The men and women accompanying Mayrin were of the formidable sort and I didn't doubt that they would hold their own in a fight. They talked often among themselves, but rarely to me. They were Yesathurim, the chosen people, and to them I was but an outsider. An outsider picked by El Elyon to confront a witch of their own national identity. El Elyon must have a sense of humor.
I was glad to at least have Mayrin to talk with. Turning to her I asked, "This wall protecting the city in the Holy Mountains, tell me about it."
Without hesitation she began to tell me all the important points of its structure and purpose. "It fans out across the valley where it opens up to the desert. The very place that you vanquished the Saber Cats."
I smiled, "Kuri told you of that."
"Oh yes! Kuri speaks often of you and your exploits."
I nodded, "It seems as if all that happened a lifetime ago."
Time went by and I asked something I was curious about, "Kuri was the one behind building this wall?"
Mayrin's face darkened, "No, he was not. In fact he has been against it from the start. He says that it is better for the people to put their trust in the Most High than to rely on the wall and a strategically placed mountain range to save them from the evil that is coming upon the land."
I nodded as I confirmed my suspicions. "So Kuri's plan is to gather the Yesathurim from Vella into the valley beyond the wall with all the rest, even though he opposes this wall?"
Mayrin hesitated a moment before saying, "That was the plan, but the people have rejected Kuri's leadership over them."
I stared at her in disbelief as I exclaimed, "Then where's Kuri and why did he send you on this mission?"
"Kuri left the Holy Mountains over a year ago, when the people would not hearken to his command to stop building on the wall. He said that the wall would not stand. He went so far as to say that there would not be one block of it left upon another. The people do not know who he is to us. Like you, I have often wondered as to who Kuri really was, but now, since our conversation of several days ago, I am sure of it. Kuri is he who was written of in the Holy Scrolls from the time before. It is him on whom the faith of the Kingdomer Nations was first founded after we the Yesathurim, El Elyon's chosen people, denied and even slew him. He has been at work all these years in the spirit and in body and yet my people still deny him!" Her fist smacked down hard on her saddle horn for emphasis.