Cheryl fought down her rising panic. "Angel," she said through a mouth dry with fear. "What should we do?"
Sarah had disappeared just moments before, and was just then looking at the ground, both terrified and triumphant. Her siblings didn't know this, however, and they were concerned for both her and themselves.
Angel smiled encouragingly. "You three must still make the journey to Galgolb."
"Wait a minute!" Ralph exclaimed. "You said 'you three,' but aren't you coming with us?"
Angel shook her head. "No, but don't worry," she added quickly, seeing the dismay on the faces of her human friends. "I'll never be far away. Abba may send me to you when we least expect it. And you will find friends unlooked-for along the way, and another companion will be provided to take Sarah's place in your company. Fear not. Abba does not mean for any of you to be hurt in this battle."
"Battle?" Lenny cried fearfully.
Once again, Angel gave them a peaceful look, which managed to calm even Lenny. "Yes, Lenny, a battle. All the followers of Abba will soon be thrust into a fight. Do not be afraid, for you are on the winning side. El Shaddai will be with you and save you."
Cheryl stared at Angel, then sighed. "Well, if Abba's will is that we join in this battle for Maychoria, then that's what I'll do."
Lenny peered at his sister incredulously. "You can't be serious," he said.
She looked at him with disappointment in her eyes. "You don't have to come with me," she said, "but I have to go."
Ralph was upset. He heartily disliked argument, especially when he wasn't part of it. "I'll go with you, Cheryl!" he exclaimed suddenly. "It'll be an adventure."
Lenny sighed in resignation. "Well, seeing I don't have anywhere else to go, I might as well join you."
Cheryl let a tiny smile out. "Thanks, guys.'
Ralph grinned and pounded his brother and sister on the back. "We're in this together!"
Cheryl stumbled slightly, then turned to Angel. "What about a map?" she asked.
Lenny picked himself off the ground. "Not to mention such trifling matters as food, water, and shelter?"
Angel ignored the sarcasm in his voice. "Of course these matters are not forgotten. Look to where the table was."
The three turned to look. The table had disappeared, and in its place were three packs labeled 'Ralph,' 'Lenny,' and 'Cheryl,' in gold thread. Ralph's was brown, Lenny's dark violet, and Cheryl's one shade lighter than navy blue. Inside each was a change of Maychorian garments, a blanket, and food enough for a week and a half for one person. A full water bag hung on the outside of each, and inside Cheryl's satchel was a pocket Bible, which she reverently touched, then slipped into the pocket of her jumper.
Ralph found a small sheathed dagger under his blanket. He lifted it with care and held it in the sunlight. The knife was decorated with a golden eagle forming the hilt, and two shining emeralds served as the eagle's eyes. Cheryl looked at the emeralds, then at Ralph's own green eyes. The boy seemed to have grown in the moments he'd held the dagger. He had the look of an eagle, noble and keen-eyed. Then Ralph put the dagger back in his pouch, and he was same cheerful Ralph Cheryl remembered. Yet a hint of nobility still clung to him.
Lenny lifted his blanket, half hoping to see a dagger like Ralph's, but what he found was an even greater treasure to him. A magnifying glass with a golden handle set with amethysts met his searching gaze. He brought it out into the sun, and Cheryl and Ralph gasped. The gray-eyed boy smiled and put it back.
Ralph looked at Cheryl. "Pick up your blanket and see what you got!" he urged.
"Oh, I already have a treasure worth more than gold and jewels."
"What?" Lenny asked.
Cheryl took the small Bible out of her pocket and studied it for the first time. Beneath the word 'Bible' a strange device of gold intricately entwined and set with sapphires and rubies was pressed into the leather cover. The pages were embossed and edged with gold. Cheryl opened the Book, and a golden light shone from the Book and illumined the girl's face. A Voice spoke, echoing off the trees:
"Arm yourself with the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God."
It was the same Voice Cheryl had heard in the Light.
Suddenly, Cheryl realized that in one hand she held the open Bible, and in the other, a sword. The blinding light prevented her from seeing the weapon, so she closed the Book. Now it was Lenny's turn to gasp in wonder. Like Ralph's dagger, Cheryl's sword had a gold eagle for the hilt, but instead of emeralds, the eyes were of a gray jewel the Terrans were unfamiliar with.
Ralph touched the stones. "They're the color of your eyes, Cheryl," he said in an awed voice.
Cheryl glanced up, startled. Then she studied the gray jewels.
"He's right," Lenny said quietly, looking mesmerized.
