My empty stomach clenched in pain. Blood seeped out of my poor feet, which pulsed in agony. My head pounded with every step. Mother walked on ahead, leading our donkey Good Fellow, as I clung to his back, because I refused to walk on my own after trudging through the sand until my bare feet bled. We brought all our food with us on this pilgrimage mother insisted we make, and it ran out yesterday. We had no grain for Good Fellow now, and we hadn't seen water all day. It was cruel for me to ride the poor old donkey, but Mother said I needed to rest my feet, though I could see her worry plain as day on her face. Good Fellow was approaching the end of his life, it was plain even for me to see. This journey would be the end of him. Maybe the end of us too.

I blamed a wandering tradesman for all this. Vitus, the vile putrid man called himself. He had come through our small town with stories of a magical place where a Goddess lived. A generous Goddess, he had told the people of Parvusi. But we had to find her hidden temple first, and that was no simple feat. The mad tradesman had offered to give directions to anyone who would give him a price he deemed worthy. None of the Parvusi men made generous enough offers, but Mother had proffered our humble home for Vitus to sleep for the night.

After hearing the tales of this Goddess's temple, Mother had become enraptured. She had offered the whole extent of our meager property in exchange for the directions to this mystical place. After haggling all night, Vitus had agreed to allow us to keep our Good Fellow and take all of our food with us. The rest we left behind for the tradesman to do with as he pleased. Our home was gone, and now it seemed the man had lied and led us astray. Were we to die out here in this forsaken wasteland?

"We'll be there soon, believe me," Mother had said this morning when the sun woke us. But now, as I clung to Good Fellow, my arms and legs shaking with the effort to stay abreast my jittery mount, my faith wavered. I wanted to believe in this place mother spoke of.

"Mother, I'm hungry and thirsty," I said, all too aware that she must be hungry and thirsty too, and poor Good Fellow. He hadn't had grain for two days now, and there wasn't any vegetation in this desert for him to sate his hunger. "Mother, let's turn back before it's too late."

"There's nothing back there for us. We must press on and hope that Vitus has not led us astray."

"Vitus is a liar, Mother!"

"Hortensia." Mother turned and stopped walking, giving Good Fellow a much needed rest. It would take a lot of tugging to goad Good Fellow to walk again now. "You must have faith."

"Faith in what, Mother? The ravings of a mad man?"

"You saw the wares on that man's cart, I know you did. He had many and more to his name, thanks to this generous Goddess. He saw our dire situation and knew we needed the Goddess more than anyone else in Parvusi. Our small plot of land barely produced any wheat this season. It's not enough to survive the winter. Vitus told us where to go, and we will find her. We must. It is our only hope."

"What if we're lost?"

"From the large rock that is shaped like a burial mound, turn and follow the sun for five days, he said. We're almost there. We only need to walk until the end of today, and we'll make it."

I stared at her. The sun had cracked her lips and burned her face. Her black hair had fallen out of her bun, and it blew wildly in the desert wind. I licked my lips with my dry tongue and swiped the damp hair from my sweaty forehead. My face felt burnt too. We needed shade and water. If we turned back, we wouldn't last long enough to reach our home again. It wasn't our home anymore, thanks to Mother's bargain with Vitus. Our only option was to press on.

"Let's rest a moment," Mother said, and she beckoned for me to climb off Good Fellow's back. I allowed my tense muscles to loosen and slipped down his back into Mother's weak arms. We stumbled together into the shade of our donkey and sat down on the hot sand. I tucked my swollen feet to the side and massaged them, but the effort only made my hand tense up.

We waited for our strength to return, but without any food or water, the waiting felt more like torture. Eventually Good Fellow faltered and lay down in the sand. Then the blaring sun shone on us, and I went to turn my back on the blinding light, but stopped. That's when I saw it. Off in the distance, something moving quickly. It shimmered like a desert mirage, and I wasn't sure what I saw.

I struggled to my feet and pointed, and Mother looked at me and then followed my gaze. "What do you see?"

"I don't know." I squinted into the sun and made out a trail of sand following behind something large and tan. It would go right on by us, off in the distance. After peering at it another moment, I thought I recognized a horse. That spurred me into motion. "Hey!" I shouted and took off running. "Hey! Stop! Hey!" I faltered in the sand and then got up and kept running with an unsteady limp. That's when I realized my mistake. There was a man astride a mount, but it was no horse. By the Gods, what a beast! Was that a griffin? It couldn't be, but what was it?

I stopped dead in my tracks. Mother came up behind me and grabbed me, knocking me to the sand with a grunt. "Shh! Keep still and quiet," she whispered to me with a tremble in her voice. We stayed still and low, but I had caught the attention of the man. He turned his beast mount toward us and approached cautiously. The creature had the body of a lion and the white wings and head of a bird. Exactly like the griffin the old storyteller back in our village used to tell the village children about.

