THE PASSAGE

The Journal

Chapter 46

Solstice and I huddle close to the fireplace as she flips through the pages of the journal, with Toby looking towards us from his bed.

"Solstice, read it out loud. What does it say?"

"It's not that easy to translate from Nod to English. Just be patient."

We impatiently wait as she flips through the pages and reads ahead to herself.

"Okay, here we go."

She looks up at Toby and me and begins laughing. "I can't believe I said that," she says.

"You can't believe you said what?"

"'Okay, here we go.' I suppose I must have picked up that way of speaking from you in just the short time we have been here together."

"Solstice, will you just read to us what it says."

The twenty-first day of the eighth moon, 5942.

"What kind of date is that?"

"Well, you see, our calendar in Nod starts with the beginning of creation, unlike yours."

"You mean that you use the Jewish Calendar?"

She looks up at me, confused. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Okay never mind. How long ago was that?"

She gazes up, apparently doing the calculations in her head.

"It's about 60 years ago."

"Okay, can you read it now?"

To anyone who may find this journal in the future, I am Sanbul of Jericho, from the village of Toomak.

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"In Nod, we don't have surnames as you do in Eden. Sanbul is his first name, Jericho was his father's name. Toomak is a village in Nod, so they were definitely from Nod.

"Okay, I understand, Continue please."

My partner is William of Evan, also from the village of Toomak. We set out on this prospecting expedition 14 days earlier, taking with us three burrows to carry food and supplies, traveling through different villages, and setting up camp in the evenings on our journey to the hills of Abhar. Five days ago, we stopped to set up camp near a creek outside of the village of Tokum, unaware that a small group of Rabon soldiers was scouting the area.

She glances up at me. "That's amazing. Remember, Tokum is the village where I am from."

I nod, and she continues to read and translate.

We had already dismounted our horses, and we were getting a drink at the creek when two of them made their appearance known. They shouted to us, ordering us to surrender, their bows already drawn on us.

William and I had no choice but to throw up our hands in the motion of surrender. I was hoping that they would only take our supplies and spare our lives.

One of them yelled back in the direction from which they came. "We have captured two men with animals and supplies."

Then, from somewhere in the woods comes now this wolf, the biggest I have ever seen. I declare I tell what is true, he moved at the speed of a galloping horse, jumping up towards one of the Rabons. The animal cleared his horse completely, grasping the soldier at the neck while in the air. By the time they were on the ground, the soldier's head had laid beside his body.