Chapter 5

"Ralph, hey, Ralph," the whisper sounded in Ralph's sleeping consciousness.

The whisper became more insistent. "Ralph!"

Ralph's eyes opened slowly. "Huh?" he groaned. "Is it morning already?"

"Not quite. I want to talk to you."

Ralph's sleepy eyes focused on the face before him. "Arim?"

In the dim predawn light the blue eyes of the Maychorian boy twinkled merrily. "Yes, visitor. I wish to talk with you."

Ralph sat up and yawned. "Good morning, then. What do you want to talk about?"

"Oh, several things. Are you awake yet?"

Ralph rubbed his eyes. "Yes," he replied, blinking at his companion.

"Then please tell me about, uh, 'state park.'"

Ralph stopped in mid-stretch. "I'm tired of talking about Terra. Could we talk about Maychoria now?"

Arim looked confused. "But Maychoria is boring!" he said. "Terra is new and exciting!"

"Shhhh, keep your voice down!" Ralph whispered. "Do you want to wake everyone up?" He sighed. "You just don't know what it's like there. Terra is-messed up. A lot of things happen that shouldn't. People get beat up, robbed, and worse! You don't know how lucky you are to live in a world as beautiful as Madra."

Now Arim was really confused. "Maychoria has troubles too," he reminded his Terran friend. "Don't forget Ryoo and Galgolb and all that."

"Yes, but here the evil is easier to see. It's outside of your home, even your country. On Terra, your worst enemy is yourself. It's an enemy you carry with you, and you can only conquer it when Jesus frees you, and even then it is a continuing fight to keep yourself under control."

Arim nodded. "I know this Jesus is the One the prophecies speak of, the One my mother longs for. I guess in this country we are closer to Abba and farther from ourselves. But it is different where you come from?"

The sadness in Ralph's features heightened the new nobility there. "Most people spend their entire lives caring for only themselves. And it's always getting worse."

"Strange," Arim mused. "That you are not like it. You've agreed to risk your life for people you've never met in a land you'd never even heard of before yesterday."

"I've asked Jesus to clean me and make me new," Ralph explained. "I love Jesus and follow Him, so I can't live for myself anymore."

Arim smiled at Ralph. "But your sister, the one you've told us about, she is not like you. And neither is your brother, though he at least stayed with you."

"Yes." Ralph sighed. "I really, I don't know what I can do for them. I guess-pray, just like Cheryl does all the time."

"Yes, Cheryl is more than like you; it is as if you are like her, and she follows another. Tell me, do you follow your sister, or the Leader she follows?"

Ralph grinned. "The Leader, of course! The Leader is Jesus, and we follow His footsteps. It's hard, but He helps us. Do you follow my Leader?"

"I try to follow Abba."

"Of course they are One and the Same, Arim. Don't you know that?"

"It is-hard to understand."

"Only different names: like Abba, Atheos, Jah, Sebastoes-they are all the same Being."

"I suppose." Arim did not look like he understood at all.

"Oh, whatever," Ralph said in dismissal. "What else did you want to talk about?"

"Actually, I didn't want to talk about that at all," Arim snorted. "These issues are too deep for me. But come. Tell me about these strange words."

"Well, in my country the cities and towns are getting so big, and so much land is needed for farms to feed the people, not much is left the way it used to be. So the government sets aside pieces of land we call 'parks' and no one is allowed to build there or mess it up. People go there to look at all the beautiful things and imagine how the land used to be."

"What is 'state?'"

"My country is divided into smaller portions of land we call 'states.' State park means it is a park belonging to that state."

"Ah, I see. And what is 'government?'"

"Oh, it's like our Prince or Princess. Just-you know-"

"The ruling body presiding over a nation."

Lenny had wakened and decided to lend a 'helping' hand.

"Thanks, Lenny," Ralph said dryly.

"What did he say?" Arim asked.

"What I said-in long words nobody understands." Ralph grunted as he turned on his side and pulled the blanket up over his head.

"I understood him," Cheryl said, smiling. She had wakened not long after Lenny, and had heard the entire exchange. Now she was propped up on one elbow, grinning at the three boys.

Just then, Faela came out from another room in the cottage. In her arms she carried two packs, one for Arim and one for herself.

"Good, you're all awake!" she said. "Let's pack up our beds, eat breakfast, and go!"

So they did.

Soon it was after breakfast and they were packing up their backpacks. Besides what Abba had supplied, the three Bryants took some items Faela offered that would help them on their way to Galgolb.

Cheryl took a small cooking kit consisting of a pot with two large utensils jammed inside. She also fixed up a small first aid kit in case anyone was injured.

