We walk from here,” Lerfaf explains. “Quick. Unloose the chariot from Diyrl and attach the harness to my back. We must take care to hurry and not be seen.”
Diyrl opens her mouth to utter a sharp quip, but thinks better of it. Lerfaf must have his reasons for wanting to hide the entrance to his world from nefarious eyes. They make quick work of untethering the harness from Diyrl and attaching it to Lerfaf. Adahlia and Sotet climb aboard and Lerfaf enters the cave with a gallop. Diyrl lowers her head in order to not smack into the cave ceiling and carefully makes her way behind Lerfaf.
_
_
They have been going at a steady pace for at least an hour, when a sudden skittering behind them causes Lerfaf to stop walking and glance over his shoulder. Diyrl turns as well. Her reptilian nostrils flare, and her eyes narrow to tiny slits.
“There is someone here,” Diyrl says. “I can sense them. Even if I cannot see them.”
Adahlia leans over the side of the chariot and glances behind them. She looks at Diyrl questioningly.
“Do you think they are here to cause us harm?” Adahlia inquires.
Lerfaf answers instead of Diyrl. He stares hard into the inky blackness, trying to make out any unfamiliar shapes lurking there. “I don’t know.”
Diyrl is unable to resist this time.
“You don’t know?!?” She laughs. “The oracle of all knowledge, Lerfaf of Equival…Doesn’t know. I would have never thought that were possible.”
“Quiet, Diyrl!” Sotet pipes up. He too is staring intensely into the darkness behind them. “I think we should keep moving. Perhaps it was a rodent or small animal? It could be nothing. But either way, we need to get to that portal. Keep your eyes and ears open. We can’t lose any more time.”
“Okay,” Lerfaf reluctantly agrees. “We go on.”
The group continues forward, the chariot bumping against a rock as Lerfaf pulls on it once again. Diyrl glances over her shoulder in frequent intervals, hoping to catch sight of whoever may be following them.
_
_
In the inky darkness, a pair of yellow eyes hangs back in the gloom—careful to follow the proceeding group at a healthy distance.
_
_
Lerfaf plants his hooves and whinnies over his left shoulder.
“It’s not too much further, but I think we should take a break. Adahlia can certainly use the rest and some food,” Lerfaf states while studying Adahlia closely.
“Sure,” Sotet agrees. “I could use a stretch and a bite of food myself. Come, Adahlia…I’ll prepare lunch and then you can sleep for a little while. Step carefully. I’ve got you.”
Adahlia allows Sotet to help her down out of the chariot and follows him to an open area of the cave. Diyrl plods over to join them, she nudges Adahlia with her snout.
“Remove your armor, Adahlia,” Diyrl says in a matronly tone. “You’ll sleep better. Open your bag and retrieve the blankets inside. I’ll help you to spread them.”
Adahlia teeters on her feet; fatigue seeping into every muscle and bone.
“Thank you, Diyrl,” Adahlia says in a tired voice. “I didn’t realize how…Tired…I was. I feel…Strange. Almost like how I felt when I got chicken pox in the first grade.”
Diyrl and Lerfaf exchange a concerned glance. Sotet stops what he is doing and takes Adahlia up into his wings. He lays his face against her cheek.
“She’s very warm,” Sotet trills. “Something is clearly wrong.”
Diyrl and Lerfaf come to stand beside Sotet. Sotet, in turn, lowers Adahlia to the ground and rummages through their packs for blankets to put underneath her.
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“Adahlia, can you hear me?” Sotet trills in a louder voice as Adahlia’s head lulls to the side. Diyrl attempts to nudge Lerfaf out of the way, in order to get closer to Adahlia, but Lerfaf remains rooted in place.
“Wait!” Lerfaf commands. He stares down at Adahlia as if seeing her for the first time. “She’s not ill. Her body is reacting to our proximity to the portal. She will be fine after a little while. Make her comfortable, but let her rest.”
Turning to Diyrl with a half-smile, Lerfaf partially unfolds his wings and shifts his weight.
“What have you done, Diyrl?” Lerfaf says mockingly.
Diyrl blinks slowly, but refuses to own up to anything.
_
_
Adahlia awakens to find Sotet by her side. Diyrl and Lerfaf are not far away, staring at her from across the flames of the small fire.
“What happened?” Adahlia inquires. “Why are you all staring at me like that?”
Sotet uses the tips of his wing to remove a strand of hair from Adahlia’s face.
“You weren’t feeling very well. Something to do with being close to the portal to Lerfaf’s homeworld,” Sotet explains. “But you seem to be doing a lot better now. How do you feel?”
“I…I feel…Wonderful,” Adahlia admits. “I feel just fine. Did you do something, Lerfaf? Did you heal me?”
Lerfaf shakes his head and shifts his eyes to Diyrl, and then back to Adahlia.
“Not me,” Lerfaf says.
Adahlia looks over at Diyrl. “You saved me, Diyrl?”
Diyrl smiles her wolfish smile and meets Adahlia’s gaze. “No. Not me. You did it all by yourself, Adahlia.”
“Oh,” Adahlia says with slight confusion. “Okay. So, when do we eat? I’m starved.”
