Kaira Brickle sat there on the back of the cantering copper stallion in her leggings, t-shirt and running shoes, her mind trying to make sense of what was happening. I must be dreaming, but everything feels so real.

She stared at the blue feathery plume that was attached to the stallion’s head piece. It bobbed up and down with the horse’s movement while delicate ears, the color of a new copper penny, twitched with curiosity as they flicked back toward her from time to time. Her eyes moved down to the silver armor that seemed to wrap around the horse like a second skin. It looked very different from the pictures of horse armor she had seen online; the metal gave off an unusual brightness, making it hard for her to look at it for very long, and was carved with strange figures and symbols. She resisted the urge to reach out and touch it.

The stallion’s powerful muscles moved beneath her as the knight sitting behind her urged him forward. She could feel heat emanating from the armor as metal-clad arms stretched on either side of her to hold the reins. A magnificent blue and copper shield banged lightly against her knee on the right, and a long, slender scabbard of a sword hung next to her left. She felt as if she had stepped into a dream. Is this really happening?

 

About thirty-five minutes earlier….

Kaira shut the passenger door of her friend’s red Jeep Wrangler, looking up at the gray sky. Rainy weather meant there wouldn’t be many people.

“Let’s take Schoolcraft Trail,” her best friend, Shal Wilson, suggested, pocketing the jeep’s keys.

Kaira nodded, and the two girls walked across the almost empty parking lot of Itaska State Park. Close to the entrance of the park, a clump of majestic, green pines protected a quiet stream one could cross with just a couple of steps. A tiny footbridge stretched over the narrow ribbon of water. On the stream’s shore, a dark stone slab—taller than the girls—proclaimed: Here, 1475 FT above the ocean the mighty Mississippi begins to flow on its winding way 2552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.

While the park’s most famous feature was the headwaters of the Mississippi, a multitude of trails and lakes kept the 32,000-acre park active year-round. During the spring and summer, Kaira and Shal often drove out to Itaska to take long runs, have a picnic, or sail on the water.

“I love the park when it is like this,” Shal said, pulling her long red hair up and twisting a band around it.

“I do too,” Kaira said. “I can’t believe it’s been so long since we’ve been here. It seems like ages.”

Their last visit happened shortly before their graduation from high school. The past couple of months were hectic with end-of-year activities and making plans for college in the fall. Recently, they moved into their apartment. Throughout high school they worked, saving money to pay for their independence. It was still an adjustment. Now they decided when to go to bed, what to eat, and what time to come home at night. Shal took care of every detail. Friends since kindergarten, Shal always watched over Kaira. They did everything together.

“You know what?” Shal said. “We should drive up to Winnipeg next Saturday and go shopping for the apartment.”

Kaira nodded eagerly. She was looking forward to decorating their new home. Currently, they had a couple pieces of furniture donated by Shal’s parents, but it was like a blank canvas waiting for the artist’s brush to turn it into something more. Soon though, it would be a warm and inviting place.

Reaching the trail that outlined the north arm of Lake Itasca, Kaira and Shal stopped and stretched their legs in preparation for their run. Kaira could smell rain in the air. It felt good to be out there.

”Tonight, let’s go dancing at The Swamp,” Shal suggested, leaning onto her right leg in a lunge. The Swamp was a local club Shal loved to go to on the weekends.

Kaira reached her hand over her head and bent her waist to the right. She couldn’t say she looked at the prospect with the same enthusiasm as Shal did. Shal would spend most of the night flirting with guys and pushing Kaira to do the same. Kaira would be wishing she was at home reading.

“I hope we see Danny and Mike there,” Shal said, breaking into Kaira’s reflections.

I hope not, Kaira thought. Shal encouraged her to go out with Danny every time they ran into him. So far, Kaira had managed to evade the suggestions with various excuses.

“Why don’t you like Danny?” Shal asked, correctly interpreting her silence.

“I like him,” Kaira said slowly. “I just don’t want to go out with him.”

“He’s fun to hang out with,” Shal pointed out, flexing her ankle. “It’s not as if you’re going to marry him.”

“I’m just not interested in him,” Kaira said patiently. “Besides, I like my life the way it is.”

“How can you be that happy? You spend most of your time in books,” Shal told her and then sighed. “I’m not criticizing you. You know you’re my best friend. I just want you to find someone to be happy with.”

“I don’t want to find that kind of someone,” Kaira stated. “Why can’t you understand? I want something more than that.”

“Like what?” It was an old argument.

“I don’t know—something,” Kaira said, hoping her voice sounded vague. Ever since she was a young girl, Kaira felt a yearning for something she couldn’t explain. Over the years, she and Shal talked about this feeling many times, but Shal could never really understand it. How could she? Shal had a mother and father, and two brothers, while Kaira had no immediate family. Her parents died when she was four years old in a tragic accident. Shal always tried to attribute Kaira’s feelings to her situation, but Kaira didn’t really believe her parents’ death was the reason for these feelings.

