Search the Forgotten - Chapter Three      As it happens, I was awakened the next morning by Orin who was shaking me and calling my name.  I had a splitting headache and my eyes didn't appreciate the light that was streaming through my meager tent's open flap.      Orin sighed.  "It's about time you woke up," he said.  "I've been shaking you and calling your name for a while now."      I took a breath and signed it out.  "My throat is sore," I croaked out.  I cleared my throat.      "You've been yelling in your sleep," Orin said.  "Skye told me to tell you to count to ten.  So count."      I counted.  The headache faded a bit.      "He also complained that you probably scared all the game away for miles around," Orin said.  "He went out hunting anyway."      "I'll have to apologize to him when he gets back," I said.  My hands wanted to shake and I tightly gripped my blanket.      "What were you dreaming about?" Orin asked.      I shook my head.  "I wish I could remember."  I glanced at him, just now realizing what he'd said a moment ago.  "What was I yelling?"      "I couldn't tell," Orin said.  "You weren't very coherent.  You really must try to speak more clearly when you yell in your sleep."      "Huh?" I said.  He laughed and I gratefully joined him as my headache went away.      We busied ourselves with breaking camp and Skylar showed up just as we we're finishing.  He found no game and I told him that I was sorry for all the noise that I'd made during the night.  He just flashed me one of his winning smiles, brushed a lock of his blond hair back and said not worry about it.      I tried not to think too much about anything while we rode that morning.  Mostly, I simply did my best to enjoy the ride.  With Skylar making like a scout some little distance ahead and Orin checking our back trail periodically, Red and I had plenty of time to just enjoy the journey.      Every so often, one of my companions would rejoin me and we'd talk for a bit, before they'd return to their self-assigned posts.  Some of their ramblings did induce headaches for some reason and I thought that maybe those subjects were similar to things from my past that a portion of my mind recognized.  I thought, at first, that the risk of inducing headaches would be a small price to pay if I could but discover some tidbit of information about myself, so I encouraged them to keep talking.  But I changed my mind, later.  It was one of those times when Skylar had dropped back and we were talking about family.        "So," Skylar had said, "I turned to my brother and asked him if he'd like to place a little wager on that. Well, he didn't seem all that sure of himself all of a sudden but my uncle Kele said he'd take the wager . . . ."      I thought how nice it would be if I had a brother and an uncle and it was at that point that I'd felt a sharp pain and then blacked out.  The next thing I knew, I was waking up to an argument between my two companions.      "What did you do to him!" Orin was saying as my head did its best to pound like an eager blacksmith working on a high paying commission.  Then I noticed that someone was feeling around my head, as if checking for wounds.      "I didn't do anything!" Skylar said.  "We were just talking and he fell out of his saddle."      "What were you talking about?" Orin asked.      "No," I muttered.  I opened my eyes and saw that Skylar was leaning over me, his hands on my head. He eased my head back, gently resting it on the ground and then took his hands away.      "No what?" Orin said, suddenly over me as Skylar pulled back.      "No, don't tell the story again," I said.  I stared upward, passed Orin's concerned visage and examined the leaves and the bits of sky that I could see between them.  My headache began to fade.      "Give the man some air, Orin," Skylar said then.      Orin jumped to his feet and glared at his friend.  Then he turned back toward me.  "You all right?" he asked with obvious concern.      I slowly sat up.  Apparently there were no broken bones.  I didn't seem to be hurt very much at all, not counting the headache.  But even that was fading.  "I'm fine," I said.      "Good," Orin said.  "I'm glad."  Then he turned back to Skylar.  "You, come with me," he said before walking some distance away.      "Are you sure you're all right?" Skylar asked softly.      I did my best to smile reassuringly.  "Fine," I said again.  "You'd probably better see what Orin wants," I suggested.  Skylar smiled and walked away.      