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magic. I have no time to continue this discussion. Evil pursues you and we must make haste. Eat, sleep, and then we begin our journey.”
    “Where?” Daynel demanded, trying to ignore the complaints of hunger her stomach issued as the smell of the food wafted through the sweet air.
    “The priestess has commanded that I take you to the Forests of Hiding. There, you will stay until the threat upon you is either eliminated or detoured.”
    Daynel felt her heart clutch in her chest. No one who ventured into the Forests of Hiding had ever returned. The hooded man frowned again, pointing at the food.
    “You will eat now, Princess. And put away your toy. You are wearing my patience thin.”
    “My ‘toy’ can easily slice through your throat, Eye or no Eye on its pommel. I do not eat with one whom I don’t even know a name. Folklore has it that if you share a meal with a stranger, that stranger will kill you in your sleep.”
    “That same wives tale also states that little girls who dare to defy the ones placed in charge of their lives tend to suffer with very tender and warm back ends. I am given reason to understand that you are a recent recipient of such, yes?”
    The man took her silence to mean her confirmation rather than humiliation, and he handed her a plate loaded with piping hot, fragrant food.
    “It is well we have an understanding now, is it not? Go on,” he urged, nodding toward her plate, “you will find it quite good.”
    Indeed she did. The hot food in her tummy filled her with a tingling warmth and comfort. A feeling much different also arose, growing into an ache that rested in the recesses of her womanhood. What caused that feeling to awaken? Was it the low resonance of his voice, the fear for her life? Or, perhaps the image of her backside being bared as she was thrust over his thighs? Whatever it was that urged the awakening, Daynel found herself wanting for more.
     
    * * *
     
    As Daynel’s mount trotted silently beside the cloaked man, her mind was filled with confusion, including the simple question as to where he had been hiding the tall chestnut mare and how Ilesbet had sent her instructions. The mare nuzzled against Firestar affectionately as they rode through the rays of the early morning sunlight, causing the magnificent animal to snort and sidestep to avoid her. The man chuckled, watching the interaction between the two and the glower upon Daynel’s dirt-smudged face.
    “They often say that horse and their owners are much alike. See how your mount shirks the invitation to talk? He is as sullen as you are, Princess.”
    “And as intelligent. He knows not to trust a stranger who will not even share a name.”
    “Is that what is making you behave as though you have a thorn in your breeches?” he laughed, the sound echoing down the long, empty road.
    “Amongst other things,” Daynel snarled, not about to tell this stranger that she had personal needs to attend to, and ones that did not invite an audience.
    “Perhaps a warm bath and sleep will brighten your mood. We should arrive at our next site within the hour. You may rest there as long as you require.”
    “What about being followed?”
    “Perhaps it is time for your first lesson. Look upon your pommel, Daynel,” the man said softly, pulling his horse to halt. Daynel narrowed her eyes and drew out her sword. A gasp escaped her lips as a slight glow was seen through the purple stone set atop the hilt. A warm haze surrounded her face as she stared into the center slit. Daynel’s eyes widened as it blinked at her, no longer stone but an eye of a Living Being.
    “We have entered the Forest of Hiding,” the man said with a smile. “Magic is pouring into the Eye and it will give you the ability to See. Meet its gaze and do not pull away.”
    Günter had always said that Daynel possessed more curiosity than sense, and his words proved true at that moment when she defiantly locked her stare upon the Eye. Suddenly floods of images