By the time Alam had reached the temple Tajar had gained enough strength to be sitting at the kitchen table. His appetite had returned with a vengeance. The spoon traveled in an uninterrupted circle from mouth to bowl. He stopped chewing only to gasp an intake of air as the next spoonful was slopped in. Alam joined him, Hannah, and Iwan at the table and was supplied with bread and a large bowl of stew.

"The temple will become busy soon. Now is the best time for us to tell you what we know about the box you're carrying around," said Iwan.

"Thank you," replied Alam. Tajar simply nodded in agreement as he shoveled a large chunk of mutton into his already full mouth.

"You should be aware that much of what we share is from stories told over fires. Stories change and grow in the telling. I suspect that the tale is at least partly fictional."

"Understood," said Alam through a mouthful of bread.

"Some fifty or so years ago an Evara was born. Her parents were the rulers of the Evaran realm. The Evara do not conceive children as easily as us humans, so it was a cause of great celebration. All babies are a treasure, but an Evara baby is a very rare treasure. They named the child Clarisai. She was their first born and thus the heir to the Evaran throne. It is said she was a child of sweetness and grace.

"Sorry," Alam interrupted. What is an Evara?"

"They are a race of people from a land over the mountains to the west. There aren't many of them anymore so it's not surprising that you haven't met one. They look similar to us but they are slightly smaller than us humans. They mostly keep to themselves. They are a quiet and relatively peaceful race.

"The story of Clarisai really centres around two conflicting visions: one from her mother and one from her father.. The mother's vision gave them hope, the father's gave them fear. You see, when Clarisai was still a child her mother had a vision in the night. She saw that Clarisai would grow in power and would one day be strong enough to destroy the Empire of Morcham, who has been an enemy of the Evarai for centuries. The Evarai rejoiced, but not for long.

"The very next night Clarisai's father had a vision which contradicted her mother's. In his vision a young sorcerer from Morcham rose up to strike the girl. He stripped her of her innate magical powers and ended her life. In this second vision the Empire of Morcham, aided by your people, by which I mean the clans of The Endless Plains, invaded the woodland realm of the Evarai. The Evarai were scattered or slain and their barrow homes dug up and burnt."

"And our people help them in this vision?" asked Alam.

"Yes."

"But it is just a dream. Everyone has dreams and few of them ever become real," said Alam.

"It is not so with the Evarai. They know the difference between dreams and visions, and were convinced that they were conflicting prophecies," said Iwan.

Hannah continued the story. "The Evarai debated about the visions and what they should do about them. In the end they decided to push fate towards the vision that they desired - Clarisai's mother's vision. The first thing they did was contact your people. Their idea was to get your people to support them so that you would not join the Empire of Morcham. They found the young leader of the most powerful clan on the Plains and convinced him to visit them. It was their hope to forge an alliance. The meeting did far more. It is said that when the clan leader met Clarisai an incredibly strong bond instantly sprang up between them. It is told that he felt an overwhelming desire to protect the child, and for many years abandoned his duty to his own people and lived among the Evarai like an uncle to her.

"The next thing the Evarai did was make sure a sorcerer from Morcham would never be able to strip her of her power. They did this by taking away her powers themselves."

"What?" Alam sat up. "They took away her magic? Her own people?"

"Not exactly," Hannah continued. "They found an innocent looking object that no Morcham sorcerer would ever suspect and transferred her power into it. The object," she said slowly, "was a rose."

"A rose," Alam muttered as he took the box out of the folds of his tunic and stared at it as he placed it on the table in front of them. "An Evaran princess' power is in here?"

"Yes, and the hopes of her people."

"But why would they do that?" asked Alam. "It makes no sense."

"Two reasons," said Iwan. "First of all it breaks the conditions of her father's vision - if her power is already stripped, a sorcerer can't strip it again, thus the vision of destruction could not happen. Secondly they were confident that the power could be transferred back into her when she was old enough to wield it maturely. Therefore her mother's vision could still take place."

"Did it work?" Alam asked.

"The transfer worked, but it did not stop disaster," he answered. "Ten or so years ago, in the middle of the night, a sorcerer appeared in the girl's chamber. The chieftain from The Plains heard her cry out and burst into her room to protect her. But he was too late. He arrived in time only to see them vanish. It is said that the chieftain wept for days before returning to his home a broken man."

"Danat," Tajar stated to Alam who nodded in agreement. Alam pictured the noble but sad man who unprotestingly sat in the Khashbal cage instead of trying to take his place as the head of the Clan.

Hannah leaned forward. "Then last year Brother Unher visited. He had been traveling widely, looking for signs of Clarisai. Initially everyone assumed that she was a prisoner in Morcham, or had been killed. For years persistent effort was put into discovering her location within Morcham, but no sign was found, nor was a grave discovered. Our agents turned up nothing; conversations with traders coming and going from Morcham yielded no hints; even the Evarai's powers were unable to locate her."

"She was probably killed and thrown in a ditch," interjected Tajar through a full mouth of bread.

"That is what most assumed, I certainly did," agreed Hannah. "But Brother Unher had other thoughts. He wondered if she was hidden and imprisoned somewhere - perhaps even outside of Morcham."

"Why wouldn't they just kill her?" asked Tajar.

"Brother Unher's reasoning was based on the order of events in Clarrisai's father's vision: first a young sorcerer strips her of her power, then takes over the clans of The Endless Plains, and finally destroys the Evarai. But with her power already stripped they could not proceed even to the first point. What they would need was to first restore her power so they could move to fulfill it."