Ralph took Arim's little hatchet and a tinderbox, though he couldn't help sighing, "I'd rather have a box of matches."

Lenny packed only a comb.

Finally all was ready, and the five companions set off. Faela and Cheryl began talking together, and it was enjoyable for both. In the older woman Cheryl found a confidant and mentor, and her faith was much strengthened by Faela's words. Faela had a way of putting her beliefs into words that Cheryl took to heart. And Cheryl touched a tender spot Faela's always-open heart with her childlike faith and trust. Faela was impressed with Cheryl's understanding, and often the girl added her insights to Faela's statements, surprising the woman with her wisdom.

At last Lenny tired of being silent. "What is our estimated arrival time?" he interrupted.

"Oh, only a day or two," Faela replied. "It really isn't that far. The cottage must be only oh, a few leagues from the castle."

Lenny nodded, relieved that the journey would soon be over. He wanted to talk to someone who could tell him the names of all the plants and trees, and Arim didn't know much about 'that sort of thing,' as he put it.

As Cheryl looked around at the beautiful but strange trees and flowers, she felt a song bubbling up inside. Before long, it burst out.

It was merry, lilting little tune, and the others began to pick it up. Suddenly Cheryl stopped singing. Her face got very red as she realized everyone was looking at her.

"What's the matter?" Ralph asked. "Why'dja stop? I really like that song!"

"Oh," Cheryl said. "I can't think of anymore verses."

"Cheryl," Lenny asked. "From whence came that tune? I've never had the pleasure of listening to it before."

Cheryl reddened and said in a tiny voice, "I made it up."

As they continued down the path Ralph asked, "Would you teach it to me?"

At the end of the day, they made camp in a clearing beneath a huge old tree that was rather like an oak, though the branches were burdened with bright red apricot-like fruit.

"Are they ripe?" Ralph asked Arim, pointing to the juicy looking fruit.

"Oh, yes," Arim said. He walked to a low branch and plucked a few. He handed a large one to Lenny. "Try it," he urged, sinking his teeth in his own.

Lenny bit the fruit. It was sweet with a touch of tartness, and tasted almost like a pineapple

"What is its designation?" he asked, licking his lips.

Arim finished his bite and replied, "It's an apple."

Ralph grinned. "We have apples in our world, too."

"It doesn't taste like a Terran apple to me," Lenny informed his brother.

"Let me try one."

Arim gave him one, and Ralph bit in. Just then, Faela called from the other side of the tree, "Pick some apples for our desert, boys."

Soon they sat down to a meal of bread and cheese and what Arim called 'plum jam' but tasted more like strawberry preserves to the Bryants. Later, when the others were asleep, wrapped in their blankets, Lenny lay awake staring into the darkness. At last he stood and made his way out into the clearing, then sat on the dewy grass and gazed at the stars.

The night was clear, and the heavens spread like a tapestry of darkness and light above him. He had never seen so many stars. Terra had too many artificial lights, but here the atmosphere was clear. Somehow it seemed too Lenny that he could almost see the stars moving, though he had been watching only a few minutes. The celestial dance held him entranced, and he hardly noticed as Cheryl sat beside him.

"What are you thinking, Lenny?"

Her voice brought him back to reality, and he tore himself away from the cosmic ballet. "Have you realized how absurd this is?"

"Absurd?"

"Cheryl, we have been commissioned to travel an unknown distance through unknown lands peopled by unknown creatures and unknown topography to reach a country we've never seen to fight a tyrant we've never seen to free people we've never seen and recapture a treasure we've never seen, and all at the prompting of a Being we do not know and have never seen!" Lenny finally paused to catch his breath.

She chuckled, gazing up at the stars. She saw the grand choreography he had sensed, but much more clearly, and as she gazed, she thought she heard a high keening, a symphony of voices raised in joy and awe. It was the song of the stars.

"Lenny, do you see it?"

"What?"

"The majesty, the grandeur? It's all around us." Another song drew her attention. Deep and strong and yearning, it spoke to the very core of her essence. It is time. Infinite love poured from the cosmos and into her heart, shining on her brother who sat in darkness beside her.

"Cheryl," Lenny's voice trembled, "what is this deep longing I sense?"

"God never gave up on you, Lenny."

"But I thought He wasn't real. I ran away, I ignored Him. Why does He still pursue me?"

"Because He loves you. Do you feel it?"

She felt his slight frame shiver though the night was warm. "Yes, out here under the stars, I feel it."

"Then surrender to it."

