Andrew looked down at the small pile of glowing green mushrooms, then at Mr. Miller. “What do you mean that’s the sign? What are you talking about?!”
“That’s the sign from the Wanderer. I told you we would be lucky to pick one up, and we did! That’s the sign to make camp.”
“How do you know that’s the sign?” Connor insisted. “Have you ever had a guide before? I didn’t think you had one last time.”
“Quit pesterin’ me like a bunch of old hens! Now break out the tents, stake up the horses, and let’s get set up before it gets too hot to breathe.”
The routine went as usual, but they were noticeably low on supplies, especially water.
The sun started its journey above the horizon just as Andrew sat down in the tent. Mr. Miller tended to the small fire and the cook pot.
Andrew looked at Connor sitting next to him, and said, “We’ll be lucky to make it another three days with the water we have. I’m cutting you off. You’ll just have to go without.”
Stretching his arms wide and giving a fake yawn, Connor pretended not to hear him. With his outstretched arm, he pushed Andrew onto his back, saying, “Yeah, I guess you’ll just have to dry up into a skinny little stick out here. Mr. Miller and I will press on. We’ll have to see if we can manage without you.” He patted Andrew’s leg, and said in his best high and mighty voice, “After I’ve got the Kingdom re-built the way I want it, I’ll come back for you.”
Andrew laughed and pushed Connor with his foot. “You’ll always be my Hero,” he said, in a silly, feminine voice.
Mr. Miller kept stirring the cook pot. He looked into the boy’s tent where Connor was trying to defend himself against Andrew’s foot.
“It’s no more than four days to the Kingdom,” he said. “Andrew, do you think we’ll make it with the water we have?”
“It will take every drop we have to get there. We’ll probably have to run dry for half a day. Of course, if there isn’t any water when we get there, we’re gonna have a terrible time.”
“There’ll be water. There’s always water in the Cups.”
Connor knocked Andrew’s foot to one side and laid back, putting his full weight on Andrew. “That’s too bad Andrew. It looks like you’re gonna make it after all.”
“Yeah, that’s too bad all right! Now get off me or I’m not gonna make it ‘til tomorrow.”
Connor laughed and lazily rolled off onto his side. Andrew took an exaggerated breath, and said, “At least I know where all the food is going.”
“That’s enough play time you two. Supper is ready.”
Connor got the bowls, and Mr. Miller filled them. After they were all in their usual spots and Mr. Miller had a mouthful of food, he said, “You’re right. I’ve never had a guide before. Never even seen a Wanderer until now, but I know the stories. I know the signs.”
He swallowed and took a small drink from his waterskin.
“They’re a mysterious bunch. You’ll never see his face, and you’ll probably never see him come or go. He’ll just be here or he won’t. His job is to get us through the foothills and, if you’re lucky, he’ll go up with you.”
“His job?” Connor asked. “How is that anybody’s job?”
“Yeah, do we have to pay this guy?” Andrew asked sarcastically.
“I can’t explain it any better than you can understand it, but I do know we are now his biggest priority. I can also tell you he’s been tagging along with us for more than a couple of days. He’s probably been with us for at least a week.”
“A week?!” Connor asked, sounding surprised. “That’s great, but why? Why would someone be out here to show us through the foothills? Why would anyone want to go up to the Chamber with us? None of this makes any sense.”
“I’m with Connor on this one. Where did this guy come from anyway? It’s not like this is a fun place, and it’s not like there’s anywhere even close to us where he could have come from. How do we know we can trust this guy?”
“You may not be able to trust this guy, but you’re going to have to trust me when I tell you not to worry. There have been Wanderer’s in the desert around the Kingdom for as long as anyone can remember. They have never robbed anyone, they’ve never actually spoken to anyone, and they don’t seem to care if any of us live or die. They just show up, take us to where we’re going and leave. Most of the time they go up with the Hero. It’s pretty rare for him stay around the base camp,” he said, taking another bite of his supper.
“As far as where he came from, nobody knows. To tell you the truth nobody’s ever gone looking either. You can see how hard it is to get out here. I can’t imagine you want to go searching around for another couple of weeks or months or years to find out either, do ya?!”
They could tell Mr. Miller was getting angry. Little bits of spit went flying out of his mouth when he practically shouted, “You two don’t realize how easy this little trip has been either!”
“Easy?!” Connor and Andrew shouted.
“Yeah, that’s what I said, easy! Why don’t you two princesses think about how hard it was for every other person who didn’t have the book we’re carrying? Have you stopped to think about that yet? Your fathers and I didn’t have it. Nobody’s ever had it this easy! Most people show up at this point half dead! That guide you’re worried about is most people’s savior because if you get lost in the foothills, you’re dead!
Here we are showin’ up all well fed, full of water, and walking the whole way! Nobody does that, and I mean nobody. Now I don’t want to hear another word about our guide being trustworthy or where did he come from or nothin’ like that. As far as I’m concerned, he was sent by the Kingdom itself, and you two should be thankful!”
