RETURN TO THE VALLEY
I walked with a sprightly step, holding wand and broom in my left hand. Jesterbeasts romped in shadows beyond purple. I described their antics to Reeb, who ever erupted with questions, peppering me with ‘em like sea spray. I felt so such a power of accomplishment. Not yet accomplished, true, but I knew! I knew what I would do! No doubts. The instructions in my mind waited patiently, lined up in orderly rows, and all I had to do was follow ‘em. Such:
1. Return to the valley.
2. Wait for nightfall.
3. Light my hat luminous.
4. Lead everyone all plus the bubble with patches to my cottage.
5. Send Reeb and Kar and the patches unbubbled inside.
6. Instruct jesterbeasts to gather around and each one all of ‘em touch the cottage with claw or talon and remain so such in contact.
7. Put on the Golden Shoe.
8. Activate the wand.
9. Spell us up the Well to silver sands with the proper chant.
What ease! How clear! I patted the crystal ball through my cloak. Its message had given me three full days to complete the task. I was about to accomplish it in one!
We reached the ridge where Jerrandal’s nest and boulder rested. I waved the jesterbeasts forward, and they romped down the path into their valley. Jerrandal paused before joining ‘em, shrank his purple shadow away, and bent down low to peer closely at Reeb.
“Oh, you’re back. I want to learn that disappear shadow thing,” said Reeb, and she stepped bold forward so such to be face to face with the beast. “Your eyes are the prettiest blue. Mine are only brown. Your hair looks silky. I wish I had horns and tusks and fangs, too. They are …”
“Do you want to cook me, slip and slide?” rumbled Jerrandal, interrupting.
“Cook? Why should I? I only eat grains, fruits and vegetables and well … magic cakes, which also is another thing I want to learn to do. Oh, I even like brussels sprouts! Allie doesn’t. We’re vegetarians. Why would I want to eat someone’s eye or paw? Yeecchhh!” babbled Reeb.
“Good! Maybe good!” thundered Jerrandal. He spun off to romp down into the valley.
“Disappeared again, huh? Into the shadow, right? I want to learn to see things hiding in the purple shadow,” announced Reeb.
I turned her attention to the bubble by hauling its tether in with a silent chant. Down it came with Kar swirling after. From cloudy wisp to bendo dreen shimmered Kar, and she landed posed on top of Jerrandal’s boulder.
“Jark dweg?” said Reeb.
“That’s the first thing you teach her? Ha! Good!” laughed Kar, and she jumped to the ground.
I shrugged like we do. She shrugged. Reeb shrugged! We all of us laughed together. I was brim over pleased with myself. I knew what was going to happen. There it was all in rows lined up in my mind. Then Kar muddled the rows. She collapsed ‘em into confusion. She told me something I didn’t know.
“Are we going back up the Well in Cloud Castle City, Bek? Is that why it’s floating there?” she said.
I followed to where her finger pointed and saw Cloud Castle City floating low above the trees down in the valley of the jarbots. It hadn’t been there. Now it was! Flat down befuddled, drained of confidence, I slumped. Cloud Castle City? How could I forget? What now? It wasn’t in the rows! What now? My hand flew to touch the roundness of the crystal ball through my cloak. Reeb hopped about with delight. Castle spires floating on clouds make a thrilling sight.
“Yoss … yoss,” I stumbled. “Yoss, let’s … we should … should …”
“Go down there?” cried Kar and Reeb together, though of course in different languages.
“Yoss,” I said with no sense of purpose, once again left to trust myself, to trust whatever I did would take us down the right and proper path.
The bubble, which I’d invisibly tethered to Kar’s right wrist, bobbed as Kar and Reeb hurried down the path, exchanging grins. I followed, dragging my broom and wishing for just one time one Prophesy would not throw surprises at me so such close to what I always believed to be, but truly never was, the successful completion of a task.