Cheryl shook her head in confusion, then turned to look at their feline guardian.
"I don't understand," she said to Angel. "Why was I given a sword? I don't know how to fight! I--I'm no warrior!"
"Yes you are," Angel contradicted. "What about all those hours spent kneeling by your bed? You have no idea how valuable you are to my colleagues and me."
Cheryl blushed. "Well, I know how to pray, but I have no idea how to use a sword."
"Abba will guide the hands of whomever needs to use the Darkrender," Angel replied. "Also, this is no ordinary sword, as Ralph's little Fire-eater is no ordinary dagger. Darkrender is strengthened by the word of Abba. As long as you use it for His battle against the evil powers of this world, it is stronger than any other weapon. If used for any other purpose, it is completely useless."
In awe, Cheryl looked at the special sword again, this time studying the sheath. It was of leather inlaid with gold and jewels, which formed pictures on the belt: an open book from which rays of gold spread, a sword, a forest, a cliff, a desert, a battle, a wall, and last, a castle of iron.
Cheryl unbuckled the belt and put it on, positioning sword so it would not make her stumble. Then she slipped her pack over her shoulders and placed the Bible back in her pocket.
"Well," she said. "I guess I'm ready to go."
Ralph and Lenny put on their packs. Cheryl knelt to look Angel in the face.
"Do you have any last minute advice?" she asked the cat.
"Remember who you are," Angel said. "You are a child of the one true King. He has forgiven you, and He is always with you. Let Abba be your guide." She turned to Ralph and smiled. "As for you, little one, you do not know what you are capable of, and neither does anyone but perhaps Cheryl. Keep up your cheerfulness and courage, and don't hesitate to do what you know is right. Obey the prompting of your heart, for that is one of Abba's links to you." Angel looked at Lenny soberly. "For you, Lenny, one piece of advice: trust Cheryl."
Lenny blinked in surprise, then nodded.
Cheryl drew in a deep breath of clean, sweet Maychorian air. "Well, let's go."
"Wait," Ralph said. He ran to the other side of the clearing, picked up an object, and brought it back to his sister.
Cheryl laughed. "My walking stick!" She took it and stuck it into the ground, unconsciously imitating Columbus with his flag.
"Good-bye, Angel," she said. "I hope we see you again."
"Good-bye, my friends," Angel answered. "I may surprise you."
Ralph and Lenny also said their farewells. The three Bryants turned to the dirt path and began their journey.
The three siblings had walked in silence for almost two hours when Cheryl finally spoke up.
"Lenny, what are you thinking?"
Lenny looked up, startled. "I was contemplating the logic in the deity of this land providing both of you with a magnificent weapon while I am left defenseless."
Ralph frowned, puzzled. "Huh?"
Lenny tried to word it differently. "Well, I was--wondering--uh--why you two were given those--um--really good weapons while I--I wasn't."
"Well, why didn't you say so?" the unquenchable boy burst out.
"I did!" Lenny said defensively. "You just didn't understand."
Ralph's brow wrinkled. "You calling me stupid?"
"No!"
Cheryl interrupted, "Whoa, whoa! Calm down, you guys! Ralph, Lenny just likes to talk like that, okay? And Lenny, it really makes Ralph upset when he can't understand what someone says, okay? C'mon, you guys! You're old enough to get along, aren't you?"
The three had stopped walking to argue. Now Ralph hesitated, then stuck out his hand.
"I'm sorry, Lenny," he said. "Shake and make up?"
Lenny hesitated, then took his brother's hand. "I'm sorry, too."
Cheryl smiled. "Let's go." Usually such an argument would have gone on for hours, despite the girl's intervention. She was pleased to see Ralph's new Christianity bearing fruit.
As they turned to head down the path, Ralph remarked. "But you could learn to speak English, Lenny."
Lenny frowned. "I believe you are referring to your English, which is quite inadequate and unsophisticated."
"There you go again! Always using words normal people can't understand!"
Cheryl covered her ears as they continued arguing. "It's gonna be a long trip," she muttered to herself.
Lenny said something cutting about 'saying you're a Christian and not acting like it,' and Ralph suddenly stopped short and turned red with shame.
"Aw, nuts," he muttered disgustedly. "Here I go again." He looked up at his startled brother. "Lenny, I'm awfully sorry," he said humbly. "Forgive me?"
Now Lenny was the one caught on awkward ground. Ralph had never done anything like this before and the surprise and embarrassment of the situation was more than the older boy could bear. Flustered, he mumbled something like, "S'okay," then turned and kept walking down the path.
