Chapter Ten - The Fire Crackles

Sir Rupert continued to ride towards Aiulindale. He paused briefly as the rain let up. He had travelled for a day now, it was the morning after he left. He surveyed the plain around him looking for signs that the King’s army had passed this way. Suddenly, a small spot caught his eye. It seemed small, but, no, wait, could it be? He strained his eyes to their maximum, and looked more closely at the spot. It was. He was sure of it. Unless he was riding straight into an enemy trap, but no, he wouldn’t worry about that. He would ride. He knew it would be safe, he could feel it in his heart. Digging his heels into his horse’s flank, he rode harder, and faster, towards the moving spot. As he rode it grew larger, and he knew he was definitely heading for the army of King Eldor.

Edmund, Kathryn, Jessica, and Yoran turned to each other after the mysterious and mystical Sage had left them. Jessica quickly explained what Heather the Sage looked like to her older sister, and then they thought over her words.

“Where on earth do we find the lair of a Ligon?” Edmund asked, sounding quite exasperated. “By Elbrenhine, Queen of the Stars, I do not think I have heard where such lair would be!”
“Ask then, do you, where to find such lair?” asked Yoran, tilting his head up at what seemed an awkward angle to Jessica. “If the location of such is what you wish, ask you must to find it.”
Edmund sighed deeply. “Do you know where the location of such forest is, Yoran?”
“Know where it is, I do not. However, stories have I heard. To the north they point, if searching for the ligon’s lair you are.”
“Then let us head north,” Kathryn said quietly, in her usual way.
“But what if we can’t find it?” protested Jessica and Edmund together.
“We will find it, and we will bring it to the king,” the blind lady said simply, her jaw set, but still smooth in her face.
“How do you know?” they asked her in despair.
“Question the lady’s integrity and honour, do you?” Yoran asked, beginning to draw the needle from its gold and scarlet scabbard. “Listen more to objections to the lady I shall not. What she says to do, we shall.”
“I suppose you are right, Yoran,” Edmund conceded. “But come, if we are to go north, we cannot stand here dilly dallying all day long. Let us ride. Come, Lady Kathryn, let me help you mount Liliock.”

The four rode north in silence for a few hours, Edmund or Jessica breaking the silence to describe an especially beautiful or interesting place to their blind companion. Now that the rain had gone there was the fresh green smell that is always there at the end of a rain shower. A rainbow graced the sky, and a few clouds were all that was left of the grey stormy morning. As the sun began to set, Edmund and Yoran began looking for a place to spend the night. They found another rocky overhang, and decided to stop then when they knew there was a place they could sleep, rather than wait until they could not find one. Soon they had a fire going, and the four sat around it while Jessica cooked some rabbits that Edmund had captured that evening. As they sat there, Kathryn began to quietly whisper some words, as she looked unseeing into the flames:

I look in the fire
I see faces in the flames
Of people long ago
Saints and teachers
Kings and warriors
Friends, foe, rich, poor
Authors and artists
They are all there
Now the flames twist,
The fire crackles
One face disappears
Another takes its place
Then,
All are gone, just one remains
Blank and empty
In time, others will sit
And gaze into the firelight
My blank face will be filled,
But their's will be waiting
Until another gazer comes.

“What is that?” asked Edmund curiously. But it was Jessica who answered him.
“That is a poem by Myrddin, called ‘Into the Firelight’. It is one of Kat’s favourite poems.”
“I like it,” said Edmund, which surprised himself. He wasn’t usually one for poetry, but this one he liked. This, and the Prophecy spoke by the Sage. There was something different, something, could it be considered, real?

After that silence seem to hold reign over the small camp as they sat around the fire. The rabbits done, Jessica served them and not a word was spoken while they ate. All of a sudden Yoran’s ears perked up, and he put his paw to the handle of his needle.

“Coming, something is,” he murmured.
“Rather,” came a deep voice from behind them, with an odd sounding accent. Those who have travelled over the Natualae Sea will remember it as sounding rather British. Jessica whirled around first, her hand rushing to her mouth to stifle the shriek. Edmund and Yoran turned at the same time, drawing their sword and needle respectively. They came face to face with four large brown bears.
“Good evening,” continued the Bear. “Oi trust yer ‘aving a moighty foine evening, mites?”
“Ye . . . es,” responded Jessica, still quite visibly shocked.
“Well then, Oi ‘ope you don’t mind if we spoils the party a bit, do ye? Course ye won’t. Not one toiny bit. ‘ere now Albert, ye got those ropes ready, eh? Yes, those ones. Thank ye koindly, Albert. Peter, ye and Robert help ‘im toi them up. Not to toight now, ye ‘ear? If ye did it to toight, we’d never ‘ear the end of it from Lord Sherlock. There ye go, mites. Never seen a prettier piece of work meself. Oi rather loike it.”

The other three bears had quickly tied each member of the group’s wrists together behind their backs before they could protest. Despite their bulgy paws, they were deft and rather quick as well. Just when the group was making up their minds that this could not get any more strange than it already was, another, larger Bear appeared. Not only was he larger than the others, but brown bowler cap was perched on his head, and brown wooden pipe was clenched in his mouth.

“Good evening,” he said, speaking in a slow cultured British accent. “I trust that all is going well with you this evening?”
“Oi should say so, me lord,” the main Bear who had been speaking to them earlier piped up. “They’re a pretty kettle of fish, if Oi do say so meself.”
“Now, Richard, you can be quiet for a bit. Let me tell these fine young friends of ours a bit about us. Would you like to know who we are?” the Bear with the bowler spoke, puffing out a few smoke rings on his pipe.
“Yes indeed,” said Edmund, wondering to himself who they were and what exactly these creatures were doing here.
“Well then, young lad, I will begin.”