Justin pocketed the amulet and they went back to the house. He picked up his daypack and loaded it with a couple sodas from the refrigerator, a small bag of beef jerky, and a couple of granola bars as they passed through the kitchen on the way back out. A few minutes later they were pedaling down Chinquapin Road.

As they approached the Haunted Farmhouse, Justin mentioned seeing the old tramp there the day before. Without discussing it, they both crossed to the other side of the road, but, as they passed the tumbledown buildings, there were no signs of tramps or anyone else.

Soon they were passing the rusted yellow gate and pedaling slowly up the fire road. Jessica had gotten a little ahead. She went right past the place where the trail to the Witch Ring started. Justin had to call her back. She returned, slightly embarrassed at missing the trail. They dragged their bikes up the trail to where they could hide them behind the clump of young redwoods, chained them to the thickest of the small trees, and then started up the trail.

Habitually, Justin took the lead going up the trail. Sometimes Jessica objected and would jockey for position, but today this was Justin's adventure so she let him go in front of her. Usually they would be talking as they walked, but, after the first several steep patches they started saving their breath.

As they approached the Witch Ring, Jessica grabbed Justin by the daypack. He turned to say something to her but she had a finger to her lips, motioning for silence.

"I hear something," she whispered.

They both stood absolutely still. Sure enough, there was a noise coming from the direction of the Witch Ring. It was the rhythmic swishing, crunching sound of something disturbing dry leaves. It might have been a deer or a few quail, but something about it didn't sound right. It didn't have the right cadence for either a deer or a pair of quail.

They might have turned around and gone back right then, like sensible people would, but curiosity is a powerful thing. Justin came to the Witch Ring very often and Jessica had been there frequently as well with Justin. They had never seen anyone else there. Sometimes they'd found an empty can or bottle or an empty chip bag, so they knew other people did come to the Witch Ring, but they'd never actually met someone there. So they were really curious who it could be, and a little nervous.

They edged forward slowly, crouching a little and trying to stay low, like people did in movies when they didn't want to be seen. The trees growing on the rim of the bowl obscured their view, but, when they were about twenty feet away from the edge, they saw motion and stopped. Between the tree trunks and the hanging branches they caught glimpses of a figure - a man - moving slowly. Because of the depth of the bowl and the rim around it, they could only see him from the waist up. He had his head down, mostly concealed by a battered old hat with a wide, floppy brim and a low, round crown. He held a long stick in front of him, which he was sweeping back and forth. He'd shuffle forward a little, then swing the stick, making the rustling noise they'd heard. He seemed to be stirring up the leaves, searching for something.

They crept forward a few feet and got a better look at him. He was wearing a coat made of some coarsely woven fabric, almost like a sack, of a reddish brown color. Over the coat, he wore a cloak or blanket, tied around the neck and the sides thrown back. Something about him, or his clothes more likely, since he couldn't see the man's face, seemed really familiar to Justin. After a moment's thought he knew what it was.

"I saw him yesterday," he whispered to Jessica. "At the Haunted Farmhouse."

The man's head jerked around suddenly and he stared in their direction. They froze, holding their breath. If he saw them, he gave no indication, but they got a good look at his face below the hat. He had a beard, long but not as long as an Old Testament prophet. It had once been a dark red in color, but was now streaked with gray, as also was the hair that hung down to his shoulders on either side of his long, weathered face. How old he was Justin couldn't guess, but he certainly seemed older than Justin's father. After a few long moments, the man went back to poking about in the forest litter.

Justin's hand seemed to go without him willing it to his pocket. He grasped the amulet. Somehow, he knew that the man was looking for it. Without really thinking, he straightened up and started walking towards the rim of the Witch Ring.

"Justin! Come back!" Jessica whispered loudly.

Something told Justin the man needed the amulet. It was important to him. He had to have it. Justin climbed over the rim and stepped down into the Witch Ring. Jessica came along a few feet behind him, not really wanting to go, but not wanting to get too far away from Justin either. The man stopped his sweeping and turned to look at Justin. There was no sign of surprise on his face, just a slight, closed-mouth smile. The dark eyes, hooded by bushy eyebrows, seemed friendly.

Justin held out the amulet, letting it dangle by its chain.

"Excuse me, Mister," he said. "Is this what you're looking for?"

A smile crossed the man's face, partially hidden by the beard, but still evident. He held his left hand out, palm up. Justin dropped the amulet into his hand.

"Meur ras, gowetha," the man said.

"What was that?" Jessica asked Justin quietly. She had edged up close behind Justin, ready to grab his daypack and start dragging him away if necessary.

"I don't know," Justin replied. "Some kind of foreign language, I guess."

Jessica screwed up her face in thought. "It's not Spanish. I know that."

There was a long pause as they looked at the strange man, not quite sure what to do next. The man looked back, as if expecting something.

"What do we do now?" Jessica asked Justin, keeping her voice low.

"How should I know?" Justin replied. "I guess we could leave, but it doesn't seem polite. Seems like we should say something, but what can we say that he'd understand?"

