Stella Nova's Journey

Chapter 10- The Way

I wake in a cold sweat. I climb out of the tent and see that Cygnus has started a small fire. "Morning."

"Morning."

"What are you doing up so early?"

"Early? It's not early. You slept in."

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"I tried, but you wouldn't wake. It didn't look like you were having a good dream."

"I didn't."

"What'd you dream about."

"It was weird. First I stood on a field in a storm of some sort. The winds whipped around me and clouds touched to the earth. Then I was stood between two armies. One was gold and the other ruby. Finally I was in a book building, maybe one of those library thing Fosman mentioned, I seemed to be searching for something. It was a scroll of some sort, but then right when I found it and opened it, I woke up."

"That sounds pretty weird."

"That's not even the weirdest part. What's really weird is that the dream felt just like what happened when that dedicate, Smith was his name I think, attacked us."

"What are you talking about? What happened when the dedicate attacked us?"

"Well. Right before he attacked us, I had this weird sort of vision thing, where I saw him attack and stab me. Then the next thing I knew, he was still trying to pass over the bundle of supplies."

"Is that why you sort of stumbled back?"

"Yeah, sort of. But the point is that it felt the exact same as when that happened."

"It may just be a coincidence." He gives a slight shrug as he dangles a piece of bread over the small flame.

"It may well be, but what if it's not?"

"We'll continue cautiously until we can tell if it's coincidence or not. If the things you saw come to pass, then we know that you had a premonition."

"But what if to confirm it one of us had to die, or if the thing we need to do is extremely dangerous?"

"I suppose we'll have to come to that when we get to that point."

"Alright. It just seems to be that we would want to be prepared in advanced, especially because at least the first two I saw seem to be pretty dangerous.." I inch over to the fire and heat a thick slice of bread, over the flame. I add a couple pieces of salted meat into the mix. I then form a sandwich that I let Shadow eat some of. After Shadow has had a few nibbles I eat the rest. I stuff the scrumptious sandwich into my mouth.

I walk back to the tent and remove the pegs. I then roll everything back up and place them within the appropriate spaces. I throw my pack over my shoulder. I climb atop my pony, Dromeda, I slowly march her down to The Way, sat atop my pony. I soon enter into the Central Way. A wide cobbled stone road stretches out beyond. The stone road extends as far as I can see. Cygnus and I trot along the massive road.

The Way is a much wider road than any of the other paths we've taken so far. We can comfortably ride side by side, with plenty of room to spare, and without Cygnus or I nearly toppling the other into the ditches on either side of the road. Our horses' hooves clop along the large, flat stones of The Way. Every few minutes we pass a thick, wooden pole, stuck in the ground, with a number painted on it. The numbers on the poles get smaller the farther we travel.