When Walker and Sophia woke the next morning, they found Wiley had already left, taking a portion of the bread and cheese for his journey. They finished off the bread and cheese and tidied up.

They each took time to read something in The Letters. Walker read, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man, and God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.”

Walker and Sophia picked up their bags and left the shelter, laying the matches near the lantern, locking the door, and placing the key under the heart-shaped rock.

Later in the morning they met a shepherd moving his flock across the lane. His sheep looked contented and well-fed. He smiled kindly at them. “Hello, travelers! Where are you headed?”

“We’re going to King’s Court,” said Walker, sensing his trustworthiness.

“I know that way well. You are headed in the right direction. But it gets tricky. Don’t take a wrong turn. Look for the blue paint marks of the King’s highway.”

They thanked him and continued. They entered a forest that kept them cool most of the day. In late afternoon they emerged to an extraordinary sight. On their right was a wide field full of wildflowers, their colorful blossoms nodding in a gentle breeze. In the field, faint trails with bent flowers told them many others had walked freely through. On their left loomed a rock wall. Ahead, the road narrowed to a path winding around fallen boulders. Walker saw lines of blue paint on the farthest. Three solitary black locust trees grew along the field. They stopped in the shade of the first and admired the view.

Sophia said, “The flowers are so beautiful! All the colors of the rainbow. Let’s go that way.”

A cheerful voice called from above them in the black locust, “Welcome to Wildflower Way!” Something whizzed by Walker’s face and landed in the grass. He instinctively drew his sword. He looked down at an acorn and up into the grinning face of a cheeky squirrel looking down at him through the leaves. The squirrel playfully lobbed another acorn at Walker, who dodged.

Walker grinned. “Hello Mr. Squirrel! It is beautiful, but our path is over there.” He pointed to the rock marked with blue and Sophia now saw it for the first time. “Stick with the narrow path. Wide is the way that leads to destruction,” he said quietly to himself, swinging his sword. Reluctantly they continued down the road.

Under the second tree they each felt an acorn smack on their heads. “Ouch! That stung!” grumbled Sophia. They looked up at an unsmiling squirrel. “The King says to go this way,” he said, gesturing toward the open field.

Walker’s kayline stayed cool but he remembered and recited out loud, “I will instruct you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” “No thanks, Mr. Squirrel,” he said firmly. Sophia looked a little scared and stepped closer to Walker.

Before they had made it to the shade of the third tree they were greeted with a storm of acorns. They hurt! A furious squirrel jeered at them as he and a scurry of squirrels threw acorns like darts. “You are King’s people? You won’t walk through our field? Why do you hate us? Take that, and that, and that!”

Walker stood a moment stunned at the unexpected hostility of squirrels, but then remembered his haversack. “Sophia! The King’s bag!” He tossed his sword into his left hand and reached in with his right and something filled his palm. He grasped and pulled out a shield and held it between his head and the fierce bombardment. Up went his sword, too, and he shouted, “You, O King, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head!” He held his head up as confidence surged in him. Their shields deflected acorns, tink-tink tink.

“Come on!” shouted Walker. They ran beyond the trees and entered the rocky track.