The Chronicles of Tenroha

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Jeremiah's eyes were burning. He was wet, and he was cold. They all were. It was nearing mid-morning and there was a light drizzle of rain when the three of them had emerged from inside the Sentinel Tree. They made it to the nearby village and acquired some horses from a stable hand as quickly as they could in the rain. When they began their journey, the rain was mild and pleasant; and the road to the capital city was only a little muddy.

By midday, the road had become cumbersome as they trudged their way towards the city. The wind had picked up a little and the rain was getting harder. The day was beginning to grow colder due to the northern wind and lack of trees to block it from blowing on the party of travelers with its full force. By evening fall, the group had only managed to traverse half of the distance that they had intended when a fierce storm came upon them.

The group sought shelter from the lightning, the frigid winds, the rain, and to rest themselves along with their horses. They found an abandoned farm house off the side of the road that had a barn that was in better condition than the house. They led the horses inside the barn and Jeremiah gathered some of the broken beams from the house that was falling apart to start a fire. He tried to light it, but his flint was too wet from being in the rain all day.

Wilhelm gathered some straw that was scattered around the floor and placed it under the small pile of wood. He said, "Elda," and the straw began to smoke. He blew on it and flames began to rise towards the wood that was piled on top. It wasn't long before the weary threesome were huddled around the flames drying their clothes and warming their bodies.

They had only brought enough food to last a single day, but with the rain, none of it had been eaten that day. The unfortunate travelers ate some of what they had brought to give them some strength and they wanted to save some for the next day because they were unsure of how long the storm would last or how long the rest of their journey would take them. They decided to try to sleep because time was beginning to fight against them now.

When the sun rose the next morning, they would have to leave whether it was still storming or not, because by Wilhelm's calculations, the fleet would arrive at the capital by evening fall, four days hence. It would take them the better part of another day just to reach the capital city which gave them less than two days to convince the king to halt the defensive attack.

Jeremiah gathered some more wood for the fire and placed it on top of the embers. The fire was warm and the three of them laying next to it began to feel soothed by its warmth. Chloé had already laid out her bed role and was curdled up in her blanket. She watched the flames dancing on the wood, swaying back and forth from the light breeze in the drafty old barn.

As she watched the flames begin to lick the logs that had been placed on top, they began flittering around, back and forth. She could hear the storm raging outside. Except for the loud clashes of thunder, the sounds of the rainfall began to lull her. She began to think about the captain and all the people en route to the capital city. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep and began to dream.

In her dream she saw a man. It was Captain Bridgewater. He was standing at the helm of a ship, in the midst of a violent storm. He was yelling at his men, "Drop the sails before the wind blows us apart," he ordered as lightning struck somewhere nearby. Her vision began to pan outward and she could see the ship rocking back and forth on the waves caused by the storm. The vision panned out further and she could see the rest of the vessels struggling to stay afloat as the waves smashed into the sides of the boats.

She watched as several of the ships began to crash into each other. She saw the masts of many of the ships break in two, and fall over the side of the vessels. She could see men and women with pails that were hurrying around trying to empty the boats of the water that was splashing over the sides; while others were casting out ropes in order to retrieve the souls who had been thrown overboard by the storm.