Edge of Endarys

Betrayal

We rode for what seemed like forever never staying in a town for very long. Riding all day and most of the night on the back of a horse with nothing to do but talk, sheesh it was like a family road trip without the music and pit stops at the world's largest one thing or another. At least the scenery was nice. I felt like I had traveled to Middle Earth, or New Zealand, same thing. I loved everyone, I truly did, but something about all that time with them, never being allowed to spend one moment alone, was making me really sick of looking at them.

We finally arrived in a large town; dare I call it a city? Everything about it was large. The buildings were large, the houses were large, the animals were large, even the people were large. The only people who weren't large were children but some of them were still taller than me.

"Welcome to Alnovia, my home," Lorne said. His chest swelled with pride. The sad part was I think he was the runt of the town at six foot five. "This land is known for having the sweetest waters and finest mineral baths in the entire realm."

"Wow," I said. "This place is gigantic."

He chuckled.

Alnovia was huge and beautiful. There was a waterfall and greenery everywhere. There were structures built in the large trees and around them. It looked like a person would have to be very fit just to visit this place let alone live in it. It kind of reminded me of some Amazonian village I saw on some show once.

"Lorne," a young woman called out.

She was very tall, slender, and tan. I think she jumped off the cover of a guy's magazine with her sun-kissed blonde hair. She was covered with lean muscle. She ran over to the group and stopped at Lorne.

"Alison!" said Lorne.

"Have you returned to us?" She looked up with her large, expectant eyes. Lorne seemed nervous.

"I have a mission to complete, you know that."

"I just do not understand your need to be a jor in the first place."

"It is my calling, Alison."

"Calling," she huffed. "Just because some guardian told you it was your calling." She glanced at me. "Who is your friend?"

"This is The Lady Priestess. We must travel up the mountain and summon The Oracle."

"This girl? She is but a child!"

"I'm not a child," I grumbled.

Lorne chuckled as he lowered me to Weller. "My apologies, Lady Priestess. My wife gets jealous." At least she made him happy.

He dismounted and hugged her tightly before kissing her. I felt like I was intruding and turned away. The image of my stepfather and my mother entered my head. I didn't mean for it to. It made me very sad. It had been so long since I arrived. It was hard to keep track of time. I had to judge by my hair growth. I started to cry thinking about them. Lorne immediately broke away from Alison.

"Cricket, are you all right?" he asked. He held onto my shoulders and knelt down to look at my face.

Alison looked very angry. "You call her by name?"

"I'm sorry," I said. "I was just thinking about home. I wanna go home, Lorne. I miss my family. Even my pushy, overbearing mother."

He hugged me. "I bet you do." He motioned to Weller who immediately came for me. "Take her to the spa and see if the mineral baths can calm her down."

Weller started to usher me away when Lorne suddenly grabbed his arm. Lorne glared at Weller for a quick moment before turning back to his angry wife. Raven took the liberty of taking the lead and showing us where to go and everyone else followed.