Just as Mahito had foreseen, Tella, Will, Demus and Collin traveled for days following the Areans, hoping for an opening to reach in and snag the wanderer from their grasp. But it never came. Also, just as Mahito had predicted Tella and the others were puzzled and annoyed at his move north. However, Demus had told them of the existence of an Area base in the north.

“Those Areans!” Tella complained that night. “I don’t understand them at all! Why take her to a base, when they could bring her to Area?”

“Yes. It would make more sense to make for their home country rather than relying on a strong hold out in the middle of enemy grounds.” Demus said pondering this as well. Collin swallowed his meat (which is what they had been eating) and looked away.

“Oh, they mean for her to be in Area alright. And the base is the quickest way there.”

“What?” Tella asked. “What are you talking about? What do you mean?” but Collin would say no more, at least for the moment. Tella sighed and leaned back realizing he would hold his silence until he thought fit.

“You two should really be heading back now.” She said looking at Demus and Will. “You shouldn’t have come this far.”

“H-Hey!” Will said, “I intend on coming with you!”

“Then you’re a fool. This mission is quite dangerous, as you’ve already seen. Well, what about you Demus? You have no connection with us. You should probably head back to your cave or something, that is if you would like to live very much longer.”

“I too intend on seeing this at least a little farther. That is if I am welcome.” He said. “This quest you are on interests me, though I do not yet know what it involves.”

“Well Demus is going on this mission, so don’t you think he should know?” Collin asked. “Or at least know as much as you do, Tella.”

“Well that’s impossible!” Tella told him. “I couldn’t tell Demus even if I wanted to. Because you’re here, and might report this information back to your superiors.”

“I and my superiors already know as much about you mission as you do. There is no need for you to worry about that.”

“I don’t care. You’re probably bluffing anyway. So, maybe if you go away for a little while I’ll tell him something. But no spying!” Tella told him. Collin lowered his eyelids in distaste at the very thought of it.

“As you wish. But don’t try sneaking off from me. I will be close enough to tell if you do that.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” She said. Collin got up in an air of one who must humor a child and stalked off into the woods.

“That was cold.” Demus remarked.

“Shut up.” Tella grumbled, already feeling as if this were foolish. She knew Collin wouldn’t leave her until his master arrived and she didn’t think he had any other way of communicating with the other Areas, or even had any intentions of communicating with any other Areans, judging by the way he had spoken to Mahito.

“So this mission…” Demus prompted.

“We are going to Area. To Avrai to be more precise, the very heart of Area.”

“That’s going to be really hard to get down there.” Will said.

“Why must you go to Avrai?” Demus asked.

“Well, we don’t really know. I guess we’re going to do something harmful to Area. And we have to bring the wanderer there.”

“So, why is she so important, anyway?” Will asked. “I think I missed that.”

“I’m not really sure, but…” Tella trailed off wondering if she should tell Demus and then decided he was already in to this deep enough and he seemed trust worthy. “She was brought here from another world by the Soul of this World, Azrael.” Tella said.

“The Soul of this World?” Demus asked shocked. “She has seen him?”

“Yes. And I have too. He’s the one that sent us on this mission.”

“I saw him too!” Will piped up.

“This explains much.” Demus said quietly.

“The Soul of this World… The one who rules over Hailia.” Will asked, “What he want with Area?”

“I would guess that he does not want us to be invaded by them.” Demus said. “That he does not want us all killed, as it seems is inevitable. This may offer a little hope to some. We had all almost given up on his existence, or at least the hope that he was still alive.”

“He is quite alive, though he is not very powerful now.” Tella said. “Well, at any rate, now you now as much as I do. Azrael may tell us more soon, or he may have already told the wanderer more information, which is another reason to retrieve her quickly, before the Areans find means of extracting this information from her.”

“Surly, you trust this girl?” Demus asked.

“Well of course!… She wouldn’t give anything away on purpose, but she knows nothing of this world, or of its people. Mahito is an especially cunning one for her to have to deal with.”

“My I return?” Collin asked from a distance, his voice filled with impatience and irritation.

“Yes I suppose.” Tella said.  Collin returned and they sat in silence in a little circle. Tella had wished to light a fire, but knew that it would be much too dangerous so near to the Areans. The daylight was fading as so were the faces of her comrades.

“Will you really should go back.” She told him.

“I can’t go back now! I’m bound to this mission now. Right?” Tella looked at him through slanted eyes.

“That’s foolish talk. You are not bound to any of this.” Will bit his lip and leaned back looking down.