Cheryl came to stand by Ralph. Both watched their brother as he stumbled along, heedless of the eyes on him.
"I dunno, Ralph," Cheryl said softly. "But I think he's softening, a little."
"Yeah? Maybe he'll finally figure out God is for real."
"He needs to see God in us, buddy. He already sees the difference in you, and I think that's why he's so embarrassed now. He's not used to you being nice to him."
Lenny had disappeared around a bend in the path. His siblings were galvanized into action by the loud crash and startled cries they hear from that direction. The two Bryants rushed down the path and around the bend, then stopped short at the sight that met their eyes.
Lenny sat tangled on the path with a Maychorian boy and enough sticks of wood to build a tree house. Lenny's pack had slipped off his back and the other boy had lost his cap.
Cheryl and Ralph hurried to help them to their feet. Ralph stretched out a hand to the Maychorian boy as Lenny clung to Cheryl to keep from falling as he maneuvered over the logs.
Finally the four stood facing each other. The Bryants got their first good look at the Maychorian, and vice-versa. He had curly blond hair and vibrant blue eyes peering over a snub nose. He was dressed in the same kind of clothes the Terran boys had in their packs, his shirt blue and his trousers brown.
"I beg your pardon!" Lenny said sincerely as he bent to pick up his pack.
The stranger seemed about to say something annoyed, but glanced at the eagle-sword Cheryl wore and suddenly halted in astonishment. The look of wonder shining in his blue eyes quickly gave way to irritation as he bent to snatch up his cap. Straightening, he glared at Lenny and clamped the hat on his curly head. "Stranger, you should keep your eyes ahead of you, not on your feet. I don't know where you come from, (and your garments are very strange,) but people there must be very ill mannered."
"I truly am sorry," Lenny said, blushing. "I neglected to consider the direction in which I was headed when I collided with you in that rude manner, and I apologize most humbly for my discourtesy."
For a moment total blankness occupied the boy's face, then was replaced by utter dejection as he glanced at the wood spread all over the path. "I don't know how I'm going to get this wood back to Mother now," he said with a despairing sigh.
"We'll help you," Cheryl offered promptly, kneeling to gather sticks into her arms.
The three boys stooped to help, and soon all the logs were gathered into four bundles. Each stood with arms full of wood.
"Where to now?" Ralph asked the boy.
"Follow me," he said, heading down the path.
The three Terrans shrugged at each other and followed the boy.
Before long the red cap paused and turned off the path into the forest. They stepped through a few yards of trees and came out in a tiny clearing. In it stood a cottage, a garden, and a small stack of wood.
The boy went directly to the woodpile and got rid of his burden, then turned to the Bryants with a big, bright grin on his face.
"Welcome, visitors from another world!" he announced excitedly, doffing his cap.
Cheryl dropped her load in surprise. "Goodness!"
"Who're you?" Ralph asked as Lenny calmly put his wood on the pile.
"'My name is Arim, son of Raemon," the boy said. "Who're you?"
Ralph took the liberty of introducing himself and his siblings. Arim grinned at each in turn, then said, "Come in the house!"
Cheryl found her voice enough to ask, "The wood?"
"Oh, leave it," Arim said carelessly. "We have more important things to do."
The three Terrans followed the Maychorian into the cottage. A woman with graying hair and sparkling blue eyes greeted them with a welcoming smile and a small curtsy.
"Greetings, travelers from afar!" she said. "Please come in."
When all five were seated on stools inside the home, Arim said, "Mother, this is Ralph, Lenny, and Cheryl. They're those people Abba told you about."
His mother nodded. "I know, son." She smiled at the three siblings. "You may call me Faela. Welcome to my home."
Cheryl smiled back. "Thank you, ma'am. My brothers and I are very glad to meet you. But I-I'd like to know how you know of us. Arim spoke of Abba--?"
Faela nodded again. "This morning, while I was speaking with my King, He told me of the travelers from another world who would go to the country of darkness to free Princess Elladia and the slaves. He said we would know you by your eagle-hilted sword, and that you would help Arim carry wood to the house." Faela chuckled. "He was glad hear that." Her voice dropped to a conspiratory whisper; "Arim hates to carry that heavy wood, though he never complains."
Arim's cheeks grew hot. "But, if I never complain, how do you know I don't like it?"
"A little bird told me," Faela said with a mischievous grin.
Arim was about to say something back, but Lenny spoke first. "Deliberate a moment. You mentioned a sword?" He nudged his sister. "Display it, Cheryl."
