The next morning, they found a courier and sent Cadin a message, telling him that they would be delayed. Then, leaving the wagon at the stable, they rented a saddle for Pebbles and headed north into a predominately aspen forest. Julia had to ride in front of Falcon, but she didn’t mind. She liked the feel of his strong arms around her. He didn’t exactly hold her, but most of the time he held the saddle horn in front of her. Her desire to be close wasn’t a romantic thing, she told herself, not that she wouldn’t be interested if things were different; he was warm, good-natured, and comfortable to be with. Regardless, she was going home at the end of this quest, and he was staying here, so anything other than temporary friendship was out of the question.
She hadn’t been held much in her life. Her parents hadn’t been very physically affectionate, she hadn’t dated anyone in years, and she had no really close friends. So being in his arms was wonderful, and she quickly grasped any excuse that would keep her there.
Their pace was slow as the trees became more pine, and closer set. Then slower still as they started the trek up the foothills at the base of the Aillean Mountains. It didn’t feel like they had made it more than a few miles when they found a clearing to camp in as the sun was setting.
Falcon didn’t make a fire since it wasn’t too cold, so they ate sandwiches for dinner. Afterwards, Julia played with her ice spell while he put up their tent. After a few minutes, she started laughing, and he paused to look over with a raised brow. She held up their waterskin. “It’s frozen.” When he rolled his eyes, she added, “Don’t worry, I can thaw it.”
“Don’t,” he said quickly. “You cast fire and chances are it’ll evaporate the water and turn the skin into cinders.” She frowned, so he smiled affectionately at her before he finished pitching the tent. “It’ll thaw itself by morning. And that’s a useful trick.”
She grinned proudly to herself as she stood and helped with the bedrolls.
__________
The next morning, Julia woke up alone, which wasn’t unusual―Falcon was always up before she was. She frowned, though, when she stepped out into the bright morning and Falcon was nowhere to be seen. She shrugged to herself, figuring he would be back in a minute and telling herself to stop feeling so panicked at the idea of being alone.
She focused on her surroundings instead. It had rained lightly during the night, and droplets of water glinted on the grass and buttercups in the clearing. She closed her eyes for a moment, listening to the soft sound of the wind rustling through the tree, and the horse munching on some foliage near the pine it was tied to. The morning sun was warmer than it had been since she got to Kelstone, and the air smelled like spring—a fresh, green, just rained kind of smell. It was nice.
Suddenly something touched her calf. Her eyes flew open as she gasped and jumped back. Looking down she found the cause; a silver and black tabby cat was sitting at her feet, looking up at her with curious green eyes.
“Oh my god! You scared me,” She chided gently. She bent to pet its incredibly soft fur. “Where did you come from?” she murmured, scooping the small animal into her arms and sitting down with it.
Falcon returned just a minute later. “What’s that?” he asked, walking closer.
She chuckled. “A cat, silly.” She held it up to him. “Look, he has the most beautiful eyes. I think I’ll call him Jade.”
Falcon groaned. “You’re not keeping it.”
“Yes, I am.” She snuggled Jade, touching her face to his fur. “You don’t want to go away, do you?” she asked in a baby voice.
“Jules,” Falcon said patiently, “if he stays he’ll get hurt, probably die. We’ll be fighting, remember?”
Her smile dropped into a deep frown; she couldn’t argue with that. So when they were ready to leave, she set the cat down with a long sigh. Selfishly, she didn’t want to let him go: it was nice to have something so comforting in such an insane world. But Falcon was right; it was for the best.
__________
The following night, Julia woke up when something cold touched her cheek. She opened her eyes, but couldn’t see anything. It touched her again. She held her breath as she slowly got her arm out from under Falcon’s. He was holding her again, since she had been cold―well, that’s what she had told him. She cast her light spell. A glowing white orb appeared in her hand, and she squinted as her eyes tried to adjust.
“What’s going on?” Falcon asked in a groggy voice.
“I felt something,” she whispered.
