In the end, the stablehand sells Anthony the thoroughbred, with saddle and tack for riding, and the draft horse, with a small but sturdy fly for Ruan to ride in. He also throws in some leather straps for Anthony's box, making plenty of double entendres as he does so. For their purchase, the stable's owner comps them a luxury suite at a nearby inn and enough food for them and their horses to last a couple days.

They leave Enche bright and early, and pass a day on the road without difficulty. As they camp out in the open for the night, they hear strange noises, but nothing comes of it.

The next day is hot and sticky, the sun painfully bright, but they still make good time. But when they reach Sael, the last elven stronghold in Morasté, they realize they have a problem: the massive oaken city gates are firmly shut, with no sign of life in sight.

Sparrow doesn't like the idea of strange noises that may be something that could threaten Yala. He makes a point of asking several animals if they know what caused these noises, and, if so, what it was.

--------------

The three of them reach the tall, forbidding, and very firmly shut gates, and Sparrow simply flies over the top of them to have a look at what's on the other side.

The animals reply that they think it's humans hunting, but the strange noises haven't come quite far enough up the road for the animals around here to know for sure.


At the top, he meets a wall of force that won't let him pass, made of thick fog that won't let him see through.

His next question, then, is whether the sounds are from ahead or from behind, curious as to whether the sounds herald a return of the Confusing Bandits or something as yet unknown.



There's a thwap as Sparrow hits the force wall at full speed, followed swiftly by a second thwap as he falls down stunned to land on the draft horse.

There's clearly something going on here. Sparrow stands up, shakes his head to clear it, and tries to turn the gates in front of him invisible.

The sounds are coming from behind the party.

Ruan watches as Sparrow plows right into the wall of force and drops back down. "Looks like the elves finally got tired of faeries playing tricks."

"Good for them!" Anthony walks up to the wall, "Hello! We are weary travelers in search of a path! I'm an elf! The round-ear is pretty tight and we'll leave the fairy outside!"

A slit opens in the door at eye level -- not a physical slit, but a magical peeling back of matter. Two golden eyes peer out at Anthony. "Apologies, friend elf," the person on the other side says, in far more cultured tones than Berry ever managed, but with a thicker accent. "We would not so inconvenience our kin, but have been ordered to make no exception. No one travels through the city, nor past it through the forest, by command of the king, lest their business be of the highest importance to the kingdom ... " He pauses, then adds, in a voice that indicates he's not a fan of the human king, "or at least of high value to our fair city of Sael."

"Why do you want to leave me outside?" asks Sparrow, genuinely mystified.



"Oh, is that all? I thought you'd all been taken over by monsters or something. We need to wait for the others. It won't help at all if we go in there and Yala gets stuck out here."

"Ah, but there is something of high importance." Anthony shows his box. "I need to deliver this magical package to the city of Cambarya. You see, there is a magical object inside that needs to be delivered to a noble. I'm not going into detail, but it might set off a chain reaction leading to the abolishment of slavery."

The golden eyes flick to the box and back to Anthony. "Who are the others? Who is Yala?"

"Yala needs to go to school to get finished, and I need to make sure that she gets there." insists Sparrow. "Safely. So if you don't promise to let her through when she gets here, then I'm going to have to wait and make sure she does get through." To Anthony, he adds "Your precious box will just have to wait with us. Doesn't matter how many elves will die or how big the civil war when you don't get through in time."

Anthony grabs Sparrow. Not an illusion, but the physical Sparrow, and whispers "They will not be concerned about a human girl getting to school. Please just stand back and watch me do my thing." Anthony clears his throat and addresses the eyes. "I'm sorry about the fairy. They concern themselves with the most unimportant of things. This is a druid and a fairy. Yala is a girl that is not important in the grand scheme of things."

Sparrow, having failed to dodge the grab, struggles in Anthony's hand. "Let go!"

Anthony releases Sparrow. "Next time that happens, I'm gonna want something more than a demand."