“Yeah, I figured as much.” Ivo frowned as he glanced back up the hill. “Does anyone have any water?”
“Is small spring over hill.”
Figures. Ivo blew out a breath at the thought of taking one more step. “Okay.” He started up the hill, pausing when he reached Vitki. “Are we really only halfway there?”
Vitki tilted his head back and breathed so deeply Ivo could hear it. “We are approximately eight point three miles from the gates of the estate.”
Well, that was rather exact, wasn’t it?
The nose-breathing thing was a little weird, though.
“Is not far,” Miro said. “You—” He frowned as if thinking hard, then glanced at Vitki.“Jak ríkáte, že dokážeš to?”
Vitki smiled. “Miro has faith in you, Ivo. He says you can make it.”
“I’m glad one of us does,” Ivo mumbled under his breath.
Ivo kept walking, putting one foot in front of the other. He made promise after promise to himself as he trudged through the woods. Just five more steps and he could rest. Maybe another five, and then five after that. Just a little farther.
He didn’t realize he had crested the ridge until he could suddenly see each foot he put down. Ivo paused and glanced up, sucking in his breath when he saw the moonlit valley below him.
The mountains surrounded the valley in every direction, cold and dark, covered in trees. But the valley, it was dotted with houses and farms with all roads leading up to a tall stone-looking wall surrounding a large structure.
“Is that a castle?” It didn’t have Cinderella steeples or anything, but it was massive and old. Even from where Ivo stood, he saw that it was clearly made of stone.
“It is the Vítkovský Clan home,” Vitki replied. “It was built in 1376 by Petre Vítkovský. Each new generation has added to it until it is what you see before you.”
“It’s so dark and cold, and yet strangely beautiful.” Ivo was a little bit in awe of the place.
“Yes.” Vitki nodded his agreement. “Our history is a long one. Around the eighth century, a band of Celts settled around Prague. As time went by, they formed a clan that eventually became what we are today.”
Ivo gasped as he glanced at Vitki. “That long?”
“According to legend, a woman named Libuše founded the city of Prague in the eighth century. It is said that she was the wisest of three sisters. Her sister Kazi could heal even the gravest of wounds. Her sister Teta could command the elements, and Libuše herself was a seer. Kazi traveled to the north and settled along the German border. Teta traveled east, settling in this valley. We are of her line.”
“Wow. It’s amazing that you know that.” He could trace his heritage back to an apartment in New York City. Beyond that, he knew his parents came from the Czech Republic, and this area from what Vitki said. That was pretty much it.
Vitki smiled as he glanced down at Ivo. “Our history is very important to us.”
“I can see how it would be.” Another thought filtered into Ivo’s brain, one that kind of creeped him out. “Don’t you guys worry about inbreeding?”
Vitki raised his eyebrows. “Inbreeding?”
“Well, yeah. You keep talking about how you’ve been here for centuries, and that place is really not that big. I figure you would run out of eligible people to breed after a while. Everyone would be related.”
Vitki chuckled as if amused by what Ivo said. “Remember that I said your mother came from a clan to the north?”
Ivo nodded.
“We intermingle with clans all over the world. Many of our people move to the city. Some stay and raise families there. Others come home after a while, sometimes with family, sometimes not. There is no law that states someone must stay here. The option to leave is always open.”
“Oh.” Now Ivo felt embarrassed that he had ever assumed there was a problem. “The way you were talking about this place, it sounded like no one ever leaves.”
“Some do, some don’t. It is a personal choice.”
Ivo gazed back down to the low-lit valley before him. If the moon hadn’t been shining, only the lights in the windows of buildings below would have given him any indication that anyone lived there.
“I don’t understand why anyone would want to leave. It’s beautiful.” And so different from anything Ivo had seen outside of a movie or magazine.