He took his arm away from her and sat up. He starting to reach for his sword, then stopped when they both saw the intruder.
“Meow.”
Julia grinned widely and sat up as well. She tossed her light into the air, where it stayed, hovering. She picked up the cat and hugged him to her. “Aw, he followed me.”
Falcon sighed and lay back down. “Unfortunately.”
She turned so she could look down at him. “Might as well take him. He’s obviously quite determined.”
“Sounds familiar.”
She moved the cat so his face was close to Falcon’s. “Come on, just look at him. How can you be grumpy at such an adorable kitty?"
“Adorable kitty is going to become yummy dinner for some hungry monster,” he told her.
“No, he won’t,” she said resolutely. “He’s little and quick and… you’ll run away from the baddies, won’t you?” she asked Jade, returning to a baby voice.
Falcon rubbed his face. “Keep him until we get back to Glendale. We can find someone to take him there. Maybe Rosie knows―”
“No, Jade’s mine and I’m keeping him… for good.”
Falcon laughed dryly. “You’re seriously ridiculous, Jules,” he told her, then sighed. “If you want to get the thing killed, fine. But when it comes time to fight, remember that you are important, not a damn cat. So don’t let it distract you and get you hurt.”
“’Course,” she said easily, smiling down at her new pet.
Falcon shook his head. “Okay, can you put the light outside now so we can go back to sleep?”
She scooped up the glowing white ball, then scooted to the tent opening and tossed it out. It hovered in the air, but when she went back inside, it followed. She frowned at it. “It won’t go,” she complained.
“Try casting it on something.”
Still holding the cat in one arm, she reached for her boot and recast her spell. The floating orb flickered out as the whole boot lit up. She giggled softly; it just looked funny. Falcon glanced over and smiled. She set it outside the tent and went back to his bedroll. She set Jade down, and he curled up beside her as she leaned back a little, touching Falcon. She smiled when he put his arm around her again.
__________
It was early the following afternoon when they found the cave entrance. Tying the horse to a tree and hoping they had the right place, they entered the tunnel which was just big enough for one person to walk through comfortably. Julia led the way, her light spell hovering and keeping up with her, illuminating the sand-colored stone around them. Jade and Falcon followed behind her.
The hallway descended deeper and deeper, until her spell was no longer the only source of light. They stepped into a cavern about twenty feet in each direction, including the height of the rough ceiling. Against the far wall, to the side of some overstuffed bookcases, was a workbench between two large cupboards. It held various potions, empty bottles, bowls of unknown substances, a mortar and pestle, a long, tube-y glass thing, and several items of food. Above the table were nails protruding from the rocky wall with small bundles of various plants hanging from them to dry.
In the middle of the room was a large round table and several chairs. Stacked on top of these were piles of books, scrolls, and papers. The rest of the room looked the same: towering stacks of books everywhere, scrolls overflowing from open chests, and pieces of paper held down by rocks in various places. If there was any more furniture, it was obscured by the mess.
“There you are!” a voice suddenly yelled.
They jumped in surprise. Looking up, they found a very old man standing in a nook that was carved into the wall over ten feet above them. Crammed between two bookshelves was a tall ladder, the top of which rested against the ledge near his bare feet. He had long gray hair and a beard that reached his waist. His blue mage robe only went down to his knees, showing his very skinny legs.
“Where have you been?” he asked, putting his hands on his bony hips.
“You were expecting us?” Falcon asked.
“Well, of cour―” He stopped suddenly and squinted down at them. “Wait. Who are you?”
“Falcon and Julia.”
The old man frowned. “Where is the delivery boy?”
“I don’t know,” Falcon answered. “Are you Ikoris?”
The man looked confused as he twirled the end of his beard in his long fingers. “Very odd to be ripe this early in the season,” he mused to himself, then shrugged and started to climb down the ladder.
Falcon tried again when he got to the bottom. “Are you the mage, Ikoris?”
The old man whirled around and gasped. “Oh my!” he cried, clutching his chest. “Who are you?”
