“Why are you being so helpful—right after hitting me?”
“That was a warning. You might not be welcome here. And…well, there’s a bigger reason.” The man glanced at Ranglen. “You and I share something. I’ve been through what you are about to encounter. And since no one prepared me for it, I thought I at least should do that for you.”
Ranglen was suspicious. “What can we share?”
“More than you know. Like, first, I can see that you’re not from around here.”
Ranglen grew more cautious still.
“And,” Sabal added with a sinister grin, “Neither am I.”
Chapter 10: Alchera
Sabal led him to an off-shoot path that came to a clearing, surrounded by the flamboyant trees. The forest made Ranglen feel he was in a warehouse of products that came in different colors, or the backlot of a factory where h