She grew up in the care of her father’s sister, retreated into a world of books. As a child, she was quiet and unobtrusive, staying in the shadows and acting more like a ghost than a human child. While her cousins played boisterous games, and filled the house and yard with laughter and screams, she filled her mind with stories of far-away places and scenes of adventure. Her favorite stories surrounded knights—knights doing noble deeds such as saving maidens, defending castles, and fighting off ogres and dragons. She would often gaze at pictures of knights upon massive steeds and wish that a knight would carry her off to a place of wonder and magic. As she grew older, those thoughts and images became stronger.

Through the years, it was Shal who constantly tried to keep Kaira grounded in what Shal termed as reality. Though Kaira never gave up those daydreams, she allowed Shal to drag her to dances, football games, and slumber parties. She never enjoyed the activities as much as Shal, but she wouldn’t admit it, knowing that Shal wanted only the best for her.

“I think you’re being too picky,” Shal said.-

“Maybe,” Kaira conceded.

“You didn’t like that Canadian guy either—he was the perfect gentleman.”

“There wasn’t any connection.”

“How about Cary?”

“He likes to flirt with all the girls. You know that.”

“He’s harmless,” Shal pointed out. “Everyone flirts with everyone at The Swamp. It doesn’t mean anything. You need to go out more.”

“I’m not like you Shal,” Kaira responded, pausing in the middle of a stretch and looking at her friend with light blue eyes. “You’re so confident and sure of yourself. You light up a room just by entering it. You sparkle when others are drawn to you. As for me, I feel faded—as if I don’t really exist. It’s like I’m always on the outside, looking in the window—not really a part of what is going on.”

“It’s because of your aunt,” Shal told her. “You just need some self-confidence, that’s all. Now that you’re on your own, you need to push yourself away from those memories—don’t let your past control you. You’re smart, pretty, and you know I’ll protect you. What’s the problem?”

“I don’t know,” Kaira sighed, looking out at the lake. Now that she and Shal were in their own place, she did feel a little more independent. It was a lovely feeling to come home, knowing she could just be herself. Shal immediately brought other friends over to fill it with laughter and the carefree spirit of youth. Kaira liked it best though, when it was quiet and she could curl up and read, or sit on their small deck and watch the night sky.

“I know you’re introverted, but you should still make the effort to meet these guys. They’re nice guys.”

Kaira nodded slowly. It was better to just agree. After all, Shal was only looking out for her as she always did. “You’re right. If I see Danny tonight and he asks me out, I’ll say yes.”

Shal grinned. “I’ll suggest a double date so you won’t have to go out with him alone. We could go see that new movie coming out.”

Well, it won’t be so bad if Shal is there, Kaira thought. I suppose I should give Danny a chance. After all, I am eighteen. I have to enter the dating scene eventually. “I do want to go see that movie,” she admitted.

“Think of it as a free meal and a movie,” Shal advised. “If you still don’t like him after the date, I promise I won’t suggest another, okay?”

“Okay.”

Small wet spots began forming on the paved trail. Kaira pulled the hood of her parka up, enjoying the fresh air. Raindrops fell steadily now, but she didn’t mind. This was exactly the reason she and Shal came to the park. She watched the sky grow darker. The air was cooling a little more. It was a great combination to run in.

“Are you ready?” Shal asked.

Kaira nodded and started a light jog that then developed into a good pace. This was her favorite part of running; she could let her imagination wander away from her and indulge in her dreams. If only she could have lived in the time of the knights. What would it have been like to meet one? Were they as noble as they were in her books? Of course they were noble. I’m sure there were a few bad ones, but most were good and kind. She called forth an armor-clad figure riding a magnificent stallion toward her. She imagined him pulling up on the reins and stopping before her, and they would both just…know.

Often, when Shal talked her into going to The Swamp, she would imagine herself meeting the knight of her dreams. She would stand there in the darkness of the club and picture a tall, handsome knight walking over to her. He would take her hand, and she would ride away with him on the back of a white and black stallion. The stallion was a constant companion in her dreams at night. She couldn’t remember a time when she didn’t dream of him—a white stallion with black stocking legs, black mane and tail, and a black muzzle. She could never remember details—only the horse. She supposed she must have seen a picture of such a horse and it stuck in her mind; the image of the stallion was always with her. It comforted her at times, though she didn’t understand why. It was as if he was watching over her.

