Before I had a chance to understand what was happening between the pirates and the knights, a horse cut through the scene like a whispered warning. The branches swayed. The ground thudded. And our knight appeared from the trees with his horse already moving at full speed.

He didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. He reached his arm down to Mikayla first. She grabbed his wrist like she had done it a hundred times before, light as a dragonfly lifting into the wind. He swung her up behind him, then reached for me. His gauntlet was cold around my hand. I barely had time to catch my breath before I felt myself rise off the ground.

In one pull, I was seated behind Mikayla, and she wrapped her arms around the knight’s waist as the horse turned. The wind tore past my face. The sounds of the knights and pirates faded behind us. And the woods swallowed us whole.

For a while, there was no talking. Only the steady rhythm of hooves and the warmth of Mikayla leaning back against me. The knight’s red cape fluttered against my knee. Sunlight dripped through the canopy of trees in soft golden streaks, like the morning was trying to paint the world brand new just for us.

He didn’t look back. But somehow, I could feel that he was listening. I could feel that he knew exactly what direction he needed to take. There was a reason he always found us. There was a reason he always arrived just in time. I didn’t know what that reason was yet. But the feeling was there, tugging at my insides like a quiet truth waiting for the right moment to speak.

We burst from the trees and into an open field of wheat that shimmered in the sun. He slowed the horse to a walk. The field looked like something from a dream. A place too peaceful to exist in a world full of knights and pirates and whispered prophecies.

The knight brought the horse to a stop near a narrow dirt path. He finally turned. Not fully. Just enough so I could see the edge of his helmet and the soft reflection of the sky in his visor.

“This is where you walk,” he said.

“Why?” I asked.

“You will know,” he answered in a voice even quieter than before.

Mikayla hopped down first. I slid off after her. Before I got my footing, he leaned forward and reached out. For a second, I thought he was going to hand me something. Instead, he placed his hand on my shoulder with a gentleness that didn’t match his armor.

“Do not fear the ones who search,” he whispered. “Fear the ones who tire of searching.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but he straightened up. He nodded once. Then he nudged the horse with his heels. He was already fading down the path before I found the words I wanted to say.

Mikayla waved after him anyway, “We’ll see you sooner than she thinks!”

Why was she always talking about me like I wasn’t there? Annoying. Aggravating. But I finally knew something she didn’t know. I had the map.

When I pulled it out of my back pocket, her eyes lit up like life had just given her a second wind. We spread out the blanket and put the book down like we were about to find out where the holy grail had been hidden. KeeKee was in the corner watching with one eye open.

“It’s here,” I said.

“You might be onto something,” she said as she looked at me with surprise.

I was pointing at a page in the book where Dad and I used to go to the park. I looked with a smile as I started to remember. Then, I looked back at Mikayla.

“Where is the park?” I asked.

“It’s over that way,” she pointed. “We’ll need help getting there.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Well, because it’s over a thing and around another thing,” she said to me as her eyes lit up with the bluest blue I had ever seen them.

She grabbed the book before I had a chance to realize and started running. I grabbed the blanket, and as I started to run, I looked back at KeeKee leaning up against the tree. I doubled back and grabbed her.

“Hey, slow down,” I yelled.

“No time,” she yelled back.

So, I knew I had no choice but to grab everything and run after her. That’s when one of the most frightening things happened. Mikayla was running straight toward the path when a boulder rolled right in front of her.

She stopped, which was a good thing. When I caught up to her, a guy with a leather hat and a leather jacket walked by like nothing had happened. My heart was beating a hundred beats per minute, but Mikayla was fine, and this leather-wearing guy didn’t seem bothered by it either.

“What’s your name, kid?” he asked.

“Mikayla,” she answered.

“Hey, Mikayla,” he said as if he knew her. “You know you have to watch out for stuff like that, right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said in a way that stirred me from a long sleep.

“Watch out,” I yelled.

That’s when a rope came flying at us. Mikayla ducked, and it only caught the top of my head when it wrapped back around and caught the leather man by his boots.

It pulled him up, and there he was stuck in the sky, “Well, this isn’t good.”

I covered my mouth and started giggling, “Do you need help?”

As he swayed back and forth between the trees, he muttered, “It’s nothing but a thing. Gravity and I are just in a complicated relationship, right now.”

“Well, if you’re okay, then,” Mikayla waved as she started walking away. Then, she doubled back, “Just kidding.”

She started climbing the tree and out onto the branch where he was swaying. He looked at her and watched as she pulled the rope to her and then pushed it back. Then, she pulled it to her again and pushed it back. She kept doing that until I watched the rope start to fray.

“Now, be careful, honey,” he said as he watched strands of the rope break away.

Before I knew it, he fell flat on his head. I couldn’t help from laugh. His head made a BOINK noise that was so funny that keeping myself from laughing was not going to happen.

Mikayla climbed down from the tree and walked over to the man. He was already getting himself up and tapped her on the top of the head when he did. Then, he tapped me on the head like he understood why I found everything so funny.

“You had to save him again, did you?” A calm, cool voice came out of the shadow.

He was dressed in a suit like he had just come from some private affair. He had a swagger that was undeniable. He pulled gum out of his left breast pocket and shot a stick in his mouth like he had practiced it in the mirror.

“Oh, you?” The leather guy asked.

“Yeah, me,” he answered.

When I looked at them, it was like watching two impossible people in motion. One, some archaeologist who had no idea how archaeology worked. And the other, a spy? The cool spy type that ate gum?

“Everyone’s after the treasure,” Mikayla whispered to me.

When I looked at her, she was serious. She wasn’t playing anymore. This was no longer a game to her. Then, I looked at the two men standing in front of me. That’s when I understood what Mikayla was saying.

“Let’s go,” I said.

“Where?” she said.

“I know the way,” I said.

I grabbed her hand and started walking. They followed us for a moment until I started whispering into her ear, “You know where the treasure is?”

“No,” she whispered back.

“Do you remember the tree we climbed?” I asked. “The one with the rope?”

“Yeah,” she whispered.

“That’s not where it is,” I said to her.

“Well then, why did you tell me that?” she asked.

When I looked back, they were gone. They had split a long time ago.

When Mikayla looked back, she nodded, “That was good.”

“Are you guys going to dillydally all day, or are you going to get it along?” I heard the voice of a lady who sounded familiar.

When I looked at her, she was holding a lantern. I hadn’t noticed that it was dark again. How long had I been on this adventure?

“You’ve been on it for a while,” Mikayla answered.

As the lantern lady looked at us, she said warmly, “Would you like to come in and sit? Or are you set on keeping your ways?”

“Just a few more moments longer,” Mikayla answered.

“Okay, dear,” Lanter lady answered. “I’ll be right here when you need me.”

As Mikayla and I walked by her cottage, I took an extra look at her, “Who is that?”

“She’ll be with us the whole time,” Mikayla said as she squeezed my hand and we kept down the path.

The post When You Miss Me Revisited – Treasure Roads appeared first on Michael Allen.