As the man and his beast grew near, I noticed instead of a lion's mane, the beast had a feathery fringe all about its head. The sight of this mysterious beast up close sent my heart aflutter. With a surge of adrenaline, I stood up as the man approached on his mount. Mother got to her feet. I could hear her praying under her breath, and she squeezed my hand hard and stared down at the sand. I knew it was lunacy to just stand there instead of fleeing for our lives, but we had no other choice. The desert would take our lives if we fled.

As the man made the last few paces to approach us, Mother cried out and turned to run.

"Wait, I mean you no harm!" the man called out.

I gripped Mother's hand hard, and she stopped and wheeled around to face the man astride his griffin. She whimpered and took shallow panicked breaths, and I realized I was doing the same.

"Please," I said, and I tried to swallow. "Please help us."

"You're a good distance from Parvusi. What brings you out here?" the man asked. He had the thick muscular body of a laborer, or maybe a soldier. His long brown hair blew in the wind, clean and well groomed, like a nobleman. His garb was rather strange; even in this heat he wore a long cloak lined with pockets. Tan gloves covered his hands, and pouches and vials hung on his belt. Would he help us? I eyed the beast the man rode. Despite the fact that this lion had wings, talons, and the head of a bird of prey, it merely stood there like a domesticated horse. I prayed to the Gods that it was a gentle creature. I realized its back legs had the paws of a feline. A real live griffin! No one would believe me if I told them what I had seen in the desert!

"We've come to see the Goddess," Mother said, and in the presence of this marvelous beast, the idea of a Goddess on earth didn't seem so far-fetched.

"Do you mean Empanda? The Giver?" The man squinted at us and cocked his head as though listening to something, so I filled the empty silence with my shaky voice.

"We heard she gives to those in need. We've lost everything and have nowhere to go. Will you help us? Will you take us to her?"

"Who sent you out into the desert chasing myths of a Goddess?"

"A tradesman who said he came from her temple. He..." Mother's voice faltered. "We gave him everything we had for directions to find her."

The man tilted his head at us. "I'm Felix, and this is Citius. We can take you to Empanda, but I cannot guarantee you'll be allowed to remember."

What did that mean? I looked at Mother and took a deep breath. I nodded at her, and she turned back to Felix. "I'm Domitia and this is my daughter Hortensia. We'd be very glad to receive your help, Felix."

"Is that your donkey there?" Felix pointed and I turned to see our Good Fellow wallowing in the sand.

"Yes, can you do anything to help him?" I asked.

"I can, yes," Felix said, and he dismounted and walked across the sandy distance to our poor donkey. We stood there, uncertain of whether we should follow. Then I caught the eye of the griffin. The winged lion stared back at me. Its beak could snap my leg in half, and its talons could rip my head clear off my shoulders. One more look at the great beast, and I couldn't help but shudder and scurry away after Felix.

Felix was kneeling by Good Fellow's head when I approached with my mother right behind me. A trickle of water poured right out of Felix's sleeved arm and pooled in the sand, which I noticed looked hardened like a bowl of sandstone right at Good Fellow's nose. The donkey slurped up the water greedily, and Felix kept the water flowing. The sight made my mouth feel all the more parched. Where did all that water come from? He couldn't possibly have a water skin stuffed up his sleeve that would be big enough to hold all this water.

After a long moment, Good Fellow put his head up and Felix let the water stop flowing. Before he slipped his hand back into his glove, I noticed his hand was covered in black symbols of some sort. Tattoos? "I can get you there faster if you would allow me to carry your donkey."

"Carry?" Mother asked. "What do you mean?"

"I'll just show you. He will be fine, I assure you." Felix removed his glove again and reached out to Good Fellow, and I noticed he touched what was left of the water on the ground with his hand still in the glove, and with the other, he touched the donkey's head. He whispered something, and Good Fellow began to change. He was growing smaller, I realized, slowly shrinking so that after a long moment, Felix picked him up and handed him to me as if he were a brand new donkey foal.

"What did you do to our donkey?" Mother said in outrage as I lifted Good Fellow up in my arms to get a good look at him. He seemed fine, just small. I gaped at him, speechless.

"He'll be fine. Once we get to the temple, I will return him to his rightful size. Let's get going." Felix waved us up and set off back down the sandy slope to where his mythical griffin Citius stood watching us. I stood rooted to the spot, holding Good Fellow in my arms. I started to imagine walking the rest of the way there with a miniature donkey in my arms, and my feet hurt at the thought. Some of that mysterious water sure would be nice before the walk ahead.

