The Stone of Wisdom

Refreshed, the little Duende pulled the scraps of parchment, on which she had scribbled her plans, from her bag. She also extracted the rolled-up map of Crystonia. Spreading everything out on a large table, she used the rungs of a chair to climb up on the seat. She rested her chin on her hands and studied the kingdom, her kingdom, as depicted on the ancient map. She had journeyed to nearly every part of Crystonia with Higson, Tibbals and Tandum, and had even found the mysterious Isle of Hy-Basilia that no one knew existed. But one place remained to be seen: the castle atop Mount Heilodius, where she was destined to reign as queen. She looked at the mountain, which was portrayed as standing tall and proud in the northern part of the kingdom.

Her eyes moved down the map to the village of Duenton. A stab of pain filled her heart again for the life she had been forced to leave behind. She sighed deeply as she lovingly fingered the tiny dot that represented her hometown and she wondered if the mapmaker had known what a wonderful place it was when he placed that dot on this map.