Stella Nova's Journey

Chapter 14- Infornum

The horse's clop down the stone road. We ride on for about a day in near silence, stopping only once, for lunch at midday. As the sun begins to set, dark clouds fill the sky.

The commander looks up at the sky and a frown appears on his face. "Looks like we're going to get snow before we make it."

"Snow? What's snow?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

I turn to Cygnus. "Do you know what snow is?" He just shrugs in response. I ride up next to the commander's son. "Hey, do you know what snow is?"

He gives a curt nod, then looks down at me. "You'll find out soon enough"

As he turns away to face forward again, I swear I can see a smirk cross his lips. "Are you smirking?"

He doesn't respond, instead he simply pushes his horse to pull ahead of me.

Soon small white things start to fall from the sky. They slowly drift down like jellyfish in a current. I hold out my hand to touch a large white blob. It stings as it touches my skin. I quickly pull my hand back, into the safety of my cloak. The sting on the back of my hand lessons until I can feel cold water run down my hand. Cautiously I reach out of the cloak again and grab up the reigns before pulling my hand back to the heat of my cloak.

Before long, the occasional blob of what can only be snow, starts to increase. More and more snow starts to fall from the dark clouds above. As more of the cursed snow falls, I can see less and less. Soon, the Blazes and Cygnus are mere shadows, dark patches in the white blanket before me. The wind picks up, throwing the freezing, tiny, jellyfish-like snow straight into my face.

I almost run into the younger of the Blazes as he stops in front of me. He holds out the end of a rope. His lips move but the sound of his voice doesn't pierce the dampening snow and howling wind.

I cock my head and give the most recognizable face of confusion I can. He seems to understand what I mean. He pulls on a rope wrapped around his waist, showing that it's the other end of the rope he's passing me. I nod and take the rope. As best I can, I tie the end of the rope around my waist. Yet another minor task made monumentally hard by my arm in the sling.

The rope pulls taught, ahead of me. I urge Dromeda forward, following the rope that rub against the top of her bent head. The snow starts to pile up around us. I shiver as the wind forces snow through the gaps within my cloak. I try to pull the cloak tighter around me, but to no avail.

Soon, though, the line goes slack, and I stop Dromeda just in time to avoid running into the emerging blob that must be the Blaze Lieutenant. After a long pause, we progress further. The wind and snow die down as we pass through a massive stone arch with large, intricately carved stone doors to either side. I stare out at the city before us.

Along the natural walls of the city there are countless doors, windows, ledges, stairs, and ramps. As we get farther from the walls, more buildings rise up. The heights vary from a single story, to some buildings that nearly reach the ceiling above. I follow the lieutenant, who follows Cygnus, who in turn follows the commander. We continue down the gently sloping road towards a large, tree and snow covered area. In the center of the area is a large, golden, domed roof. From the edge of the roof a gently sloping stone spring reaches up to the hole in the top of the cavern.

I feel the increasing cold as we near the wooded area. I expect a strong breeze to strike me as we enter the woods, but either the trees stop it, or the wind simply cannot reach this far down the mountain. We keep going along the stone pathway, until the trees thin and before us rises a massive building. Golden domes top each of the towers I can see. Its walls are formed of fine looking white stone, bricks, and each one is carved with intricate patterns that when taken together form scenes of dragons, humans, and demons. i stare at the walls in wonder, while Dromeda continues forward.