The Wizards' War The Chronicles of the Midlands Book Two

Chapter 27

Brandon helped Celine to mount her horse, wondering why she was so quiet and then the three men mounted theirs and Brandon and Celine lead the way with Erolyth and Haverty following behind them as they headed down the King's Road to Midtown.

It was an overcast day and it looked like it might rain by early evening as the four rode quickly along, hoping that they would reach their destination before the storm broke. If not for the cloudy skies, it was a normal, cool fall day and as they went along this section of the King's Road which ran due north through the Royal Pine Forest from King's Port to East Port, cutting through Midtown at it's midpoint, the only green left in the forest were the tall pines from which the forest had been named. Barren trees, peppered with pines lined both sides of the road and as they went along, Celine thought back to when she, Brandon and Haverty had ridden down this road in the opposite direction while she had first started getting sick from having swallowed the stone and she couldn't believe that only a little over a month had passed.

"So, much has happened in such a short time," she mused as she thought over everything that had ensued since she had swallowed the stone. All of a sudden, it occurred to her that she hadn't thought about the man she had killed in a few days.

"I must be getting better. I'm no longer obsessing about it and even though I feel terrible that it happened, I no longer feel as guilty as I did. So, I must have started forgiving myself," she realized.

Then she remembered that Erolyth had said that the ring would help to heal her mind and emotions and she began to wonder if that was what was happening. "Whatever the reason, I'm grateful that my mind is no longer a mess like it had been," she told herself feeling relieved.

As they traveled along in silence, she began to wonder about what kind of ruse Brandon was going to come up with to deal with Herrimun and knowing that Erolyth was probably going to insist on coming to keep her safe, she knew that it was going to have to be an elaborate hoax in order to explain why he was with them since Herrimun was a more formidable wizard than the other three had been and he wouldn't be as easily deceived.

"Do you have a plan for dealing with Herrimun tomorrow? What charade are we going to use?" she asked Brandon.

"Are you going to insist on coming with us tomorrow, Elf?" Brandon asked Erolyth over his shoulder.

"Of course. It's my duty to protect her at all costs. So, where ever Cece goes, I go, too," Erolyth said firmly.

"Then we're going to have to disguise you as an evil spirit which is haunting us and tell Herrimun that we need his help to get rid of you. Which is, in fact, not far from the truth," Brandon said and chuckled.

"You'll never be rid of me as long as Cece is with you," Erolyth promised him. "It's my duty..."

"Yeah, yeah, we all know you need to protect her at all costs, Elf," Brandon said rudely.

"Anyway, I thought we'd get you a scary costume and have you go in and out of the between place in front of Herrimun acting like you're haunting us. We'll tell him that you started haunting us a few days ago when we were in the forest so if he suspects that you're not a spirit, he'll think that you're one of the strange creatures that's shown up, which in fact you are," he explained chuckling at how easy it was to insult Erolyth with this ruse.