“She is here…somewhere…” answered the wizard, looking around, chuckling with an anxious tone. “Here I am!” exclaimed a round faced elf, as she jumped out from behind a large rock. “Ah, this is Dabble, your companion,” stated Aetos. “Pleased to meet you, Dabble,” I said, motioning for her to shake hands. “Hello!” replied Dabble, hugging me. “Welcome to the gang, Amelia!” “Well, we best get a move on!” cheered Aetos stepping out in front of us with two ponies and a horse for himself. “Hey, hold on! Are these my ponies and is that my horse?” I inquired in a very stern tone. “Yes! Good observations! Now, off we go!” stated Aetos as he helped Dabble mount her chosen pony. Then he got on his horse. Finally, I mounted. The three of us made our way to the woods. For the most part, the ponies enjoyed the ride, but Aetos’s horse became irritable with the weight that was being put on him. All day we rode. For the first few hours, we rode on the old cobblestone road that used to lead to what was first called Encers, The Enchanted Town of the Elders. Now, it was called Lonest, The Long-Lost Town of the Forest. Some still say that Lonest is haunted by those who were trapped and killed inside the large iron gates and fence that surrounded the town when it was destroyed by two dragons: Queen Tanwen, the northern dragon of white fire, and Queen Atton, the western dragon of poison. After riding on the old road for what seemed like ages, we turned onto a trail leading deeper into the forest towards the mountains. As we continued riding ever closer to the mountains, the forest seemed to disappear bit by bit until there was nothing left but the face of a tall mountain and the rocky ground. I opened my mouth to say something, but as if she could read my mind, Dabble interjected. “Aetos, how do you expect us to cross these mountains?” questioned Dabble. I cringed. I didn’t want to go through Lonest at all, but I made no argument. All I really wanted was to get this little adventure over with, so that I could go back home and get some food. Onward we went. We veered back to the old road and headed toward Lonest. When we reached the gates, they weren’t locked, but they had been guarded many years ago. The old guard’s skeleton was still in its armor. As the gates opened, they creaked, causing a chill to run through my spine. I was terrified. Dabble, on the other hand, was more curious than frightened. We soon were trotting comfortably towards the end of Lonest. As we left, we didn’t look back. After following a winding path through the rest of the forest, we came at last to a little mountain trail. “Here we are. Now, I shall send the ponies and the horse back to their stable. We must go on foot. This path is much too narrow for the ponies,” said Aetos, waving his wand. In not a moment’s notice, the ponies and horse were gone. When Aetos said that the path was narrow, he meant it. We had to put our backs to the rock face and walk sideways, facing a sheer cliff. I had to constantly remind myself not to look down, for when I did, I often lost balance and almost stumbled. We continued on like this for quite some time. Finally, we changed paths. Our new path was a little wider, but not by much. Aetos was not able to walk facing forward, unlike Dabble and me. Luckily, this was path between two rock faces, one on each side, so I felt a little safer. “Are we lost?” I queried, curiously.
