Chapter Four

It was nightfall and Pete headed out into the darkness. He heard a single whistle, and ran again to the tree. There stood the tall figure of the man he knew only as Mr. Lefleur. Lefleur was a strange man and Pete didn't know much about where he came from. He only knew that as long as he'd lived in Dayhue, Lefleur had been a friend, almost a mentor to him. Now we wondered what was on Lefleur's mind.

"Thank you for coming, Pete. Times are before us in which we must be wise in all our actions. I must tell you that we must go, now. We must leave Dayhue behind. We've got to make for my friend Chalmer's town of Dunhollow tonight!"

The old man looked down and saw the glint of the broadsword. "We're going to need that," he said in a whisper. He seemed to be thinking to himself, almost as if he were pondering the blade. He began again.

"Mount up on the horse I've brought you. His name is Archus, and he's very fast. If you have all your things, we're off."

With that, Pete mounted up and took off, quickly following his friend through the clearing to the forest line beyond.

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The morning broke over the mountaintops of Darhad. Bathed in a rich glow, the meadows and trees surrounding the Tower of Ittendom made the area lovely. Inside his chamber, one at the top of the Tower, Lord Blakeney awakened from uneasy dreams. He sat up in his bed, his pulse racing. He scened out his dream: it was almost forgotten, but the bits he remembered were very clear. He saw the amulet before the Council, then he saw it turned to broken bits and scattered to the wind. The last thing he had seen in the dream was the face of the Wizard Lefleur.

Startled by this dream, he felt more or less at ease. He looked for the amulet in his bureau and found it still there. But he wondered. He remembered that the precious stone in the amulet was tough like a diamond, not easily cracked. So he got a large hammer and proceeded to pound on it. It smashed before his very eyes.

Burning with rage, he raced to the window, leaning out of it, he screamed "Lefleur! You traitor!!!"

By this time, the wizard and the boy Pete Draenen were miles beyond Ittendom.