Chapter 9

Shernine slowly touch his feet on to the earth for the first time in many, many years. He forgot how it felt to have dirt between his toes. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of earth’s thick and warm air. He could feel a very light breeze tuck on his flowing robe. Unlike Alchem’s robes his were very light and airy. For a moment he just stood there smiling and gazing out into the woods. He had excellent eyesight and could even peak through a few trees to see Alchem’s hut off in the distance. He quickly began to walk on the balls of his feet through the woods towards it. He enjoyed ducking between trees and around fallen branches. Shernine was very light and could simply lift his feet off the ground to jump over any pointy looking debris. He slowed his pace as he neared the cottage and attempted to peak into the windows from a distance. He squinted and moved his head around slightly to try and pick up any movement inside. Very suddenly he heard a voice next to him. The towering figure in green robes stood beside him facing away from the hut. “Alchem’s already left.”

“Oh. Didn’t see you there friend.” Shernine peered into the house to see the boy rummaging around in the drawers. “Who’s the kid?”

“An employ of Alchem, I suppose.” The beast known only as Drule’s words grew distant as he vanished quietly into the woods. He was never really much for conversation, even worse than Alchem. Shernine was disappointed he missed Alchem before he departed for the north. He placed his fists on his lower back and lean over himself to stretch out his spine. As he lurched forward again he could see the confusion and distress in James’ face through the window. It was very apparent that James was upset at the sudden disappearance of Alchem and Malcolm. Shernine exposed his pearly white teeth with a wide grin. “We’ll find him, boy.”

Over the next few weeks, time felt as if it had slowed to a screeching halt for James. Every day seemed to be a repeat of the last; James felt as if he was stuck in a world where time continued to turn without him. The blistering heat of summer finally began to ebb away as the leaves on the trees steadily turned bright colors of yellow and orange. Cool winds blew through the empty woods bringing calmer weather with them. The city markets became more and more crowded as the end of crop season approached and everyone knew it was time to stock up for winter. James would run into town to pick things up for his parents on occasion but to him the streets may as well have been silent. He heard voices and the noises of the crowds around him but for once paid no attention to what was being said. His transactions with people were as short as they were uninspired. He was noticeable lethargic. James paid no attention to the beauty of the season around him as he kept his head low all the time, watching the ground as he walked. His parents were worried, but were unsure what they would say to him. James wasn’t ever a moody child; they knew that he felt completely abandoned by his friends.

Michael wasn’t fairing much better. As much as Bart hated to admit it, it turned out that his sickness was clearly from something other than drinking or bad karma. He was throwing up a few times a week and began to vomit small amounts of blood. The town doctor-a generous term for the local medicine man- prescribed him a very rich sort of milk and told him to stay off his feet as much as possible. He feared it was an infection of the stomach. Michael tried his best to ignore the doctor’s instructions, purely out of spite. He would show up at James’ house only to be sent home after vomiting out behind the home.  Bart seemed to be getting along better than the other boys, but was still having his own issues at home. He was becoming more adamant about a career in shipping much to the dismay of his mother. It had become a divisive issue for the whole family.

After one of the best weekends the boys had ever had, things seemed to be spiraling downhill. James had finally resigned to taking over the ranch for his parents. He started working longer and harder with the horses on a daily basis, finally trying to master the craft. He spent most of his free time maintaining parts of the ranch that had previously been neglected because of his father’s limited mobility. His parents were excited to see him taking charge, but James was merely using it as a mechanism to pass the time. The most exciting prospect in his life was that winter was approaching and thus there would be more busy work to keep his mind off of what ordinarily would have been lab work. James become very good at not thinking about it, but occasionally would lay awake at night pondering what could have happened to drive Malcolm and Alchem off so suddenly. He hadn’t been back to the hut since the last time he had left because he could tell by the way they had left they weren’t planning to return any time soon. Just thinking about visiting the place made his stomach churn. So James would lie in his bed staring at an unchanging ceiling until eventually he managed to sleep.