Shal knew about the dreams involving the stallion, but Kaira couldn’t tell her about the other daydreams. Shal wouldn’t understand. She would tell Kaira she needed to come back to reality. Kaira knew it was because the idea was a romantic notion, and anything to do with romance or fantasy usually sent Shal running the other way. Shal’s mom loved romance novels and named Shal after a heroine in a book she read. Shal hated her name and ever since grade school, insisted that everyone use her nickname instead. Of course, it didn’t help that Shal looked like a romantic heroine with her deep red hair, emerald green eyes, and voluptuous figure. Kaira looked nothing like a romantic figure. Her hair and eyes were too pale, and she was small and petite.

She uttered a silent sigh.

When she was younger, she sometimes wondered why Shal was friends with her. From the start, they were opposite personalities. Shal was outgoing and friendly; she was quiet and reserved. Shal was a realist; she was a dreamer. Yet, they were best friends.

A nudge on her arm brought her out of her thoughts. She looked over at Shal to see her pointing at the lake. A patch of fog floated near its edge. While fog was normal during the winter months, it was an unusual sight in summer. The cooler air must have caused it, she guessed. She watched it grow, spreading out to the shore and the path they were on. She always thought fog was a fascinating phenomenon. She liked the icy cool of it. In the winter months, it would rise from the dozens of lakes dotting the Minnesota landscape. When she was little, she pretended it was the breath of water-dwelling creatures.

They entered the fog, which was still expanding. It swirled gently, stretching and thickening as it descended upon them. Still enlarging itself, the mass began to feel less like fog and more like a mist—a thick mist that was obscuring their vision. Kaira and Shal slowed down and then stopped when they couldn’t see clearly anymore.

“Wow, this is thick fog,” Shal said. “Maybe we should head back to the jeep. I’ve never seen it this bad before.”

Kaira nodded. As they turned around to head back, the mist continued to expand. The lake and trees around them disappeared. Even Shal was being hidden. Kaira watched in wonderment as the color of the mist changed from gray to a shade of blue with flickers of light that reminded her of sapphires. Unafraid, she reached her hand out to try and touch the lights. She felt an overwhelming desire to do something, though she didn’t know what it was. It was as if something in the mist called to a part of her. No that’s crazy, she thought. What a silly notion.

 “Kaira, where are you?”

“I’m right here,” Kaira said, putting her hand out.

“Please tell me that’s your finger touching me.”

“It is. This is amazing,”

“I hope it doesn’t last long. I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s weird.”

Kaira wanted to feel nervous about the mist, but she just couldn’t. She could not explain it; she felt as if there was something in it, calling out to her. If only she could figure out what the message was. Why was she feeling this way? It almost seemed—dare she say it—magical? It was like something in a book. Things like this didn’t happen in Minnesota. They didn’t happen anywhere.

Before she could think much more about this unusual mist, it began to thin quietly and slowly. She felt a sense of loss she did not understand as she watched it fade. A part of her wanted to shout out and tell it not to go. It was too late though. The mist was evaporating before her eyes. Soon she could see Shal’s face.

“Thank goodness it’s over—whatever that was,” her friend said with an involuntary shiver.

Kaira half-listened to her—she could hear a deep rumbling sound in the blue-misted air. “Do you hear that?”

Shal tried to peer through the bluish veil. “It sounds like thunder.”

The sound was growing louder. Kaira hoped there would be no tornados. Ever since she was a little girl, she was terrified of the whirling destroyers. During the summer, she would hear of tornados touching ground somewhere and she would pray it was nowhere near Meadow Ridge. She was lucky to have never been present when one appeared and she hoped now that her luck would hold out.

The strange blue mist was still evaporating—it hung about them like thick cobwebs, making it difficult to see anything clearly. The thundering sound seemed to pound through Kaira’s body. It’s not thunder, she thought.

“We better get back to the car,” Shal suggested. “It’s probably going to pour in a minute or so.”

Kaira nodded and they broke into a run. The mist is just ordinary fog. It’s nothing to get excited over, she told herself as she ran. The mist was fading. Soon, they would be back at the car and would wait out the rain, if possible. The thunder-like sound was growing louder, and she looked up, trying to see the cloudy sky. All she saw was the blue mist.

Shal grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. “Kaira, look!”

Looking in the direction Shal was pointing, Kaira could see several large and shimmering apparitions coming toward them. She also noticed that the mist was rapidly receding. Instead of the cloud cover they had been running beneath though, she saw the sky was now blue and the sun was brightly shining. She turned her attention back to the shining shapes. “What are they?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Shal responded.

Standing there, Kaira watched as the apparitions slowly took shape into twenty silver figures. They appeared to be riding silver beasts. The beasts then transformed into horses, shining so fiercely that it was impossible to look at them directly. She put her hand up to shield her eyes from the glare. Her mind could not accept what it was seeing; she was frozen to the spot. It’s impossible! I must be seeing things, she thought as the figures drew closer. She looked over at Shal to see an expression of shock in her friend’s emerald green eyes.

The figures and horses were clad in armor.