Leki and Kyell watched how Ileya alone took their mother from the stretcher, she was feverish and ailing. Ileya carried Malika over with a perfect balance of strength and gentleness. The woman was put on the raft Ileya made especially for her. The children were held by Biggy, he had trouble keeping them at distance. But one glance of Ileya was enough to let the children accept that she would not tolerate anyone to interfere between her and her patient, not even the woman’s own children. Ileya saved lives, that was what she did, and she let nothing stop her from doing so. xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The raft with their mother slowly drifted along with the stream. In the water, guiding it, was Ileya swimming. She allowed no one else to accompany her. She alone would take the mother to her cove, a place where she suffered no one who wasn’t one of her order. Biggy always called it her pack, a bunch of wild animals the lot of them. Ileya growled at him when he made fun of her, a growl that came from within the belly of a hungry predator and he could see her eyes shift to green as she did it. That still scared him, even though he knew she was jesting.

In the water Ileya looked normal so far, but Biggy knew well enough she would shift once they were out of sight. What she would shift into, he had no idea of. Malika, the mother of the children, was too sick to be transported by road to Kildur’s mountains. Ileya was the only one who had a chance of keeping her alive long enough. She was reluctant to take her to the cove at first. Not only did she not want an outsider to enter there, not even one who would die otherwise, but also she was bound on getting that woman to Littlefather. That was one journey this woman could not make for sure, even perfectly healthy people had only a slim chance of ever making it that far south alive.

So Ileya gave in, something she was deemed incapable of by most that knew her well. She suggested the children being taken to Kildur, and beyond, instead. The girl shared the blood of her mother, a cure could be found on the girl that would work for the mother. Biggy was sceptical about this all. He assumed Ileya had a different motive for sending the children to Littlefather, although he had no idea why that would be.

Malika and her two children, Leki and Kyell, travelled around in an old bandwagon. This gave Biggy the idea to send them on the road with his cousin Keezul, who was a travelling toy maker. Keezul had his own wagon, of which the colouring and theme fitted in perfectly with two children riding around in a wooden house pulled by a massive horse. The lot of them made a perfect match, a joyful sight to see indeed.

Not that the children were joyfull themselves. They cried as they saw the raft with their mother drift further of. Kyell had no confidence whatsoever in that strange bewildered lady who took Malika away. Leki had more faith. She felt Ileya would do everything in her power to keep their mother alive. The only thing about Ileya that made her uneasy, was the way her eyes seemed to read Leki’s mind for more than she was aware of herself. The fact that this woman transformed into a fierce oversized cat, or that she appeared so in touch with nature you could expect leaves growing in her hair, all this didn’t bother Leki at all. Still, seeing her mother out of their reach, on the water, was something she could hardly bare.

Keezul was as joyful in nature as his cousin, but he missed that insecurity that came with the risk of killing your patients by accident. Not that Keezul’s contraptions were free of risk, but it was different for toys compared to cures and potions. Basically Keezul did the same experimenting as his cousin, but at least he did it for fun. Adding a wee bit too much gunpowder to a toy canon still was something different than mixing up your poisons and medicines in a pharmacy.

There was another reason why Biggy asked his cousin to take the children: at least with him there was a small chance of them being distracted. As unlikely as it seemed at that point, Keezul was the only one who could maybe put their mind of things.

Obviously it also was important in the decision that the children were taken by someone trusted. Keezul could be a cunning opponent in his own funny way, his mind was as keen and quick to the beat as his cousin Biggy’s. And of course it helped that Keezul actually knew how to get to Kildur without being too conspicuous. After all: they didn’t want the children to be followed, but they shouldn’t get lost either. Kildur’s ‘mountains’ weren’t as easy to find as one would expect from mountains, since in effect, they were no mountains at all. Not above the ground at least.

The children reluctantly tied their own wagon behind Keezul’s. Petta could take a break from pulling on this trip. To everybody’s surprise Keezul would not use his regular ponies on this trip. Even though the four of them, together with the horse Petta who was as big as all of them together, could easily pull both wagons. Still, Keezul had a better idea. At least according to his own judgement. Biggy knew his cousin well enough to know that whatever it was Keezul had in mind, it was bound to be pretty deluded. So Biggy took his responsibility in the matter and did what he felt he had to do, given the circumstances. He giggled, and said: ‘Let’s have it than.’

Keezul almost jumped of excitement.

’I’ll be back in a minute, but whatever you do: don’t lose the key or we are stuck here till tomorrow.’ Keezul, in his excitement and haste, carelessly handed over a rather big sized key to whoever was the closest to him. This happened to be Kyell, but it could have been anyone.

Keezul dashed of on his short legs and Kyell stood there a bit uneasy with that big metal key in his hand.

The trembling startled him! All of a sudden that key shook vigorously in his hands. From sheer surprise he dropped the thing to the ground. Kyell recovered very fast, feeling a bit silly he let it drop so easy. He bend over to pick it up but it actually vibrated so much it jumped out of his reach. Biggy came to his rescue with his fast little hands, but too slow as well. The key was shaking so hard it took several turns towards the water. At that point Leki jumped forward, leaving her own thoughts of her mother and Ileya. She rushed to the water’s edge but the key twisted and turned every way possible. The three of them jumped and grabbed and blocked the way, they anticipated and reacted, but the key refused to be caught.

They were so busy chasing the key that no one even noticed the soft melodic pumping of a mechanical engine. From down the bend Keezul drove in on a small vehicle, hardly taller than one of his ponies, but with rather big wheels. And in fact as broad as a few of those ponies standing next to each other.  He jumped of when he saw them running about after the key. As by magic that key took a few rather hefty jumps and rolled its way straight into Keezul’s waiting hands.

Behind him the mechanical vehicle was waiting impatiently. It had vaults and cylinders, it huffed and puffed, and even blew out steam from small wolf snouts.

Kyell’s logical little brain never stopped analysing and putting together, so when looking at the vehicle he said: ‘It already is started and runs, what do you need this key for?’

Keezul clapped at so much cleverness, and such quick thinking too. This was going to be an exciting trip indeed!

‘The key, my worthy companion, is for the most important part of the trip.’

He took the key to the vehicle, and used it to open a roster above the engine. It had a very big and shiny lock, like only the biggest of treasure chests normally have. Out of there he presented three long forks, and from his pockets he pulled a sack of marshmallows. With the roster open, you could see a red glowing of metal grills, just in reach from the big passengers seats. Leki giggled, this was all too silly. Kyell felt like he had been fooled, but he was never a sore loser.

Biggy stood there smiling at his crazy cousin. The children were sat on the seats of the soft huffing and puffing vehicle, while Keezul attached a long pulling chain to both wagons. Petta and the little ponies alongside of it all. The children were still sad and worried, nothing could take that away for sure. But the marshmallows were roasted, the little train pulled ahead, and the trip had begun. There were surely less enjoyable ways of making a trip you didn’t want to make.