CHAPTER 12

Sarah took the horses to the fae blacksmith and said, "I have three lost horses and weapons. Could you take them off my hands? I got tangled up with three highwaymen and needed to give the horses all a home. Just give me what you see as fair and I'm boarding my two white horses for two nights." The blacksmith looked at the weapons and the horses.

He said, "I will give you forty gold for all of it. The board is five a night."

Sarah smiled and said, "That's fine. I just wanted them taken care of." She gave him two silver and he gave her forty gold in a bag. She handed him the bridle of the first horse and took her two to empty stalls and unsaddled them. Sarah hugged her horses and picked up Beowulf's leash and went back to the inn.

There were more people than before in the inn. They all stared at her. She got two dinners and two wines on a tray and took it up to her room. Sarah sat on the bed and put the fur lined pouch down on the bed after hanging up her cloak and weapons belt. Sarah sat Beowulf's dinner on the floor for him.

Gypsy came out of the pouch grunting trying to get to Sarah. She is only two weeks old now. Sarah petted her tiny little plump body. Sarah held her cuddled to her neck as she ate her mutton roast with vegetables.

After she ate, Sarah took Beowulf out to go through the bathroom and came back to start a fire. She put on water to heat in the kettle. Sarah took off her clothes and soaked in the bath while it was hot. She scrubbed and soaped herself up, cleaning the dirt off of her skin. She was tired and glad she was getting closer to Goblin City before winter hits hard. Sarah hoped she wouldn't have to go through the Labyrinth to get there the hard way. She decided when the time came she was going left in that passageway this time where the worm is and see where that leads. Hopefully to the city. Sarah washed her hair and clothes and went to bed snuggled up with her baby under her chin and Beowulf by her feet.

—--day 42

Sarah got dressed and fed Gypsy before going to get breakfast. As they got to the end of the hall, everyone stopped talking. They stared at her and her wolf. Sarah sat down on the end of the counter and placed the tray of dishes from dinner on the counter.

She asked, "May I, please, get two breakfasts and a tea?" The innkeeper was surprised at her politeness. She put down two silver. He took the dishes to the back and sat two breakfasts on the counter in front of her. He went back bringing a hot tea. Sarah sat the plate on the floor for Beowulf. He started eating right away. Sarah ate her breakfast of eggs, steak, potatoes and toast with butter. She enjoyed her basic breakfast because it was good.

After they were done, Sarah asked, "Where is the market and bakery?"

The innkeeper was dressed all in black with a vest and a white poet's shirt with lacings. He said, "You are not from around here are you? The market is to the left and then a sharp right and another right."

Sarah said, "No, I'm from very far away. Thank you for the directions. My name is Haras." Sarah put out her hand.

The innkeeper said, "My name is Marlo. I figured you were from a distance by the way you talk." He shook her hand. Sarah looked up at him and looked him in the eyes. He was speechless.

Sarah asked, "Please don't tell?"

He smiled and said, "I won't. I promise." She smiled at him and it made him smile back. Sarah pulled the cowl forward and waved goodbye and headed to the market.

Sarah bought everything she would need for two nights of camping. She stocked up on fruit, meat, cookies, breakfast cakes, candied nuts and dried goods. She was in her room dropping off everything and wished for all hidden items that didn't belong to patrons, employees or the owners in the entire inn. There was a very dusty old box with a talisman pouch in it. It was in an old leather pouch. The amulet was embossed with Celtic scrollwork and runes on it. It was very powerful because she could feel the magic bleeding out from it. She peeked inside and there were feathers, delicate bones, stones and minerals. Sarah put it in with her jewelry boxes.

Sarah had one more city before the Labyrinth called Ceannsicín (chicken head). It was a big city on top of a mountain. She would have to camp two nights before and two nights after to get to the Labyrinth. Sarah wanted to spend a week there to sell as much jewelry from her locket as possible. She had so many bags worth of jewelry, she estimated 50-55 bags. She hadn't even gone through it all to pull out magical items or ones to keep. That was a chore ahead of her to eliminate.

—--day 43

The next day, Sarah was ready with everyone fed and her bags packed to go. She gathered up everything and said goodbye to Marlo and gave him the key. She went to the stables and saddled her horses and packed up.

They were traveling up the foothills in a wooded area on the trail up. Looking at the mountain, it was huge. It was a clear and bright sunny day. It was cold but the sun felt good. They stopped for lunch at the base of the mountain and Sarah fed Gypsy again. They were having a good time and not in a hurry. Beowulf as usual was out hunting his lunch and she heard him cry out in pain. Sarah ran into the woods to find him. There was a sallow skinned orc standing there holding Beowulf by the tail in the air. Sarah heard the most fearsome growl come from the orc.

It said fiercely, "Begone, this is my dinner." He had a strange accent.

Sarah said menacingly, "That is my wolf and if you try to eat him you will die. I 'wish' this orc would drop my wolf and be bound and muted." The orc dropped Beowulf and he hopped over to her limping holding his back leg up crying and whimpering in pain.

Sarah said, "I 'wish' this orc was a naked female human with no power." The orc transformed into a human female and screamed silently bound. Sarah wished Beowulf healed completely.

Sarah set the woman free and unmuted. Sarah angriy said, "Now you are the vulnerable and see how your tribe likes raping you repeatedly. You grabbed the wrong animal."

The ex-orc human women said in a bad accent hatefully, "Your horses by now are being taken to eat."

