“The King is a rose,” he said, “full of beauty but also thorns.” No sooner did he say this than the air was rich with the fragrance of blooms lining the brook’s banks.

I was stunned by these … coincidences? Or was he another magician, a sorcerer?

“The King is the true vine, the tree of life, the giver of grain,” he said. We rounded a corner, and before us spread a vista of golden wheat fields bordered by vineyards and orchards, overflowing with ripened fruit.

“The King is light.”

The sun went supernova, then retracted. My knees buckled and I covered my face. A wave of heat enveloped me as if I stood in the mouth of a giant blast furnace. When I opened my eyes again, the blue sky exploded with stars, filling the daylight canopy with points of colored flame before they hid themselves away again.

The road became steeper, but the Woodsman kept his pace. Malaiki stayed at his side, never taking her gaze from him. It struck me as inappropriate, and I resented the stranger’s hold on her.

Old Shadrach was on the Woodsman’s other side, with Mason and Quon immediately behind. Victoria kept her distance, while David stayed back beside me, studying one of his travel maps.

“The King is a singer and a song,” the stranger said. Melody from somewhere filled the air. Keyboards, trumpets, harps, and voices echoed along the ridge as we climbed among evergreens.

“The King is a lamb,” the newcomer said. I looked to a nearby hilltop, rising like a bald head out of the woods. On it stood a solitary sheep. I could hear its bleating.

A lamb? Who could respect a king that weak and helpless?

Suddenly a ferocious roar hit me like a hard wind. There on the hillside crouched a huge lion. He looked down at us with head tilted and jaws open wide. The savage beast leaned forward and threatened to pounce. We all jumped away and the women screamed. Everyone ran but the Woodsman.

“The King,” cried the Woodsman from behind us, “is a lion!”

I ran at the front of the pack, with frequent glances over my shoulder at the lion. He disappeared from view when we rounded a corner, and after running another hundred feet we slowed down and bent over to catch our breath.

Who would want to serve a king as terrifying as that?

With my hands on my knees, I looked up to see the sky burst into flame with evening colors. Then I heard a whimper and saw something low to the ground running around the corner after us.