Perhaps the worst development after the trip was the strange visions beginning to cloud James’ and Michael’s dreams. A long time ago many people would have tried to interpret the dreams in some way but this was no longer a popular thing to do as it was widely regarded as mystical nonsense. Attempting to predict the future was generally considered strange and dangerous. Michael and James would have completely ignored the dreams had they not, through pure accident, realized that they were both having the same sort of nightmares. While they both started out very differently they seemed to converge at a certain point and end in similar fashion. The dreams weren’t exactly nightmares in a scary sense, but whenever they ended Michael would wake up and have to vomit and James would wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to fall back asleep for hours. The dreams never seemed to happen on the same night and would occasionally diverge into something completely different. They mentioned it in passing to Bart, who refused to listen and insisted all dreams were completely meaningless. He dismissed the similarities as being a result of both of the other two having heard a similar story elsewhere.

One particular night James fell asleep, quite quickly for once, and began having one of the dreams. He began on the ranch performing day to day chores, although no horses were ever present in the visions. As he left the stable there was a tall dark figure that had a very rough shape that James could see wonder into his home. It was humanlike, but its limbs seemed to be out of proportion, long and thin, moving freely through the air. He followed it inside to be greeted by a very dark and empty kitchen. The figure wondered upstairs and down the hall, out of sight. James would walk up the stairs after it to find that the only door down the hallway was his and there was nothing were the door of his parents room would ordinarily be. His door was open and inside was nothing but his bed. He would lay down in it and watch the room fade into darkness around him. The only remaining portion of his room was his window, which held a sort of glowing figure outside of it, peering at him from the purple grow as he lay motionless. Strangely, as he fell asleep in his dream he would come to consciousness in his actual bed. James was sweating profusely as he came to and lifted himself to a sitting position. As usual there was nothing to be seen out his window, and no figure in his room, so he merely sat in his bed pondering to himself what it could possibly mean. Perhaps Bart was right and It meant nothing, although, the way Bart reacted to it, it seemed as if it could mean something and Bart simply wanted nothing to do with it. Either way, it would be at least an hour before James would make it back to sleep.

The next day James wondered into town to Michael’s parent’s home to see how he was doing. Hesitantly, Michael’s mother allowed him inside and sent him to Michael’s room down the hall. Michael was sitting quietly at his desk working on a wood carving. He was very skilled with his hands and crafted wood carvings throughout the day to keep himself busy as he became less and less mobile over the recent weeks. He seemed genuinely excited to have a visitor and threw his tools down to give James his full attention. It didn’t take much more than an opening sigh for Michael to realize James had had the dream again. “Was he in the window again?” Michael asked with a shred of hope that James may have been able to have identified the unknown figure.

“Yes, but I still couldn’t get any kind of glimpse of his face.”

Michael had never seen the figure in the window. His version of the dream was more subdued yet more detailed with regards to the dark figure. Michael could see more clearly that the creature was tall and had non-human elements to his figure. While trying to describe the shape to James he compared the legs to a dog, or maybe a goat, and said the arms where much longer and thinner than what you would expect of a normal human of that size. The worst part, in Michael’s mind, was that he was never able to see the shining figure that often appeared in James’ dreams. To Michael, the world was much darker and even fewer objects from real life were able to appear to him in the dream. James wished there was something he could say to comfort Michael, but both were at a total loss for words. The only person James could think to ask about such a matter had disappeared off the face of the earth, leaving only an empty hut behind him. The two boys sat in silence for a moment before another figure appeared in the doorway.

“I had the dream.” Bart muttered as he entered the room.

The boys stared at the walls in silence trying to interpret what it could possibly mean. The silence filled the room in the same way darkness covered life as it did in their nightmares. The sound of breathing was mute as each of them began to fear the possible outcome of a prophetic darkness surrounding each of their lives. Something very dangerous was taking hold of them, and while it was only strong enough to affect their dreams, it became clear that it was moving to a fuller control. This was no longer a simple message, it was a threat. The dark figure in the dream was not human, it reminded Bart of old tales of monsters that sailors would claim to have killed on lost journeys. The other sailors never believed what these men had to say, but no one really believed that these fantastical beasts were purely fictional creations from shattered minds. Bart remembered very specifically the types of anatomy that could sneak its way into the structure of the beasts as they were described. Their presence always signified stormy weather or bad misfortunes to come. The signs of an omen were very clear. Bart had never given much credit to these sorts of stories, but he had never experienced such a vividly disturbing dream either. Michael finally broke the silence. “Did you see the glowing dude?” Bart simply shook his head.

“He’s not exactly glowing.” James clarified. “It’s like a dark outline bathed in the a purple glow.”

