“Crane, stop lagging behind!” Valen shouted, or at least tried to over the roar of the wind. Apparently, Valen wasn’t skilled in predicting the weather, other wise we’d know about the storm that we were riding into. We had spent the day riding hard. There were a couple of Durovian camps that we had to pass through, but they let us through as soon as they recognized Valen. The old ranger, however, didn’t really fancy the spotlight the soldiers were giving him.
We also passed a refugee camp earlier today. I had took my time going through, in hopes that I might be able to find Elena. It was a noble, but useless quest. There was no sign of her. And I knew Valen would get on my case if I started asking around. My search would have to be done after we were done with Mr. Ichabod Crane. He could handle himself on a horse. At least much better than Lloyd could.
We hardly stopped, and when we did, it was just for passing through checkpoints. The war has not been going well for the Durovians. General Warwick was set on taking Ravensfell by the end of the year, but he was stretching himself too thin to get there. Lord Durall and his allies would take advantage of this and use their mobility to harass his exposed flanks. I wasn’t much of a strategist, but this war was still anyone’s game.
Our journey took us from one side of the center of Andurovia to another. We started out in the far West and ended up near the Rashoki border. The marshlands in the East were Andurovian-Rashoki borderlands. There wasn’t much need for them to invade us through there. Most people got lost or died in the marshlands, so it was still generally unexplored, which made it a natural barrier against the Rashoki. According to rumor, they don’t go into unexplored territories. Some part of their religion or something. They must have explored every pebble of sand in their vast deserts.
But that was for another time.
There was a long stretch of wood that we came to. The trees there were leafless. They rose out of the ground like wretched hands, waiting to grab anyone who rode nearby. I was beginning to feel like I was in my dream again. Except this time I couldn’t wake up, because this was real. The hair on my arms and body began to rise. My body shivered with familiarity and fear. Its just a dream, I told myself.
“Lets go, runt!” Valen said from the other side of the road. I looked back from the top of the hill. Lightning struck the hilltop, illuminating a figure I was all too familiar with. I looked like the headless horsemen from my dream, but it soon vanished. I wasn’t sure if it was my eyes playing tricks on me or if I should actually start running or riding to get some distance from it. “What are you waiting for?!”
I looked back and saw just the naked hilltop. No rider stood there. I was just imagining things. The storm and riding all day must have been getting to my head. Or hearing Mr. Crane’s singing. All he would sing about were annoyed songs about the Creators. And he had the most annoying singing voice. I think Valen was getting ready to dump our man when the opportunity present itself.
I finally came to when I realized it was nothing more than the lightning getting the best of me. We continued through the eerie woods for several more hours until we saw the tiny little town. Sleepy Hollow. The houses were made of wood, painted white. The marshland and storm blended to create a contrast with the seemingly-empty town. I felt pretty fatigued and wanted to sleep... in Sleepy Hollow. Its name made it sound like a place of prominence. But it wasn’t, from the looks of it.
“We’ll find a tavern for the night,” Valen tried saying over the storm. We couldn’t exactly hear him very well, so we he pointed towards the buildings. We trotted over and dismounted. Valen and the rest of us ran over to the doors of the inn as fast as we could. The winds were really picking up. The horses wouldn’t be able to take it, so we had to run back and lead them into one of the nearby stables. They seemed pretty spooked, just as much as me. When the horses were tied down, we headed back for the inn to get some well-deserved rest. “Come on, I need a drink.”
While Valen was tending to his liquid needs, Mr. Crane, Lloyd and I were settling in. The room was small, but big enough to support even the tall frame of the traveling teacher. The others fell asleep as soon as they started laying down. I, however, was still a little shaken up.
It was just my imagination getting the best of me. The more I thought about the dream, the more prevalent it would be on my mind. I would just need to think about something else. Then it would fade away.
I decided I would take a look at Orin’s mysterious trinket. I went back into my pack and pulled it out. It was the same token with the same strange markings on it. I took a while to look at it. Still nothing new that I could figure out. The storm outside was dying down, letting in a huge fog. From the window near me, I could hear the trotting of a horse. I looked outside to see who was coming into town at this hour, but the fog wouldn’t let me see anything.
I went back to the trinket and tried to make heads of it. With all of my attempts of cracking at it, I came up empty-handed. I tossed it against my cot. I was tired of carrying it around. It didn’t do anything for me. I was becoming a ranger, adopting their ideals as my own. One of those was carrying things that held purpose. Now, it was just dead weight. I could easily replace it with a spare knife to carry around in its stead.
But no. Orin had wanted me to hold on it to it. I wish I only knew why.
“I wish Orin was here now,” I said to myself. I wasn’t sure I was supposed to do with it other than just haul it around with me. It was too mysterious for my own good.
But just then, some strange light started coming out from the trinket. I cautiously approached it. THe light died as soon as I picked it up again. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me again. I haven’t exactly been the best since I had left Crossroads. There was a lot change going in such a short amount of time. I needed a time where I can just take things in stride.
But I tried figuring out how the token was making that glowing light. I thought about it for a second. Maybe there was some sort of magic phrase I had to say to get it to work.
“Open sesame,” I tried. Nothing.
“Geronimo,” I said. Still nothing.
I was getting impatient with this thing. It wasn’t doing anything for me, and when it did do something, it wouldn’t do it on command or when I was actually looking at it.
“I wonder what Elena is doing,” I said to myself. I was curious. Just then, the device starting glowing. The face of the surface of it showed a moving image, like a painting of light. The image came to life. I saw Elena standing next to some kind of railing. I saw water breeze through. She must been on a boat, because I noticed how the scene was swaying back and forth. It was well into the night where she was in the sea, lake, river, or ocean. It was too hard to tell.
“Where are you going, Elena?” I asked myself. I was beginning to get the feeling that the token was responded to my questions, because the scene shifted to an island. It was bigger than any island one would hear in stories. It looked big enough to house a city, a small nation maybe. Was that where she was going? I couldn’t tell. None of this was making any sense.
I wanted to find out more about the device, but I tucked it away when I started hearing the trotting of a horse again. I looked through the window. The fog was still as thick as before. But the trotting kept continuing until the rider came into view.
He was partly obscured by the thick fog, but I could tell he was atop his horse. He had grim black apparel on, which was only matched by his black horse. He stood on the outskirts of the town, watching me. The rider made hit clear that he was aware of me. I felt my head begin to throb with fever, like I had when I first arrived to the ranger camp. It made me feel weak, so I retreated to bed.
I wasn’t in any shape to be fighting men atop horses at this hour, but I couldn’t help but wonder how I was beginning to feel so sick again. I fought the sudden illness as long as I could before I became too weak to stand on my own. I would need to rest it off. I decided the others would have to know about it, just at another time. Perhaps in the morning.
Now was the time for me to rest.
Sleep, Hage.
Sleep.
