“Sorry to interrupt, but I’m not following the action here,” broke in Adair.  “What is this Flower of Mukatash and who is Windwalker?”

 

     Tim moved forward, his face caught in the light of dancing flames; his eyes burned with their reflection.  “You’ll discover who Windwalker is soon enough.  Your question about the Flower of Midrath is a good one.  You need to know about that.”  Wiping his hand over his face, Tim sought for the right words as he then brought both hands forward with palms seeking out the warmth of the fire.  Adair saw the mark on Tim’s right palm. 

 

     Tim glanced to the fire, then to Adair.  “In the East Woods of Talyara, there are mountains with many high cliffs.  It happens, and I don’t know why (though Dawncrest tried to explain it to me), but there are times when on the face of one of these cliffs a hole opens up.  It becomes, basically, a cave housing supernatural forces.  It is also a doorway of sorts.  It is a place that you don’t want to visit.  You don’t even want to think about it...”  Tim stopped talking, turning his gaze intently toward the fire.  If you believed in that sort of thing, his look gave the impression that a black cat had just cut in front of him.

 

     “With the appearance of the cave,” he continued, “comes a flower of great size and beauty that grows at the base of the mountain.  It is a wondrous thing with one gigantic blossom held high on its stalk.  Every so often it drops one petal.  There is no rhyme or reason to when a petal will drop.  Petals may fall hours apart, or months, but when they have all fallen to the ground, the cave vanishes.  What you need to know for now is that the life of Windwalker would be forfeited if we did not reach the cave before the last petal fell to the ground.”              

     You’re saying that there was this cave that had open in Talyara.  Angelina was racing to get back before it closed?  So was the butterfly?” quizzed Adair.

 

     Tim chuckled.  “If you ever meet up with a warrior from the land of Fareth, don’t use the word ‘butterfly’.” Tim looked over at Sally then back to Adair.  “And yes, there was a cave, a deadly cave.  But we’ll get to all that, trust me.”  Tim nestled back into the soft backing of the sofa.  “When Dawncrest and Angelina spoke of traveling someplace, this really threw me for a loop.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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