Chapter 48 - Party Time

Narteb couldn't believe it. This beautiful girl was standing before them, saying she might be able to help them rescue his mother somehow!

"No way!" said Narteb, "What info have you got?"

The girl reached inside her backpack and took out a brown, weathered looking oilskin. She handed it to Narteb and said, "The brief version is that Maruska, the woman who was in love with your father, turned your mother to stone. Then she regretted it and gave your dad the page of her spellbook that had the petrification spell on it. She doesn't know if there is a way to reverse it, but she feels that having that page might be helpful."

Narteb opened the oilskin and took out the page from Maruska's spellbook.

"Cool," said Narteb, "I love brown, yellowing paper!"

"Same," said Pip, "Nice and crinkly! Seems old, and mystical!"

"This is exactly how spellbook paper should look," said Narteb, holding the paper up to the light, and looking at it from different angles.

"Maybe we should try reading it?" said Pip.

Both boys crowded over the page and studied it for some time.

There was silence.

One minute passed.

"So what do you think, Teb?" said Pip.

"Uh, I didn't actually read it," said Narteb, "I got bored after the first sentence. I was hoping you would just tell me what it said."

"I did the same as you!" said Pip.

Both boys laughed.

The blonde girl took the piece of paper and started reading it.

"So what does it say?" said Narteb.

She ignored him and continued to read it, right through to the end.

Narteb was impressed.

"She has good concentration, Pip," noted Narteb, stroking his chin.

"I wonder what it's like to have that," said Pip, "I imagine it would be good for reading books."

"Okay," said the girl, "It says-"

"Hey," said Narteb, "What's your name by the way?"

"Skaife," said the girl, "I told you when I first met you."

"Sorry, I forgot!" said Narteb, and then he glanced sideways and sneakily added, "A thousand apologies."

Skaife nodded.

"I don't normally talk like that," said Narteb, "It's this phrase they say here at the Crossroads. I was waiting for an opportunity to use it!"

"Okay," said Skaife, "From the terminology used, it seems the witchcraft Maruska used was somehow related to the Ancient civilisation of Hyborea. Perhaps if you can find an expert in Ancient Hyborea, they might be able to give you some leads. That's my best guess."

Narteb and Pip looked at her rather blankly. They looked like she had been speaking another language.

"Otherwise," said Skaife, "You might want to find someone who is a Loremaster. They are these people who wander around, collecting information and knowledge. Those guys know a lot of things, perhaps they can direct you on what to do next."

Skaife nodded and turned to leave.

Narteb and Pip nodded at her and then looked at each other blankly.

As Skaife was walking away, she had this strange feeling inside that she shouldn't leave them. Her intuition was telling her to turn around and help these boys, at least for the short term. Skaife always followed her inner voice and so she did exactly that.

She turned around and once again was standing in front of Narteb and Pip.

"Would you like me to-" she began.

"Yes!" said Narteb.

"Great," smiled Skaife.

"Our party has three members now!" said Pip.

"So where did you say we should go first?" said Narteb.

"I was thinking we go find a ship that can take us to Kuma! From there we can try and find an expert on Ancient Hyborea," said Skaife.

"Find ship, go to Kuma. Got it!" said Narteb, "Let's do this!"

"Wow," said Pip, "We are going to Kuma!"

"I'm excited too," said Skaife, "I've always hoped to see Kuma one day!"

And that is where we will leave our brand new party of three, full of hope and buzzing with the eternal spirit of adventure.