The Orb And The Onslaught {COMPLETE}

degA ehT pleH

   They'd been walking for over a day, she had to find somewhere to rest soon; even if she only had half an hour, it would recharge her enough to keep going. The map didn't show any hotels or inns, Essa had only given them a basic map of the area and the towns they may pass through. But Florence needed more details now, she needed a local guide or an in depth map, maybe one that had kidnappers lair in bold print. 

   Florence smiled to herself at the silliness of that thought, how she could even smile in her current state and situation was beyond even her understanding. She just knew that she had to keep going, she let the cold air rouse her from her thoughts and focused on the task at hand. 

    The bridge was much longer than Florence had envisioned, she thought she might have accidentally fallen asleep and dreamed the walk at one point. But they finally reached the other side and stepped straight onto a paved road, surprising after the dirt roads they'd spent most of their time on so far. 

   The only problem they had now was which way to go, the sky was lightening and she could see three roads stretching out from the bridge; one to the left, one to the right and one straight ahead. 

"What do we do now?" Florence thought out loud. 

    There was no way of knowing if the kidnappers had come this way, she'd just assumed they'd pass over the bridge. But even if they had, she didn't have a clue which road they would have taken from here. Florence was starting to realise how truly lost they were, she'd been so caught up just getting to Quentin and Roxy that she hadn't thought it through logically. 

    There was only one thing for it, they'd have to flip for it. The cats stared up at her while she took her purse out and retrieved a silver coin.

"I know it's not ideal but what choice do we have?"

Both cats seemed to be steering towards the road straight ahead but she couldn't chance that they might be wrong.

    "Something greater and more ancient than any of us, chose me for this journey so I'm relying on whatever that thing was to choose the right direction now."

Florence could hear the stupidity in her own words, but she didn't have much of a choice.

     She took a deep breath and flipped the coin. To her surprise, the coin flipped in mid-air much longer than it should have. It kept going a few more seconds and then fell onto the ground between Florence and the cats. In the growing light, Florence gazed down to see the side of the falcon which she'd assigned to the central road.

    Florence glanced at the cats who almost looked smug.

"Don't get cute, I have to do it again for the third road."

Florence repeated her flip, pitting the winning road against the third and watching the coin flip for a lengthy time. It finally fell and landed in the exact same spot, falcon head facing up at her again.

    The cats started preening their faces but Florence could have sworn it was to hide their smugness. She rolled her eyes and picked up the coin, stowing it in her purse again. They ate a small breakfast and began their walk down the central road, the sun was up but hidden by dark grey clouds. Florence was happy to be able to see where she was going, she could consult the map and rely on her own senses again.

    The tiredness was starting to set in however, they needed to find somewhere to rest otherwise she would be nearly useless to Quentin and Roxy. The cats didn't seem to need sleep, they were as alert and awake as ever while they led the way. They kept turning their heads to check on her however, they must have also been worried about getting her some rest.