Chapter Three

Jesse and Melissa knew there was no point arguing. It had been foreseen they would come and there was nothing they could do about it. Their mother would be fine as the doctor had planned to come the next day and would find their mother on her own and would support her. They knew that if they went back anyway the spirits would come and put them all in danger.

                It was nearly sunrise so the travellers tried to get as much sleep as they could. Around ten in the morning they got up to find Hanni had cooked them some eggs for breakfast.

                “We have a long day of walking ahead of us,” she said calmly.

                “What about the horse?” Melissa asked. “Can’t we ride him?”

                “Fanofire? No, he can’t handle three people at once. Yesterday was a different matter as we had to get away quickly. Fanofire found it hard. We’ll just lead him with us.”

                And so they started walking. At first it was okay, almost exciting, walking among trees, climbing over rocks, leaping over creeks, but after a few hours of it the children got hot and tied.

                “When are we stopping for lunch?” Jesse asked.

                “We’re not,” Hanni said, striding a little ahead of them. “There is not much to eat around here as it is and none of us has any food. We’ll stop at a village for the night and get provisions.”

                “So, can you tell us more about this Lord Gendon who’s after us?” Jesse asked, not liking the silence.

                “Hush,” Hanni frowned, “You never know where his spies may be. But then again, I don’t think there’ll be many in Bidham. Well, he lives near the centre of Doria in a huge tower. He wields a very powerful sword which he himself constructed. It’s called The Flame after its bright red colour. It has slain many innocent people.

                “Lord Gendon’s advantages are that he is big, strong and is an animal morpher."

                “Animal morpher?” Melissa cut in. “What do you mean?"

                “He can morph into any animal he chooses."

                Jesse and Melissa stared at Hanni in confusion. Hanni’s face flicked slightly with irriation.

                “I know little of you land,” she said, “but I know enough to see that you two will find Doria a new and strange place... there are things there that you have never heard of, and some that you may have in stories by travellers, made to seem like some fantasy they’re created – but you will find that it actually exists. So anyway, Lord Gendon can morph into animals."

                “Was he born like that?” Jesse asked sceptically, not sure what he thought of all this.

               “No...” Hanni said slowly, “there is much about him we do not know... You see, Lord Gendon once lived in Bidham, as you know, and then he came to Doria, a... well, a more normal man."

                Hanni paused, as if unsure of how to continue.

                “Well, the great angelic Empress Sarifia who I serve governs the land. She has written a book of laws which cannot be broken. The book is kept safe in Orstina. Not all the laws are publicly known but the first rule almost everyone knows. It states that nobody who was not born in Doria can stay in there longer than a month without dying.

                “But Lord Gendon did,” Hanni continued, fiddling with a loose strand of hair. It appeared that Hanni did not like lack of knowledge. “No-one knows how. He became an animal morpher around the time he came here. It is guessed that he went through... torture, or some gross disfigurement. But he became bigger, stronger and an animal morpher. Oh yes, and he now has unnaturally long life as he has ruled the land now for I think a little longer than one hundred years."

                “So that means we can’t stay in Doria for longer than a month?” Melissa marvelled. “How are we supposed to help you people, or whatever it was, in less than a month?"

                “Many ways,” Hanni said. “It is said you will give us hope and help us in less than a month, so I believe you can do it. And you can be assured that you can return in safety to your sick mother in a month, or else die in the attempt to help Doria.

                “Well that’s a great comfort,” Jesse huffed.

                And then they walked again in silence.

                Just after sunset the children were relieved to hear Hanni say they could stop at the large town they were passing through called Eastham.

                They booked a room at an inn, under the watchful gaze of the landlord who watched Hanni in her strange clothes suspiciously. They practically collapsed onto the beds, although Hanni said she wasn’t tied and pulled a chair to the window to look out.

                “What about dinner?” Jesse asked slowly.

                “Oh, you two never stop complaining, do you?” Hanni snapped, and she stalked out to go buy them some food.

                Jesse looked after her, surprised. “She said we would have dinner when we stopped, didn’t she?” he said in a hurt voice.

                “Don’t worry,” Melissa yawned, “She’s always grumpy. I mean, she sounds pretty important."

                “That’s no excuse,” Jesse grumbled.

                Hanni came back soon with some food and they sat around the little table in the room.

                Melissa asked, “What I don’t get is that if the Empress Sarifia rules the land, then how come Lord Gendon does too?"

