Chapter 1, The Arrival
I was home! I just couldn't believe it. It had been twenty-five years and I'd given up hope. And I'd given up caring about my other world.
Then another thought struck me. And hard. My family! They'll think I'm dead. And I didn't tell the Animorphs what to do about my beautiful motorcycle left in Cassie's driveway...
Oh, by the way. My name is Ariel. Yeah, yeah. I know your saying to yourself, "No last name, no address, no phone number," right? Well, I guess I could tell you my last name here, but I still have a family on that other world. They could still be taken by the Yeerks and made into Controllers: mindless, soulless slaves of the Yeerks.
I don't want that to happen.
So I'll keep a low cover and hope.
Anyway, I was home! I was home, I was home, I was home!
Then I looked around and cursed. I had no clue where I was, and I didn't have a map. I sighed then spied a little farmhouse in the distance.
I jogged the distance there in long, easy strides, glad to be running the uneven ground of home.
"Hail, house!" I called when I got near enough. "Do you speak Common?" I asked as an old man stuck his graying head out the door.
The man shook his head and I tried again.
"Elven?" I asked in that language. "Solamnic? Dwarven? Orc?" I asked the last with a grin. No one spoke Orc except the orcs. And a few who dared bargain with the foul, double-crossing creatures.
The man looked at me cautiously. "Yeah, I speak Solamnic. What's it to ya?"
"Not much. I just want to know where I am, that's all. What's that bit of information worth to you?" I asked in a slight bargaining tone.
"Three steel!" The man called out.
I cringed. I didn't have any steel. I'll have to try getting the information without using money.
"How's a finely woven cloak?" I took off the cloak and displayed it to him. I was closer to the house, so he could see that there were just a few sword-made holes in it.
"Hmmm...It's worn. Maybe this and a steel piece," he said. I could tell that he was interested in the cloak. While I was on your world I'd had a few rubies sewn in a little pattern on the front where it clasped around the throat.
"Well, the cloak's my final offer. If you don't take it and tell me where I am, I'll just keep on following the trail behind this shack until I find a village where I can get a map and a complete description of the surrounding area for free from the first kender I meet," I growled at him.
I think he was just starting to realize he wasn't talking to some weak elven maid, but to a hardened fighter. But still he chuckled and said, "Aye, you'd get your information. Information that's probably so outdated not even your elven forebears would know what he's talking about. And he'd rob you blind."
"I don't have much to rob," I told him.
"Yeah, yeah. I see that," he said, staring intently at the rubies on the cloak.
"They're real rubies, not glass," I muttered.
"I see that too," he told me, not looking up.
I sighed and waited for him to make up his mind. Finally he said, "I'll take the rubies, you keep the cloak. I don't need it. But you will in a few weeks when winter really hits. How's that for a deal?"
I grinned. "Perfect! Here, I'll take `em off for you," I said, taking out my dagger. I cut the threads holding the rubies onto the cloak and handed the gems to him. He grabbed them and told me that I was on the outskirts of a small farming village just outside of Palanthas. If I went southeast for a day or two, I'd reach another town exactly like it.
I thanked him and left. I went in the direction the old man had said Palanthas was, going through some sparse woods.
I was nearly halfway through the little forest when I literally bumped into a full-grown grizzly bear. Somehow I hadn't seen it.
Hey! the grizzly said to me.
I was home! I just couldn't believe it. It had been twenty-five years and I'd given up hope. And I'd given up caring about my other world.
Then another thought struck me. And hard. My family! They'll think I'm dead. And I didn't tell the Animorphs what to do about my beautiful motorcycle left in Cassie's driveway...
Oh, by the way. My name is Ariel. Yeah, yeah. I know your saying to yourself, "No last name, no address, no phone number," right? Well, I guess I could tell you my last name here, but I still have a family on that other world. They could still be taken by the Yeerks and made into Controllers: mindless, soulless slaves of the Yeerks.
I don't want that to happen.
So I'll keep a low cover and hope.
Anyway, I was home! I was home, I was home, I was home!
Then I looked around and cursed. I had no clue where I was, and I didn't have a map. I sighed then spied a little farmhouse in the distance.
I jogged the distance there in long, easy strides, glad to be running the uneven ground of home.
"Hail, house!" I called when I got near enough. "Do you speak Common?" I asked as an old man stuck his graying head out the door.
The man shook his head and I tried again.
"Elven?" I asked in that language. "Solamnic? Dwarven? Orc?" I asked the last with a grin. No one spoke Orc except the orcs. And a few who dared bargain with the foul, double-crossing creatures.
The man looked at me cautiously. "Yeah, I speak Solamnic. What's it to ya?"
"Not much. I just want to know where I am, that's all. What's that bit of information worth to you?" I asked in a slight bargaining tone.
"Three steel!" The man called out.
I cringed. I didn't have any steel. I'll have to try getting the information without using money.
"How's a finely woven cloak?" I took off the cloak and displayed it to him. I was closer to the house, so he could see that there were just a few sword-made holes in it.
"Hmmm...It's worn. Maybe this and a steel piece," he said. I could tell that he was interested in the cloak. While I was on your world I'd had a few rubies sewn in a little pattern on the front where it clasped around the throat.
"Well, the cloak's my final offer. If you don't take it and tell me where I am, I'll just keep on following the trail behind this shack until I find a village where I can get a map and a complete description of the surrounding area for free from the first kender I meet," I growled at him.
I think he was just starting to realize he wasn't talking to some weak elven maid, but to a hardened fighter. But still he chuckled and said, "Aye, you'd get your information. Information that's probably so outdated not even your elven forebears would know what he's talking about. And he'd rob you blind."
"I don't have much to rob," I told him.
"Yeah, yeah. I see that," he said, staring intently at the rubies on the cloak.
"They're real rubies, not glass," I muttered.
"I see that too," he told me, not looking up.
I sighed and waited for him to make up his mind. Finally he said, "I'll take the rubies, you keep the cloak. I don't need it. But you will in a few weeks when winter really hits. How's that for a deal?"
I grinned. "Perfect! Here, I'll take `em off for you," I said, taking out my dagger. I cut the threads holding the rubies onto the cloak and handed the gems to him. He grabbed them and told me that I was on the outskirts of a small farming village just outside of Palanthas. If I went southeast for a day or two, I'd reach another town exactly like it.
I thanked him and left. I went in the direction the old man had said Palanthas was, going through some sparse woods.
I was nearly halfway through the little forest when I literally bumped into a full-grown grizzly bear. Somehow I hadn't seen it.
Hey! the grizzly said to me.