I saw that Red, Bruny and Pany were not too far away.  They were taking turns putting their noses to the ground.  I got to my feet and walked over to Red.  He looked at me and then gave my shoulder a nudge. Unfortunately, I didn't have any sugar lumps that I could give him.      "Sorry, Red," I said to him.  He flicked an ear as if in disappointment and then put his head to the ground again, as if examining it.  He lifted his head and snorted as if commenting on the lack of grazing possibilities in the area.      I could hear Orin and Skylar talking, but they were far enough away and talking low enough that I couldn't make out their words.  It was probably just as well.  Skylar was undoubtedly including his story in the talk and I didn't want to hear it again if it was going to make me black out.  It wasn't long before they came back and we were astride our mounts and riding again.      For a while, they stayed nearby and made small talk.  They both seemed determined to keep me distracted.  I noticed that they each occasionally watched me, possibly for signs that their conversation might be having an effect upon me.  I must admit, that their behavior was starting to get on my nerves a bit.  I told them that I'd agree to let them know when I was getting a headache, if they'd stop walking on egg shells around me.      They agreed, once we all stopped laughing.      The wood thinned out and we found ourselves in a clearing.  The open sky above held many clouds and they were moving quickly, their shadows scuttling along the ground as they blocked and unblocked the sun's light.  There was a pleasant breeze that didn't seem able to penetrate the wood and we decided to take our lunch here.      In less than an hour, we found ourselves surrounded by the forest again as we continued our journey. I had no further headache incidents during the day and by the time I went to bed that night, I was feeling rather good.  I was awakened in the middle of the night again, this time by Skylar.      We soon had a routine of sorts.  We'd ride during the day and at night my two companions would take turns awaking me from nightmares that I could not remember.  Skylar did manage to catch some game with which we supplemented our supplies.      On the sixth day, the trees thinned out and by the time we took a break in our journey for our mid-day meal, we were crossing a gently rolling grassland with only some scattered trees.  It was now that I got my first look at the Ylan Mountains.  They made a ragged, saw-toothed line in the distance, reaching up to cut into the sky and many of the peaks were snow capped.      The horses enjoyed a pleasant grazing opportunity while we enjoyed a pleasant summer breeze, blowing over the grasses and scenting the air with the fragrance of distant wild flowers.  I'd grown accustomed to the loamy scent in the forest and the smell of the grasses and the wild flowers we couldn't even see was a most delightful change.      When we stopped that night, it was at an old camp.  It had a fire pit in which we built that night's fire, and there was a trickle of a stream and several scatterings of trees.  One of which was an apple tree.  How it got here, I don't know but the horses certainly enjoyed the apples that they could reach.  In fact, I pulled a few off of their branches myself and shared them with my companions.  We found the fruit a sweetly delicious treat.      That night I asked Skylar about the camp site over our supper of roasted rabbit.      "Oh, I've used this place many times over the years," Skylar said.  "I'm pretty sure Jae uses it on his trips into town for Arthester."      "Get you!" Orin said around a bite of his meat.  "Like you know Arthester Jalivay well enough to just call him Arthester."      "But I do!" Skylar said.      "You only know him because you go hunting with Jae every once and a while," Orin said, waving the unlucky rabbits leg around that he'd been eating.  He took another bite.      "How would you know, you always have . . . little jobs . . . you just have to do," Skylar shot back.  Orin took a bite of meat off that rabbit's leg as if he were biting it off of Skylar's arm.  Then Skylar glanced at me. "As I was about to say, before I was so rudely interrupted, I think other people use this camp site too.  But I've never seen them myself.  Just not in the neighborhood at the right time I guess."      "Finnas and Limus hunt," Orin put in.  "Maybe they come out here."      "Maybe," Skylar said.      After supper, we sat around for a while.  