Kuri pulled back over into his saddle and with kind but firm resolve he asked, "Are you ready for the journey?"
I knew all his words were true even as I felt a strength within that was not my own, so even though my human weakness said no I knew that the opposite was true, because I was a man not ruled by my flesh but rather by the spirit of El Elyon living within me and so I wished it forever to be.
I nodded and Kuri spoke, "When the time is right I need you to go and collect my bride and bring her to me. She rejected me of old and yet the prophecies will be fulfilled. Although she has done evil she will yet be flawless in my sight, when she turns from her fallen ways and believes in me, for I am the King!"
"You are the King! Where will I find her?"
"In the country of Vella to the far north there is a temple over which she presides as high priestess, but I tell you now that she is a witch and has fallen away after every abominable practice of the fallen ones and to them she is chained. Do not go for her now, as it is not yet time, but when it is time, go without fear for I will be with you as a strong defense against all that oppose you!"
"I will do it, even as you give me strength," I solemnly pledged.
"I know you will Benaiah. I know you will." Without another word Kuri turned and rode on towards the mountains.
The girl, I'm not sure how much she understood, but she had the look of one who had stumbled onto deep truth. I prayed that she realized the full truth of whom it was that she rode with. Turning slightly she waved back at me and I waved at her in return.
I watched them a little while longer and then I turned my horse northward. Kuri was about El Elyon's business and so even must I be.
*****
I rode northward out of Orpital and into the Kingdomer Nation of Thyana. Thyana was a grassland country. Long drifting moors capped off with the bronzed heads of mature grasses.
Here and there the bright colors of late blooming wildflowers were intermixed with the dry grass. It was a beautiful country. Wide open with more room to grow.
As beautiful as it was it did not call out to me to make it my home, but rather like a pretty picture it was something to be enjoyed in the moment before moving on. My home, if I ever had one, would be somewhere in the higher elevations where all four seasons of the year were arrayed to their most extreme glory.