Mighty Hammer Down (23 page)

"I think you had better figure out why
the sun sets first, but I will give you a hint. It stays up there
because it is falling."

She stopped walking abruptly and he
had to stop and turn back to her. "Well, I was thinking you were
more clever than I ever imagined, but now I’m convinced that you’re
just crazy."

"Crazy huh? We’ll see about that. Just
remember to be open to the idea. Not all things are easy to
comprehend at first, but once you have a working knowledge of
things, other things seem to fall into place around
them."

Through an opening in the canopy above
them, Rommus could see a dark gray mass of clouds far off to the
east ahead of them. Although it was sunny and pleasant, he knew
that within a few hours those clouds would bring rain. They would
have to find shelter before the night, and he didn’t think they
could make it to a town before the storm. He shook his head, cursed
his luck, and chose a new trail. He made an effort to find a path
back to a paved road. Since the army used the roads to move swiftly
through Medora, he was sure to find a campsite somewhere where
there was some sort of shelter. He hoped that he could find a site
where no soldiers were staying.

He didn’t fully explain to Alana why
he was taking these paths and trails, and he was glad she didn’t
ask. Of course it was faster to take the paved roads, but there was
always a chance of running into the army, or worse, Mages. Aside
from that, he was doing what he saw himself do in the dream. He
thought that it was guiding him, and he didn’t feel right ignoring
it and sticking to the major roads. It was difficult to maintain a
steady eastward course, but it was better than running into a group
of Mages. He wasn’t exactly sure that dead east was where he needed
to be anyway.

"Where in Vindyrion did you say you
were from? Burnhamheade?"

"No not Burnhamheade. I have been
there, and it’s not all that far from my town, but I live a little
north of there."

He nodded his head as he walked.
"Where is Burnhamheade in relation to where we are now? Is it
northeast, or is it more east?"

"Well I can’t tell where we are right
now, but from Brinn it’s northeast. It’s a lot more east than north
though."

"What is your northernmost town or
city? Do you know?"

"There is an old deserted town that is
up there somewhere, but I forget the name of it. The nearest town
to it is called Reyth I think. I have never been there though and I
don’t know anything about either of those towns. I just remember
seeing them on a map."

"Would Reyth be near jagged mountains
and a loud river?"

"Well there are definitely mountains
up there, but the river I am not sure about. If I had to guess I’d
say there was some sort of river there, because we don’t build
aqueducts like you have here, we build our towns near
water."

Rommus paused as he examined the dark
gray clouds in the distance. "I think Reyth is where we need to go.
Do you think you can find it?"

"I think so. It shouldn’t be too hard
since roads connect most of the towns. We can just ask someone
where it is."

"I’d like to avoid as many people as
we can. I don’t want to alert anyone to our presence there. I know
it’s unlikely that anyone there knows who I am, but I don’t know
the relation between Silver and Black Mages. There’s no telling who
is looking for us."

"Well I understand how you don’t want
to draw attention to yourself, but Rommus, people are going to see
that you’re Medoran. You’re going to stand out whether you like it
or not."

"I know that. We’ll have to deal with
that when we get there."

Alana scratched at her arm. "Rommus
are you sure you want to go to Reyth just because of a dream? It’s
a long way. What if we get there and we are out of money and we
can’t even eat?"

"We’ll be careful. Besides, not all
food comes from shops. We can find our own food if we need to. I
thought a girl like you would be more resourceful." He smiled at
the face she was making at his comment. "Are they going to bother
us for carrying swords?"

"People are allowed to carry swords in
Vindyrion, but you’re Medoran. Some people might not trust you with
one, so if I were you I’d find a cape or something so that you can
at least conceal it somewhat."

"Yeah I was thinking of getting one
anyway so that I can use it to sleep on. Black is probably the best
for going through your land unnoticed, but I doubt I’ll find any
black fabric here in Medora. I guess I’ll have to sleep on the hard
ground until we get there."

"Well your father wore
black."

He grabbed her by the arm and stopped
her suddenly. "How do you know that?"

She seemed to stumble over her words
before she could get them out. "Well, you told me he wore black,
don’t you remember?"

He studied her eyes for a moment
before he answered. "No, I don’t, but with everything that’s been
going on lately, I can see how I might have forgotten something so
trivial." He let go of her arm and her shoulders
relaxed.

They made their way down a long
straight trail that led out of the dense forest. When they got to
the edge of the wood, they crossed an open area that led to a paved
road going north and south. Beyond the road was more dense forest,
so if anyone saw them traveling, it would only be people on that
same road. The Mages would have to be coming from the west, and
they would have a hard time finding them through the thick woods.
He decided to head north for a while and look for some sort of
shelter that the army would have used along the way. If there was
nothing built, he could always look for a cave or some other place
to keep dry, but with no supplies, his options were
slim.

A few strands of clouds quietly moved
in from the east as they walked on the stone road. The storm was
moving faster than he anticipated, and shortly after noticing the
clouds above him, he heard the distant rolls of thunder. The air
turned cooler, and the breeze picked up, but it seemed to irritate
the leaves at the treetops more than it bothered anything else.
Soon the bright sunlight fled and left only a muted gray light that
blurred the shadows.

"Oh good," Rommus said, "we didn’t
pass it while we were in the woods."

"What didn’t we pass?"

