Chapter 2

She awoke with a start the next morning. Rhian was briefly disoriented before she remembered where she was and the events that had brought her here. Algwad stood over her. He had woken her. He untied her from the bench and motioned for her to take a seat at the table. She rose slowly, every muscle in her body aching from sleeping on the bench and the horse ride the night before. Rhian stumbled to the table and sat down. Before her was a bowl of hot soup with what looked like vegetables. It was a mixture of green and orange. It smelled like brussel sprouts which she was not partial to at all. But she was too hungry to object and gulped it down hungrily.

Algwad watched her with a smirk on his face. Rhian supposed he was taking pleasure at the power he realized he now held over her and tried not to look at him.

“What’s the plan for today?” Rhian asked.

“Today you tell me all about yourself and you start to teach me about the book and how to use it. You can work with me or not. I do not need to tell you which is the better option for you?” he asked rhetorically.

Rhian looked out the window. From where she sat she was too low to see the ground outside and found herself looking up into the trees which rose above the cabin outside. She could see birds coming and going from the branches and longed for their freedom.

“That all depends,” she replied between mouthfuls.

“Yes it does. It depends on whether you want to sleep on the bench or share your food with the rats in the cellar.”

Rhian chose the cellar while she tried to figure out what it was she could share with Algwad without giving away the secret of how to get to earth.

He took the risk of using the book on his own without her guidance. He disappeared for days at a time traveling to different locations. Algwad did not know how to return to anywhere close to where they were, and so he had to return by conventional means which took longer than using the book. When he returned, Rhian was often tired and weak from lack of food and water. He ignored Rhian’s suffering and told her with much joy where he had been and how he had returned. He had not figured out how to return to the place he had departed from initially using the book. Rhian was not even sure if it was possible. She simply knew how to get to the lake and return to Earth.

Often, Algwad disappeared for a few days without using the book as a means of travel. Rhian believed at these times that he went to see the king’s betrothed to take orders from her and do her bidding. He never elaborated much about the king’s betrothed. His early references to her impersonating the king’s betrothed still puzzled her. She had thought at the very least that he would take her to meet the king’s betrothed but he had not and, in fact, seemed reluctant to do so. Rhian could only surmise that this had to do with his objectives.

Then one day, Alg, as Rhian eventually came to call him, reappeared within an hour after he had disappeared. He had a broad smile on his face which told Rhian he had made a new discovery.

“Hah! At last I have it!” He was overjoyed. The fact that he had figured out how to return to his point of departure using the book was cause of some relief for Rhian. It meant she would have her meals more regularly now since his return would not be delayed by having to use traditional methods like walking or horse riding to return from distant places he traveled to when using the book.

“I have but one more thing to understand my dear.”

“And what might that be?” Rhian believed she knew but she asked anyway.

“How to travel to your world.”

Algwad’s response was what Rhian had feared it would be and it left her cold. If he found a way to go to earth he would arrive in their home where Andy and Shay were. There was only that point of arrival for earth and no other. Even worse, if he could make it through, how long would it be before he developed the insane notion of invading earth?