The Trail to Penhan

"You first, Hesht."

Hesht was breathing irregularly, and was not looking at Astra. His voice was lifeless and weak. "Yes. I will ..." Then he lost his train of thought. "I - I am not hungry, but ...." He was lost his train of thought again. Astra was concerned. Was he suffering from a troubled conscience? At the beginning stage of being sick? Or merely worn from the day's exertion? He could not continue to speak. Instead, he ate a little of the bread, and drank a lot of the water. He then withdrew, resting his back against a wooden wall of the stable, and staring into space.

Although worried about the integrity of the food and water, Astra was hungry. She was also spent to the point that she was as good as being drugged anyway, she thought. So she ate about half the bread, and drank some of the water. The bread was a heavy and molasses- sweetened Hespaniard bread. It was very good, and of a type never seen in Aqualaria. She wished that she could come through this land as a humble traveler, just here to see the Kingdom. Fate had seemed to decree otherwise. Hesht shook from time to time, but otherwise, did not threaten her.

Astra fell fast asleep. She dreamed wonderful dreams, of being with her family on their land, listening to peacocks crowing, and watching them strut and spread their feathers. There was no rain, no mud, and nobody was chasing her.

She crashed out of her dream, only to be wakened by Hesht. He had dark circles under his eyes, and looked as if he had little sleep. But the lifelessness had gone out of his voice, and he was coherent.

"Doazda's men will be around s- soon. I have things that I need to t- tell you."

He started with something that seemed important to him. "I work for who I ch- choose. Yes, I work f- for Doazada, b- but I also work for Nanva, B- Bakhtar, and a d- dozen other p- people that y- you have never met. S- some are al- alchemists, and others are n- not. L- life is h- hard, and w- we have to l- look out for ea- each other."

"Why are you telling me this?" said a half-awake Astra.

"So you will know wh- wh- who I am, and why I am tr- trying to help y- you, ev- v- ven if I am n- not doing a good j- job of it. D- D- Doazda c- came to me after I wr- wrote the n- note. He off- offered t- to help me and y- you, once w- we got here. I know Tange. Doazde i- is as much a p- part of the T- Tange as the C- Canyons. A- and he kn- knows of haz- zards that I c- can't see. S- so I ac- ac- accepted. I pr- pr- promised that you w- would talk t- to him, as a sm- small p- p- payment, if y- you care to l- look at it that way. Man- many in Gol- Golabi were c- curious. L- life here can be d- dull."

"But you have taken me to the heart of the danger."

"N- no, Astra. This pl- place is an i- island t- to me."

That was Hesht's way of saying 'an island of safety,' Astra guessed.

She answered, "You feel safe here. But look at Sog, and some of the things he has been saying. That does not make feel like a welcome guest. Look at the blindfolds. And you heard that lock on the barn door. I feel like a prisoner!"

Hesht sighed, and said, "Sog t- talks much, but d- does little. As for the b- blindfolds and locks, y- you will ha- ave to trust me. L- Listen and do not t- talk for a wh- while. To the left, and back, is a loud hot place kn- known as the Little Forge. It is a wooden building with a p- pile of rusty t- tools in fr- front. Repeat that."

"Left, back, Little Forge, wooden with rusty tools."

"Beyond the Little Forge is the Candlemaker's Cottage. White d- door, with the sign of the candle."

"Candlemaker's Cottage. White door, sign of candle. Why are we doing this?"

"Trust me. Start fr- from the Little Forge."

Hesht drilled Astra into knowing where some of the key landmarks on Doazda's manor, the three main trails leading west, and one trail that was off these main trails to the north, which turned west. At the end of about an hour, he was finishing the drill.

Hesht had lost most of his stuttering by now, as he warmed to his task. "The eighth cache is by a hazelnut tree, b- beneath a half butt buried in the earth. As usual,"

"Except for the third cache, don't remove the flasks, but the water and food are fine. I know, I know."

"And from there, you will cross an inn at Darvaze Yepenhan, and into the world beyond Hespan. With the flask from c- cache three, you should be able to provide enough of a gift to the innkeeper so that he will let you pass into the Duchy of Penhan. From there, you will want to go to the Duchy of Franken, and wait on an opportunity to go to Petrona.

"Why not straight into Petrona? That is where we were originally going to go."

"And we s- still will go th- there, if everything is right. B- but ..."

"But what?"

"I pr- promised Doazda that I would br- bring you safely here. I pr- promised you that I w- would br- bring you to Petrona, so that y- you could go home. I want to do both. God willing, I will do both. I j- just want to g- get you ready, in case s- something happens b- between now and th- then, and I cannot help you in person."

Astra did not ask what he meant by that. She repeated the instructions that Hesht gave her. If an opportunity for escape came, she would be without a weapon, and with nothing but a little bread, but as much knowledge as she could remember of the country between here and the Hespaniard border town of Darvaze Yepenhan, and beyond to the Duchy of Penhan.

"Blindfolds on!" boomed the voice of the leader, the man who had spied them approaching last night.

1. They are taken to a place with much good smelling food.
2. They are taken to a place that smelled of old paper and leather.
3. They are taken to a very warm place, almost uncomfortably so.

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