Skylar liked to watch the sky almost as much as he watched our surroundings.  Orin seemed more intent on watching our surroundings.  We did see a few shooting stars and Orin and Skylar wanted to debate the origin of these night time visitors.      I, however, was debating with myself as to whether I should retire for the evening.  Eventually, my increased yawning tipped the scales in favor of my bed.      The next morning, I woke up and though I wiped sweat from my brow and had a fading headache, I thought I'd gotten off easy.  I left my tent and tended to the business of relieving myself a little ways from camp.  When I returned to my companions and the breakfast they'd readied, I asked them how the night went.      "You did some more yelling," Orin said.  "I thought I told you that you should speak more clearly when you did that."      "You did," I said.  "I take it you couldn't tell a word I was saying?"      Orin nodded.      "When we shook you, you didn't wake up either," Skylar said.  "You just mumbled something.  But then you quieted down.  So we let you be."      We ate quickly and when we resumed our journey, we rode at a quicker pace.  It didn't seem fast enough to me.  I had to have answers.  I grew impatient and urged Red to run faster.  When I rode out in front, Skylar pushed his Bruny to catch up to me and advised me to slow down.      "I must find out what's going on," I said to him.  "I have to find out what the heck I'm dreaming and why I can't remember my past."      "Yeah, I understand that," Skylar said.  "But you don't know where Arthester's place is!"      "You said it was north.  I'm going north," I said.      "Just slow down a bit and let Orin catch up to you," Skylar said.  "Leave the riding ahead to me.  At least until we get there."      I was angry for a moment, but then I realized just how stupid I was behaving.  Of course I could go straight north and not necessarily find Arthester Jalivay's place.  I could spend weeks going back and forth along this side of the Ylan Mountain range looking for it and not find it simply because I didn't know the area or what to look for.  I laughed at my own stupidity and slowed down.  Red stayed at a brisk canter, not wanting to slow to a walk.  A quick glance back revealed that Orin and Pany were catching up, though not swiftly.      "It won't take him too long," Skylar said.  He'd slowed down with me.  "This is a good pace, just don't try to keep it up all day."      "Alright," I said.  I was rather embarrassed with my capricious behavior.  I also noticed that Skylar gave me a wry grin.      "You're impulsive?" he asked.      "Apparently," I replied.  Was I?  Am I?  How I wish I could remember!      "Right," Skylar said, "the old memory thing."  He looked away, but then the wry smile came back.      "What?" I asked him.      He glanced my way again.  "Maybe your impulsiveness is what got you into this situation."      I had to grin back.  "Maybe it did."  I chuckled, then I winced.  My head throbbed.  "Headache."      "My, isn't this nice country we're riding through," Skylar said.  "The grass.  The sky.  The mountains."      My headache faded.  "Thanks," I said.      "Anytime," Skylar said.      "Wait a minute," I said, only just now realizing what Skylar had said just a few moment ago.  "Leave the riding ahead to you until we get there?"  I laughed.      "It took ya long enough," Skylar said.  He chuckled.  "No need to ride ahead once we've arrived."      We continued on and soon Orin caught up with us.  I explained my impulsive action with some embarrassment but all Orin did was roll his eyes theatrically and laugh.  Afterward, Skylar once again rode on ahead of us.      We stopped for lunch near a small lake when the sun was high in the sky.  When a fish jumped in the lake, Orin quickly took out a line with a hook from one his many concealed pockets, stuck a piece of cheese on the hook and tossed it into the water.      "As much as I'd like to join you," Skylar said, "we don't have time to go fishing today, Orin."      "Just for a few minutes," Orin hissed in a harsh whisper.  "And keep your voice down."      "Orin," Skylar muttered with a nod in my direction.      "Didn't you see the size of it?" Orin asked.  He looked at me.  "No offense, Arif, but I don't think a few minutes will make much difference just now."      "I saw the fish, Orin," I said.  It was a goodly size and I could understand his enthusiasm.  "If I had the equipment I might be tempted to join you.  But I would like to get my little problem taken care of."      "I know!" Skylar said.  "We can go on ahead and Orin can catch up with us later."      "Pah!" Orin exclaimed under his breath.  He pulled in his line, took the piece of cheese off of the hook and after a slight glance at it, he ate it.  "Oh well.  There'll be other fish."  He rolled up his line and before I knew it, it was gone from sight.      That night, after we made camp, Skylar informed us that we'd made good time.  Later that night, Orin had awakened me from some unremembered nightmare and my nerves were so wound up and my head ached so fiercely that I could not get back to sleep for hours.      Once I got to sleep, the rest of the night went by without incident.  I should say, the rest of the early morning.  I'm sure it was well after midnight by the time I got back to sleep.      When I did wake up, Orin and Skylar had not only had breakfast ready, but they'd both already eaten. They let me eat in relative silence, which allowed me to finish eating quickly.  We packed up our camp and resumed our journey.      As we rode, I noticed that Skylar now had us going slightly east of north.  I scanned the horizon, though I wasn't sure what I was looking for.  Whatever it was, I guess I didn't find it.  That in itself was puzzling to me.  Why would I look for . . . whatever I was looking for?        A cry sounded from above and I looked up.  It only took a moment to find the obvious silhouette of a bird of prey.  It was some sort of hawk.  I pointed it out to Orin.      "Red tailed hawk," he said, identifying the bird.  "There's eagles closer to the mountains."      I watched the hawk for a little while as it glided on the air currents.  It must have a simple life, I found myself thinking.  Hunt for food, raise its young and mostly, just fly so free among the clouds.      "A copper for your thoughts," Orin said.      "Hmm?" I replied cleverly.      "What were you just thinking of?" Orin asked.      "Oh, just about that hawk and how free and uncomplicated a life it must have," I said.      "Uncomplicated," Orin said.  "Avoiding the eagles and the other larger raptors that feed on them.  Not to mention the hunters with their bows.  Of course, you might avoid all that and still be captured and trained to hunt for a human master."      "Oh . . . well, when you put it that way," I muttered.      He chuckled and we rode on.      I still think that hawk probably had a less complicated life than I.  After all, it probably didn't wake up in a cold sweat from a nightmare it couldn't remember with its wings all shaky and its heart racing.      The day was warm, with only some scattered clouds overhead.  The breeze felt good but there was the promise that the day would turn hotter than it had been previously.  A thought passed through my mind.  I was glad, grateful really, that I wasn't in heavy chainmail.  I could not think why I should even consider such a thing.  A headache started and I quickly glanced around at my surroundings.  I looked at the mountains, now much closer than they were two days before.  The headache faded.      It was around the time we stopped for a cheese and bread lunch when I noticed a small column of grey-white smoke off in the distance.  Skylar told us that Arthester Jalivay's place was off in that direction and that they either had a cook fire going or Arthester Jalivay was conducting one of his experiments.      There were more trees scattered about the rolling plains and at about mid-afternoon, we could make out a cottage off in the distance.  The smoke wasn't coming from the cottage though.  There were a few other structures and I could make out what appeared to be a barn and couple of other buildings each spaced some little distance apart.  The smoke was coming from one of the other buildings.      "The smoke house," Skylar said when I asked him about it.  "That's where the smoke is coming from." He grinned.  "I wonder what's cooking?"      We'd evidently made good time and as we neared, I could see a figure dressed in brown clothing moving about.  As if sensing our nearness to our destination, or perhaps sensing my own anticipation, Red leapt forward.  I briefly heard what was probably a muttered curse as Skylar and Orin urged their own mounts to greater speed.      I had to get there!  I let Red carry me at a gallop and didn't consider trying to slow him down until we we're only a half dozen yards or so away from the cottage.  Skylar caught up in short order but Orin and Pany were some little distance back.      "Why'd you take off like that?" Skylar asked rather angrily.      "It was Red's idea," I replied simply.  Red glanced back and snorted.  "Well it was," I said to the horse and Skylar.  Orin and Pany caught up with us just as we we're dismounting.  The figure dressed in brown that I'd noticed earlier approached us.  He looked to be about Skylar's age but he had a slightly more muscular build.  His black hair was a bit longish and his brown eyes were alert.      "Ho, Skylar," the young man said.  "Ho, Orin."      "Ho, Jae," Skylar and Orin called out.      "Jae, this is Arif," Orin said as he now dismounted.      "Arif," Jae said.  We clasped forearms briefly and then he asked, "What brings you all out here?"      "I do, I'm afraid," I said.      "Oh?" Jae asked.  He looked from one to another of us.      Orin and Skylar took turns telling Jae about my memory difficulties.      "Did you suffer a head injury?" Jae asked.      "Not that I'm aware of," I replied.  "I had no bumps or bruises anywhere on my head.  I checked after I woke up and found myself in an unfamiliar alley."      "Did you see a physician?" Jae asked.      You know, it hadn't even occurred to me.  I should have sought out a physician back in Ylanshia.  "No, actually," I said rather feebly.      "Well!" Orin said quickly though with not as much confidence as he had back at the town.  "It's obvious that he's under an enchantment."      Jae rolled his eyes skyward.  "Well," he sighed.  "You're here now," he said to me.  "You may as well let Arthester Jalivay look you over.  He's knows medicine too.  Though you really should have seen a physician right away."  He started walking toward the cottage.  "Come along, then," he said over his shoulder.      We followed him toward the cottage and he had us tie up our horses on a post there.  Then he led us away from the cottage and toward the nearby mountains.  I was about to ask him why, but my eyes fell on an outcropping jutting out from the mountain.  Beneath it was an opening.  Jae was leading us to a cave.      Now it was my turn to look at each of my companions.  "A cave?" I asked.      "Master Jalivay says that certain of the cave's chambers have temperatures that don't fluctuate and nearly the entire cave system also has a near constant humidity," Jae explained.  "He says that those conditions make the cave ideal for certain experiments."      There was a large bush to the left of the entrance that looked oddly familiar for some reason.  A headache threatened and I found that puzzling.  I quickly examined my surroundings after I stepped through the opening.  We were in a room-like chamber.  It was semi-circular in shape, the rounded part toward the rear where there was a dark opening.  The floor was relatively free of dust and stones, though it was uneven.  To the right of the entrance was a shelf with a few lanterns on it.  There was a broom and some other things to left.  I smiled as I thought of Jae sweeping out the room.  I felt my headache fade.      Jae grabbed a lantern from the shelf.  I didn't see what he did, but the lantern lit up immediately.  I didn't hear the scrape of a flint.  The lantern also gave off more light than I expected it to.      "What kind of experiments," I asked.      "Oh, this and that," Jae answered.  He walked through the opening at the back of the cave and Orin, Skylar and I quickly followed him.      The passage twisted left and right and we had to move through it single file.  It was a tight squeeze in a few places and Jae had to warn us to duck our heads at one point.  Well, except for Orin.  It wasn't long before I noticed a light coming from around the corner.  The passage opened upon a good sized chamber.  Stalactites hung from the ceiling and many met their stalagmite counterparts, forming natural stone pillars.  There were lanterns like the one that Jae carried scattered around the chamber; on the floor, hung on the walls, somehow balanced on the tips of some of the stalagmites and dangling from the tips of the stalactites.      There were a few tables in the center of the chamber that had all sorts of odd looking things on them.  The legs on some of the tables were mismatched in length, though the table's tops looked level to me.  The floor of the cavern was very uneven and I figured that the tables were made to fit their locations.  There were a few chairs near one table that had parchments, ink pots, quills, a box of blank sheets of paper and bound books on it.  It was to this table that Jae guided us.      