White Phantom

Chapter 3: On Our Way

Sunlight poured into his room that morning, signaling that it was time to get ready to go. Chad practically didn't sleep all night long. He was too nervous and excited about the journey ahead. He could hear Luna moving about across the hall getting her things ready to head out. "Good morning," Chad said to her, leaning in her doorway. "Morning," Luna looked at him with a slight smile, "you ready for this?" "As ready as I can be," He shrugged his shoulders. "This is a pretty big deal Chad," Luna turned back to her bags as she made sure she had absolutely everything they needed, "this isn't some road trip. This journey is to stop annihilation of our kingdom... no... the world." "I know," he said, shifting his weight to his other foot, "I'm just as nervous and worried as you are." Luna stopped, but kept her back to him, "I want you to go downstairs and eat as much as you can. You'll need your strength for today." He turned to go downstairs, but Luna grabbed his arm, "I'll meet you outside," then she let him go. Hurrying down the stairs and into the kitchen, he searched for the muffins and fruit. He found them quickly and ate as quickly as he could without choking. As he was finishing his muffin, Luna appeared on the stairway with bags in tow. "Here let me help you!" Chad met her half way and carried the heavier bags down the stairs. "Thank you." She breathed heavily. "No sweat." "So, did you eat enough?" She asked. "As much as I could," Chad patted his belly with satisfaction, "I'll just put on my coat and we'll go." Luna nodded in agreement. They both met outside on the porch of the cabin. Making sure they had all their bags, Luna shut and locked the front door. Stepping back, she took a deep breath. "Luna," grabbing her arm, Chad looked at her, "it'll be fine. We'll be back before you know it!" He smiled widely. She smiled back at him, and turned to face him, "Well then, shall we?"Luna slung their bags over her back. Taking her staff in hand, she cast a spell on the bags to make them smaller and easier to carry. Chad knelt down on one knee to help Luna get on his back. "You ready?" He smirked at her. "Now remember," she started, "if you feel the least bit tired, stop and we'll rest a bit so you can get your strength coming back." "Got it boss." He rolled his eyes and chuckled. Once she was situated on his back, he began to summon the air around him. Like before, he channeled the air currents to funnel around his arms then down his legs, making the cushion of air between the ground and his feet. He took his stance, then placed his palms facing down to the earth. Taking off, Luna nearly screeched and put her arms around him tighter. He skated across the plains and the land flew by them in a blur. Chad felt free as he soared across the country side. He made sure to keep his eye out for carts and people so he didn't run into someone at full speed. Luna could feel the wind through her hair as Chad flew at speeds she couldn't even fathom. She didn't realize just how fast he could go. At this rate, they could pull off getting to that girl in three days. Although the trip would take a normal person about ten days, he could really pull off getting them there in half the time! She couldn't help but feel proud of him.*** Chad began to slow down. He wasn't used to having someone on his back when he would use his magic getting from place to place. Luna climbed off his back, "need to rest?" "Yeah," Chad straightened out and stretched, "I'm not used to having you on my back. It's taking more energy than I thought. Luna looked at their surroundings to see if she recognized where they were, "looks like we're just outside of Papilio, about 35 miles out so far." "Really?" Chad sounded almost amazed at how far he made it. "Let's go into town and get some basic essentials. I want to save what's in our bags for when we're camping." "Good, because I'm starving. I didn't realize how much energy I'd use." They walked into town and walked up and down the streets looking for a place to eat. After a few minutes they found a small patisserie named Scilis Septentrio.
