He rushed over to Garlthik to shake the ork awake. When J'role was within five feet of the fire Garlthik suddenly rolled over and sprang up, sword drawn, eye alert and startled.
J'role stopped dead.
"Spirits, boy! Don't ever do that. Not unless you want to be able to carry your head in your hands." The ork looked around, seeking possible enemies, then relaxed. "What is it now? Don't you need sleep like the rest of us?"
J'role pointed toward where he had seen the road, then held out the ring in his other hand.
The ork lost his indignant manner and eyed J'role carefully. "Something about the ring?
The city?"
J'role nodded excitedly, then started walking toward the rocks where he'd seen the road.
Garlthik followed.
When they reached the rocks where J'role had seen the road, J'role swept his hand through: the air, gesturing to something out in the darkness.
"Is the city out there?" the ork asked.
J'role shook his head, and handed Garlthik the ring. The ork took it and said, ' You want me to put it on?" J'role nodded. "Ah, don't know about that. It hurts to wear the ring. A sweet hurt, but a hurt nonetheless.”
J 'role simply stared at Garlthik.
"All right."
The ork slipped the ring onto one of his large fingers. Immediately a strange expression shrouded his face; his body shook slightly and the shoulders slumped forward, as if an old wound had suddenly opened. J'role became apprehensive, wondering if the ork was in pain. Then Garlthik gave a strange smile-almost like a frown, but happy enough to be different. He sighed, his eye closed tight.
J'role tugged on Garlthik's arn. The ork opened his eye, and looked toward where J'role pointed.
A pause, and then Garlthik asked with a breathy voice, "Should I see something?"
A panic seized J'role. Had he imagined the road? He looked out across the starlit land. Of course, he saw nothing. With a sudden lurch he fumbled at Garlthik's hand for the ring.
He had to put it back on, to be sure. The ork immediately pulled his hand away. "No, no.
Just … Let … Feel it…”
Knowing he could not force Garlthik to give him the ring, J'role simply waited as the ork stared up at the sky. He thought hey saw a single tear appear under the ork's good eye, a soft and small object that seemed incongruous with the ork's rough, bulky body.
After many minutes Garlthik's body twisted harshly and he began to gasp for air. He put his hands together and wrenched the ring from his finger, throwing it to the ground. J'role grabbed it and held it tight in his hands as the ork doubled over, breathing heavily. “Oh, please, oh, please," Garlthik said over and over.
As he held the ring in his hand, J'role was amazed to realize how small it was. It fit him perfectly, and yet it had also fit Garlthik's finger, easily twice as big ask any of J'role's.
Could the ring change size? Starlight glinted off the silver as the ring rested in J'role's palm, and he saw clearly that the ring could not possibly have fit any of Garlthik's massive fingers at its current size.
The ring wanted people to be able to wear it. It wanted everyone to be able to wear it.
He turned back to where he'd seen the road earlier and slipped the ring on his finger.
The road appeared, glowing like a river burning with white fire.
Knowing he would never be able to make Garlthik understand what he saw, J'role leaped onto the rocks and then over them, funning down the long hillside toward me road.
“Wait, boy!" Garlthik cried with a gasp. J'role could hear a strain in the ork's voice.
"Wait!"
J'role did not. Either the ork would follow him or he would not.
Garlthik did follow. But J'role had enough of a head start that the ork never caught up.
J'role ran and ran, continuing for fifteen minutes, and then another thirty. The cool night air washed over his skin, the shining road stretching out ahead like the- finish line of a race. His heart pounded with effort and exuberance. He spoke all the while, describing carpets that floated through the air and beautiful gowns and robes worn by all the citizens of the strange and miraculous city.
Finally, with his lungs raw from the effort of running and talking, he reached the road. Its brilliance against the darkness of night blinded him at first, and it took several moments for him to look directly at it. Made of thick slabs of stone, it stretched off to the east and west. J'role walked up to the edge of the road and touched his fingertips to one of the stones.
The stone felt only slightly cooler than the air, and then J'role realized that his fingers had actually passed through the surface of the stone, vanishing slightly into the white glow.
He pulled his hand out quickly.
Behind him came Garlthik, gasping for breath. "What are you …?" he began. "Whats gotten into you, lad?" He staggered up to where J'role knelt and walked right through the stones of the road.
J'role looked up at the ork, startled. Could the road still be invisible this close? He removed the ring from his-finger, and immediately pain cut through his mouth from the incessant talking he'd done while running.
The road vanished.
He rubbed his jaw with one hand, holding the ring out to Garlthik with the other. He didn't think Garlthik would see anything — the ork had already suggested that there was a special connection between J'role and city. Maybe he could see things Garlthik could not when he wore the ring.
Garlthik took the ring. "What is it? What is it?'
J 'role gestured up and down the road. The ork looked in either direction. "I don't see. ."
J'role jumped up and jabbed his finger at the ring in Garlthik's hand. "I don't know,"
Garlthik said. "Not again, not now."
J'role slammed his open hands against Garlthik's chest.
The ork half-smiled, half-staggered back. "All right, all right." He slipped the ring on his finger, sighed as before, then gave a harsh gasp. Though J'role could not see the road any longer, he knew Garlthik was looking in the direction it lay "A road," Garlthik said, "a ruined road."
The momentary Joy slid to confusion. Ruined road?
"How did you see this from back there?" Garlthik asked. 'The stones are barely visible in the dirt." Then he saw J'role's confusion, struggled with his desires for a moment, then pulled the ring off. He looked at the empty ground. "You did see it, didn't you? A road?"
J'role nodded, but his face betrayed frustration. The two of them began an awkward exchange of words and gestures, each one trying to explain to the other what he had seen.
J'role quickly grasped that Garlthik had seen only the ruins of a great road. But he could not communicate to Garlthik that he had seen more than that. A road, yes. But whole and magical. They eventually gave up, not a little annoyed with each other.
"Well, a road, at least," said Garlthik. "At least we agree on that."
J’role nodded.
They continued on their way for three more days, taking turns wearing the ring and following the road, both ruined and whole. They came near several small villages much like J'role's, but they stayed clear of them. Garlthik had lost all his money when Slinsk searched his pockets, and so they had no means to purchase food. "People won't trust us unless we show money," Garlthik said. "If we had some, we'd be as good as family."
Their hunger increased daily, for the brown landscape yielded little sustenance. Although J'role had been hungry in the past, he'd always known that if things got too bad, someone-if only Brandson-would notice and give him some food. And if that failed, he could sneak into someone else's food stock to steal some rice and corn and berries.
Still despite the lack of food, J 'role's spirits remained high. As he continued to walk, the hunger transformed from a sensation of lack to a sensation of cleansing, as if the emptiness let him carry only himself and nothing more.