Across the border – Book I - 6 Chapter

Looking around him, the short man noticed that these kids were happily whispering and jumping in joy.

He realized that he might be running out of luck in laying his hands on Asher’s dust. He needs to come up with some other plan to get that from these naughty kids.

“Fine. If you kids are not okay with giving me Asher’s dust but you need to promise me that you would keep us with you throughout the journey and feed us food”, before he could complete saying his demands Robert received a message from Nameless saying they could not send ‘Renlow’ powder as the fence security is too tight and Feliocian could not cross the border.

“Ok deal. But promise me you won’t try to do any dirty tricks to lay your hands on Asher’s dust” Robert made a deal with the short man.

“I promise!”

“Oh! Not so fast. I want you to swear on Hygelnewl plant”

Looking at the short man hesitating, Robert encouraged him. Even though Peter wanted to say something he stopped himself as he knows that he is a little naive and it is better if Robert dealt with him.

“Come on. Go ahead. It is not so difficult”

“Ok. I promise on the Angel plant whom I guard with my life, I won’t try to get Asher’s dust even if you offer me”

“Angel plant?”

“Yes, we call them that…”

“So, they are many more of them?”

“Sorry kid, there are rules we need to follow. I cannot say anything more than that”

The short man took the Renlow powder and handed it to Robert. Robert then added it to the previous mixture and shook a little while saying a few magical words.

The mixture made sparks and lifted the boys up in the sky. Hygelnewl shrunk itself and jumped into Peter’s bag while the short man held on to the plant thinking ‘whatever. I don’t care about angels or these kids. All I want is to get my hands on Asher’s dust and I would live a carefree life’.

When they reached where Elly was hiding it had become dark and the place around them looked creepy.

They saw homeless kids running around looking for food or anything edible. After looking at this scene, Peter’s heart ached.

“This place is too dirty. Do you even want a sister from this place? I can get you one from a better place” Short man opened his dirty mouth.

“Shut up! If you speak one more word, I would leave you here to fend for yourself” Peter groaned.

Seeing Peter getting agitated, Robert held his hand and squeezed it. When they roamed around the place they saw a few knights roaming around in beggar’s clothes.

Robert pushed Peter into a dark alley and hid from them while a door next to them opened.

“Brother!”

They heard a young girl’s voice which made them rejoiced.

“Elly!”

Peter ran towards her and hugged her. Even though she was in ragged clothes, she looked slightly well compared to what he expected.

“Let’s get out of here before those knights catch us” Roberts hurried them and pulled them deep into that dark alley.

But Elly stopped them and said “We cannot go out of here. This place may look poor but people here are not. This is all a pretense. Let us get inside and speak about a plan before we escape”

When they entered they saw the eminence of the place and wondered whether they had entered the wrong place.

But seeing Elly joyfully skipping through the crowd of famous people, they opened their mouths in awe.

When they reached the end of the hallway, they saw Peter’s grandmother.

“Grandma!”

Peter shouted and ran to hug her which made grandma lose her balance when he slammed against her.

“My baby, darling! I missed you!”

Granny Rose hugged Peter and kissed him. Then she noticed Robert but before she could smile she saw the Hygelnewl and its guardian emerging from Peters’ bag.

Rose knit her eyebrows and before anyone can realize the situation, Hygelnewl grew larger which made the people scream and scattered around the house.

Everyone stood in one corner further away from that plant with fear evident in their eyes.

“Everyone calm down. Peter can you explain to us what is going on and why are you carrying this devil plant in your bag?” Grandma demanded.

Peter started explaining everything from when he left the campsite and how he reached this place and as well what happened to their parents.

Everyone around them felt tears strained their face and they know all these happened because of their stupidity to let the unknowns into their territory which made them split among themselves into dark ones and sabers.