"It"s so nice of you to invite me to eat with you," said the old man. His beard was grey, and hung almost to his knees as he sat on the stump by the fire. "I don"t run into too many people this side of the mountain.""We"re trying to get to the other side in time to build a good home before winter," said Mikey, puffing his chest out as if he were the man in charge.
"I believe there is a town over there, on the other side. This side is more considered the border lands," said the man, lifting his wooden bowl to slurp some more of the broth from the stew Carla had made with some of their supplies from the halflings.
"What brings an old man such as yourself, so far out of the way?" asked Tom, studying the man"s purple robes. They were old and worn, but still spoke of high birth.
"I"ve found it"s nice to get away from the troubles of people to be able to conduct my studies alone. I find people to be bothersome when you"re trying to read or write," said the old man with a chuckle. "Not that I don"t mind the occasional encounter."
"You know how to read and write?" asked Mikey in amazement. His mouth was hanging open.
"I do," nodded the old man. "I learned a long time ago. See?"
Mikey leaned forward to look at the large tome the old man pulled out of a protected pouch he wore on his hip. The book was thick, and held a lot of pages. As the old man went to open the book, the donkey snorted, breaking free of her harness and trotting over to the fire.
The old man gave a shout as the donkey kicked up some of the embers from the fire, jumping to his feet and dancing away from the beast.
"What is wrong with your animal!" he demanded angrily, wiping some of the soot that had landed on the book away.
"I"m sure sorry!" exclaimed Mikey, grabbing the donkey by her broken rein and leading her back to the tree where she had been tied up for the night.
"Please accept our apologies," said Tom, having also climbed to his feet at the disturbance.
Carla was holding the stewpot with the edge of her shirt, to keep from getting burned, and Gia quickly took it away from her with the pot holder.
Grumbling to himself, the old man settled back down on his stump, glancing in anger at the donkey that was still putting up a bit of a fight.
"I don"t know why she"s suddenly gotten so upset," said Vonn with a shake of his head, hurrying over to help Mikey quiet the donkey down.
"Do you have a home around here?" asked Tom, trying to get the conversation back to a more comfortable topic.
"Not too far, if you know how to get there," grumbled the man, his mood obviously soured.
"Shall I make you another bowl of soup?" asked Carla, picking the man"s bowl up off the ground, where it had fallen and spilled when he jumped away from the donkey.
"No, thank you," he said, s.n.a.t.c.hing the bowl from her hand. "I should probably be on my way. I"ve wasted enough time talking to you lot."
"I really am sorry," said Mikey, hanging his head as he returned to his seat by Gia. "I thought I had the rope tied tight."
Sliding the book back into his pouch, the old man stood up and paused, before turning to look at Vonn. "You seem familiar. Why would that be?"
"Me?" asked Vonn, touching his chest and laughing. "I have no idea. I"ve never been to this mountain before."
"No, but it seems like I know you. Who was your father?" asked the old man.
"His name is all I have of him. He died when I was a very young boy," said Vonn uncomfortably. "It was Jasper."
"Jasper? Are you sure?" gasped the man, stepping back away from Vonn. "And the last name?"
Vonn glanced at Gia in confusion, before turning back to the man and saying, "His last name was Ashton, but I took my mother"s last name of Ravenswood. She lived longer than he did, so I have a better memory of her."
"It can"t be," muttered the old man, turning away from them.
Vonn looked at Tom and shrugged, but before he could say anything else, the old man moved faster than any of them would have thought possible, and appeared behind Vonn. As the old man grabbed Vonn by the shoulders, he went to react, but the old man"s hands began to glow a pale-yellow color, and Vonn fell to his knees in pain, crying out.
"Your father escaped from me many years ago, but I didn"t know he had a son. I will use you instead and finish what I started with your father. My research will not be a loss after all!"
Everyone jumped to their feet in shock and horror as the area erupted into flames. The donkey screamed in pain as the tree she was tied to erupted as well. Gia rushed to Vonn"s side, trying to reach him before the old man did whatever he was planning to do.
Vonn"s eyes met hers and she heard him whisper, "See you in the next life, my love."
"No!" she screamed, reaching for him, but they were gone.
A black scorch mark was all that showed they had been standing there.
"Gia!" cried Tom. "We have to get out of here!"
Standing in the middle of the inferno, tears streaked her cheeks. Vonn was gone and she didn"t know where he could have been taken. Swirling around in panic, she s.n.a.t.c.hed up Mikey and set him onto the back of the panicked donkey. Pulling the rope free from the burning tree, she all but ran with it to the cart and in moments they were rushing away from the burning campsite with what little they had managed to throw onto the cart.
"Gia! The cart isn"t hooked up right! It"s hurting the donkey!" cried Mikey, trying to slow them down.
"We have to get far enough away from the fire not to get caught again," panted Gia, looking around at the gathering gloom around them.
"I can hear water off to our right," panted Tom, pointing to the right. "Maybe we can get on the other side of the water, and avoid the flames catching back up to us?"
"I just hope we can get across," panted Carla.
Gia didn"t argue, tears were streaming down her face so thick, she almost couldn"t see where she was going. The donkey was leading her more than she was it. When they broke free from the brush, the river was wide and shallow. Perfect for the cart to cross without any problems.
Once they were across, Gia fell to the bank and leaned against a tree, staring at the glow from the fire. Vonn was gone. That man had taken him.
"Who was that?" asked Carla finally, as her and Tom busied themselves making a new campsite.
"Maybe he was the mage the gnomes said lived on the top of the mountain," said Mikey, brushing the scared donkey down.
"I forgot they mentioned a mage," said Tom softly. "Gia, are you alright?"
"I have to go after him," she whispered.
"Gia, don"t be silly," scolded her mother. "What could you possibly do?"
"Would you really leave us?" asked Mikey, his eyes wide as he came to kneel next to her.
"In the morning, I will help you guys get across the mountain, just like we planned. Once you"re in the village, I will go find him," said Gia, her mind clicking over to what she could do.
She hadn"t been able to save him when the mage grabbed him, but she could go after him and save him now. She had to!"
"Gia, it"s too dangerous!" insisted Carla, but Tom took her arm and shook his head.
"The girl"s been strong headed every day of her life. If she"s made up her mind, you know as well as I do that there"s no convincing her. She"s just lost her love."
Carla looked over at Gia for a moment with a frown before nodding and looking over the hastily made camp.
"The tent has a hole burned in it, but I think it will do for the night. We should try and get some sleep so we can head out first thing in the morning," said Carla softly.
Gia stood up and went into the tent. Vonn"s blanket was tangled with hers, where they had heaved the tent into the cart to escape. Sitting down, she carefully untangled them, and then hugging his tightly to her chest, she lay down to sleep. Tears collected on the tent floor below her head, but she made no indication of noticing.