At last the truth was clear to Lenny. The facts he had cared so much about were now reconciled, and he saw the genuine and fake. The Creation of the Universe was not by blind chance, a long bloody process over millions of years, but within a week, by the hand of the loving Maker. Evolution was a lie, and Lenny realized the truth at last. But if God existed, then His laws were true, and Lenny had been violating them from the day of his birth. There was no escape. Everywhere he turned he saw more evidence of the power of the High King.

Suddenly Lenny didn't want to escape, didn't want to run anymore. He sensed the love flowing all around him on the currents of air, but it couldn't enter him, for his heart was dirty. But the Originator of that love wanted to fill him with it, and now Lenny wanted it too. He surrendered in one desperate gesture, flinging his heart doors open. "Make me clean, Lord God! Fill my emptiness! I live only for You from this moment on!"

And it was so.

Cheryl held her brother's hands as he sobbed brokenly, brought home at last. She was weeping too, delighted beyond words. After a long time they calmed, and Cheryl sighed deeply, too happy to express her joy.

"How do you feel?"

"Clean! Entirely washed within! And I feel the love, Cheryl, that wonderful, all-encompassing love." He hesitated suddenly. "But, I'm still scared about going to Galgolb."

"Oh Lenny, I am too."

Lenny looked at his sister in surprise. "But you're still going."

"Of course."

"Why?"

"If Abba wants it, not going won't help anything. He'll just find some other way to get us there, like Jonah, and it'll probably be much less pleasant than obedience."

"Yes, I see you're correct. But I'm still afraid I'll mess up."

"As long as we obey Abba, everything we do, even what seems like a mistake, will turn out just fine."

"You are really certain of that." He sounded surprised.

"Yes, I am."

Lenny shook his head dolefully. "I wish I had your faith."

"Ask Abba to give it to you. He will."

"Truly?"

She grinned. "Yes! If it's His will that we have something we ask for, He will give it to us."

"Wow."

For a while Lenny and Cheryl stayed up, talking. Through the long journey and everything that happened afterward, Lenny always remembered what his sister had told him, and he never forgot the love.

The next morning Lenny informed the others of his experience. Faela's eyes filled with tears of happiness.

"Why, Lenny," she said. "I knew it would happen eventually, but I had no idea you would accept His love so quickly!"

"How'd you know?" Ralph was curious to know.

"It was in the prophecy," she explained. Faela reached into her pack and rummaged around until she found what she was looking for.

"I only read half of it before. Here's the rest:

"So you see Lenny, I knew you would surrender eventually, and I also know that your other sister won't always fight the truth."

"That's very comforting, Faela," Cheryl said sincerely. "Thanks for reading it to us."

"I like the 'heroes bold and true' part," Ralph said mischievously.

The five companions rapidly picked some 'apples' for their journey, and went on. Before long they were singing. First Cheryl's walking song, which she had taught them the day before, then the Terrans taught the two Maychorians a couple of VeggieTales songs, which required a good deal of explanation. Arim and Faela taught their friends a Maychorian song, which also needed explanation. At last, though, they got tired of singing, and began discussing the journey ahead.

"Once you leave Maychoria Castle," Faela started, "you'll need to travel to the eastern border of Maychoria, then through the Bluewood, where the Elves live. Then you will have to get over the Purple Mountains, and after that you'll just need to keep traveling east until you reach Galgolb."

"Oh dear!" Lenny exclaimed. "Such a long journey!"

"Abba will protect you and give you strength," Faela encouraged. "And I will pray for you. We have a prophecy: they that trust in Abba and ask Him to help them will renew their strength. They will mount up on wings as eagles', they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint."

"We have a prophecy that says something like that," Cheryl said thoughtfully.

"Then you already know that He will care for you."

For several minutes they walked in silence, except for Ralph, whistling the tune to Cheryl's 'Walking Song.'

Suddenly Arim said, "This is so exciting! Going to a really bad country to fight a really bad person. I can't wait!"

Lenny frowned. "Certainly you can't be intending to travel with us."

"Yes!"

Ralph had stopped whistling, and now he said, "I don't think you know what you're talking about. We'll get tired and cold and hungry, our feet'll be sore, we may have to fight all sorts of scary monsters, and we might even die. I don't think you really want to go."

"Yes I do."

Ralph brightened suddenly. "Hey, maybe you're the one Angel meant when she said we would have another companion to replace Sarah!"

"Yeah, that'd be great-!" Arim was interrupted by Cheryl, who had spotted something up ahead.

"The castle!"

Maychoria Castle rose above the trees ahead of them, shining in the sun. It was built of blue-gray stone, and flags of blue, gold, and white flew from the turrets while banners of the same hues hung from the windows.

"Yes," Faela replied. "We should reach it soon after lunch."

Main Page

Glossary

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

Maps