“For him, yes,” I replied after a moment’s pause. “But who will remember him in ten years’ time? A grave in a wilderness. Perhaps one cowherd a year ever finds his way to that spot.”
“You’re wrong, thief, he’ll be remembered in the force,” said Uncle, who had heard our conversation. “Beside the slopes of Mount Despair, not far from the Lonely Giant, there’s a graveyard. That’s where all the warriors of the force rest, it doesn’t matter if their bodies are in the graves or were left behind forever out in the snowy tundra. Tomcat will be remembered.”
For the rest of the day we didn’t exchange a single word.
After all the rain that had poured down on the earth, the unbearable heat seemed to have receded. In the days that followed we traveled in relatively warm and very pleasant weather. The meadows of luscious green grass and impassable thickets of bushes were left behind and the open wilderness was replaced by sparse pine forest.
The mood of the group was gradually restored. Tomcat’s death was not forgotten, it was just that the problems of the day pushed it into the background.
Conversations sprang up, first on one side, then on the other. Deler and Hallas started bickering again because they couldn’t agree on whether they’d seen poisonous toadstools or edible mushrooms growing in the little meadow where we spent the night before. Out of the kindness of his heart, Kli-Kli got Ell up in the morning with the help of Deler’s hat, which was full of water. For this escapade the goblin very nearly caught it in the neck from the elf and the dwarf, but he managed to hide behind me in time, lamenting that no one appreciated his talent.
Several times during the journey I caught Miralissa’s thoughtful gaze on me, but she didn’t ask me anything, evidently waiting until we would be alone together. So I took pains to avoid her company.
Without knowing why, I didn’t want to tell anyone about Valder and the help he had given me.
We lengthened our journey by traveling parallel to the highway and taking our time before riding out onto it. Day followed day, and I was already thinking I would never lay eyes on the main road that we had all been longing to see. However, on the eighth day of the journey, already well into the second half of July, Kli-Kli gave a howl of joy and pointed to a light strip that had appeared between the trees.
We had finally emerged from Hargan’s Wasteland onto the highway.
And it was only then that I noticed what the goblin was holding in his hand.
“Where did you get that from, Kli-Kli?” I asked when I recovered the power of speech.
“What do you mean?” the jester asked, and then he followed my glance, understood, and said: “Ah, you mean this trinket? You’ll never believe it! While you were lying there out cold, we started looking for a spot for Tomcat’s grave, may he dwell in the eternal light. I walked away from the others a bit and I noticed this thing.”
“You just noticed it?
“This was lying on a stone that was covered with moss. There were even words written on the stone, but I couldn’t make anything out.”
“So you took it?” I asked.
“And why not?” the goblin said with a shrug. “You can see what a beautiful thing it is. Why should something that good go to waste? I’ll be able to sell it.”
“Don’t sell it, Kli-Kli,” I said in a soft, insinuating voice.
“You don’t think I should?” The jester cast another curious glance at his find, then fastened the chain round his neck and hid the silvery, drop-shaped amulet under his cloak. “Miralissa told me the same thing. Are you two in cahoots, then?”
“No, just trust me. Perhaps someday it will save our lives.”
Kli-Kli looked at me seriously. “You’re full of riddles, Dancer in the Shadows.”
“We’re all full of riddles and mysteries, Kli-Kli. I am, and Miralissa is, and you are. It’s true, isn’t it?”
“Uh-huh,” he agreed, then suddenly smiled and said, “So you don’t object to my calling you Dancer?”
“What good do all my objections do? They don’t stop you anyway. Call me whatever you like. In any case now I’m going to do everything I can to retrieve the Horn.”
“And that’s another of the prophecies of the shaman Tre-Tre that has come true,” the goblin said triumphantly. “The Dancer in the Shadows has accepted his new name and