Beyond the Valley of Mist by William Wayne Dicksion Page B

Bows and arrows
will help, but we’ll need more than that to overcome the
priests.”
    “ It’s going to take a lot
of planning,” Jok said, “and we’ll need the Lalocks to help us.
They’re going to be afraid to help us because they would bring
extra trouble down on themselves. I think we can do this, but it’s
not going to be easy. After all, we had to escape through the
Valley of Mist once, and I definitely hope we won’t have to do that
again.”
    Zen was still thinking
about what Lela had said. “How can you get horses?”
    “ Well, while you were
killing the deer,” Ador answered, “Lela and I found a colt whose
mother had broken her leg. The baby horse couldn’t feed, but he let
us pet him.”
    “ Now that I have seen how
these Zorians raise animals,” Lela added, “I’m sure we can raise
horses if we start with babies.”
    “ That might work,” Jok
remarked.
    “ It’s certainly worth a
try,” Zen said. “Now I have something to show you.”
    All eyes were on
Zen.
    “ I’ve been waiting until we
could be alone to show you this. I found a firestone. It’s amazing,
and it will help us get what we need to start our new village. I
think the Zorians will be willing to trade whatever they have for
what we have. Everyone will be better off.”
    Zen removed one of the
firestones from the skin pouch. Everyone stared at it in
bewilderment, as they had never seen rocks like that before. Then
Zen brought out dry moss and placed it on the dirt floor, grasped
another stone, and struck the firestone on top of the dry moss. A
spark landed in the moss, and almost instantly, a tiny flame
blossomed. Jok and the girls gasped! Did Zen just make a fire? They
were so astonished; they didn’t know what to say. Zen couldn’t help
but be pleased with their reaction.
    Zen quickly extinguished
the flame and rubbed out any evidence that he had started a
fire.
    At last, Jok spoke. “We
know that a stone won’t burn, yet we saw you knock fire from one.
How did you do that? This is even more amazing than some of the
things we’ve seen here in this village!”
    Jok and the girls walked
over to touch the spot where they had seen the flame.
    “ I found this firestone
when we stopped at the place where the two rivers run together. I
had to use both hands to kill the deer with my bow and arrow, and I
accidentally dropped my spear on the rock. I noticed the sparks
flying and thought it was my imagination, so I hit the rock with my
spear again.”
    “ Do you have any more of
these firestones?” Lela asked.
    “ Yes, I picked up several
and placed them in the skin of the deer. Stones like these were
lying all about. Some of them are larger than this one and could be
broken into smaller pieces to make more firestones. We could
distribute them among the Zorians, and they could make a fire
anytime they wanted.”
    Jok tapped Zor on the arm.
“I was wondering why you skinned that deer before you returned to
the raft. That was just an invitation to have a hungry lion take
the meat away from you. I thought something must be wrong; you’re
not usually that careless.” He picked up a firestone and examined
it. “What are you going to do with these stones?”
    “ After the feast tonight,
I’m going to show them to the Zorians, but I’m not going to tell
them where I got them.”
    Four men came to their door
just as he finished speaking. “We're here to escort you to the
feast,” the spokesman said.
    Two men walked in front,
and two walked behind Zen and Jok. The two in front carried lighted
torches, and the two in back carried poles with tops decorated with
brightly colored feathers.
    “ They are treating us like
royalty,” Jok whispered.
     
    ***
     
    Many people were already at
the meeting place when they got there. They were dressed in
colorful garments and sat in a semicircle facing a raised area
under a large tree. In the middle of the raised area sat an old man
with a cape over his shoulders and an elaborate