you’ll be ruler of the Barbarian Kingdom. We would be enemies of Brandor.”
Amar massaged the end of his chin. “My family lives in Lethwitch. If we become enemies of Brandor, you must promise we won’t attack Lethwitch.”
George nodded. “You’re right. This does present a problem. Athena’s family is also from Lethwitch.” He agreed not to attack the area only because he cared for Athena’s family.
George pulled out his map. The moment had come to formulate a better plan. “Kepler, it’ll take you at least 20 Peaks to reach the Blood Sea platform since you can’t ride the hippogriffs. Why don’t you go to the platform and wait for the rest of us to arrive?”
Amar stopped him. “Without kicking me in my junk, I need you to listen. We have a problem. We cannot fly to the Blood Sea platform. The hippogriffs do fly there, but they won’t take someone out of Brandor and fly them into barbarian territory. The rule of the kingdoms states: no being may fly into a kingdom he’s not from. The only exception to this rule is Angels Village, because it’s protected by the gods. The closest landing tower anywhere near Bloodvain’s is in Gessler Village. This is a place where the roughest crowds from both kingdoms have a tendency to migrate. This village is considered neutral territory, and it’s not owned by either kingdom.”
Kepler jumped into the conversation. “That’s because I dominate the passes surrounding the village. Gessler has been a continual supply for me when building my skeleton army. I stay out of the village for the most part, but on occasion, I enter to find a fool. I catch 40 to 50 victims a season as the walk through my pass. I don’t understand why they go to Gessler when they know I prowl this territory. Perhaps it’s because—”
“Kepler, will you get to the point?” George snapped.
“Sorry!” The jaguar’s eyes flashed. “I think what Amar is trying to say is that you’ll need protection while in Gessler since the crowd isn’t pleasant. I have an idea. Instead of meeting at the Blood Sea platform, I’ll make my way to Gessler, but it will take 23 Peaks to get there. I want you to arrive the next Peak. My brothers and I will be hiding in the shadows in case you need us. Get off the hippogriff and make your way to an inn called The Bloody Trough. You won’t see us unless you’re attacked.”
George responded, “Kepler, it scares the crap … wait ... it scares the garesh out of me that you can hide like that. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re on my side.” He reached down, picked Maldwin up and scratched the back of the rat’s head as he continued. “Your plan is a good one. We should do it. Will you ask Maldwin if he can project his visions to a group of people?”
Unsure where George was going with his question, the demon spoke with the rat. Once finished, the demon relayed Maldwin’s answer to George. “He said yes, but if it’s a big group, they’ll all see the same vision.”
“Exactly how big is too big of a group before they start seeing the same thing? How many people can he project his visions to before he has to stop?”
Again, Kepler asked and responded, “He said more than three and they’ll need to see the same image. He has projected visions to his entire family before and they total more than 200.”
The manipulator smiled. “Holy garesh! I bet he has no clue if he can do more than that. So ... less than three, he can project separate visions and more than three, they’ll all see the same thing. Is that what he’s saying?”
Again, the undead cat asked the rat to confirm. “He said you’re right, and he imagines he can project his visions to many more.”
George put Maldwin on the ground and then put his hands behind the back of his head as he started to ramble off another plan. “Let’s figure out what the three of us will do until Kepler gets to Gessler. I think we should go back to Lethwitch. We can spend some quality moments with our loved ones and work on the problem regarding rival kingdoms...”
George continued to ramble as he outlined a complete plan.
Three Nights Later
Fellow soul ... before we go on to the next part of the story, allow me to interject another small history lesson. This particular