“Falcon and Julia.”
“Ah, I’m Ikoris,” he said. He walked closer to Falcon and studied him for a moment before deciding, “I think we may have met before.”
Falcon raised a brow. “Yes, just a minute ago.”
The man smiled brightly. “Oh! Well, it’s good to see you again.”
Julia put a hand to her mouth to keep a giggle from escaping while Falcon explained, “We were told to find you, to get more information about the orb of Gahala Dune.”
“Oh, yes,” Ikoris said easily, waving his hand like it was nothing. He turned to walk toward the workbench. “I found a book that made reference to the orb at the Arcane Library in Oraunt some years ago.”
“Do you have that book here?”
“Oh no, you can’t keep books from the library. You’re thinking of a bookstore, my boy.”
“Sure. So what do you know about it?” Falcon asked.
“Well, it’s a shop that sells books. A lot of different kinds of―”
“Not the store, the orb.”
“Oh, I have some notes on my research around here somewhere,” Ikoris said, then picked up a bottle that held a muddy brown liquid and drank from it. His face contorted as if he had just eaten a lemon whole. He set it back down. “That’s not wine.” He turned to them and smiled. “But at least I’m cured of certain poisons.” He seemed to find this amusing. He headed to the center table and started looking under the piles of stuff, squinting closely at things.
“Do you know where to find it, as well?” Falcon asked.
“Find what?”
“The orb.”
Ikoris paused in his search to look up. “What’s that?”
“The orb of Gahala Dune,” Falcon reminded him.
The old mage hummed in thought for a moment. “Never heard of it. It sounds a bit like a song though, doesn’t it? La da gahala dum…” He continued humming as he returned to his search.
Falcon sighed and started to say something more, but Julia stopped him with a hand on his forearm. “Can we look around?” she asked Ikoris.
“Yes, yes, of course,” he murmured, “do whatever you like. Make yourself at home, as they say, whoever they are.” He frowned at the table. “Now, where did I put that apple?”
Falcon and Julia split up and started looking through the books, scrolls, and stacks of papers. She came across many interesting looking books―Everything Enchantments by Geoffan Delaney, 101 Minotaur Recipes, More delicious than beef! by Owen Oraak, and History of Magic by Richard Wilnic―but she left them alone.
Fifteen minutes into the hunt the old mage announced happily, “I found it!”
Julia lifted her head from where she sat cross-legged on the floor, to see him holding up a half-eaten piece of bread with a bit of blue-green fuzz on the tip. She shook her head and chuckled as she returned to the stack of books she was going through.
Jade had decided to sit on the small pile in the few seconds her attention was diverted. She rolled her eyes and picked him up.
He meowed a complaint.
“Oh, hush,” she told him and set him down in her lap, where he curled up and started purring a minute later.
It must have been a couple hours before Julia finally jumped up in excitement, causing Jade to fall out of her lap. “Rrraaow!” he griped angrily.
“Oh! Sorry,” she told him, then hurried across the room to Falcon “Here’s something,” she said, holding up a green, leather-bound journal. Opening it, she read aloud:
“The Orb of Gahala Dune is an object of great power, split into four equal parts, hidden and protected in different places across the world. When the pieces are put together, it will trap any one humanoid inside it. It is a most wondrous thing, for it can bring down the greatest of enemies with one touch to their bare skin. It has taken me two years, but I have finally collected the clues as to the locations of the four pieces. Perhaps someday I may search for them. But I am sure there are words that must be spoken to be able to use it; I shall find out what those are first.”
She ran her finger across each of the riddles written underneath:
I protect the plants as they are mine,
In the south, it is found in my shrine.
It is frozen in a rocky bed,
A thousand rubies under its head.
In the forest green beneath the moon,
You may enter when you play my tune. (Mt. Aylios?)
Woodland creatures do not lie,
They will answer, eye for eye.
"That’s all there is,” Julia told him.
“It’s enough,” Falcon said. “We can find the pieces and figure out how to work it later.”
