“Thank Ra!” He placed me down, “I have saved you, young one. But what, pray tell, were you doing locked away in that cave?”

  My mouth was ajar being this close to someone who I’d watched execute an innocent. I exchanging glances with Ynec, who had a similar look of shock. Sepki followed me eyes to Ynec, “Was it the Chacali?” He said, sticking his mace up, “Chacali scum…”

  “STOP!” I yelled, belly flopping forward to put myself between him and Ynec. I didn’t know if all Sun Throwers held contempt for Chacali but considering this was Ghala’s brother, I had a good idea about this Sun Thrower. “He’s my brother! He’s my brother, and I fell in the lake.” I explained, my voice hoarse from yelling, “I swam under some rocks and I guess I got lost. Thank you for your help.”

  Sepki stared at me. I was shaking, not from the cold of the water or the shock of almost dying, but from the monster before us, who could swipe a man’s head off with his mace. Sepki turned to study Ynec’s face. He got down on one knee so he was eye to eye with Ynec. Sepki brandished a cheery smile like a weapon. The most heinous part of this fabricated smile is that, were I devoid of context, I would not be able to tell. It looked like an earnest smile. A more naive person would have believed him, but I knew this was a feint and just behind the teeth of his smile was a hidden knife.

  “So.” He said, “You two are brothers?”

  Ynec cautiously nodded his head.

  “Your whole lives?” he asked.

  Ynec’s eyes darted to me. I nodded my head and so did he.

  “He’s really shy but my family ad-”

  Sepki held his finger up and I hushed.

  “I know how kids are,” Sepki said, “I’ve got a brother around your age. They want to believe that the world is magical and more innocent than it really is. That’s my job, partially. To help the children of the world keep thinking that. But if a child thinks the world is too innocent one day he’ll bring a stray puppy home, unaware that it’s a wolf. And wolves eat children, don’t they?” His smile sent another chill down my spine. He looked back at Ynec, “I’m not regressive. I fully believe that it’s theoretically possible that a wild animal could be tamed if raised from birth. That’s if you were raised from birth. If you two are brothers, then you should be able to speak just like him. Can you give me a full sentence and sound just like him?”

  I gave a wild look to Ynec. Ynec bounced his head between the two of us. I wasn’t sure what look I was giving him but it was something to the tune of ‘Don’t fuck this up.’ Sepki eagerly waited for his world view to be reaffirmed and I waited to see if Ynec had learned how to use a Tethran article in the last ten seconds.

  Ynec slowly stuck his fist out at Sepki. He looked at the paladin and said, “Nawkum.”

  I slapped my face with my hand. Sepki looked at the fist in intense examination. I sweated, wondering what he was going to do. Sepki took his handkerchief out of his breast plate and used it to move Ync’s fist aside.

  He got up and, at both of us, said, “So, you two are safe? Because this lake is full of very dangerous monsters.”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Ynec and I both nodded our heads.

  “We should probably be going,” I said, “Our mother will be wondering where we are soon.”

  I heard the breaching of water as a single hand emerged and grabbed the side of the rock. Then another. As he pulled himself out, Dale’s horns emerged. Gulp.

  “There you two are,” Dale croaked.

  “That’s the bad man!” I yelled, pointing my finger at Dale and hiding behind Sepki’s legs, “That’s the bad man who tried to touch us!”

  “What… in Ra’s name?” Sepki asked.

  Dale pointed his finger right back at me, “I didn’t try to fuck those ugly kids!” He strained the water from his tunic and shook off the excess water. Sepki put his hand up as Dale splashed on him. “So, happy reunion I guess? Real brave to send a kid to do this job.” He huffed.

  “Send a kid?” Sepki wondered.

  “Why’d you send him back here? That’s the part I can’t figure out.”

  “Back… what?”

  “He tried to touch our no-no sticks!” I yelled. We were on top of the cliff that the man cave was hidden in; Ynec had his bow and some arrows left, I had my sword; behind us was sparse forest. Not enough to run into. My eyes darted to the other side of the cliff.

  “Why did you send these punks back after you stole the book?” Dale demanded.

  “I’ve never met these kids before. I’ve been looking for your hiding spot this whole time. If I knew I would have gone there myself. Why would I send these children…” He looked at my metal sword, then, his mind began calculating.

  “Wait.” Dale said, “Wait, wait, wait. If you didn’t send these rotten punks, then why did they… what the hell are you two doing here?”

  “And where’s the book?” Sepki demanded.

  Whoops. The murderer knows we have the book. Could I talk my way out of this? Could I fight my way out of this? Could I run out of this? Everything was a tempting offer but I had to try things in order of selectivity. First, the talking.

  “I no know what book you mean.” I said. Uh-oh, got nervous and went a little too young there, time to overcorrect, “This ruffian caterwauls about some fictitious-”

  “WAIT A MINUTE!” Dale cried, “The dog puns. The asking about my relationship. You ARE a paladin.”

  Whelp, that took him long enough, but he got there.

  “That bitch!” Dale screamed, “I knew she didn’t trust me!”

  “She was right not to trust you.” I muttered.

  “She didn’t know that!” Dale replied.

  “Will somebody tell me what is going on? Do you have the book?” Sepki asked Dale.

  “No. He does.” then to me, he said, “You’re working for Anubis? I thought she didn’t have any paladins.”

  Sepki looked at both of us, ignoring Dale, “You two have the book.”

  Talking was out. I looked at the cliff. We were pretty high. Could I jump without breaking a bone? Could I-

  I felt the change in the wind. Before I could notice, Sepki dove past me and gripped onto Ynec by his neck, Sepki’s mace pointed right at him. I barely saw him move. “The book. Tell me where it is.”

  Dale looked at Sepki and said, “Aren’t you a paladin? There’s gotta be something against killing kids.”

  Sepki gave a menacing glance to Dale. Dale quivered and took a step back, “That’s enough out of you, cow.”

  “Dale.” I muttered, Dale’s attention drifted to me.

  “You have exactly five seconds before I spray your pet’s brain all over Lake Edko. One.”

  “Call her a bitch again,” I said to Dale.

  “Two.”

  “What, now you’re threatening me too?”

  “Three.”

  “Not. Anubis.” I spoke threw gritted teeth.

  “Four.”

  “Oh.”

  “Fi-”

  “Pear tree!” I yelled.

  Sepki looked at me, “Go on.”

  “It’s in a pear tree by the river. Only he knows where it is.” I said, referring to Ynec.

  “See? This is what I mean. You’re desperately defending your puppy, unaware that it will turn around and eat you. I believe it’s in a pear tree. But I don’t buy for one second he’s the only one who knows.”

  He cranked his mace back and Dale yelled, “BIIIIIIIITCH!”

  Sepki stopped his mace to look over at Dale. He was caught off guard by the expletive, unsure of how to feel.

  “Did you-”

  “No.” Dale said, “Not you, at least.”

  Dale shrugged his shoulders and in the hole behind us, a rushing tube of water shot out and overtook the four of us, pushing us all over the cliff.