The girl unbuckled the belt and held it out for all to see. The golden eagle shone in the light from an open window.
Faela gasped, suddenly remembering. "The prophecy!"
"What?" Cheryl asked, startled.
"Our late ruler, Princess Zena, was also a prophet. Abba told her of things to come, and she in turn told us." Faela stood and fetched a scroll of parchment from a corner. She opened it and read quietly:
Gray eyes, green eyes, eagle keen
In the dark shall brightly flash,
Through the thickened shadows slash,
And all once hidden shall be seen."
Faela stopped reading and looked up into the faces of her audience. Cheryl, Ralph and Arim looked awed and surprised. Lenny looked like he would be sick.
"What's wrong, Lenny?" Faela asked gently.
"May I view the document, please?"
Faela handed him the scroll. "Certainly."
Lenny looked at it for a long moment. Finally he looked up. "She is correct." He turned to the motherly woman. "When did--how did you get this?"
She looked at him a little strangely. "Well, my husband was a counselor of Princess Zena. This was her dying prophecy. My husband had two copies made: one for the castle treasury, one for us." She pointed to the corner where she had gotten the scroll. The children now saw that there were many documents of parchment stored there. "You see," Faela continued. "I have long been making a collection of all the writings and prophecies. I want to be sure they do not vanish from Maychoria." She sighed. "But without the Hosridon, the Holy Book, I fear it will never be complete."
Lenny gave back the scroll. "I now perceive that there is substance to the tenets and concepts that have been revealed to me. I merely have difficulty believing in things unseen."
Arim looked at him in confusion and scorn. "That is foolish! Do you not believe in the wind then? Or the warmth of the sun? How foolish!"
Lenny's face flushed crimson. He opened his mouth to reply, then calmed and looked sheepishly at the floor.
"I suppose you are correct," he sighed. "I have seen many strange things today-and you may be accurate."
Cheryl looked at her brother in amazement. Could this be the same boy who had told her she could never believe?
Ralph came right out and said it. "Are you serious, Lenny?" he cried. "I didn't think you'd say something like that in a hundred years!"
"Much has altered," Lenny said defensively. "I fee--I don't know--different somehow."
Cheryl shook her head and turned back to the matter at hand. "The prophecy--it's about us, isn't it?"
"It certainly seems that way," the woman replied.
"What's next?" Arim asked impatiently. "I mean, if we're going to save the Princess and free the captives, let's go!"
"Yeah!" Ralph squeaked.
"Well," said Cheryl. "I think we need to find a way to Maychoria Castle and talk to Prince Tirzah. Faela, can you help us?"
The woman nodded. "Of course. Arim and I need to join my husband there. We will stay here tonight, then begin our journey in the morning."
"Great!" Ralph and Arim yelled in unison.
The five companions laughed.
"But first," Faela finished. "Please tell us your history, and how you came to be here."
So, not long before Sarah told her story to Ryoo, her three siblings had an opportunity to tell it, omitting nothing. The three constantly interrupted each other, and Faela sometimes asked a clarifying question, but in the end the two Maychorians understood it all.
At last Cheryl drew in a deep breath. "Well, now you know the whole story."
Arim nodded. "Yes, but I don't understand. What is a 'van?' And 'state park?'"
Faela stood. "This is all very fascinating, but it is time to eat, and then we must sleep."
The four children nodded.
Later, as Cheryl lay on the floor rolled in her blanket, staring at the fire, she had time to ponder the changes in her two brothers. She looked over to where they lay, fire gazing like her.
"What happened to them?" she wondered silently. "Ralph seems so-oh-like an eagle. No, he's too cheerful. A prince? Yes, he's matured, somehow. He's as cheerful and eager as ever, but there's a noble quality to him now. I wonder why? It must be the air."
Her thoughts turned to Lenny and his statements earlier that day. "It can't be the air for Lenny. His whole attitude has changed. It's true he's seen a lot of miracles today. Perhaps he'd tried to pass them off as an elaborate hoax. I guess that's why he asked to see the scroll: to see for himself. And now he has seen, and it shook him up a little. No, scratch that. It shook him up a lot. I wonder what he's thinking right now."
Without turning her head, Cheryl furtively searched her brother's face. Lenny was lying on his stomach with his chin propped up on his fists, his face completely free of expression.
Disappointed, the girl rolled over and tried to sleep. Suddenly her mind snapped alert. Sarah. She'd forgotten to pray for Sarah.
"Oh, Sarah," Cheryl whispered into the darkness. "Where are you? What's happened to you? Why do you keep fighting Abba's love?"
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