“Well I didn’t see whatever it is.”

“Why would you see it James and not me or Bart?”

“That’s got to mean something.”

“I don’t know.” James was frustrated that he could see the figure and neither Bart nor James could. He felt as if he had the key to the dream in front of him but was unable to resolve it for any of them. As the dream began to become more prevalent the figure seemed to become more and more clear. At the same time he seemed to drift away from it faster every time. “He’s not recognizable to me. I’m not even sure he’s looking at me when I see him.”

“You don’t want them to look at you.” Bart and James both turned to Michael. He sat looking down at his feet with his eyes wide open and his brow pushed downward. He was clearly disturbed by something he had seen. He was breathing very slowly and heavily as he tried to muster up the courage to explain what had happened. “I had the dream again a couple nights ago.” He looked up the James and Bart who stared back very concerned for what he was about to say. They could tell by his demeanor he hadn’t been sleeping well. He had dark circles and bags under his eyes. Neither of them had seen Michael in such distress before. It was a striking contrast to his normal happy and carefree self.  “That black thing turned to me last night. I never made it to my bed; it put me to sleep as I entered my room.”

“Did you see its face? What did it look like?” Bart pressed Michael for an answer. Michael turned to Bart and slowly shook his head.

“Don’t look in its eyes.” Bart sat down feeling somewhat defeated. Michael was too shocked to garner any information, it was clear whatever they were dealing with was mentally crushing them. Without understanding fully what they were dealing with, James offered the best option for them to avoid any further confrontation.

“Next time we see the… thing, just look down and wait it out.” None of the boys were very excited with this being their best prospect for avoiding any familiar contact with the being, but there was no other obvious solution.

“I don’t know if I can.” Michael murmured.

“You’ve just got to remember it’s a dream. Get it stuck in your head before you go to sleep, keep saying it until you can’t forget.”

 James found himself repeating the words over and over as he wondered back home. Don’t look at it; just look down. Don’t look at it; just look down. Don’t look at it; just look down. He managed to make his way back to the house all while barely looking up from the path in front of him, continuing the stream of words. He realized he forgot to lock the stable gate when he walked out after feeding the horses in the morning. He made it to the fence and ducked through. His ribs and legs were feeling much better after a few weeks of healing. He finally mustered up the courage to look upwards. He was secretly terrified he might see the beast in front of him, but instead he saw something very unexpected. A tall, old man wearing green robes stood at the other end of the field with the family horses surrounding him. The horses were jumping up and down in place as if they were excited to see him. James immediately forgot about the beast in his dreams as he began quickly walking towards the man. The man, without taking any notice of James, turned and wondered through the clearing and into the woods. James wasn’t going to let him out of his sight this time.

James continued to stare ahead as consistently as he could while passing through bushes and ducking under branches. He was smashing his shins into fallen sticks but refused to look away from figure for a moment. The old man in the green robes was still wondering in front of him at a seemingly slow speed while still managing to keep a distance. It was clear to James that the man was heading towards Alchem’s hut, which shouldn’t have been too surprising considering he had a very similar manner of dress that James had never seen other than on Alchem. He wondered if this man had something to do with Alchem’s disappearance, or perhaps even this man was also searching for a missing Alchem. He saw deep through the trees the man turn onto the main road that led to the cottage. James tripped over a branch right as he made it to the path and rolled over a couple times before finding himself sitting on the path and staring straight towards the hut. As he recovered from the dizzy landing he focused his vision but it the green man was nowhere to be seen. Ahead, the door to Alchem’s was wide open. James figured he must be inside.

He slowly caught his breathe as he approached the doorway and quietly peered inside. The lab appeared exactly how he remembered the last time he saw it; empty. He couldn’t see the man inside but figured he must be in Alchem’s room. Before checking, James couldn’t help but notice how quiet the lab was and take in the emptiness of it all. For the first time since he had left a few weeks earlier he felt relieved about the situation. He figured there must be a very important reason that Malcolm would bail out so quickly without even a word. It may have had something to do with Alchem, perhaps his health? It didn’t matter. Malcolm and James would cross paths again at some point, he felt sure of it. With a small grin on his face he wondered into Alchem’s room to confront the tall man but was very surprised to find a completely different person standing in the darkness. The skinny figure turned to James and smiled towards him. “Oh, hey,” was all that he said, as if James too was expecting to find him there. James cocked his head to the side wondering if he actually knew this guy, purely based on the friendly reaction. As it became evident he did not, James finally piped up.