"Patisserie North," Luna translated, "Guess they couldn't come up with something more original. Let's go in and see what they have." They walked into the shop where delicious looking pastries and cakes lined covered shelves. Chad's mouth began to water when the waft of smells entered his nostrils. He saw a blueberry Danish prominently displayed and it was calling his name. "Pick what you want and I'll pay for it," Luna began, but before she could finish Chad had already grabbed two blueberry Danishes. She chuckled and picked a couple raspberry Danishes herself. While Luna was paying, Chad looked outside the window to the townspeople outside. It was a lot like their village, but there were much more flowers planted in window boxes outside the shop windows. Many butterflies were flying throughout the town square and many of the people seemed happy. This brought a warm feeling into his heart. Maybe not all people are so bad, he thought to himself.After they finished their food they walked the streets of town until they found a place to rest for a while. It was a small park with a fountain and benches surrounding it. Luna sat at one of the benches and pulled out a smaller wand she carried when she didn't want to pull attention to herself. She pulled one of the small bags from her belt and placed it on the ground if front of her. Readying her wand, she said softly, "Crescat," and the bag grew back to its original size. She rummaged through the bag until she found the map and unrolled it across the bench next to her. "So we are here in Papilio," she said, "we at least need to make it to Velut A Tineaby dusk so we can make our camp for the night." "How far away is that from here?" Chad asked. "Well, if my calculations are correct," she dragged her finger across the map, "That's still about 187 more kilometers from here." "It took me like twenty minutes to get here from our house," Chad said, "so how long would it take me to get that far?" Luna looked to the sky as she did the math in her head, "a little over an hour. However, if we have to stop every twenty minutes so that you can rest, it may take a little longer." Chad folded his arms across his chest, "that seems doable. So when we get to Velut A Tinea are we going to camp outside the town limits?" "That's the plan." "Alright, so we'll have to get moving again soon." Chad said, taking his place next to her on the bench. Luna rolled up her map and put it back inside her bag. Taking her wand back out, she said softly, "Resilio," then tied her bag back on her belt. She sat back and tilted her head to look to the sky, "Yes I agree, we'd better get moving. It's nearly midday." Together they walked to the southern outskirts of town. Making sure no one saw them and that no one was nearby, Chad knelt down so Luna could get on his back. Once again they were off.
***
Hours passed in a similar fashion. Twenty minutes would go by, and whether or not they were by a town, they would stop so Chad could rest. Finally, when they reachedVelut A Tinea, Chad nearly collapsed with exhaustion. "You alright?" Luna asked, placing the small bags before her. Chad huffed and puffed as he tried to regain his breath. He was utterly drained of all his energy. He could barely even stand. "I'll get what we need for tonight. You just sit and rest." Luna looked at him with a caring smile, then pulled out her staff and made the bags bigger again. She much preferred her staff to that tiny wand. It was convenient to have the wand when she needed to keep her magic low key, but her staff made things much more magical to the eye. Chad collapsed to the ground, no longer able to keep himself upright. It was only late afternoon, but Chad needed all the time he could get to regain his strength. Clouds floated in the sky above him as the autumn breeze swept over his body. It felt nice to relax for a while, and slowly his eyes began to close. Slowly he drifted off to slumber...
... Alcrolyie was still badly wounded. Her wound in her side had closed, but it was not healing quickly. Her eyes had dark circles and her breathing came in short, painful breaths. She wanted so badly to be home. "Hello?" Chad's voice came to her. "It's you!" She said tiredly. A smile crossed her lips. "I suppose it is. I didn't think I could still talk with you." He sounded surprised. "I'm so glad..." she said, her eyes closing with fatigue. She looked like she hadn't really slept for days. She didn't know how much longer she could go on like this. "We're coming for you," his voice came to her, filled with worry, "just hold on. I'm coming for you..." Her eyes closed as she drifted to sleep.
... He opened his eyes and saw the blue sky above him. Tears began to flow from them and he felt this overwhelming feeling of sorrow. He guessed these was her feelings coming through to him, showing him that she felt hopeless. He felt this sense of urgency to get to her as fast as he could, but he knew with his strength as it was now that wouldn't be possible. He slammed his fist to the ground beside him, frustrated at his own weakness. Luna heard the loud thud and turned to face him, "What's wrong?" "It was her... I was able to speak to her again." "It's possible that now you've managed to make a telepathic connection with her." Luna sounded fascinated. "Maybe," he sat up, then turned to look at Luna, "but this time was different. Zebsnun wasn't there, it was just her. She was so tired and it looked like she didn't have much sleep. She doesn't have much time..." he trailed off. He couldn't even stand the thought of anything happening to her. Luna put down what she was holding and came to sit by Chad, "I know this is hard, and I understand that you're frustrated. I really wish I had the power to teleport us there faster, but like you, I'm not strong enough to make a feat like that." "I know," he said shortly. "First thing tomorrow, we will be on our way again. Be sure to eat your heart out, because if you want to get there faster, you'll have to get all the strength you can."
Chad nodded in agreement, then thought to himself, Hang on Alcrolyie, I'm coming.