Chapter 5

Roland staggered to his feet. Despite the fact that Haflor was in control of his body, Roland still felt the pain. Haflor gestured with Roland's left hand and extended the right hand, which was wearing the ring.

Two things happened at once. The man/possessed person in front of Roland was tossed back to the ground, and the ring emitted a fiery beam that hit him in the chest. Roland heard a thin scream, and then nothing.

The man they were fighting got to his feet with a grimace and jumped first one way then another. Roland's body turned each time, and Roland noticed that the man was getting closer to the ax he had dropped.

Roland tried to communicate this to Haflor, but it was already too late. The man swept up the ax, pointed the ax at Roland, and a beam of light left the ax head. It hit the magical cloak that was protecting Roland.

Two things happened. One, Roland's cloak failed; and two, Haflor left Roland's body. Finding himself in control of his own body so suddenly was disorienting. Still, Roland dodged, and then looked at what was happening.

A light, shaped vaguely like a man, was attacking the other man. The light had to be Haflor. The man was now ignoring Roland, which was fine with him. He retrieved his bow and got an arrow. This might be a magical fight, but an arrow in a psychical body would hurt or kill a flesh and blood man.

Having been inhabited by an exterior force, Roland was giving the man the benefit of the doubt. He did not want to kill an innocent person, if at all possible.

Things were happening with Haflor and the man. Flashes of light, and the smell of burning flesh all combined to make Roland sick to his stomach. Roland took final aim, and loosed his arrow. It flew straight, true, and hard! It thunked into the man's upper left leg. Roland reloaded his arrow.

The man screamed and fell. Haflor's glowing being settled over the man. With a final burst of light that temporarily blinded Roland, there was silence. Roland staggered around, trying to make himself a hard target, until he got his sight back. Already he was seeing a bit. Roland got a sense of elation, and a goodbye that he knew was from Haflor.

The glowing form of Haflor was gone. The man on the ground was unconscious. Roland was not sure what happened. He was about ready to shoot the man on the ground when he heard a voice, as if from a vast distance, tell him that all was well.

Roland relaxed his pull on the bow. The figure on the ground groaned.

"Kill me!" he gasped to Roland.

"Why?" Roland asked curiously.

"You don't understand. I was possessed. I can't take the chance of that thing coming back. Please, kill me now," the man repeated his request in a pained voice.

"No. The thing that had inhabited you is gone. That is why I came here, to see it killed," Roland said calmly.

"You know what it was?" The man asked, wincing in pain.

"Yes. They both seem to be gone now," Roland said while checking on the man on the ground.

So while Roland prepared to remove the arrow from Kovalty, he removed a powder from his backpack. The powder caused the leg wound to go numb, when it had been sprinkled on the wound liberally.

In the meantime, Kovalty explained how he had lost his wife. The thing inside him drove her away. Roland pulled the arrow out while Kovalty was explaining his life after his family left him.

He had been hunting in the woods, a half day to the south, when he had stumbled into a cave. Inside, had been the remains of a dead man. He seemed to get real hungry, and he saw that there was a bag containing food. So he took it, and ate everything.

After that, the thing took him over. Roland explained about 'essence seeds'.

"The feeling of being very hungry must have been planted in your head. You ate something in the bag, that contained that being's essence. When you did that, you gave it permission and the ability to take over your body," Roland said

Roland spent about an hour with Kovalty. He then went out and made sure everything was packed up. He mounted his horse, and rode north. He stopped at the village, and told a couple people that Kovalty had been wounded, and that he would need looking in on.

For the next several days, Roland made his way back north. He did not have the urgency that had driven him south, nor did he have the magical help for him and his horse that had been forthcoming from Haflor.

He did notice that he could detect magical things. The ring on his finger was a blazing source of power to his new sight. A couple times on the trip, he noticed people who wore magical items on themselves, or had them close by.

He saw magical lines in the very air, sometimes. It was going to take him a bit to get used to this new ability he had. When he knew he was alone, he pulled off the ring, and placed it back in the silk pouch. He put the pouch back in his backpack. The ring on his finger was drawing too much attention.

He finally made it to the barge landing, and booked passage north. It took much longer on the trip north than the trip coming south had taken. The barge crew had to fight the current the whole way, as the river ran from north to south.

Finally, they arrived at Three Rivers. Roland refurbished his food supplies, and bought a few more items he thought he might need. He exchanged two more gems, and then mounted his horse and rode north until he got to the east-west King's road. He turned his horse east, and headed toward Frontek.

It was getting toward late afternoon the first day on the east road when he came across an Inn. Stopping, he asked about a room, and stabling for his horse. While he dickered, he asked how far it was to Frontek. He was told it was ten days ride from this point.

During the next few days, Roland became aware of some abilities that were either new to him, or just improvements of what he already could do. One example, was that he seemed to know when someone was hiding off of the trail.

He found he could light fires when camping out very easily. He had only to gather wood, dry or wet, and he would just concentrate on the pile of wood. If the wood was wet, first it would steam. Then shortly, it would burst into flames. Roland was stunned, then impressed with this ability.

Finally, he was there. Frontek! It was a city teeming with people. More people even, than were in the Duke's city. He asked a guard after entering the city proper where the 'Forrester's Inn' was located. He received directions, and started off. He was getting excited. Shortly, he should be rejoined with his father.