“Would you like me to leave?”

“For your own safety yes.” Tella said.

“You aren’t giving Demus such a hard time.”

“Demus can defend himself.” Tella said, growing angry. “You can not. Besides, won’t your uncle miss your help?”

“Uncle wants me to live a full life. That’s why he dropped me here with you all.”

“Then your uncle was a fool, all you’ll get with us is a short life. Besides, your talking about the guy that thinks his boat Bessie is his wife. You can’t rely on someone like that to help you with finding your place in life.” Tella said. Will glared at her.

“Uncle-” he started and then cut off and turned away. “… Never mind. I’m going to bed. But I’m coming with you. It’s my fault we don’t have the wanderer now.” He lay down on the ground and closed his eyes. Demus quietly told them about the woods, what kind of berries they could find, what things were safe and what were not, and things of that nature.  Will’s breathing grew soft and rhythmic as Demus spoke.

“By the way, this wanderer you speak of,” Demus said quietly, “Does she have any other name?” Tella shook her head.

“No. none that I know of. I’m not even sure if she knows her own name. Come to think of it, Mahito said something about that once. Perhaps its something to do with her coming here, to this world.”

“Yes. A name can bind one to things they may not wish to be bound to.” Demus said. Then, remembering something he turned to Collin and asked, “Collin, will you said earlier that the Areans meant to bring the wanderer to Area, even though they are making for their base in the north. How can this be? Will you tell us?” Collin watched them silently for a moment then sighed and began to speak.

“We have developed technology to transport objects and even people great distances through machines. We can send a person for instance from Avrai to this north base and back because we have such machines in our bases.” He went slowly for Collin knew that neither of them had even heard of such technology.

“Like some kind of magic you mean?” Tella asked.

“Magic is not the right word for this.” Collin replied. “This is something man-made something that was put together and formed by the knowledge and skill of our people.”

“So they plan to use this machine to transport the wanderer and themselves into Avrai?” Demus said, trying his tongue out on the Arean word for machine that Collin had used.

“Yes.” Collin frowned suddenly, “You’re goal is Avrai, correct? So why don’t you just allow yourself to be captured and taken there?” he asked.

“We can’t do that!” Tella shouted angrily.

“Please Tella, do not be so loud, we do not know what things are around us.” Demus reminded her quietly.

“If you did allow yourself to be captured you would get there a lot quicker and without so much danger.” Collin said.

“No. We can’t do that. Lord Azrael wouldn’t have set us out on this mission if we could just captured and taken to our destination. Besides, we don’t even know the reason for this mission, so we can’t judge whether or not we can take easier paths or not. We might screw this whole thing us even more than we already have.” Tella said. Collin laughed.

“I don’t see your point now for sending me away, if you just intended on telling me your whole plan now.” Tella glared at him but sighed and looked away. For the moment she was tired of conflict and wanted no argument.

“I think that Will has made the wisest design among us.” Demus said glancing over at the slumbering Will. “Let us all rest so that we may be fit enough for a confrontation with the Areans.” Tella and Collin for once agreed on something and with Demus taking first watch they too fell asleep.  

 

 

At that moment not very far away the wanderer sat upon on of the large pillows that made up the floor of the tent she was a prisoner in. She could not leave her tent, but it was allowed to be open so that she could see the night sky.

Her thoughts were dark. It had been quite awhile since Will had escaped from the Areas. Surly he and the others would have met up and devised some way of rescuing her.

Oh! Don’t be an idiot! Of course they’ll try to help you, but it may be very difficult. She thought. But still. It had been such a long time. And she was beginning to lose faith in being rescued. Even if her friends were still following the Areas.

Mahito had been very careful not for any of his officers to speak of the Wanderer’s friends following them in the wanderer’s earshot. But she was not to know this.

Perhaps it would not be so bad being taken to Area by the Areas. It was her ultimate goal anyway. But she had doubts about whether it was they right way to go or not. But the wanderer couldn’t do anything anyway, so it really didn’t matter.

Also, Azrael had not appeared to her since the time on the beach. She had at least hoped he would come in her dreams and tell her what to do. But her dreams were only filled with darkness.

She heard footsteps outside her tent, but before she could even begin to hope, Mahito put his face in the opening of her tent and quietly entered. He wanted to ask her about the staff.

“Mahito,” the wanderer said looking up at him, “how much longer until we arrive in Area?” (the wanderer also did not know in what direction they were traveling and also assumed that they would be heading south towards Area.) Mahito paused at this unexpected question.