“Who… are you?” The man’s reaction changed quickly from a smile to a look of slight shock.

“Oh, sorry, I’m a friend of Alchem’s!” James looked at the man through the darkness of the room. He stood on his bare feet underneath long, skinny legs that led into a short pair of pants above his knees and below a wavy white shirt. Something about the outfit reminded James of Alchem, but the robe was much lighter and loosely fitting as opposed to Alchem’s heavy, fitted garb. The robe the man wore was a rich purple with some silver accents. The stitching in the robe glistened with silver threading. The man himself had a warm, welcoming face partially hidden beneath blonde, almost white, hair. His hair seemed as if it would flow in only the slightest breeze, were it not for the brown bucket hat smashed onto his head. The man’s robe covered only some of his forearms which each slid into two pockets high on his chest, leaving his elbows dangling underneath.  James was somewhat taken aback as he had never seen such an outfit, not even in Vordenport.

“How do you know Alchem?” James finally squeezed out. The man laughed and threw his head back. James figured his hat must have been glued to his as it didn’t budge despite the quick movement.

“Me and Alchem go way back, waaay back.” James was clearly confused by the way the man was talking. “You want some tea? I’ll make some tea.” And so James nodded and pulled up a chair in the lab as the mysterious stranger walked past him and started to make a pot of tea.

James figured the man must have brought the kettle and cups with him as there was absolutely nothing of the sort left in the building when James had been there previously. The dishware was all shining copper, something James was not accustomed to using. James sat quietly as the man threw wood in the oven appliance and began heating up water. He worked very quickly, almost dancing around the kitchen. His movements were smooth and graceful as he hummed a strange sort of tune and occasionally muttered to himself something about what his was doing. The tea leaves were fresh from a small pouch and to be crushed up. They smelled very fresh. The man seemed extremely comfortable with James’ presence, despite the strange circumstances. At no point did he question why James had entered the residence. James had completely forgotten about the tall man in the heavy green cloak. Finally, as the water boiled, the man poured out two glasses and sprinkled small amounts of tea in each before handing one to James and taking one himself. He jumped to a chair and landed cross-legged on top of it in a way that seemed to defy gravity. He was somewhat uncomfortably calm about the situation. “So, how do you know Alchem?” He asked. James seemed confused that he had no concern as to why he was there.

“I worked with Malcolm a lot, so was here a few days a week… at least.” The man threw his head back again with a long resounding “Oooooooh,” before leaning forward again to get a better look at James. “How do you know Alchem?” James pushed him.

“Oh right, sorry, forgot my manners.” The man lifted himself off the chair and on to the floor so he could bow politely to James. “I,” he said slowly, “am called Shernine.” He announced in a calm and quiet tone, before quickly jumping back to his stool. “Me and two other… friends… found Alchem a while back in a cave, searching for some kind of… um, alloy.” This in no way cleared anything up for James. The man’s story seemed disjointed, as if he were either making it up or couldn’t remember. He still managed to speak cheerfully, as if he had pulled off the story perfectly.

“You were searching for the alloy? Or was Alchem?”

“I guess we all were. That’s just how we found him.” Shernine smiled widely. James wasn’t getting any real clarification and was a little too frustrated with Shernine’s inability to elaborate. What he was really curious to know was whether or not Shernine had any information regarding Alchem’s sudden departure.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where Alchem is now, would you.” At this point, Shernine all of a sudden became excited.

“Not exactly,” He exclaimed proudly, “but I have a pretty good idea.” He pulled a rolled up map from inside his robe and stretched it across the lab bench. The map was mostly of the Mainland, but included a few territories outside of it as well as a large stretch of ocean in the southwest. James recognized most of the names and places but couldn’t make heads or tails of many of the markings in-between villages. In some way the map was more detailed than any James had ever seen, but it also meant there was less that James really understood. Shernine pointed a bony finger to Vorren. “We’re here, obviously.” Alchem’s hut was marked clearly on the map. “Now, I know Alchem’s been traveling up north with what’- his-name.”

“Malcolm.” James felt the need to correct him.

