Page 22 of Charmed

Seven

Persimmon sat at one of the long trestle tables in the great hall with Stone and his friend. She was too nervous around Stone to eat, and held her goblet of wine with two hands. She had never had the attention of a handsome man before. She wasn’t even used to being so close to one and this was pleasing.

“Here you go, Fang.” Stone bent over and gave a good part of his food to the dog. Fang sat under the table at his feet, begging.

“I asked one of the servants to bring a bone for your dog as well,” she told him.

“Thank you.” Stone picked up his goblet, taking a drink and looking at her with those intense grey eyes over the rim of his cup. His friend, Aithrod didn’t even look up as he hungrily devoured his food.

“I’d like to know more about the—the portal,” she said, whispering the last word, not wanting to upset anyone since Zann warned her not to talk about it. She lifted her goblet and drank as well, staring right back at him. Something about his gaze seemed to make her heart race faster as well as her body to heat up at the same time. It didn’t make sense at all.

“We don’t know anything about the portal,” said Aithrod, picking up a baked chicken leg and taking a big bite.

“That’s right,” Stone said, slowly putting down his goblet. “We saw a portal and walked through it and ended up here in Mura. That’s about it.”

“And you’re looking for a thief,” she added.

“Actually, three thieves now. Two from my land, and the one from yours,” he continued.

“You mean my father.” She picked up the goblet and drank again.

“Yes. Rancor Ruse, we believe has another man with him from Taelgonoth. We need to find them and the king’s jewels and bring the thieves back to King Helix so they can be properly punished.”

“What about my father?” she asked. “Do you plan to bring him back to your king to be punished or executed as well?”

“I’m…not sure.” Stone popped a piece of cooked carrot into his mouth and chewed. “Elric is a thief and cannot get away with taking the king’s jewels. I won’t allow it.”

“How could he have gone through a portal to steal them? That is absurd to even think that.”

“Elric said he found the gems in the cave, but we don’t believe him,” Aithrod told her between bites.

“Yes, he did tell us that,” said Stone. “Then again, he also claimed the cave was his, so what does that tell you?”

“I don’t know,” she answered. “What does it tell you?”

“It tells me that he is either a liar, or if he really did find the stones in the cave, that means Rancor dropped them which is highly unlikely.”

“Mayhap Rancor dropped them when he was trying to fend off those pesky gnomes.” Aithrod bit into a crunchy apple.

“I suppose that could be true,” said Stone. “Or another possibility is that your father stole them from Rancor when he came through the portal and zipped away before anyone could stop him. We’ve all seen how fast he can move.”

“Yes, he does move fast,” Persimmon agreed. She wanted to defend her father, but she honestly didn’t trust him any more than Stone did, so she said nothing.

“Here is the bone for the dog,” said a servant boy holding it out to Persimmon.

“Thank you.” Stone snatched it up and gave it to the dog under the table. Fang laid down, holding the bone between his paws and eagerly gnawing at it.

“Persimmon, come quickly.” Lira ran up to the table. “The old couple cannot be healed. It looks as if they will die. We need you.”

“Oh, no,” said Persimmon, getting to her feet. “Lira, what can I do? I can’t heal. You know that.”

“I do. But you have your crystal ball. Mayhap you can look into it and tell us what needs to be done.”

“What?” Her heart lodged in her throat. They were counting on her to help them, thinking she could really scry. Oh, why hadn’t she corrected the misunderstanding when it first happened? It was going to be so hard to do so now when they were all counting on her. “Nay, Lira. I don’t think so.” How could she admit to the others that she had never seen anything in the gazing orb besides quick flashes of swirling colors? Her new friends wouldn’t trust her if they knew. And her father would only hate her even more. Oh, what a mess she was in.

“Don’t be silly. Of course, she’ll do it.” Stone pushed away his plate and stood. “Aithrod, watch over Fang. I’m going, too.” He took Persimmon by the arm and started walking.

“No, wait,” she tried to protest, but Stone didn’t let her back out. He was holding her arm tightly and she had no choice but to go along with them.