Stella Nova's Journey

Chapter 11- The Storm

After a few days of travel large, dark clouds fill the sky. Despite the possibility of an impending storm we ride on, wrapping the cloaks from our bags around us. Soon the wind picks up. It catches my silver hair from the edge of my hood and whips it into my face. The ends of our cloaks are pulled to the sides, by the force of the wind. A nearby lightning strike startles Dromeda. She rears up, nearly throwing me off. I clutch at the reigns to stop myself being thrown to the stones.

I calm my steed and glance to the sky. The clouds above me madly swirl. I give a meaningful look to Cygnus and our eyes meet. I call to him, having to shout to be heard over the wind. "We should try to get away from this, right?"

He nods a response. If he said anything, the words were stolen by the wind. I dig my heels into Dromeda's sides. She seems to be glad that she can run from this storm. She starts to gallop, going faster than I've ever seen her go. I struggle to keep her on the road, but manage to do so. We race ahead. I glance behind me and see Cygnus racing along, only a few horse lengths behind on Night Shade. I look around me to ensure that there is no danger. I see large, twisting masses of cloud touch the ground around us. Dust, grass, and shrubs appear to be ripped from the ground and sucked into the sky.

We run, our pace starting to slow. I feel the wind tugging at me, attempting to yank me from my saddle and my pack from me. Still we ride.

Slowly the winds start to slow. The twisting clouds around us begin to rise from the ground. Sunlight bursts through the clouds and as quickly as the storm came, it left. Dromeda and Night Shade slow to a stop. Dromeda's breaths heavily, her sides heaving. I climb off the saddle and sink to the ground, my legs shaking so badly they can't even support my weight. I look at Cygnus and see him, still atop Night Shade, his knuckles white on the reigns.

I crawl over to him and tug on the toe of his boot. He looks down at me. "You may want to get off him. I think they're both pretty exhausted." I glance back and see Dromeda, on the ground and asleep despite the saddle and bags strapped to her.

"That's probably a good idea." He climbs from Night Shade's saddle and sinks to the ground beside me. As soon as he is off, Night Shade lays down and starts quietly snoring.

"You're still holding the reigns."

"Oh, am I?" He slowly lets go of his white-knuckled grip of the reigns. "What was that storm?"

"I don't know, it looked almost like those storms my da used to tell us about. The ones that the demons caused and the dragons stopped. Only difference is that this had less water and it ended a lot quicker than he said they did."

"Could be like a land version of those."

"That would make sense." I look at the two sleeping ponies. "We should probably set up camp."

"Yeah, we probably should." I slowly get to my feet, only stumbling once as I get up. I slowly make my way to the side of the road. I pitch my tent and unroll bed bedroll. I set my pack down just inside the entrance. I then turn to help Cygnus, but he's already laying out his tent next to mine. i walk over and help to hammer in the pegs. Soon his tent springs erect beside mine.

I gather a few sticks from a dry shrub and form them into a little tent-like shape centered around a few blades of grass, on the road. I grab the spark stone from my bag and hold it above the sticks. I strike it with my knife, and sparks go flying. I strike it again, and this time the sparks land on the blades of grass. The blades start to smolder. I gently blow on them. Soon the blades are engulfed by flame that leaps to the sticks above. I turn over my shoulder. "Hey Cygnus I've got a fire going!"

"I'll be right there!" Cygnus lopes over, pack in hand. He drops the pack next to me and then plops down beside it. "I brought the food."

"So I see." I make my way to Dromeda. I pull my trident from her pouch and return to the fire. I stick some meat with the tips of the trident. Then I heat it over the fire. Slowly the fat on it starts to melt and drops, sizzling into the flames. After it is lightly charred, I pull the pieces off with a slice of bread. I pluck each piece from the bed of bread. I chew on the rather juicy, smoky, and salty pieces of meat. I bite into the bread that's absorbed many of the juices from the meat. The slightly stiff bread has been turned a little soggy from sopping the juices. I stuff the slice of bread into my mouth.

I pass the trident to Cygnus. He sticks a couple pieces of meat on and a thinnish slice of cheese. He then holds the trident over the flame until the cheese starts to slowly melt. Just before the cheese drips into the flame, he catches it with a slice of bread. He shoves the whole thing into his mouth and passes the trident back to me.

I scrape of the remnants of our meal from the points of my trident with the grass by the side of the road. I walk back to Dromeda and slide the trident into her pouch. "I'm going to hit the hay." I head back to my tent and crawl inside. I kick off my boots, leaving them just inside the entrance. I lay down on my bedroll and curl up under my blanket. As soon as I relax, I fall into a deep slumber.