“Here, chew on of this first.” Kael gently touched my elbow and handed me a small green leaf. “It will calm your nerves and stomach. I think that’s what making it hard for you to eat; your nerves.”

I took the leaf and chewed on it and felt a moment of refreshment as a mellow mint flavor enveloped my mouth. I sucked on the leaf as long as I could and then spit it out. I took another bite of the jerky and sure enough it stayed down. Kael watched me like a hawk, as he made sure I ate every bite, before handing me a cup of water. When he was finally satisfied he turned and left.

When we were on the road again, the trees soon became larger, greener and the valleys turned into mountains. The scenery was slowly changing before my eyes; the roads became steeper, rockier and harder to find.

We stopped at midday to feed ourselves and water the horses. Kael came over to me and handed me lunch. I looked at it despairingly, but Kael’s stern gaze left no room for argument.

“Do you happen to have that magic leaf again?” I sounded pathetic and I knew it. Kael pulled out the leaf out of his pocket and I followed the same routine as breakfast. He made sure I ate every bite and then he brought me a second plate.

When we stopped for the night and dinnertime came it was again the same routine. Joss and Hemi noticed the change in routine as Kael made sure to bring me dinner and once again babysat me while I ate it. My stomach was growling and for once I was actually hungry for dinner. I asked for the stupid leaf anyway just so I wouldn’t embarrass myself and get sick. Kael just laughed at me as I held out my hand for the leaf as soon as he brought me my plate. I saw Hemi give a nod of approval to Kael when he thought I wasn’t looking. I would have tried to think of a good comeback for Hemi if I wasn’t too busy shoving my mouth full of food.

Tomorrow we would reach Skyfell and I slept soundly that night. I wasn’t sure if it was because I had a full stomach or because a certain SwordBrother slept closer to my bedroll than normal.

Chapter 18

Joss was a wreck. We were almost to Skyfell and he couldn’t sit still on Arrow, his horse. I couldn’t blame him. It had been months since he had seen his family and there would be one less person to greet him on his arrival, the reason for this trip, Tenya. It would be a joyous reunion cloaked in sadness.

I heard rushing water and the sound of a waterfall getting closer and I felt my heart beat faster at the reminder of almost going over Kirakura Falls.  When we traveled closer I realized I didn’t hear one waterfall; I heard the thunder of numerous waterfalls. And the air was filled with mist that clung to every strand of my hair, branch and leaf. Birds of various colors flew from treetop to treetop singing a symphony of songs.

We finally came to a stop along a cliff that looked out into nothingness, just mists upon mists. I could see that the cliff stretched miles in the shape of a half-moon and that all around the various rivers spilled over the cliffs to create a meeting place of some of the most majestic waterfalls I’ve ever seen. The mists created a continuous cloud right in the middle of the crest.

“Well, here we are.” Joss said proudly, holding his hand out to the sky. “Isn’t it great?”

I was confused; all I saw was cloudy mists unless the Skyfell clan resided at the bottom of the cliffs. I leaned over and looked down the cliff to try and see the bottom below but all I did was drench my face with more drops of water. Hemi looked equally perplexed and looked around in wonder. Kael stood frozen, eyes darting back and forth looking for danger.

“Joss, where? I don’t see anything.” I looked up in the giant trees looking for any sign of life.

“Out there!” He pointed again, this time into the mists. I followed his finger and looked harder. I caught a hint of green and then it was hidden by the mists.

“There’s something out there,” I pointed excitedly. “I saw it.”

“It’s Skyfell, I told you.” Joss grinned at me, grabbing my hands in excitement. He released my hands to pull a whistle from his pack. Playing a fast trill of notes, he waited and then a call of a bird answered. A beautiful white majestic bird flew from the trees and came to land on Joss’ outstretched arm. The bird was at least two feet tall, with a rainbow of tail and a crown of feathers floated above his head. On the bird’s claw was a small tube in which Joss inserted a small note. Joss threw the majestic beast into the air and I watched as he flew straight into the mists. It wasn’t long before I heard a loud zipping noise and out of the mists flew what looked to be giant birdcage with people inside. Down out of the mists they flew at incredible speeds and only slowed when the line it was connected to evened out.

The square cage slowed and came to a halt a few feet from where Joss stood. The solid lines for the cage were hidden in the trees that led out and up into the mists. Two men disembarked the cage and came to greet us. One was the familiar form of Darren Hamden.  He was dressed impeccably in colorful clothing, his smile spread from ear to ear along with his gold hoop earring and blue bead he always wore. Darren was the epitome of the rover lifestyle, loving one woman, Melani, but spending his days traveling and looking for adventure. He was also Joss’ godfather. The other one with Darren was a young lad about fourteen who was called Geff.  He helped Joss unload his packs from his horse and then came over to get mine off of Faraway.

“Wait a minute, what are you doing?” I stopped him from grabbing Faraway’s reins. I startled the boy and he looked scared.

“I’m taking the horses, miss. They are too heavy for the skycage.” He nervously ran his hands down his pants and looked apologetically at me. “There are no horses where you are going; they don’t take well to the heights.”

“Relax, Thalia,” Darren came over and threw his arm over my shoulder. “Geff is taking them down the hill to the bottom of the cliffs to Skydown; all of the horses are stabled down there. Skydown’s a smaller village of people that live on the ground; not everyone is suited for life in the sky,” he chuckled at me.

I reluctantly looked at Faraway and then looked at the cage that looked barely big enough to hold four people. Darren was right; there was no way for him to travel where I was going. I pressed my hands along Faraway’s flanks and ran my fingers across his back. I felt if we were going to be parted I wanted to let him know I was going to miss him.

He already knows. Faraway’s soft nicker reached me. The boy’s right, I would not like to ride that box into the sky.  I will be fine.

Taking a deep breath, I took off Faraway’s pack and let the boy lead my horse and tie his reins around Joss’ saddle horn. The boy made a caravan of all four horses and grabbed Arrow’s reigns and began the long trek down a small hidden path in the side of the cliff.

“Come on, come on,” Darren called. “We must get going.” Hemi, Kael and I followed Darren into the cage and watched in fascination as he closed and locked the latch. There was barely enough room for the four of us to stand there comfortably.

“Joss, are you coming?” I called out to him nervously when I noticed he didn’t enter the cage. Joss was over by a very large tree and was unwinding a rope that was carefully hidden within the branches.

“Yeah, I’ll be right behind you. The dorabills can only pull at max four people, I’ll follow behind with a skite.”