But I soon found that Felix meant for us all to ride astride his winged lion. "You want us to do what?" Mother shouted at him.

"Well, would you rather walk?" Felix held his hands out in exasperation. Then he touched his beast with his ungloved hand and I swear the monstrous thing got even bigger. "Here, I'll help you up," he said with a beckon, and I approached, though my body shook so hard I nearly dropped Good Fellow. Felix somehow leapt up onto the bird-lion's back; he leaned down to drag me up. The griffin just stood there very calmly, not even looking back at me. Perhaps he really was a docile creature.

It was all I could do to hold onto poor Good Fellow as I was hoisted up. With my tense tired muscles I struggled to position myself on the back of Felix's strange mount. My heart hammered as I sat there behind this strange man, and I had to convince myself I wasn't going mad like that awful man Vitus. Perhaps meeting Vitus had been the best thing that ever happened to us if it meant we would soon be in the presence of the Goddess Empanda.

I scooted as far back as I dared to allow Mother room to sit between Felix and myself. He pulled her up without too much trouble, and then we readied ourselves. Even with these giant wings, Citius walked, and walked slowly at that. Maybe he was a gentle beast. I sat astride this strange creature behind Mother, and oddly enough I enjoyed the ride without any strain to my tired muscles.

As we made our way, we spoke. First I asked where Felix had gotten his griffin, and he told us that Griffin was the very first beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion, and Citius was in fact just another creature of the same making. He called it a Chimaera, which baffled me, but then he dropped the topic and asked us about ourselves.

So Mother told him about how my father and brother had been recruited for the Roman legion and hadn't returned. We hadn't received word from them in years and no denarius was ever sent either. I tried hard to believe that they were still alive, but wouldn't they have tried to send word of their wellbeing? After so many years. But we didn't know how it all worked. Maybe they would return one day unannounced and in good health, and we would be able to afford a larger plot of land with a bigger home thanks to all the riches they brought back to us.

"So you two have single handedly been living off the land?" Felix asked, sounding rather skeptical.

"We barely survive," Mother admitted. "The harvest is much smaller now with just the two of us, but we make do. We left behind our cow who gave us milk and our horse, who still pulled the till for us. People of the village would help us sometimes, providing fruit or vegetables that no one would pay for. Hortensia and I weave when we are tired from working in the field. We trade the clothes and blankets we make for other things we need. What of your past?"

"It's a blur honestly. All I know is what has been told to me. It happened that a follower of Empanda named Titus was traveling through the area and took notice of a poor orphaned boy. I owe him my life. Not unlike how you are indebted to me for finding you out here."

"Felix!" Mother exclaimed, interrupting his story. "You were Hadrianus and Octavia's son. I remember when Hadrianus left to join the legion, and Octavia died in childbirth. After that, you just disappeared, oh such a long time ago. I was young when it happened, no more than five summers old. No one knew where you went. So this is what became of you!"

Felix grunted at the story. "I don't remember my family. All I know is what Titus has told me. The people of Empanda's temple are my family now. Titus is like my father, and Empanda is like my mother. I owe her for all she has done for me, as do many."

"Will she help us, do you think?" I asked, and held my breath.

"I believe so, yes, if you choose the path."

"We will, we swear it," Mother said without hesitation.

"Don't decide now. Just wait until we arrive and you speak with her. Tell me more about the man who gave you directions to Empanda's temple."

"His name was Vitus," Mother said. "A humble wandering tradesman, he told us. He offered to take anyone who would pay a hefty sum, but no one had that kind of money. But he took pity on us after he heard our story. We gave him everything we owned, aside from our poor donkey. No telling what he has done with our land and home. We have nowhere to call our own now." I sensed Mother was feeling desperate to appeal to Felix, to tell him all we knew as if it would sway him in our favor.

"What did this Vitus look like?"

"He was a burly man," I said. "Sunken cheeks and oily curly hair. Missing a few teeth in front. Reeked of sweat. His tired horse pulled a covered cart heaping full of food and wares."

"Sounds like he wasn't from our temple then," Felix said after a moment of silence. "If you would be willing, I'd like to know more about the location of your home. So I can go and see if I can meet this man for myself."

"If that is all you ask of us in payment, we would gladly give directions to our home," Mother said. She described the location as we rode on, giving what I thought to be rather adequate directions so he should be able to find our old home once he entered Parvusi.

We made our way slowly but surely through the desert until the sand began to turn into hard packed ground with weeds and sparse growth. Then as we continued on into what seemed a giant barren expanse, suddenly, before our eyes appeared an oasis in the middle of this forsaken desert. And I knew, I just knew we never would have found this place without Felix's help.

Continue to the next part to see the conclusion of this story...

The pictures in this story were taken from Deposit Photo.