To Touch a Dream (Volume 5 of the Year of the Red Door) by William Timothy Murray

Author:William Timothy Murray
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-944320-49-2
Publisher: Penflight Books
Published: 2017-05-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

The King's Artist

Eldwin watched Sheila disappear around a corner, then he entered his room. Esildre floated in after him. He saw no point in delaying his departure, and he dressed for the road, packed his few things into his shoulder bag, and put on the coat and cap from Farby. He popped quickly through the house, and once outside he traveled almost as fast to the southern gate of the sleeping city. He walked along the straight road toward the far-off Temple, the way lit well enough by the waning moon overhead. He had gone only a few hundred yards when he suddenly halted.

"Are ye with me, Esildre?"

A vague form hovered next to him, then became a wispy shape.

"I am here," she said. "You needn't worry, I seem to be able to keep up with you, no matter how quickly you pop along."

"That's good," Eldwin replied. "I suppose ye ought to show me the way, though, since I've no idea which turns I should take."

"Keep going straight until the crossroad at the base of the Temple mountain. Then take the right-hand road. It is well marked, I believe, for many miles."

"Is yer castle very far off?"

"Yes. Very far. But you will come first to a village called Averstone. Stop there and I will direct you to my castle."

"How will I know the village? Are there many other villages along the way?"

"It is the first one that the road passes directly through, though there are others nearby to the road, along side paths and trails."

"Very well," Eldwin said. "I'll do as ye direct. I'll pause between each little jump so that if I take a wrong turn ye may tell me."

"I'll be sure to do so, if that is the case."

"Then here we go."

Eldwin snapped his fingers, and in a fizz of bubbling blue light, he was off. He only popped as far as he could see, and repeated the process until he arrived at the crossroads at the base of the mountain. Pausing to look up at the mountain, he saw how the road straight ahead rose up a long incline as it approached the stairs of the Temple. He looked to the right, and snapped his fingers again.

After a few hours, and many hundreds of jumps along the twisting road, he was leagues and leagues from Duinnor, farther than one could walk in a fortnight, and well into the forested mountains. His jumps became shorter, sometimes going only a few yards at a time as the road turned, climbed, and dipped as the slanting moonlight became more diffused by the overhanging trees. When Lady Moon passed behind the western hills, and Eldwin could no longer trust his eyes to see the way, he stopped.

"I think I should walk until there is better light," he said.

"That seems prudent," came Esildre's soft voice, almost indiscernible over the shushing of air through the pine boughs overhead.

"How far do ye reckon we've come?"

"Many leagues. Many more to go."

Eldwin yawned as he nodded and began walking, then he stopped, sniffing.

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