The Honor of Light #2 (Waverly Stump and The 7 Realms)

Chapter Two

Waverly returned with the carriage and helped HalfHyde lift Judson into it. She felt the urge to pack up a few supplies for Judson in a bag while HalfHyde said a prayer of supplication to Judson's mother, Juniper. Waverly picked up Calaire and placed it around her wrist. She picked up Karya as well and placed it in a random sheath she found. Just when she picked up her short sword, HalfHyde urgently called for her outside.

She hopped into the carriage and sat next to Judson. HalfHyde drove the carriage and they travelled at a high speed. Waverly did not know where they were headed but she earnestly prayed that they arrived there quickly. Judson's head rested on her lap, bopping up and down as the carriage bounced along on the bumpy road. His breathing was so raspy and cracked that Waverly feared he was struggling with his own life. She wiped the tears out of her eyes and tried her best to keep him balanced. Inside the blankets he looked bulky, like there was someone else in it with him. This was only because of his wings.

Waverly's gaze dropped to his smoky wing. The blanket was beginning to burn even without flames and bits of the ashy remains dropped onto the carriage seat which also burned upon contact. It was the strangest thing Waverly had ever seen. She wondered if Judson's rising temperature could produce enough heat to set things on fire.

"Pa! He is going to burn through the covers. We have to hurry." She warned. The carriage had already begun to smell like burnt wood.

HalfHyde grunted in response and whipped the horses. They took a sharp turn that almost spilled Waverly out of the carriage along with Judson. She gripped his frame firmly despite the intense heat and pulled him close. She looked out of the carriage and realized that they had already begun to leave the town behind. Huddersfield owned the fastest horses in the whole of Lake Borough and Waverly was thankful that HalfHyde had asked her to go to him other than anyone else.

The evening darkened and the temperature rose which made the inside of the carriage feel like a baking oven. Waverly opened the carriage windows but it was no use. She felt tempted to go out and sit with HalfHyde but could not leave Judson on his own. His glazed eyes were still open and they unnerved her greatly but she composed herself.

The town quickly became nothing but trees and single grassy paths. Waverly watched as a bunch of birch trees blurred past, a few streams, a waterfall and a wide cornfield. After a series of tall bushes raced by, they finally came into a different town. Its housing structure was the same as Lake Borough's but the colors there were different and the town had a great possession of beautiful vegetable and flower gardens instead of lakes. Waverly sighted the townsfolk roaming the streets in the dead of the night. Some camped around fires telling stories, most of them laid leisurely in their gardens watching the stars. Others simply sat in front of their houses with their young ones in their laps.

Waverly wondered whether anyone in the town was currently in bed given how late it was.

The carriage zoomed by and nobody even bothered to stare. The idea of a horse driven carriage racing at high speed into their dwelling in the middle of the night did not seem to be something of news to them.

Waverly immediately recalled the name of the town - Slumber Hill. It was an ironically hilarious moment to recall the name because nobody seemed to be asleep.

The carriage went deeper into the maze of houses until it stopped in front of a large brick house. HalfHyde got off and picked Judson who had burned through half of the blankets so that now his black wing stuck out halfway. Waverly had little time to admire how appealingly different this house was because HalfHyde was already rapping his knuckles against the door. It flung open at once and a very short man in violet robes stood there glancing up at them with unsettling ink blue eyes and a bald head.