Legends of Luternia Read Online Free PDF Page B

Bartomeus von Stroheim. Come on.” He turned and limped haughtily down the road. Edgar looked at Ulrik and they both choked back a laugh.
    “Lean on the mule,” Ulrik offered, “You need him more than I do.”
     
    They met few other travelers on the road at this time between the change of seasons. Luternia remained calm and quiet; daily activities kept folks busy and comfortable at home, even though their homes seemed more shabby and unkempt than the prince had remembered. Still, Ulrik envied them. He wanted to be home where his life was as comfortable as a motherless boy’s could be. More than once during that first week out he wanted to abandon the quest, turn, and run home. Yet he continued on, not because of the Mage’s command but because of his father’s plea. Running home would be selfish. He could, of course, invent all sorts of reasons to return home: the task was impossible, his father might die before he could return, or he should be home to care for his father and work to get rid of the Mage. All these reasons and more ran through his mind with each step taken away from the castle.
    As Ulrik had a duty to his father, so had Edgar to Ulrik. Barty’s duty, however, was to Barty, and he exercised it in helping himself to their food supply. By the beginning of their second week, they had reached the farthest and most rugged edges of the kingdom. The hills ran closer together, growing higher and higher. They persuaded themselves that each new hill had to be the last and that the going would be smoother once they crested this hill, only to find another higher hill on the other side. The roadway reflected the roughness of the terrain, causing more stumbles. Only the mule didn’t seem to mind, plodding along with a regular rhythm, one hoof in front of another, his pack getting lighter with each sly visit by Barty. Ultimately they crested the last hill and from the top saw the road winding down and ending at the bottom of a very high bluff. Suddenly, they descended to the bottom, fully expecting the road to end at the base of the bluff.
    The road, however, forked in two, skirting the base of the bluff in opposite directions. The map left out the road’s details. Ulrik sat on the ground, rubbing his feet and thinking how useless this whole expedition was. Edgar opened the pack on the mule to bring out their meal.
    “Uley,” he exclaimed, “where’s the food?”
    Ulrik pulled himself off the ground, walked barefoot to Edgar’s side and looked into the pack where only a few crumbs remained. He turned to Barty and said, “What have you been doing? You had no right to help yourself.”
    “I was hungry,” said Barty. “I didn’t think.”
    “That’s right, you didn’t think about anyone but yourself and now none has anything to eat. What are we supposed to do now?” snapped Ulrik.
    “I don’t know, I didn’t plan this trip,” Barty snapped back. Before the two cousins could come to blows, Edgar stepped in.
    “Uley, you forgot what Helga gave me,” he said taking her parting gift from his knapsack. “She said we could eat this.”
    Barty moved in for a closer look, sniffing the air as if to pull the aroma from the tightly wrapped parcel.
    “We were supposed to save it for when we really needed it, not because someone stuffed themselves when no one was looking,” said Ulrik, looking straight at his cousin. Edgar’s stomach growled.
    “For your sake, Edgar, let’s serve it. Barty gets the heel, though,” directed the prince.
    Edgar gingerly slid the blade of his knife through the waxed cheesecloth wrapped around the loaf. The loaf smelled freshly made. He sliced through the crust to reveal a pressed cake filled with dried fruits and nuts. Following Ulrik’s instructions, he gave Barty the heel. When Barty saw that the heel contained the least amount of fruit and nuts he whined. Ulrik received the thickest slice. Remembering what Helga said, he ate it slowly, nibbling around the edges. Each