Artwork by Dongwoo Kim

The Wishing Map is a full-length fantasy that is being posted episodically at this site. To read the previous episode click here. To read it from the start, click here.

Freshly-saved from drowning, Zack and Gina turned to face the coastal cliffs of Frenga.

Rhema, the Queen of the Fae, had given Gina a quest and an obstinate magical sword with which to complete it. If they were uncertain where to go next, the sword wasn’t. It pushed Gina toward the eighty-foot sand and chalk edifice. “Fine,” she hollered, “I’ll just climb straight up with you on my back!”

“You probably shouldn’t yell at the sword when we get to Doviclé,” Zack suggested through cold-clenched teeth.

Brine-pickled and frozen to the core, they stumbled toward the vertical outcropping as a cove-bound wind vented its vexation upon them. And then, in a moment of sheer grace, they discovered sandstone steps carved into the recess of the cliffs.

They climbed the eight-story stairs as quickly as they could and arrived at the top, wheezing but no longer shaking. There, just yards away, was an inn! They didn’t have any money, but at least they could sit by a fire–the Inn at Doviclé te Siell was spiked with alluring bookstack chimneys. And unlike the darkly paneled Screaming Spiffwit, it was made out of sugar-white sand, held in place by half-timbers painted in sunny corals and watery blues.

They stepped inside and waited for their eyes to adjust. Suddenly remembering the sword, Gina handed the crystal scarf to her brother. He covered the protruding handle, transforming it into an abstraction, and then they made a beeline for the nearest hearth.

The downside of getting warm was that they were soon aware of just how hungry they were. The diners around them were eating roasted truffles stuffed with quails’ eggs and pungent country cheeses, accompanied by warm shrennel bread slathered in nectair-butter. Gina’s nostrils flared traitorously.

“I have to have some of that—now!”

“Well, unless you plan to steal…” Zack began, but stopped when he saw the pickle-nosed innkeeper approaching.

“Where are your parents?” the man demanded.

“Parents?” Zack quavered. “Uh…”

“My brother is tired,” Gina extemporized. “We arose early to cavort by the seaside. Our parents, the Duke and Duchess, will be joining us shortly and will be most displeased if we are treated discourteously.”

“Tuéill!” the innkeeper snorted. He was about to say something very discourteous indeed, when Gina’s sword jerked her off of her chair. She grabbed the table, causing the scarf to fall away.

The innkeeper’s eyebrows arrowed up. “And what is this?”

“This is the satchel our father the Duke gave us,” said Gina, pulling herself back onto the seat.

“With, um, tools for digging up shells and stuff,” Zack added.

“Tuéill!” the innkeeper repeated, and walked away.

Zack jumped up to re-camouflage the sword, but when he did he noticed the little leathern bag that Shelcor had attached to the tether. He pulled open its drawstring and looked inside, then turned to Gina and said:

“We can eat now.”

Inside the bag were seven perfect pearls…

Each as big as a cat’s eye.

φ

Thoughts: Our truest friends provide for us in ways we’ll never know.

To read the next episode, click here.