Mr. Miller threw his bowl into the fire, and it bounced out, landing in the sand. Sparks flew up from the embers and disappeared when they hit the sunlight streaming in over the tents.
He stood up, his face was red enough to match his arms, and he kept on shouting, “I’m gonna get some sleep, and I suggest you two do the same unless you’re afraid to close your eyes! We’re not reading the book today either. Let’s see how your shoulders and back feel when it’s time to break camp this evening. Then we’ll see what you’re thankful for!” He stooped over, entered his tent, closed the flaps and that was that.
Connor made a silly face after Mr. Miller turned around, but Andrew hung his head. Connor whispered into Andrew’s ear, “I love that man. He’s so warm and caring. Just the way a mother should be.”
Andrew shook his head like joking around wasn’t a good idea right now. He set his bowl on the sand and scooted back into the tent. His shoulders ached, his back ached, and now he wasn’t going to get to see the next page of the diary. He wasn’t surprised Mr. Miller had gotten upset. They were taking this trip for granted.
They hadn’t sacrificed anything to get here, and Mr. Miller had sacrificed everything. They didn’t really know what they were doing, and Mr. Miller seemed to know everything. If it weren't for Celeste’s diary, Andrew would be questioning everything about this one-way trip into the desert, but with it, after seeing everything he had seen in its pages, well, that’s what kept him going.
Two hours before sunset, Andrew and Connor emerged from the tent looking haggard. Mr. Miller, on the other hand, looked well rested. He was already at the cook pot making their breakfast and whistling a little tune.
He jerked his head back in the direction of the horses, and said, “We lost another one in the heat. It was the dark brown one. It looks like we’ll all be carrying a little more tonight.” He went back to his stirring and whistling.
“I don’t think I can carry any more than I am already,” Connor said with a yawn.
“Did he die before or after his water ration?” Andrew asked.
“Before.”
“Then we’ve got some extra water,” Andrew said, walking over to the tack line. There were only three left, plus a large pile of sand. He called back to Mr. Miller, “We might be all right if we can carry enough food and water.”
“That won’t be a problem because that’s all we’re gonna carry from here on out.” He jerked his head again in the direction of his tent and Andrew saw the pile of supplies. Connor walked around the fire to see what Mr. Miller had motioned to, and his mouth fell open.
“We can’t leave all this stuff. We need it!”
“I’ll tell you what Connor. You can carry as much of it as you like. As for the horses and me, the only things we’re carrying are food, water, the tents, a large book, and a shield.”
They all had a quick breakfast before the repacking began. Connor complained and sulked for most of it while Andrew focused on the items he was going to put into the “can’t live without it” pile. When he was done eating, he said to nobody in particular, “The only thing I’m carrying is food, water, and my bowl. Everything else I can live without.” He turned to Mr. Miller, and asked, “Are you packed yet or do we need to go through your pack, too?”
Sitting on a small pile of sand, Mr. Miller knocked his bowl out into the fire and stretched his arms wide. He gave a mighty yawn and looked up, saying, “I just finished burying that old horse before you two got up. I suppose we had better get to it.”
He scooped up some sand with his bowl and rubbed it around the inside to clean it. He chipped away at some dried on morsel with his thick thumbnail and only after it was clean did he pop up to his feet.
“Times a wastin’. Let’s get all the packs and dump them right in front of my tent. We’ve got a date tonight, and we don’t want to be late.”
Before he had finished talking, Andrew had already started toward his pack. Connor hadn’t moved.
Andrew and Mr. Miller dumped every satchel, every pack, and every container into a pile. Andrew smiled at Mr. Miller, and said, “Now this feels familiar. I vote for two piles this time. Food and water in one pile and everything else goes right here.”
“Agreed, except let’s put the empty packs and satchels in a third pile. I want to use the best of what we have left.”
Connor still didn’t move.
In less than fifteen minutes the job was done. Rations were in one pile, packs, satchels, and containers were in another, and the third had everything else.
“The junk pile is smaller than I thought it would be,” Andrew said to Mr. Miller.
“I was hoping to see a little more myself. The good news is we’ve already been traveling pretty light. The bad news is we’re still short a horse, and there is plenty to be carried.”
“We don’t need all the food,” Connor said from the ground in front of the tent. “If we’re really only four days out from the Kingdom, we only need four days’ worth of food.”
“What if you need to walk home after this is all done?” Mr. Miller asked, looking over the piles.
Andrew got the spark of an idea, and said, “You know, Connor’s right. Why carry it all for four more days? I say we pack enough supplies to last ten days. That’s enough for the trip there, two days on site and, if everything goes wrong, whoever is left can walk back to this spot and get whatever they need for the trip home.”
Mr. Miller shot a sideways glance at Connor, and said, “That’s good thinking, even if it did come from a bad idea.”
“It’s not like anybody’s gonna be coming back,” Connor sighed, putting his head back into his hands. “Whatever makes you feel better,” he mumbled to the sand.
“All right Andrew, let’s make another pile. I say we pack enough food to last for two weeks just in case.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Within five minutes, they had the fourth pile.
