“We avoided their scouts for now but it’s imperative that we move quickly.” Said the faun. “Situate your gear, we’ll be moving at a swifter pace until nightfall. If we hug the shore but stay off the beach it should be hard for them to track us. We’ll camp in the rocks and perhaps find fish at dawn.”

  “And after that?” asked Morell.

  “Then we’ll skirt Steelbriar and continue on.” She said.

  “What’s a Steelbriar?” asked the prince.

  “A vile place, a foggy bogged lowland full of poisonous things where you can’t see ten feet in front of you.” said Atticus “And that’s not the half of it. What few parts aren’t sopping wet holes of bog waiting to swallow you and drown you are a living labyrinth of plants with razor-sharp vines, thorns and leaves that can shred armor and cleave skin to the bone in a single swipe like swords do. There are things in there not made by nature but the foul will of all the nastiness in this world.”

  “That sounds dreadful.” Replied the prince. “Why would anyone go there?”

  “No one is going there.” said Hoxley “It’s only a marker we’ll have to pass to keep our bearings. With luck, Lord Baltus’ men will think we’ve retreated back to the castle, and they’ll have to deal with Princess Cassandra when night falls.”

  “And if they don’t?” asked Loxo

  “Then we continue on as we have since the beginning.”

  “Princess Cassandra.” Prince Damron said aloud. “She was strange but beautiful. I wonder what it was that freed her mind to find herself.”

  “Who can say?” asked Hoxley, gazing back wistfully at the castle far behind. “Perhaps the strong bond between mother and child enough to bring her out of the spell.”

  “Do you think we’ll see her again?” he asked.

  “If fate allows.” She replied, putting an arm around him to hurry along. “Come, we still have far to go, and these lands are not safe for us.”

  And so, the companions carried on, the witches taking flight to watch for danger ahead. Prince Damron shrugged the straps to his pack and took one final glance at the kingdom he thought would deliver him from the catastrophe his life had become. Sadly, there were no more answers here, but more questions and riddles no one knew the answers to. When the swaying trees of the grove held his gaze no longer, he grasped his lyythium shield and took up a swift pace to keep up with the faun girl and strange new friends that led him even further from his home.

  Onward they hurried until sundown. By the time the last of the sun departed over the horizon and the sea, every foot was begging for mercy. Legs felt like sore jelly. It was then that Hoxley finally gave the word for them to walk the rest of the way. Morell couldn’t take his eyes off the lapping waves of the ocean.

  “Is something wrong?” Hoxley asked.

  “The water, it goes on as far as the eye can see.”

  “You’ve never seen the ocean before?”

  “No, never.” He said “My grandfather took me to the large lake north of our home once, but I could see land on the other side of it. This…this seems to be water with no end and the dirt is tan like the desert.”

  “Sand just like the desert.” She commented “Similar but different. There are all kinds of animals and plants and beasts out there you could never find in a lake.”

  “Are there fish?”

  “Oh yes, more fish than stars in the sky. Uncountable fish.”

  “Amazing. What’s on the other side?”

  “Of the ocean?”

  “Yes, where the water ends? Does it end?”

  “Few one can say. I myself have never left these lands for new ones. During my travels I’ve heard grand stories about brave sailors who’ve taken their ships out as far as they can go.”

  “And what happened?” he asked with large eyes.

  “Many didn’t come back, but others say that they found strange new lands on the other end. There’s even a few that say they traveled so far west that they landed their ships on the eastern shore.” The boy’s face contorted with confusion.

  “So far west they landed east? What does that mean?”

  “It’s the idea that our world is a great band or sphere and that to travel far enough around one side would bring you back to the beginning where you started. Imagine a bug standing on the tip of your nose…”

  “I’d prefer not to.”

  “Indulge me.” She said “The bug crawls around to your right ear, around the back of your head, past your left ear and back to your nose. To you it is a small space, but for the bug, it is a grand navigation around something far larger than itself that brings it home.” The image struck home and the boys seemed elated at such a notion.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “That’s…that’s fascinating!” he said excitedly “So, this beach is only the nose but if I were to sail so far away I would pass the ears of the world and return to this spot from the other way?” His eyes almost crossed from the weight of the revelation. “I- I feel so small now. What if there are different kinds of mushrooms there? Entirely different breeds of fungi growing under different weather in places that have never been explored before!”

  “It’s all very possible.” Hoxley assured him with a smile. “I guess the people of the world won’t know until you’ve searched high and low to find and collect them all.” The look on Morell’s face was one of absolute bewilderment. His eyes focused on something far beyond the horizon and his pace slowed to a stop.

  “If they’re out there…” he thought aloud “I have to find them. After I’ve documented all the ones here in these lands. That kind of searching could take years…”

  “Or an entire lifetime.” Hoxley added.

  “It could!” he agreed, looking more determined. “I’ll have to work faster then. No more wasting time on small things. The world needs to know what fungi can do. But it has to wait for now, I think. We need to help the prince get his kingdom back.”

  “That’s very big of you to put others first.”

  “This is more important, isn’t it Hoxley?”

  “Correct you are.”

  “My feet hurt from all this running about.” Do yours?”

  “I’m afraid mine aren’t as sore as hooves don’t have muscles in them, Morell. Seasons of travels have toughened my legs, thighs to be more resistant. I can carry your pack until we reach camp if you like.”

  “Would you?” he asked mid-huff. “Thank you so much.”

  “Your highness? Would you like me to shoulder your pack until we reach camp?”

  “No, I can carry it.” He replied. “It’s not too much further, is it?”

  “I think not.” She said “Ignatius told me there’s a place not too far ahead that’s a large gathering of rocks we can climb between and take shelter for the night.”

  “I wonder what Princess Cassandra is doing right now.”

  “If she’s smart,” Hoxley pondered. “She’s protecting her kingdom by using that unnatural power of hers to clear the land around her kingdom of any soldiers loyal to Lord Baltus.” Saying this, her large ears perked and stood straight out. “Speaking of unnatural power…” The fluttering of cloaks sounded faintly overhead before Ignatius and Siouxsie quickly appeared to hover overhead.

  “There’s no sign that we’ve been followed.” Ignatius told them. “The place that I told you about is just over the next two rises. Not far at all. I’ve discovered a nook in the middle of several large boulders that should give a safe place to stop for the night and can provide a space easy to defend should we be discovered.”

  “The best news I’ve heard all day.” Hoxley sighed.

  “Any chance of a meal to found within this large cluster?” asked Loxo

  “We’ll all share a bit of our rations.” Replied Ignatius. “It won’t be a feast, but no one will go to sleep hungry.”

  “Ah yes, well that will suffice I suppose.” The pirate bantered. Siouxsie drifted lower and touched down next to Atticus to take a peek at the hammock slung over the big man’s shoulder. As she leaned close, the sound of sleep assured her he was alright. Content with this, she walked over and joined Morell. Her arm looped around his as she stepped in time with him.

  “Isn’t the water beautiful, Morell?” she asked. “Have you ever seen anything so pretty? It all seems so inviting, like a place just begging to be frolicked within.”

  “It’s all pretty here.” He replied with a smile. Everyone followed Ignatius over the hills until a formation of boulders on the shoreline came into view. For the first time all day they stepped away from the grass and across the sand that shifted under their feet. Ignatius stayed just ahead, pointing to a vertical crevice large enough for them to easily fit through. Easy for everyone but Atticus. It took him having to turn sideways and suck in his gut a little to squeeze through. He wiggled and shimmied to keep moving.