                Hanni looked at her with pity. “You really don’t get it, do you? The great Empress Sarifia rules the land forever. Many minor people like Lord Gendon will rise and fall while she’s around. Lord Gendon knows that. He knows he can’t defeat the empress. It would be like saying he was trying to kill time or the wind or the air.

                “So, what is Sarifia -” Jesse started.

                “Empress Sarifia,” Hanni growled.

                “Oh... well, what is Empress Sarifia like? Is she nice? Fair? What does she look like?"

                Hanni stared at Jesse in disgust. “Empress Sarifia... well, you wouldn’t understand if I told you. You see... she lives in the fifth dimension."

                “The what?"

                “The fifth dimension!” Hanni said, raising her voice angrily, “The spirit world, the angelic world, whatever you want to call it.” She raised her eyes to the ceiling and uttered, “Why did you send me on this task? Why?"

                “So... is the fifth dimension where the spirits come from?” Melissa asked. “You called it the spirit world."

                “No!” Hanni yelled, leaping from her chair. “Lord Gendon created the spirits, okay? Empress Sarifia lives in the fifth dimension, which you can never understand unless you see it. I myself (being her trusted servant) have lived in it a lot. So please, please stop asking questions. I really do not have patience to talk to children from Bidham."

                They knew better than to say any more.

                Both of the children slept badly that night. They tossed and turned for many hours. When they woke, Hanni was still sitting in the same position by the window. They had no idea how much (if any) sleep she’d had.

                They continued walking for only a short while when Hanni suddenly came to a halt in front of them.

                “What is it?” Melissa asked, alert.

                Hanni turned to them, a rare smile on her face. “Look ahead. That’s Mountain River, the border between Bidham and Doria! Although... please don’t judge Doria when you first see it. The land is marshy and it does get better."

                Her smile faded slightly and she shook her head. “Doria was once a better place. Ever since Lord Gendon took over... and then the king died... The country is currently in famine and under the threat that Lord Gendon might pop up somewhere and destroy a little more of it."

                “How are we to cross the river?” Melissa asked, trying to distract Hanni who was getting flustered on the last topic.

                “We’re just going to have to wade through it; that’s easiest. Don’t worry, it’s not too deep."

                They came to the edge of the river and the children stared anxiously across it. Neither could swim very well, if at all, and the bank was a good ten metres away.

                “What about Fanofire?” Jesse asked.

                “He has crossed waters far deeper and longer than this,” Hanni said carelessly. “We just have to make sure the food is not spoilt."

                They held their bags up high and started wading out. The ground was pebbly and loose and they nearly slipped over a few times. The water was very cold and a soft current was edging them downstream.

                Melissa and Jesse started shaking with the chilly water but they kept holding their bags up. As they reached half way they were walking in water up to just below their shoulders.

                “We’re... half way...” Jesse said through chattering teeth. He watched Hanni in pity. Her bare skin was whiter thatn usual, but he did nto know if she was too proud to say anything, or if she really could not feel the cold. She seemed generally unaware of the elements usually.

                Then Melissa stepped on a loose stone and slipped. Jesse tried to catch her and her bags but too late. She fell right into the water.

                Hanni waded as fast as she could back, trying in vain to save the bags. “That was nearly all our food,” she groaned.

                Jesse helped his sister, whose lips were purple and was shaking even more than before. The two of them clambered out onto the marshy bank and Hanni followed slowly behind, clutching the sodden bags.

                “It doesn’t look like we’ll be having anything for dinner,” Hanni scowled.

                “I’m sorry,” Melissa said, “I stood on a loose –"

                “I don’t care what happened,” Hanni said in a huff. “Let’s keep walking."

                Poor Melissa got to her feet and kept walking. The wind felt like knives on her wet skin. She felt particularily bad as she was not carrying anything. Hanni had taken her wet bags to carry along with her own.

                It was slow travelling as the ground was uneven and Fanofire had the most trouble. Hanni told them that the marshland stretched out a long way and they wouldn’t escape from it before nightfall.

                So at the time they had stopped the previous day they found a patch of ground that was dry and flat enough for a fire. There were lots of flies and mosquitoes and both the children hoped that Hanni was right and not all of Doria was as bad as this. There was a strong stink around the air which made them cough.

                They sparingly ate one piece of bacon each, and then tried to sleep with empty stomachs and tried to ignore the stench.

* * *

                They kept walking until the children felt like they were in a daze. They’d stopped noticing pains, stitches and sore limbs.

                When they finally reached the end of the marshland they came to a tree filled area, similar to where they had ridden two days ago, except the trees were a lot thicker and more widely spread apart.

                Suddenly a low voice spoke out from behind them.

Chapter Four