“Let’s pack it all and stash it in a place we can find it,” Mr. Miller said.
“I say we bury it and flag the location with something.”
“Good. Get the shovel and let’s take a walk. You get going while I load all of this onto a horse. Don’t go too far, it’s not like anybody’s going to come looking for it. Just find somewhere shady, if you can. I’ll walk over in your direction when I’m done.”
Andrew grabbed the heavy shovel with its long oak handle and its forged blade. He slung it over his shoulder and set off walking west into the setting sun. The foothills had begun, and there were rises and small crevasses for miles. In a hundred yards, Andrew said, “This looks like as good a place as any.”
He put the point of the shovel to the ground next to a small gravelly hill and started to dig. Chipping away at the hard-baked ground, he mumbled, “Not a rock for hundreds of miles and now when I really need to dig a hole, they’re everywhere!”
It was slow work. He was dripping with sweat by the time Mr. Miller and the packhorse approached. He wiped his forehead and inspected the hole. It would have to do.
Mr. Miller apparently agreed because he started throwing in the reserve supplies before Andrew was out of the way.
“Did Connor help you at all?”
“He didn’t move, and I didn’t ask.”
The items filled the hole and then some. Mr. Miller picked up the shovel, saying, “I’ll bury it. Thanks for digging the hole.”
Andrew sat in the shade of the horse and took a drink from the waterskin Mr. Miller had brought with him. “Thanks, I needed a drink.”
He stopped shoveling and stared off into the distance.
“What is it?” Andrew asked.
Without making eye contact, he mumbled, “I suppose now is as good a time as any.”
“Are you talking to the horse?”
His eyes dropped to meet Andrew’s, “To you.”
Andrew corked the waterskin.
With a penetrating stare, he said, “Connor’s going in first.”
“Oh. I mean sure, I kind of figured that on account of him being the oldest and the biggest.”
Mr. Miller took his gaze back to the horizon, and said, “I’m not sure it has much to do with either of those things, but I think it’s best.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll have the shield. Everything should be fine.”
“Should be,” Andrew echoed.
Andrew got to his feet, and the sun hit him right in the eyes. “What about the Wanderer?” he asked, shielding his eyes. “I mean couldn’t we just find our way to the Chamber without him?”
“You could, but he’s already put ropes across the river. You’ll never even get wet. Crossing the Cups is the hardest part, but if you have a guide, you’re practically at the Chamber already.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our guide has already walked the path to the Chamber. He knew we were coming. He’s already gone and strung a rope across the Cups with a couple of lines for you to hold on to. All you do is walk across.”
Mr. Miller pulled the reins of the packhorse, and they both started walking back to the tents with the sun at their backs.
“I wish we had a guide the last time. If we did, your dad never would have wound up at the bottom of that pit.”
Andrew nodded, and they were both quiet for a while. The sound of hooves on sand felt familiar and strangely comforting.
“You never would have found the shield...or Celeste’s diary.”
“I know. It’s still a rotten trade, though. Your dad got himself killed, I got my arms all chewed up, and Connor’s dad didn’t make it home either.”
“I wish he was still alive.”
“Me too, Andrew, me too. He would be with us right now if he were. You know that don’t you?”
“Yeah, I know.”
Mr. Miller patted Andrew on the shoulder as they approached the camp.
He walked past Connor and kicked some sand on him. “Wake up! The tents! I told you to pack the tents now get to it!”
Connor’s head slipped off his hand, and he jerked awake.
“Come on!” Andrew complained to Connor, “We’ve got to get ready.”
Connor was slow on his feet and lazier than usual, but with most of the packing already done, they made ready to break camp. Just as they finished, Andrew spotted the larger than life outline of their guide against the horizon.
The horses carried almost everything they needed. The long, backbreaking nights were almost over, and the only thing left to do was make it through the foothills as quickly as possible.
Throughout the evening, Kaya led them deeper into the foothills. The twisting labyrinth of sandy hills and steep ravines all looked the same, but the watchful eyes of the Wanderer kept them safe.
There was little time for conversation, and they only took one break around midnight to eat, drink, and water the horses.
Long after the waning crescent moon disappeared below the horizon, Kaya picked up her pace. She wanted to be out of sight before dropping her small glowing signal. In just a few minutes she had enough of a lead to place her mark and disappear off to the west.
Before she was too far away, she paused. Hearing them discover the mushrooms, she quickly made her way to shelter.
Mr. Miller refused to let the boys into the book again, saying it was too dangerous with the Wanderer around. Connor argued a little and Andrew was disappointed, but they all knew how the book could be ‘heard’ by others, especially if they were sensitive to it.
Their tents were in a small gorge, giving them some shelter from the relentless sun. They all got more sleep than they had the previous day and awoke to an easy prep and pack. By sunset, they were waiting anxiously for their guide.
When the sun winked below the horizon, Kaya stepped out from behind a sheer wall. Without missing a step, she started guiding them through the maze.