"How would they even know of the vision in the first place?" asked Alam.

"They have spies everywhere, even here in Lasthome. They surely had heard about the visions," said Iwan.

"Brother Unher had been searching for signs for three years when he appeared in Lasthome," Hannah continued. "He asked if there were rumours of anything strange in the area. We told him of the Fear Forest to the North. There is a section of the woods that no one dares to enter. The local fur trappers say it is cursed. Brother Unher hired one of the trappers as a guide and set off to examine it. One month later they returned in a state of excitement. Unher said that the Fear Forest was, without a doubt, a powerful Morcham curse. He said that he was convinced that the cursed forest actually protected that mountain that it surrounded, but that he had found a way around it and discovered a tunnel that leads into the mountain. He was very hopeful that it would lead to her, but because where the tunnel was he couldn't reach it. He told us he needed supplies, and the Rose.

"For safety he gave us a copy of a map he made, and then quickly set off west. It was his plan to gather an excavation team to return with the Rose and free Clarisai.

"That was the last we heard of him until you told us of his death."

"What does your temple have to do with all of this?" asked Alam. "Why are you helping?"

"We have been friends with the Evarai for centuries. They are a noble people, and we do not wish them to suffer," answered Iwan.

"One more question: if Unher was on the way to free Clarisai why did none of her people travel with him?" asked Alam.

"I would speculate that their distinctive appearance would draw undue attention. The Evarai do not travel outside their realm very often. It would certainly raise questions. Of course none of that mattered in the end because Morcham clearly knew where on The Trail to find them," Hannah replied.

"What do you think, Alam?" asked Tajar.

Alam turned the box over in his hands and watched the way the light from the window played against its delicate carvings.

"How far away is this cave?" he asked after a long silence.

"Seven days march according to the trapper," answered Iwan.

Seven days and I finally meet her and figure out what these visions are.

"Can I use your map?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I don't have any better ideas," Alam said to Tajar. "We can't go back to the Clan..."

"You can't," interrupted Tajar with a smile, "I can do anything I want."

"I can't go back," Alam amended. "What are my other options? To settle down here? I think I'll try to find this cave. Are you coming?" he asked Tajar.

"Of course!"

Alam squeezed Tajar's uninjured shoulder in thanks and turned to the healers. "When will he be well enough to travel?"

"I'm ready now! Let's go!" Tajar stood up too fast and had to clutch the table and slowly sit back down as dizziness took over. Hannah laughed openly at him.

"He has recovered very quickly, he might be ready the day after next at this rate," she replied.

"Thank you for the food," said Alam as he rose from the table. "I'll see to that wood pile now."

***

The dawn rose blood red. Emerek, First Adept of the Fire Circle thundered down the trail with his Bloodknights behind him. No one dared to stop them. The aura of death went before them like a wave. Caravans heading both east and west pulled off The Trail to let them pass.

It pleased Emerek to see lesser men cower before him. It was befitting that their eyes widened in fear even as they dipped their heads and lowered their gaze.

They sped towards a large caravan.

"Move!" he demanded.

It rolled slowly off the rutted Trail into the long grass at its side. Its size and length made it slow to respond. So slow that Emerek had to hold back his stallion's pace momentarily. As he did so he noticed with irritation that a woman on the caravan, perhaps a guard, dared to meet his gaze. It struck him as strange that a woman with such white hair would travel with merchants from the east. There was something familiar about her that tugged at his memory. The final cart rolled off The Trail and Emerek kicked Marext's horse into full gallop. There was no time to ponder the question. Whoever she was, it was not as important as quick success and the power it would bring.

***

Xantia's blood chilled as her eyes locked with the young sorcerer.

What the hell is Emerek and a group of Bloodknights doing here? It has to be something important for them to leave the safety of their mountains.

She cursed under her breath without moving her lips. Time slowed down for that moment. An arc of curiosity played on the man's brow. Or was it recognition? He looked like he was going to address her. The moment passed. The last cart moved aside and the Emerek kicked his horse forward.

The box. What else could bring them here?

Hopefully Alam and Tajar have handed it over to whoever they were giving it to and are long gone. Otherwise they are dead.

It didn't look like he recognised me.

The sooner we get moving again the better.

She urged her horse forward to the owner of the caravan.

"We need to push on and get as far away from those madmen as possible," Xantia hissed at her.

"There are only seven of them, we have ten guards. We are safe."

"No we are not," she leaned in urgently. "I know of the man who leads them. He can single handedly kill every one of us with magic. The killers who travel with him are called Bloodknights. Just one of them could slaughter half of your guards. We have to put as much distance between us and them as possible. If the moon is out tonight we should push on through the night as well."

The caravan owner studied her face seriously.

"Listen everyone!" she shouted suddenly. "We pick up the pace for the rest of the day and ride into the night! We will eat on the road and take no breaks! Let's move!"

Xantia looked back over her shoulder at the shrinking figures of Emerek and the Bloodknights. Fear spilled into her stomach. 

Where are you Tajar? You'd better not still be in Lasthome.

She shook her head to scatter the thoughts.

The fever would have taken him by now. Hopefully Alam is gone before they get there.

Damn this weakness! I stayed too long with the barbarians. Everyone dies. If it is at Emerek's hand, then so be it.

She turned her face back towards the west and urged her horse to join the front of the caravan.

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-Y. V. Qualls