The impasse lasted for another 30 seconds or so before the man spoke again.

"Tethion ap Gurwen," the man said, or at least that's what it sounded like to Justin and Jessica. He seemed to be waiting for a response from them.

"I didn't understand that either," Justin said.

"I wonder if he's introducing himself. That's what you do when you meet strangers," Jessica replied. "But which part is his name? Does 'Tethion' mean I am, and his name is Gurwen?"

The man's smile broadened, as if amused by what Jessica said. He spoke again, this time pointing to himself.

"Tethion," he said. Then he pointed at Justin and then Jessica.

"Ok, I understand now," Jessica said. She pointed at the man. "His name is Tethion." Then she pointed at herself and said "Jessica."

"Justin," Justin said, following Jessica's example and pointing at himself.

"Tethion," the man said again, again pointing to himself. Then he added something that sounded like "Qwn chwi oni tafodiat areithew?"

"Ok, that sounded like a question," Jessica said. "But what did he ask us."

"Well that is the question, isn't it," Justin responded, feeling a bit frustrated. "I think maybe it's time for us to leave."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Jessica replied. "Well, goodbye Mister Tethion," she said to the man. "Nice meeting you." They both started to turn and walk away.

"Aros, aros," Tethion called after them. Whatever it was he said, it didn't sound like an order or a command, but more like a request.

They stopped and turned to face him again. He pulled a gourd out from under his coat. A leather thong served as a carrying strap. A wooden plug sealed the long neck of the gourd, with a thin strip of leather tied to the plug keeping it from being lost. Tethion worked the plug out, then splashed some of the contents of the gourd into the palm of his left hand. What dripped through his fingers appeared to be nothing more than water.

Tethion stared intently at the small pool in his cupped hand. His mouth began moving, though whatever words he pronounced were too low and indistinct for Justin and Jessica to hear, not that they would have been able to understand them anyway. All they heard was the faintest sounds lost in the rustling of the leaves being disturbed by the breeze above them. Gradually, though, he began to speak louder. They still couldn't understand what he was saying, but the sounds seemed to fall into a recognizable pattern, as if he were repeating a sentence or some kind of chant.

Tethion dipped two fingers of his free hand into the tiny puddle. He raised the hand up beside his head and flicked the fingers once, twice, three times towards his left ear. He dipped the fingers again, then he reached towards Justin. Justin started to pull back, but before he could, Tethion flicked a few drops of water on his right ear.

"What the..." Justin said. Before he could complete the sentence, Tethion had done the same to Jessica.

"What was that about?" Jessica asked, her voice betraying an understandable nervousness.

"I don't know," Justin replied, "but I really think now it's time for us to leave."

It was getting a little too strange. They turned go again. Tethion started to speak. If they'd been able to understand whatever language he was speaking, they'd have heard "Wait, wait. It is a harmless spell. Speak to me."

What they actually heard sounded more like "Aros, aros. Swyn diniwed taflu." But curiously they somehow almost seemed to understand what he was trying to tell them.

They turned back to face him again. He was speaking what sounded like long sentences, and the words were totally incomprehensible, but they had a musical lilt to them that was strangely fascinating. Both Justin and Jessica stood and listened, perplexed.

Then, right in mid-sentence, Tethion switched briefly to English and then back again to whatever language he'd been speaking. Justin was certain he heard the word "tree."

I just imagined I heard that, Justin thought. But a moment later he distinctly heard the word "stone." He looked at Jessica. She was looking back at him with a surprised look on her face.

"Did you hear him say tree?" Jessica asked. "Or something that sounded like tree. Only it didn't really?"

"Yeah, and stone, and some other words," Justin replied. "But they sound funny."

The man kept speaking, long rambling sentences that meant nothing to Justin and Jessica, except that every now and then a word they could understand seemed to pop up. The longer he spoke the more English words he spoke, though they were still just individual words seemingly coming out at random. Finally, after ten or fifteen minutes, he stopped. He looked back and forth from Justin to Jessica, as if expecting a response. Then he spoke, in what was understandable but odd-sounding English.

"Speak," Tethion said, "Say...words."

"What's he mean?" Jessica asked, not certain what he wanted.

"Isn't it obvious? He wants us to talk. He's been talking so we can hear his words. Now he wants to listen to us, so he can hear our words. Just like we've been listening to his."

"Why? And what should we say?"

"Anything. Just talk. Use as many words as possible."

Justin didn't want to mention it, since he thought Jessica might be a little impressed with his grasp of what they should do, but he felt certain he'd read about a situation like this in one of his sword and sorcery books. They started taking turns speaking to the stranger.

"My name is Justin. I live in Ebbettsport," he pointed in the direction he thought the town lay and repeated the name again. "We call this place the Witch Ring....."

"I'm Jessica. I play soccer...."

"These trees are called pepperwoods. Or bay trees. Some people call them bays. Those red-barked ones we call madrones. The tall ones we call redwoods. Except for those other tall ones with the dark brown bark. We call those Douglas firs...."

