Dashyl's Quest

The next morning, Dashyl woke up and didn’t know where he was. It took him a second to realize he was outside, curled up in a sleeping sack. Fretly was still asleep. The sound of birds filled the air and the sun had just barely cracked the horizon. His head spun as he thought of the events of the past two days. With such turbulence in his head and uncertainty, the boy couldn't fall back asleep, so he pulled out his father’s journal and read the second entry.

Dashyl remembered everything his father had written about that day, especially his time with Jarax. He had learned songs from Jarax, some serious ones and some funnier ones. That seemed like ages ago to Dashyl. That time was another world where he had a sense of his future. Now there was nothing, no plan, nothing he was supposed to do but get back home. And then what? Dashyl had no answer for himself.

Despite the cacophony of birds chirping in the trees above them and in the grasses around them, Fretly slept soundly and still. Dashyl sang those songs Jarax had taught him softly to himself as he had so often done when being tended to by the curics. He began to miss his old bed there, not having to worry about food. His stomach grumbled at that thought.

Why had he listened to Fretly? A stranger, no stranger than the curics to me, though, he thought. He looked over at his companion sleeping. Fretly had left boyhood not all that long ago, what did he know of the way things worked in the world? But, he is my friend, which is more than I can say for any of the curics, he surmised.

Fretly stirred finally, sat up and blinked at Dashyl. “I’m hungry,” the young man said after smacking his lips a few times.

“Good morning to you, too. I’ll dig some things out to eat. You start figuring out where we go from here because I have no idea,” Dashyl admitted.

“Don’t worry, Dash,” Fretly said as he stretched and yawned, “I’ll have a masquer-proof plan thought up before we finish eating.”

“Can’t wait to hear it,” Dashyl sighed as rummaged through their stash of food.