Sarah and Beowulf ran back to the horses as Dathúil let out a loud whiny and squeal and so was Àlainn. She saw five orcs around them trying to drag them off and Dathúil was striking them with hooves and biting. Gypsy was crying in the pouch frightened.

Sarah shouted. "I 'wish' these five orcs were human women with no power!" The five transformed. They started screaming in fear and ran off into the woods.

Sarah started trying to calm down the horses. They were so frightened. She hugged, patted, and was talking to them both. She praised Dathúil and said he was bravely fighting and had both horse's heads on each shoulders with their hearts beating so fast. Sarah kissed and petted them both to calm them down, eventually they all mounted up, even Beowulf, and left the area to a safer place up the mountain to camp. Sarah wondered what those orcs are going to do as human women? If the now human women were smart they would not go back to the tribe. It could be really bad for them.

Sarah found a good spot to camp about at the base of the mountain and secured the perimeter. It was a blocked area that seems to have been used before because a scorched spot and scattered rocks were there. The wolf was plastered to her side acting afraid.

Sarah said to Beowulf, "Are you ok? Don't be afraid, you did good calling out to me. I heard you and they are in big trouble now for touching my family." Sarah hugged and kissed him on the forehead. Beowulf whimpered.

Sarah said smiling, "I love you too."

She set up camp and got everyone comfortable and fed. As her water was on the fire to boil, Sarah was feeding Gypsy. Sarah made her dinner and was glad everyone came out ok today. She relaxed and they all had an quiet rest of the night.

—--day 44

Sarah woke up to a hungry little wiggler. She flipped over and fed her baby, then got up to do her morning routine. When everyone was fed and packed up, Sarah rode on and started her ascent up to the next campsite that evening. Beowulf was on the saddle close to Sarah. Sarah stopped at a small cave-like overhang and set up camp. She got a fire going and fed everyone and herself. The evening passed uneventfully.

—--day 45

Sarah rode upward until the trails got wider and started to join together into a road carved out of stone. Some intersecting roads were for wagons and carriages to get to the city. There was steady traffic lined up passing through a huge portcullis to get into the city. Sarah just stayed in line with her two horses.

Once in the city, she started looking for an inn to settle in for a week to get ready for her two days of camping to get to the Labyrinth and sell as much of the jewelry as possible. One night was just to get down the mountain. Sarah spotted an inn and a stable across the street from it. Sarah grabbed her baggage and went into the inn and procured a room after a discussion about her wolf. She secured it before boarding both her horses.

When she returned, Sarah wished for any hidden valuables and objects in the inn like before. Three old wooden crates with cobwebs and heavy dust appeared in front of her. Sarah got out her bathing and sleepwear. She knelt down on the floor and started going through the first crate. It was all bags of gold and silver nuggets. She looked in the second crate and it was stacks of jewelry boxes all full of jewelry, about 30 boxes. She could feel magical items inside the crate. She looked at the third crate and found a box with a beautiful wand inside of it. It was wooden embedded with precious, semi precious stones, amethyst and clear crystals on each end. She saw runes carved all over the wand in places around the scrollwork carvings. It was a work of art. There were five scrolls in leather but in wooden tubes with lids. A box with a very strange looking pocket watch that had a gauge on the top of the face with a needle and four small dial faces. The sides had buttons and slide switches with a key in the box and a keyhole on the side. Sarah knew this was a relevant item to have. The rest of the boxes were jewelry. Sarah picked out all of the magical items. There were eight in one and twelve in another. There were six rings, five bracelets, eight necklaces and a pair of ruby stud earrings.

Sarah had to start a third jewelry box for magical items and the jewelry she will keep. Sarah put all of the gold and silver nuggets into her necklace and the jewelry she wasn't keeping. Sarah started reorganizing the scrolls all together in one bag. The books, crystal ball, wand, runic athame knife and two-way mirrors were grouped together in one bag. Sarah fed Gypsy and went to get dinner for herself and Beowulf.

Sarah sat down at a table as everyone stared at her and her wolf. She put his plate on the floor and she ate her food watching the room. Three men suddenly came and sat at her table staring her down, not saying a word trying to intimidate her. She kept eating. One had dark blonde hair, one strawberry blonde and one pale yellow.

Sarah took a drink of wine and asked, "So, what are you gents doing this evening?"

The one with pale yellow hair said, "Sitting at the table of a boy with the nerve to bring a mangy wolf into the city that needs to be put down."

The dark blonde one said, "Yeah, and a pipsqueak boy that needs a lesson in manners." He put his finger under her plate and flipped it over.

Sarah stood up and said, "This pipsqueak boy says I 'wish' that you three had your hands bound behind your back and couldn't move." They started struggling and shouting profanity.

The innkeeper came running over and said, "What did you do to them?!" He sounded like she accosted them.

Sarah took down her hood and looked at him and said, "Nothing yet! But you can damn sure bet I stopped them from doing something to me! Is that how you run your establishment?! Letting your friends that you defended, pray on anyone they want?! Three on one?!!!" Gypsy started crying.

The innkeeper said enraged, "Get out! Get out of my inn!"

Sarah said, "Give me back my money then!"

The innkeeper said, "No! You forfeit!"

Sarah said, "I 'wish' you to give me back my money now."

The innkeeper was compelled and put 6 gold and three silver on the table. Sarah took it and picked up the plate and threw it on the table. Sarah went upstairs and packed up everything and vanished the crates that were empty and wished away all the jewelry boxes to little girls. Sarah and Beowulf walked downstairs and there were four men blocking her way.