Raybrite Returns
The Princess has been kidnapped.
By Kenneth J. Coon
Copyright 2011 Kenneth J. Coon
Smashwords Edition
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Chapter 1 The Call comes
Egore sneezed and they needed to change the maps. This would not be a normal rescue.
Raybrite was seated at the large Picture window in the living room. His dad had installed it a few years ago. It overlooked the driveway and the garden on the other side. His mom had kept is so clear a bird flew into it once and almost died.
He was eighteen now and had completed high school this year and had not decided what he wanted to do next. He had considered going to the military or possibly go to college. The challenge for college was he didn't know what he wanted to be.
He watched the fireflies twinkling their lights as they rose in the sky. He always wondered where they went. It was like their batteries went dead when they were high enough. They just seemed to go up and never come back down.
It was a bright night. The moon illuminated the sky with a light blue aura that made everything outside appear like a fairytale. He could see the garden clearly with the vegetables growing. There was a place where the well used to be. He had watched it progress from a deck with a hand pump that you had to prime to get the water, to a submersible pump that his dad had installed to give us water in the house. That pump had changed our lives. No longer were we required to carry water from the pump to the house and heat it up on Saturday night for our weekly bath. Dad had also put in an electric water heater so we had hot water for a bath now. It was a great step forward.
We contracred with a company to install a septic tank in the front yard so we could finally stay in the house in the winter when we needed to go to the bathroom. That was the best improvement he made. Of course, we would have to find another use for the Sears Catalog.
Mom had planted some big flower bushes under the window that had large white flowers on them in the summer. The honeybees liked to come there to collect pollen. Raybrite used to have them walk across his hand when he was younger. He figured that if he were friendly to them, they would be friendly back. It seemed to work. He never got stung.
We had a few humming birds that came by sometimes. They were really neat. They flew backwards when they came out of the flowers. Their wings were going so fast it looked like they didn’t have any, sort of like a bird with a very long beak and no wings.
His mind began to wander back to his younger years. He remembered the experience he had in that other land. Was it a dream? He looked at the coin he held in his hand. Had he really found that coin in the Kingdom of Ashran? Was he really there or did the coin just come from some game that he had played? It still seemed like a dream.
He was the son of the King. There was a very pretty little Princess about his age. Everything seemed so easy and magical. Then there were those talking fish. It must have been a dream.
One part of the dream he did remember was a promise to return if they should call. Then he squeezed the coin in his hand. One Ashran Dinar it read on the side. The other had a picture of the king as he remembered him. He had to stop thinking about that. He was grown up now and that was when he was younger.
Sitting there made him sleepy. He began to doze off dreaming about that other land.
He suddenly woke up. Maybe he had started to fall over or something. He looked down and noticed a piece of paper lying on the floor. It was neatly folded over twice. There was a little ribbon around it. He bent down and picked it up. He thought that his sister had dropped it but it had his name on the outside. He opened it and read.
Raybrite. Please return to Ashan through the cave. Things have changed and there is a big problem. We need your help. Please come as soon as you can. The cave is still there.
He had told his mother about the dream he had eight years before. He also showed her the coin. She had never seen anything like that before. He also told her they may call him again and he would go. If they did, he asked her not to worry if he was gone for a while. Now the call had come.
He left the note on the table where she would find it and went to his room where he picked up two books. He would probably need some good advice there and they didn’t seem to have any good books in Ashran.
Chapter 2 Things have changed
Raybrite went to the cave. He wondered if he would still fit through the opening. He had grown almost a foot since the last time he was there and his shoulders were much broader. He had been chopping wood from a fallen tree all summer and was in very good condition.
When he found the opening, he noticed it was larger this time. Some bushes were in front of the opening that he removed. He stooped down and entered. It was cool inside. The sides felt like the damp brown mud that was common in Dayton. He remembered that he had to make the right turn and then turn around and come back toward the entrance to get out.
As he exited the cave, he was hit again by a blast of hot air from the desert. He had the same blue tights and brown vest that he wore the last time, but it was larger this time. It had managed to grow with him. Either they had a good tailor here or this was magic too. He figured it to be the latter.
“Welcome back, we are glad you could come again. We have been waiting for you,” Alvin said. The same two little men were there to meet him. They seemed shorter this time. Maybe it was because he was so much larger.
“What is the problem this time?” He wondered if the fish were acting up again. He remembered them from the last time he was there.
“The Princess has been kidnapped.”
With that, they opened the door of the waiting coach and Raybrite climbed in.