“We shall be there tomorrow.” He said. “Now I have-”

“What is it like in Area?” the wanderer asked before he could finish his statement. Mahito stopped in annoyance and tried to think of what to tell her. Most all he could think of right then was the staff.

“It is mostly uninhabited, except for the capital city, Avrai. The rest of the country has been turned into a winter desert from, well, from mistakes we have made. Experiments gone wrong and such. But Avrai is quite different form the rest of the country…. It is a spectacular city and a wonderful sight.”

“Really?” the wanderer asked, feeling encouraged. He smiled thinking of the city, momentarily wiping away his present thoughts.

“It is best at night when the lights shine into the heavens and the dark glasses of the buildings shimmer as if they had glowing souls of their own. It is truly a master piece of Arean ingenuity.”

“You must love that city.” The wanderer remarked quietly. Mahito jerked back into reality and scowled at her.

“You cannot love a city.” He said.

“Can’t you?” the wanderer asked. “You certainly seem to enjoy being there in the presence of Avrai.”

“You speak as if it were alive. It can have no ‘presence’.” He said.

“A moment ago, you too spoke as if it were alive.”

“It is iron and glass that we have bent to our will. A wonderful innovation, but still just a simple creation and nothing more than something we own.” He said annoyed that she had opened up such things from his own words. “Well then I have spoken of my home. Now, you must speak of yours.” Mahito challenged her. The wanderer wonderer if she should tell him anything, but it did seem to be a fair trade and so she consented to tell him.

“My world is quite a large one, compared to this one, from what maps I have seen of this world.”

“What do you mean?” Mahito asked impatiently, “You say that our world is small? You have yet to experience its greatness.”

“I only said from what I understand of it. Our world has many other landmasses. This world only seems to have one.” The wanderer paused, “Perhaps you have not discovered all of this world.”

“Of course we have.” Mahito said.

“How do you know? Have any of your ships sailed very far off into the outer Ocean?”

“They have sailed far enough to know that there is nothing out there.” Mahito growled, “You are not telling me about your world.”

“Ah, yes, sorry. Well, what do you want to know about it?”

“What is it like?” he asked, mirroring her earlier question. The wanderer went on to tell him about many of the cities and inventions of her world. She had a hard time convincing him of a world having more than one large land mass.

“And you say in your world there are many countries?” Mahito asked.

“Oh yes, over a hundred.” The wanderer said.

“How ridiculous.” He snorted losing his respect for her world.

“What is ridiculous about it?” she asked defensively.

“I you were truly civilized you would see that a world needs only one ruler. One form of government could end all petty squabbles between countries. You do have wars in your world?” the wanderer nodded uneasily. “You see there.”

“But having different counties is better. They each have their own cultures and plus they have chosen how the want to be ruled, at least that is the case with most of the counties of my world. If you only have one large form of government they can abuse their power, don’t you think?”

“What are you talking about?” Mahito asked. “Well, if they did I suppose it would only be what the peasants deserved.”

“But you don’t understand!” the wanderer shouted, “If a government gets too powerful there will be civil wars! Rebellions!” Mahito paused uncertainly.

“What is civil war?” he asked, trying to mimic the wanderer’s strange word. He was confused. All through the conversation it had seemed as though the Wanderer was speaking Arean, yet when she had said ‘civil war’, her own language had suddenly burst forth. Her power to speak all the languages of their world puzzled him.

“Civil war is when there is a rebellion within one country. Usually the people rebel against unfair governments.”

“We have no such things here.” Mahito said, his confidence returning.

“Just because it hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean it can’t.”

“You know nothing of our world!” Mahito shouted. “Once we have control of the other countries we will be a perfect world.”

“You really believe that?” the wanderer asked. Mahito glared at her sharply.

“Of course I do!” he growled. The wanderer looked away and said softly.

“The down trodden will not submit to you forever.”

“If they rise. We will crush them. There will be no such thing as ‘civil war’.” Mahito watched her curiously. It was the first time someone had spoken to him like this. She had changed. The girl didn’t sit quietly quivering whenever he came into the tent anymore. She almost seemed comfortable with his presence and was not afraid to argue with him. Not only that, it seemed to him that she could see into him. He wasn’t in charge anymore. Mahito didn’t like this new feeling.

“Ah. Well, if you think they will submit, then why do they resist you now?” the wanderer said piercing her eyes into his.

“Because they are not yet under the control of our government.” He said angrily.

The night was darkening.