Escana Read Free Page B

taken so long to come to mind.
    'Good! Good!' the man chuckled to
himself. 'What's the last thing you remember, Jakob?'
    Jakob felt dizzy, why was this
man asking him questions? 'I remember a bridge...'
    The man frowned. 'Do you see any
bridges around here, Jakob?'
    Jakob took in his surroundings a
second time, admittedly there was a distinct lack of any bridge. Why
had he thought about it in the first place?
    'No,' he finally replied with a
sigh. 'I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that.'
    The man smiled this time and
watching it felt like a reward. 'Perhaps it will come to you if you
give it some more thought. I found you passed out by the side of the
road here, it looks like you had taken a nasty tumble.'
    Jakob stared down at the dirt on
his clothes, then back at the man. 'I was running from my father,' he
said, feeling more confident about the response this time.
    'Ah yes, I heard about him. The
fierce new local Warden, must be a tough man to live with.'
    Jakob smirked, he remembered that much at least. 'He's better on the road, I don't spend a lot of time with him at home. We're still settling in and I have other places to go to stay out of his way.' The cave, behind the waterfall.
    The
man's infectious grin broadened. 'Incidentally, I am searching for
the Warden. Are we far out from Escana?'
    Jakob
pointed west now that he'd got his bearings back. 'It's about four
miles in that direction, just keep following the path and it'll join
onto a larger one. Follow that and you'll come across it.'
    'Thank
you lad, I'll be on my way now. I'm sure you have other things to be
getting on with.' Without further comment the man hobbled off around
a bend in the road.
    Jakob
felt a compulsion to visit the cave again. He vaguely recalled
discovering it. It had been whilst scouting the area as he was prone
to do and he happened to spot a log had been caught on the lip of the
waterfall. It tore a rent in the curtain concealing the cave for the
briefest of moments, then the water carried it over and it vanished
into the spray.
    He
had dismissed it as nothing but the event kept needling him
afterwards, as if demanding his attention. He had climbed the rocks
adjacent but could think of no way to get underneath the waterfall
and into the cave.
    It
had been brash and foolish of him, but it had worked. He had taken a
leap of faith and launched himself into the waterfall, it had nearly
drowned him.
    Well,
that wasn't entirely true, the waterfall was not at fault here, it
had been the murky stagnant pool he had plummeted into that had
nearly done him in after cushioning his fall. When he had coughed up
enough water he had turned his eyes upward and discovered the cave.
    He
shook his head, why was he thinking about the cave so much all of a
sudden?
    He
looked down at his clothes, they were soaking wet, when had that
happened?
    Staring
up he saw that he had already made it to the rock face leading to the
lip of the cave. Had his feet taken him there without even realising?
Was he reliving a memory or creating it?
    He
didn't enjoy the ensuing climb, the slippery rock face didn't lend
itself to scaling and the places to put his hands were at a minimum.
He hauled himself over the edge into the cave and lay there, panting.
Unlike his previous daydreaming he remembered every agonising moment
of his climb, why was he so tired?
    'Good.
Good,' came a voice.
    Jakob
jerked his head up at the sound, peering into the gloom of the cave
and finding his feet.
    'Your
mind is gradually coming to terms with the translocation. It may be
some time before you can recall every detail of your summoning.'
    'Who
are you?' Jakob asked the darkness, a growing sense of unease forming
in his gut.
    The
man tutted at him. 'You have already had the liberty of asking me
that question before, I give you the same response. Who I am is of no
importance, now listen carefully.'
    There
was something in the way the man said those last words that drew
Jakob's utmost focus. He felt