They seemed to be going the same way they did the last time.
Upon their arrival at the city, he noticed the town had grown in four years. There were more shops and a wall surrounded the city. It was far enough out so the city could grow. The shops were open and the bread stores were emitting an aroma that made him hungry again. He remembered the food the last time he was here and began to think it must be time for lunch.
When he arrived at the castle, he wondered how his father, the king, would remember him. They had not seen each other for eight years.
He stepped out of the dust-covered coach. One of the servants rushed forward to dust him off. Everything seemed the same except it looked like they had painted some of the doors.
As he entered, they announced, Prince Raybrite.
He walked down the center of the walkway to the front where his Father was seated on an elaborate throne of gold and jewels of many different colors. The people bowed as he passed and when he arrived at the front, he bowed to his father.
“I am very happy you returned. I have missed you, my son.”
“What has happened?”
“King Lertin, from the kingdom to the north has a son about the same age as you. He needed someone for him to wed. Princess Bel was his choice. He had sent some men down secretly and when she was in the market one day they grabbed her and headed back to the north. They made it out of the castle before we could close the gates.”
“We need you to bring her back.”
Raybrite had no idea how he could do that. He had grown but he was not proficient with the weapons they had here. This challenge would require some advice and more counsel. He had to consult the sorceress in the tower again.
“I will do my best, however I need to clean the dust off before I do anything more. Please excuse me.”
With that he left and had a bath drawn. He needed to study. He wondered if the maps were still in the room he had visited before.
He put the two books on a shelf and made ready for his bath.
While he waited, he looked around his room. It had changed. He now had a large couch with a few tables He noticed a sheath with a sword in it. Was that his? The stick had now turned into a real magic wand. He checked his vest pocket and noticed he still had the 5 stones in his pocket.
His room had a large open glass door leading to a balcony. There was a beautiful view to the North and the snow-covered mountains on the other side of the desert. The flower garden still perfumed his room through the open doors. That was the place where he had met Princess Bel.
He wondered how he would get through the mountains.
When his bath was ready he rested in the water for a long time, thinking of his next move. That would have to wait until later. After his bath he rested on his bed and relaxed. He had many things on his mind now and needed a few answers.
Chapter 3 Day 1
Raybrite woke to a bright sunny morning. He almost forgotten about the challenges he had from the day before. As he was taking his breakfast, he asked if the sorceress was still in the East Tower. He also needed to find the map he had seen when he was here before.
On the walk to the East wing he went through the garden. He had taken that way because the air was much fresher. He re-entered the castle and proceeded up the stairs. He was glad he was in good condition. They didn't have elevators here. At the top of the stairs was a door. He knocked before entering. On the other side of the room sat a very beautiful lady. She was dressed in a long white dress with long black hair and bright green eyes. The eyes were like no other Raybrite had ever seen and he could not keep from staring at them. She was just as he had remembered her.
“I am glad to see you again,” he said.
“It is nice to see you again, She replied,"What do you want with me?”
“When I was here before, I had a small magic wand that I carried. Now I am back and the wand seems a lot stronger. Is this one the same as the other one?” He asked.
"Yes, just remember to concentrate on what you want to happen. Remember that with each use of the wand you will use one of the beads you have in your pocket. When the beads run out, there will be no more magic until you return. You will find a way through the mountains but you will not use it."
Raybrite could not understand this however she had said some things before that he didn’t understand.
There was a caravan leaving early in the morning. They would join in the end of it. They had 18 hand picked soldiers and two regular merchants from the village. Raybrite was in charge. He delegated the actual everyday decisions to the merchants for the travels. He still maintained the ability to override any decision they made.
They had 8 wagons of goods and 2 wagons with their personal equipment and weapons. There was also a cage with Homing pigeons for them to send messages back to the Castle. They were all dressed as merchants.
Raybrite had gone over the route in his mind several times. He memorized the details as much as possible. He would be in a strange land. From his last adventure he knew that anything could and probably would happen.
They were traveling on the Tinany Road that went to the Tailfold River. It was a wide road, covered with small stones to keep the dust down. There were rows of trees on either side. They provided shade and as a bonus, they had white and pink flowers growing on the branches. There were wild flowers growing between the trees that added to the sweet fragrance of the air. There seemed to be many sweet smells in this country. It made for a very comfortable feeling in a difficult land. A soft breeze floated across the road helping to cool the day.
Raybrite was enjoying this scenery. He had gone the other direction the last time he was here. This area was new to him.