They talked and talked, saying anything that came to mind. Finally, the man held up a hand in the universally understood signal to stop.

"I think…that...," he said haltingly, "will...be enough. More will...come...as we...speak."

He paused. He seemed to be gathering his thoughts. Then he began again.

"My name is Tethion, son of Gurwen," he said. "I'm a druid and wizard."

That seemed redundant to Jessica. "Aren't they the same?" she asked. "Druids and wizards, I mean."

Tethion looked at her funny and drew himself up stiffly.

"What…? The same? Of course not! There are many druids. Druids of medicine and druids of the law and druids of this, that and the other thing. Most of them are not wizards. There are somewhat fewer wizards. A good many of them are not also druids. And there are some few of us who are both druids and wizards." He seemed a little offended at the suggestions druids and wizards were the same.

"Sorry..."Jessica started to say before Justin cut her off.

"Mr. Tethion, why can you understand us now? And why can you speak our language?"

"I am understanding you, that's true. But I'm not speaking your language. You're understanding mine."

"No, you're speaking English. It sounds a little funny." Justin regretted saying that immediately. He didn't want to sound rude, but it was true. His words did have a strange sound to them. "But you're definitely speaking English."

"I do not know what this English is. I assume it is what you call your speech, as we call ours The Talk. And that is what I am speaking now. But you are understanding the meaning of my words and so it sounds to you like the speech you are used to hearing. It's a clever little spell I learned many years ago. Most useful for one who travels much."

"A spell? You cast a spell on us?" Jessica was taken aback by that idea.

"Only a little one. Totally harmless. Don't worry. It's approved for general use by the Council of Wizards. It's a spell of understanding. You see, all languages were once one. As different as the words sound now, the meanings remain locked away somewhere in here." He tapped the side of his head. "The spell merely helps the mind say to itself 'Oh, yes, that sound is the same as this one I'm familiar with.'"

"So, we're speaking our language and you understand what we say? And we understand what you say, though you're speaking your language?"

"Yes! Exactly. If you listen to me long enough you will learn to speak The Talk, just as I will learn to speak your English. Myself, I've gained a passable command of more than a dozen languages, and very useful that has been to me. The secret is to relax. Let the words flow through your mind.

"And, speaking of travel, could you perhaps tell me where this place is that I find myself? The land looks much like where I came from, though somehow altered. And when I went down the mountain I found not Tregawen but the most odd city I've encountered in all my wandering - and a not very hospitable one at that."

"Where's Tregawen?" Jessica asked. She had a bit of trouble copying Tethion's pronunciation. She thought she was saying it the same way he had, but somehow it didn't come out quite right.

Tethion was silent for a few long moments, his face slightly screwed up as if thinking hard. Then he spoke again.

"Tregawen is the cluster of farmsteads where Guriant's people live. It should be at the base of this mountain, between the mountain and the sea." He looked up through the trees, searching for the sun. Then he pointed roughly to the west. "That way. And just south of Tregawen is the River of the Fallen Mountain. But Tregawen is not there. Tell me, what do you call this city below the mountain?"

"We call it Ebbettsport," Justin replied. It seemed odd to him to hear little Ebbettsport called a city. Then he added, "And there's a river just south of town. We call it the Twelvemile River."

"Hmmm," Tethion mumbled. "And if I sailed south from this Ebbettsport, for a day and a half or perhaps two days, where should I be?"

"You mean sail, like in a sailboat?" Justin asked.

"How else?" Tethion replied. He seemed a little surprised at the question. "Would you want to row that far? I wouldn't."

Jessica was already doing the math in her head. How fast did sailboats move? Five miles an hour she guessed. In a day that meant a hundred and twenty miles. Add another half day and that would be a hundred and sixty miles.

"San Francisco," she said. "More or less. A day and a half of sailing and you might be near San Francisco."

Justin was a little miffed that Jessica beat him to it. Tethion looked even more perplexed.

"San Francisco," he said quietly. Now it was his turn to struggle with the pronunciation. It sounded something like San Francisco, but with a weird intonation. "Tell me, if I continued south along the shore from this San Francisco, which I take to be a city, what would be the next great city I would come to?

"Los Angeles," Jessica said, beating Justin again.

"Then San Diego," Justin added.

"Los Angeles," Tethion repeated, again not quite saying the name the way a native Californian would. "San Diego." He looked thoughtful for a long time before he spoke again.

"Could you tell me, perhaps, if you've ever heard of the city of Aztaculatan?"

Justin and Jessica looked at each other. They'd never heard the name before.

"It might be some place in Mexico," Justin said, making a guess. "It sounds like a Mexican name. Like a name the Aztecs might have used."

"Mexico?" Tethion repeated, and Justin noticed he pronounced it more like "Mehico." And then he said something else, whispering to himself so softly that Justin and Jessica barely heard him. He muttered something about "The Well."

With that he suddenly seemed to grow weak. He grasped his staff with both hands, struggling to stay upright for a long moment before sinking into a sitting position to the muffled crunching of dried leaves.