We followed him down a path that was only a little less uneven than the rest of cavern floor.  "Wait here," Jae said, waving at the table and chairs with his free hand.  "I'll go get Master Jalivay."      "Great!" Skylar said, taking one of the seats.  He put his feet up on the edge of the table, smiled his winning smile and there was a lock of his hair hanging down his brow.      Jae shook his head and then walked down one of the other passages that branched off this chamber.      Orin took another of the chairs and made himself comfortable.  "You best put your feet down, Skye," he said.      Skylar brushed the wayward lock off his face.  "Why?" he asked.      "Why?" Orin said.  "Why?  Because Arthester Jalivay doesn't like it."  He nervously glanced back the way Jae had gone.  He looked back at Skylar.  "Come on, Skye.  Just put your feet down."      The other man just sat there and grinned.      I walked around the table a bit and glanced at the parchments.  It seemed I should be able to read some of them, but I couldn't for some reason.  I took a chair opposite where Orin sat and waited.      "Just put your feet down, Skye," Orin said again.  He fidgeted.  I couldn't recall ever seeing Orin fidget like this before.      "I'm comfortable," Skylar said.      "You won't be if Arthester Jalivay catches you," Orin said.      "What can happen?" Skylar asked.      "I can turn you into a mouse," a deep resonant voice said.      Orin covered his eyes with one hand.  "Oh no," he muttered as Skylar quickly dropped his feet to the floor.      I turned around and saw a man that looked to be in his fifties or sixties.  He had neatly trimmed brown hair that was greying at the temples.  He was wearing a grey shirt and dark green coveralls.  He came straight to me and his earthy brown eyes were piercingly intense.      "You must be Arif," he said to me.  "I'm Arthester Jalivay.  Jae tells me you're having memory problems."      "Yes, sir," I replied.  Staring at him, at his clothing.  He seemed to read my look immediately.      "I suppose you were expecting someone in a white or black robe, maybe a funny pointed hat and a beard," he said.  I think I nodded.  "Well.  The last time I had a beard was over eighty years ago.  I never owned a pointed hat.  Those things are silly.  And I've only been known to wear a robe like that on very formal occasions."  He walked around to the side of the table opposite Skylar.  "And last time I wore dark green.      "Now," he continued, "are you absolutely sure you didn't received a head injury?"      I admit it, I rolled my eyes at that.  "Yes," I replied.  "I'm sure."      Arthester Jalivay smiled at that.  "I see."  He moved some of the things on the table to one side, took a sheet paper from the box, grabbed a quill and dipped it into an ink pot.  "Now," he said to me.  "Tell me what happened."      I told him about when I woke up in the alley and everything that happened up to the moment we arrived.  I had some help from Orin and Skylar to fill in those gaps when I was asleep or unconscious.  A few times, headaches threatened, and my two companions jumped in and helped out to distract me and tell Arthester Jalivay what I suddenly had trouble saying.  Arthester Jalivay wrote down everything.  At one point, Arthester Jalivay asked for more light and Jae set his lantern on the table, next to him.  I didn't really pay much attention to it, until I'd finished telling my tale and Arthester Jalivay was finishing up his writing it down.      It was during this quiet moment when I took a good look at the lantern.  There was no candle inside it. There was no oil lamp.  There was just a bright yellow flame that seemed to sit there, swaying very slowly from side to side, as if a very gentle breeze blew slowly back and forth inside the glass and metal lantern.      A headache started.  I looked at the next nearest lantern which was impossibly balanced on the delicate tip of a stalagmite.  It too only contained a flame.  I saw nothing to fuel the flame.  Nor did I see anything on which the flame might be sitting.  My headache grew and throbbed.  I looked back at the lamp on the table.  I leaned closer, thinking I've seen something like this before.  I felt a sharp pain, jabbing me right between the eyes just before darkness descended upon me. - = - = - Return to top of page. Chapter Four     I...uhm...don't think I'm ready for email yet.    ;-) But that doesn't mean you can't try and send me a note! Copyright © 2002, 2003 B. J. Miller Jr. All Rights Reserved