Rommus nodded up the road ahead of
them. "There’s a camp there, over that hill and off a side road.
It’s for the army but we’ll be able to stay there as long as no one
is there. There’s nothing there to steal so they don’t bother
leaving guards. I just hope that Commander Soterus isn’t keeping
his troops there, but I don’t think he would waste time camping so
close to Taburdum. If I were him I’d be on my way as soon as
possible."

"Will there be a place to get out of
the rain?" Alana asked as she held her hair back against a sudden
gust of wind.

"Of course there will be. It wouldn’t
do much good for an army to be cold and wet all the time. They have
shelter there."

They walked along in the deepening
gloom and reached the side road that led to the campsite. They
turned right onto the road and headed east for about a mile before
reaching the camp. When they got there, Alana stood with her mouth
open.

"This is what you call a camp?" she
asked.

"Yes. I know it looks a little fancy
for what most would call a camp, but the army needs places like
this for when troops are gathered."

"I wasn’t expecting buildings. Most of
them are made of stone. It’s like a town almost, but lacking the
charm."

"Well it might look nice and neat, but
don’t expect to sleep well here. The Medorans keep their soldiers
uncomfortable on purpose. A comfortable soldier is a lazy
soldier."

"I can see how that can be true, but
what could be so uncomfortable about this place?"

"Well, it’s not that bad. But you
won’t find any bedding here or blankets. I can’t imagine it will
get very cold though. We can build a fire if we can find some dry
wood before it rains. There might be wood in one of the
buildings."

"What about food? Do you think we’ll
have anything to eat tonight?"

"You know for someone so slender, you
sure worry about eating an awful lot."

"For someone so big, you don’t seem to
worry about eating enough."

He laughed. "There might be something
there but chances are slim. There’s no one here to look after that
sort of thing, so any food that is here is probably rotten. If
we’re lucky, Soterus and his men will have been through here and
maybe there will be some fresh food they left behind. There will be
water there though, but I don’t think we’ll be in the mood for much
water with this storm coming."

Lightning flashed in her eyes. "Well
let’s find a place to get out of this weather. My hair is already a
mess."

Chapter 18

Rommus suddenly realized he was
dreaming when he could feel his mind being pulled back to the real
world to join his body. He started to feel pressure where his back
touched the hard ground upon which he slept. Realizing that this
dream was important, he struggled to stay there in the phantom
world, and after focusing his thoughts, he was able to do
so.

He was again in Vindyrion at sunset.
He looked to the west where the crimson sky scorched the snowcapped
mountains. Beyond that great mountain range lay Medora. He knew he
was far north to see these mountains, because most of the Medoran
mountains were much smaller than what he was seeing.

His ears heard no sound as people
rushed by him in panic. He tried to run with them to catch up and
ask what they were afraid of, but his feet refused to obey him and
he could only walk slowly. Finally he caught the arm of a woman
running by him, but when she turned to face him, her features slid
from her face and then she disappeared altogether. The sight was
troubling, but he did not waste time to dwell on it. He knew that
he would eventually wake up and he didn’t want to miss the meaning
of the dream.

He remembered the darkness being
behind him in the dream on the previous night, so he turned around
to examine it. When he did so, the loud sound of rushing water
filled his ears as a great blackness filled his vision. He searched
the area for a source of water but he found none. As he looked, he
saw men in silver robes running towards him against the flow of
frightened people. He took notice that the men had faces, and when
he met the gaze of any of them, they would pause and bow their head
to him. The men all rushed into the darkness where he lost sight of
them.

Suddenly he thought of Alana. He
wanted to be able to prove he was actually seeing a real vision of
Vindyrion, so he looked for something distinct that he could
describe to her. His eyes fell on all the things around him, but
nothing seemed special enough to mention. As he searched, he didn’t
notice the man standing before him. It was a man wearing a silver
robe.

"Are you a Mage?" Rommus
asked.

The man looked confused as he pushed
his hood off of his head. "Yes my Lord."

"What is everyone running
from?"

"There is an enemy in the shadow, and
there is an enemy in the sun."

"What does that mean? I don’t have
time for riddles."

The man was silent but pointed to his
left. Rommus turned but saw nothing. When he turned back to the
man, he was gone. He looked again to the north where the man had
pointed and he saw a faint glow beyond the mountains. The light
brightened until even the sunset could not be seen. In the sky, in
the false sunset, he saw a figure. He tried to concentrate on the
image in the sky, but the more he did so, the blurrier it became.
As he stood there, he felt a feeling coming from the figure in the
sky. It was as if it was trying to tell him something, but didn’t
know his language, and instead spoke through intense feelings. He
closed his eyes and examined the feeling. He knew what it
meant.

He felt a cool feeling at his feet
which made him look down. A rush of water had come from the
darkness and covered all the ground in a cold thin layer of the
liquid. In another few seconds, it was evident that the water was
rising. Although he knew this was only a dream, he felt a sense of
panic. He took a few steps, but stopped himself fearing that he
might step in an unseen hole where he might drown in the frigid
water. As he tried to think of what to do, the false sunset faded
and disappeared. The light spilling over the mountains from the
west was barely enough for him to see, and soon there was nothing
but blackness. He felt water rising swiftly over his knees; and his
panic was rising just as fast.

Suddenly he remembered what he told
Alana about being able to fly to the moon in a dream. In a futile
attempt, he searched the black skies above him for any sign of the
orb, but found none. He began to shiver from the icy water
consuming him, and he actually feared for his life, even though he
was aware that he was dreaming. This dream felt so real that he
thought it might be possible to actually die there in that shadow
realm.