Varian had heard of the Riders from the Arawak natives he’d lived among for a time. They were said to be messengers, men on horseback who rode from zone to zone, guiding travellers towards Evoland, the place on the island’s eastern shore where there was supposed to be a portal that could return anyone to their own time. He hadn’t known at the time whether they were real or merely a legend, hadn’t even thought of mentioning them to his fellow travellers, but now…

Clearly the stories were true, but what hadn’t been mentioned was that the Riders spoke in riddles, although perhaps that shouldn’t have been a surprise. Very little about the island was straightforward. They couldn’t even travel on a direct eastward course, because the gateways between zones weren’t arranged in a straight line, so why should any guidance they received from the Riders be in plain, uncomplicated language?

Still, what the Rider had told them made sense enough to be worth heeding. They must follow the runner, Kedryn, to a house that lay somewhere below, find a place called the Hall of Echoes, and somewhere in there, locate some kind of stone, one of twelve keys that, presumably, they would need if they wanted to get home.

Whether they only needed one key or would have to collect all twelve wasn’t clear, but there was little point in worrying about that right now. If more were required, perhaps other Riders would guide Varian and his fellow travellers to them. For now, they knew they had to find this stone, then figure out how to use it. They didn’t have much to go on, just that it was hidden in the Hall of Echoes, wherever that was, and what the Rider had said about the stone’s power.

Approaching, see with other eyes.
In holding, alter shapes and size.
In giving, you receive the prize.

What prize? The Rider hadn’t said, and he hadn’t stuck around long enough to answer questions, but perhaps there were rules regarding how much he could tell travellers. Perhaps it was up to them now to prove themselves worthy, first by locating the stone, and then by unravelling the riddle enough to understand how it should be used.

For all any of them knew, the entire island might be nothing more than a vast gameboard run by beings from the distant future, millennia beyond even Varian’s time, or from another world, perhaps even another dimension. All the people snatched from their own times and stranded here might be considered little more than living game pieces, part of a game they would never comprehend, subject to rules they would never know.

It was a disturbing thought, and Varian pushed it from his mind, because whether or not it was true, it made no difference. They were here, and there was only one way they knew of to get back to their respective times. If this mysterious stone meant the difference between success and failure, then they would follow the Rider’s instructions as best they could, and do whatever they must in order to find it. Starting by following the runner called Kedryn…


The End