“Right. What’s-his-name. Unfortunately, I’m not entirely sure what route they are taking, or if they are detouring west at any point.” Shernine was speaking quickly and excitedly.

“Wait, do you actually know where they are headed?”

“Well, I assume the capitol at some point, but many times I know sections of the army rendezvous in certain towns and then move from there straight into contested territories.” James sat back in his chair and took a deep breathe. Was Malcolm getting involved with the King’s Army again? He never gave any indication that he was planning on going back to war; in fact, he seemed quite against the concept. Alchem was clearly far too old to be involved in any fighting, but if that were the case, why would he travel with Malcolm? It was honestly possible that this “Shernine” fellow was full of garbage, but he seemed familiar enough with Alchem to know that he left for an unexplained reason, and he knew where he was going. There was something about him that reminded James of Alchem, despite his opposing personality, although he couldn’t place his finger on it.

“I… I’m not sure I understand. Why did Alchem leave so abruptly? I mean, we were working on things… important experiments!” James boasted. How could he just up and leave?” Shernine just shrugged a bit and rolled his eyes as if it wasn’t unusual in any way.

“Alchem’s does stuff like that.” Shernine’s calming smile was not enough to convince James. Shernine was not a person used to any kind of confrontation with people; in fact, he wasn’t used to people at all. It was a pretty lonely life on the moon, which worked well for Shernine. He wasn’t exactly a loner, but for someone who lived for so long he never felt isolated when he spent time away from earth. Shernine also had the luxury of being able to stay far, far away from the conflicts of earth. He would observe things from afar without ever having to become involved in decision making. Despite being able to resolve things very quickly with magic on his own, he never felt it appropriate to intercede in human affairs. The tall man in the green robes felt that Shernine was the most apt of all of them when it came to humans, but Shernine did not share the same sentiment.

Shernine was very cautious about interfering with earth, only slightly less cautious than the Sun. Alchem and the tall green man, who they called Drule, spent considerably more time with humans as they both actually lived on earth. Shernine felt more comfortable working with machines and puzzles than humans. Humans, he felt, we puzzles that you could hurt. This was a terrifying concept for someone who essentially was free from human pain. Shernine had very limited experience with pain as there wasn’t much that could hurt him all the way out in space. He wasn’t even sure he could feel physical pain as the closest he had come to it was stepping on slightly pointy rock.

Shernine suffered from something more mentally tasking; a fairly serious memory loss. His clearest memories only went back a couple of hundred years. Anything before that point was very cloudy. There were some important details that tugged at him but as hard and as long as he tried he couldn’t recover any memories. One of the most disturbing things that tugged at Shernine was his recollection of the stars. He knew that at some point he had heard clear voices from the stars, whispering to him through space. He used to sit on the moon, cross-legged, listening to the wisdom that they spilled out for him. They were like voices from a deep consciousness that guided him and in turn the other beings like him. He was always respected very highly among the others because of this ability. The stars never lied to him, because they could not lie. They didn’t know lying. They were simple truths scattered about space, calling throughout the emptiness, beckoning him to listen. Shernine wasn’t sure how often the stars communicated with him and in turn how often he had used the messages to benefit humanity. The Sun had a better memory of the earlier years, but was very unrevealing whenever Shernine pushed him on the subject.

As a result of this Shernine was paranoid that any decision he made without the consultation of the stars could lead to disaster. The stars used to prevent wars and bring about great scientific advances with the messages sent to Shernine. Without the help of the stars he would not intercede. He almost wished he had no memory of listening to the messages at all, but he remembered very clearly the hollow whispering that had previously guided him. He would still sit from time to time out on the moon trying to concentrate on the murmuring that was now uninterpretable to him. It was as if they were speaking a language foreign to him. It was just a frustration for him at this point, but Shernine refused to abandon hope that one day a voice might reach him again. He knew it was worth the time and frustration if at any point he could use it to the benefit of the Mainland. But he couldn’t, and every occasion he tried to was just a reminder of what used to be and what was no more.

So now Shernine tried to occupy his time with more concrete subjects such as engineering and tinkering with mechanics. He had many brass instruments in his hole on the moon. He could have used any metals but brass and copper had a warm color that he appreciated on what he otherwise liked to call “the grey rock.” There was a small staircase that led inside the moon and into a one room home that Shernine spent most of his time in. He had many lamps to light the otherwise darkened rock. The only other portal outside of the room was through a long telescope that could be used to view the earth. There was a large circle of different lenses that could be used to focus and certain areas and distances. Shernine didn’t remember building it himself but knew he had at one point based on the handiwork and a small signature he found on the base of the scope.

