Part 32

They moved on in silence.

Gravious Thule lead David back toward... but not onto... the main road. Then they made their way in the general direction of David's home.

They passed more groups of townsfolk along the way. David was so captivated by the searcher's inability to see them that he didn't notice the increasing animation of the groups, or their deepening expressions of worry and dread. They passed one group several times as it darted from one shadowed corner of the landscape to another seemingly at random.

Gravious Thule smiled at them as they passed.

Thule himself was not in any great hurry. David wanted to see more magic sooner rather than later, but Thule made a slow, almost lie surely pace through the darkness alongside the roadway.

Eventually they passed the path that lead to David's house. A small group had assembled there. David recognized one of his father's friends, Silas Grieves, looking angry almost to the point of frenzy.

Thule went around the group... but he did so very slowly, studying the men and their actions as he passed.

Instead of searching, Silas and his group were dispatching messages to other groups via runners... usually boys only slightly older than David. When Thule saw this, he stopped moving altogether and listened to the men as they dictated their hurried messages.

David didn't hear anything interesting, but after a few moments Thule moved on.

"They are searching for us in the wrong places," he said, smiling. "They look far instead of near."

"So they won't find us at the barn?"

"Not soon. Not before we find what WE need, at least."

Thule moved faster now. They veered away from the road once again, and after a long trek through the grass David spotted the old barn. The Pilgrim lead him toward it as if he had been there many times himself.

Before they reached it, however, they made a sharp turn toward the wide, flat area where the old house used to be.

David had never seen the house. It had burned down just before David was born. His mother mentioned the old house only once, and then only after an afternoon of whining interrogations from David about why the air smelled funny there. Her refusal to answer only made David more curious, and finally she said that a family had lived there but their home burned down.

When David asked what happened to the people, his mother said they had left town. When David asked why they'd left and where they'd gone, she refused to say more no matter how much he whined.

But now, not only was there going to be ghosts and magic, but perhaps more about the old burnt house as well. David eagerly followed Thule along the faint path and halted beside him when the Pilgrim stopped.

"Here," said Thule. "This is the place I was shown. Soon we will have our answers."