Lerfaf and Diyrl share another brief moment of understanding before bestowing equally secretive smiles upon Adahlia.
_
_
There is an abundance of laughter and full bellies when the four friends finally arrive at the portal to Equival. Lerfaf stops short of the portal, staring at its shimmering brilliance. Colorful orbs of light streak back and forth-- forming an oval-shaped distortion in the air. Adahlia carefully climbs from the chariot and stands before the portal. She raises her hand as if to touch it, but quickly thinks better of it.
“The portal’s already open, Lerfaf,” Adahlia exclaims in disbelief. “Is it supposed to be open? How is it that nobody found it?”
Lerfaf releases a mournful sigh.
“I used a spell to block the entrance to the cave,” Lerfaf explains. “Every so often, I came here…To contemplate my past. Or to, convince myself to go back. Until today, I never thought I ever would go back. Now that I’ve dropped the barrier, others could very well come here and find the portal. I will have to close it once we reach the other side.”
“We better not waste any time then?” Sotet interrupts. “Maybe we can cut off whoever might have been following us back there?”
Diyrl nods her head in agreement. “Sotet’s right. We need to go."
Lerfaf continues to stare into the portal. He releases another deep sigh. Adahlia lightly touches his side, drawing the wary unicorn's attention.
“I know it’s hard, Lerfaf,” Adahlia sympathizes. “I know you don’t really want to go back. I know you don’t want to see your world in shambles. But, this is part of the journey. We can’t get to Lixuwon without a neutral portal. The Olotir leaders will probably imprison us. Again. Or worse. We need you, Lerfaf. Please.”
Lerfaf lowers his head to his chest and exhales sharply. “Go ahead. I’ll be right behind you.”
Adahlia looks from Lerfaf and then back to the portal.
“You’ll be fine,” Lerfaf reassures her. “I won’t let anything happen to you. When you pass through the portal, you’ll be in a cave similar to this one. If the portal is still functioning, everything on the other side should be intact. You shouldn’t be in any immediate danger. I have to stay here to seal the portal just after we’ve all entered it.”
Diyrl places a wing in front of Adahlia and nudges her away from the portal. “Then, I will go first,” Diyrl says in all seriousness.
Without hesitation, Diyrl strides through the distortion—bunching her wings together to make herself smaller. Sotet jumps from the chariot and stands beside Adahlia. He grips her hand with one of his wings.
“We go together,” Sotet trills reassuringly. “No need to fear.”
Adahlia squeezes Sotet’s wingtip and offers him a friendly smile.
“Together,” Adahlia whispers.
Stride for stride, Adahlia and Sotet step into the distortion—disappearing from view. Lerfaf watches them go before glancing over his shoulder one last time. He releases yet another long sigh and utters a spell in the Equifrit language. Almost immediately, the colorful orbs become less numerous and the portal entrance begins to shrink. Lerfaf lumbers through the distortion as the portal slowly closes—pulling the chariot behind him.
_
_
“Oh wow!” Adahlia stammers. She stares at her surroundings in utter shock. “Oh…Wow!”
Sotet is unable to speak, his mouth falling open.
Diyrl simply smiles, her eyes taking in everything in the distance. “Beautiful!”
Lerfaf clears the portal only brief seconds before it closes. He too is in complete awe at what he sees.
“My home,”Lerfaf says in an airy whisper. “It’s almost just as I left it.”
The four friends stare out of the cave entrance. The vibrant colors of the vegetation and other landmarks stealing any words they might have wanted to say. A group of small equifrits play at the foot of a nearby hill; their whinnying filling the cool air will sounds of joy.
Sotet steps beside Lerfaf and places a wing on his shoulder. Lerfaf meets Sotet’s gaze with tears pooling in his eyes.
“Now…Aren’t you glad we came?” Sotet trills, offering Lerfaf a genuine smile.
Before Lerfaf can respond, a cacophony of spoken jibberish overtakes the voices of the frolicking equifrit youths. Sotet and Lerfaf turn their heads in the direction of the chariot in time to see a green shape launch itself into the air. The green figure goes directly for Adahlia. Sotet’s eyes flash a brilliant green as he spies Fiel.
A guttural sound escapes Sotet’s beak and he leaps into the air. Sotet slams into Fiel’s side a split second before the goblin can smack into Adahlia. Fiel and Sotet go sprawling onto the pink grass just outside the cave. Fiel continues to spout goblin jibberish as he attempts to dislodge Sotet. Sotet refuses to let go and utters a few choice words in his own language.
A halo of green light encircles Fiel and his jibberish takes on a new pitch. There is now fear in his words. Climbing to his feet, Sotet slowly raises his right wing into the air. Fiel appears to levitate—moving from side to side within the green halo. Sotet’s eyes flash and he jerks his wing violently to the right. Fiel flies through the air and crashes to the ground, halo and all. Fiel disappears from sight when he rolls down a nearby hill.
“Why couldn’t you just leave well enough alone?” Sotet bellows.
Adahlia stares at Sotet with astonishment. “Sotet…You have magic?”
Diyrl rolls her eyes and utters a deep laugh. “Well…Well…Well. It looks like Sotet is a shrike of many secrets.”
End Book One