Astra Falls

Chapter 10

Dawn POV

Eke woke me up the next morning telling me to get ready. I felt really weak and my bones were stiff. I stood up slowly, stretched and then went to freshen up. I wore my leather pants- because I felt it would make it easy for me to slip around in than a skirt-with my leather jacket and a green tank top Eke gave me to make it easy to blend in with the jungle. I slung my purse over my shoulder as Eke and I made our way to the great hall-that's what I call it because it's the only hall and a meeting place for different occasions- where everyone had already gathered waiting for us.

"Are we all here?" I asked looking around.

"Yes." Eke confirmed. The Elders came out to bid us farewell with Chiron's wife taking my hands in hers and saying a short prayer before hugging me, which was kind of tricky as she was very tall compared to me. I gave a small smile as she let me go. She was a really nice woman- I mean Centaur. During some of my free time, we talked and I found out she was my mother's friend before the war, they lost contact as my mother left without telling her for fear of being followed by Yordana.

It seemed like they were waiting for her to get over her emotional fit because as soon as she let me go, Chiron spoke up.

"Princess Dawn?"

"Chiron." I nodded as a sign of greeting.

"We all came to bid you farewell, but first there is something I have to tell you alone. Shall we?" he asked pointing towards a corner for him to talk to me, then signaling Vincent to follow.

"I have to be very brief so you both can set off on your journey before sunrise. We found out where the stone is. It's a turquoise-pearl just like the one on your neck, but look." He said turning my necklace to the back and pushing a spot softly in. It opened to reveal an empty spot.

It's never done that before when I touched it. I thought.

"Its missing a piece and that can be found on the island." He looked at Vince both sharing a look of anxiety.

"What island and why do you both look like there's something wrong?" I asked looking at both of them.

Chiron with a sigh looked at me with a straight face. "Its on your way to the castle, but the Island is a home to different dangerous sea creatures and other animals and also faeries and according to the scrolls, a sphinx guards it and if you fail its riddle," he cringed.

"You die." Vincent said.

"Well we have Eke. She has the wisdom of seven generations. You said so yourself Vince." I asked in shock.

"But in a situation she knows not the answer. We're doomed."

"I believe in her." I said to Vince then added, "You know the way to the Island?" he nodded slowly then I thank Chiron for his help and we bade our goodbyes, loading ourselves and our belongings into the four carriages drawn by a train of two horses. Our carriage was the biggest, and all of us could enter it but Eke said she would love to ride alone on a horse.

The journey went on fine for the first few miles and it was a kind of tour for me as I hadn't been out of the mountain since the day I arrived excluding the day Vincent took me to the seaside. I looked around and the tree over us stood like a canopy protecting us from evil. The farther we went, the thicker the forest got. I looked around the carriage at everyone. Vincent was at a corner studying some spells, Clancey had her arms crossed and stared at nothing her head relaxing on the wall of the carriage, Yael, Jamond and Carla were sitting in a circle talking. I began humming to calm my uneasiness and closed my eyes. I remembered when my mother would tell me that being a leader, it was normal to be nervous for a while but I would get used to it. Few hours later, I felt the carriage come to a stop and looked out the window.

"What's going on?" I asked no one in particular.

"We have to stop and feed the horses. They need rest." Vincent said. We got out of the carriage, and Eke set up a little picnic. We all sat in a circle and ate our mid-day meal. The sky was still cloudy and looked heavy with rain but the trees offered enough shade from the shady gloom. We ate and rested for about an hour and set off again.

Darkness had fallen and the forests around us seemed to close in on us. The hoot of owls and the chirping of the cricket sent chills to my bones. I looked at Vince, he had his legs tucked underneath himself with his fingers interlocked on top of his legs, his eyes staring into space as his mouth moved rhythmically like he was meditating. I stood up and went to sit beside him, nudging his arm lightly.

After a moment or two, he turned to me,

"Hey, what's up?" he asked his voice soft and smooth like honey.

"I'm not one for night travelling and I've a bad feeling about this place. Isn't there somewhere we can sleep for the night?" I asked rubbing my arm.

"Well there's a woman who lives in a big compound not far from here. I'll tell Eke to tell the drivers we would be camping there tonight." He said rubbing my knee in a soothing gesture, before doing as he told me.

In less than twenty minutes, we were turning into the compound and just like Vince said it was big and quite spacious. There was a small stable in the middle of the compound with houses surrounding it, but only one had a flicker of light shining through its window.

Vince led me out with Eke giving orders on keeping the horses and our belongings. We went up the stairs to the house and knocked on the door. There was a shuffle of footsteps as the woman came out in a long blue dress and opened it for us. She was sturdily built with dark blonde hair which looked like it hadn't seen a comb in years. She looked a little over forty and wasn't on the pretty side.

"Carrson?" she asked peering at both our faces.

"Yes, it's me Imelda" he smiled as she crushed him in a bear hug.

"Oh my dear." She said.

"I...I...I can't........breathe" he stuttered as she let go of him with a chuckle that came from deep within her stomach. "You never change Carr."

"Come on in. I see you brought friends. It's been so long." She said as she led us through the narrow corridor, Vincent behind her and me behind him with the others behind.

We got to the end of the narrow corridor where a big oak door stood ajar. We went through it and it led to an inner courtyard. The house itself was built in a U-shape around the courtyard with two steps, leading to the bigger part of the courtyard. The house was old with low ceilings and washed out paints, but it seemed big enough to house us all. Vincent took our team to one of the rooms which had a big double bed, a lounge chair -which didn't look comfortable- and a living chair where just one person could sit. There was a wooden center table and a high stool. I sat on the couch and others sat anywhere they could find around me. I relaxed on the couch and stretched my feet in front of me, closed my eyes and dozed off.