The rest of the room was adorned mostly with curtains and rugs of various warm colors. Shernine attempted to keep most of the grey from the walls and floor out of site. He had a few desks and chairs, all scattered with papers and maps, which also helped cover the floor. The room was somewhat of a mess, but Shernine knew where everything was inside. It’s not like anyone ever came to visit him on the moon anyway.

“He’s… strange?” Shernine tried to divert the question again, coming back to his senses. Judging by his facial expression James was clearly not going to let his questions slide unanswered and so Shernine finally conceded to giving him more information. “I think he’s been contracted by the King’s Army again.” James slumped back in his chair trying to process what that could possibly mean. Alchem was far too old to be involved in any kind of conflict; if his caravan was attacked he’d be doomed. Did they really think he could be of any use to them for research purposes? Even if Alchem had enough of a reputation with the King’s Army that they would specifically choose him as a candidate, how did they find him? James wasn’t sure he trusted Shernine at this point. The only thing linking Shernine to Alchem was similar garb and knowing where Alchem lived.

“What on earth would they want with Alchem?”

“I can’t say I’m sure, but I have a feeling it doesn’t have to do with his work. Alchem is known for possessing a… power, in the King’s Army, something that has long lost purpose here, at least, until now.” James still didn’t understand what he was getting at. He stared back in confusion. “They may need Alchem to for something a little more sinister.”

“There’s no way. Malcolm wouldn’t have any part it in, and Malcolm had to have helped get him out of here.” Shernine shrugged his shoulders. He could see where James was coming from. Alchem wasn’t the type to follow along with a cause he didn’t agree with. Shernine had barely known Malcolm, but he was sure he wouldn’t risk putting Alchem in danger either. Unfortunately, Shernine knew the truth of the matter.

“I can’t imagine Alchem would abandon his work for anything less severe. His contract must not involve willing participation.” It was a little too much for James to process.

“So what are you doing here then?”

“I want to find Alchem.”

“Why?” Shernine pondered the proper way to answer this for a few moments. He ran through all of his usual tics. He scratched his chin and rubbed his hands through his wavy hair. He rubbed his hands together in front of his face. He rocked back and forth in his chair, but never came up with anything that he thought would sound right to James.

“Alchem is very valuable to us.”

“Us?”

“I’m not sure what kind of contact you’ve had with Alchem, but he’s not like you.” James knew he wasn’t like him, but he wasn’t really like anyone. What was Shernine getting at? “Well, let me ask you this. Did the other guy who lived here, uh…”

“Malcolm.”

“Yeah, him, did he ever mention anything about Alchem when he fought with the King’s Army?”

“I knew Alchem was a member... a long time ago, even before Malcolm was ever involved.”

“Before the dark age?” James sighed. Shernine was talking crazy. Before the Dark Age? The Dark Age began some two hundred years ago. James knew Alchem was old, but that was ridiculous. Malcolm did used to mention that Alchem was in the King’s Army. Back in the glory days is how he used to describe it. Did he really mean the glory days? Back when dark forces where considered a principal defense mechanism? James wasn’t a history buff, but he remembered hearing about old tribes trying to course their enemies. It was nothing more than silly scare tactics; no one in the Mainland believed it was real. He wasn’t very clear on the details; however, he knew Alchem did have some, unusual abilities. It was possible the King’s Army was interested in reviving old techniques, especially considering there was a potential threat from the east as he heard during his weekend in Vordenport a bit back.

“Alchem’s definitely been around since the Dark Age. In fact, he was pretty old before the Dark Age. Don’t be fooled by his old age though; an old dog fights most ferociously before death.”

“I’m not sure I buy it.”

“I’m not sure either, but we can’t let Alchem fall into the wrong hands at this point.” James shook his head again.

“Malcolm wouldn’t let it happen. He’s smart, and he’s loyal to Alchem. He had his priorities straight.”

“Malcolm’s fought in the King’s Army as well, yes?” James hesitated for a moment. He wasn’t sure at what Shernine was getting at.

“Yes.” He finally muttered slowly.

“Then I think it would be best if we found them first.”