Alligator Eyes

Chapter 4

Jinyoung wakes them up before sunrise the next day. They eat a simple breakfast of meat and apples off the cart before packing up and heading out. Mark thinks he looks agitated, more so than usual. But he's happy that they are going again. He wants this over with as quickly as possible.

"Idris isn't far from here, we should be able to make it before nightfall." Jinyoung calls back to them, folding up the map and stuffing it back in his pocket.

As they move towards the mountains the clouds move in. Chasing them until they overtake them, dark and thick, they know it will rain.

"It's only been two days and I already feel like I've spent my life in this cart" BamBam laughs, settling next to Mark.

"Yes, I don't really like riding in carts either"

"Are you feeling any better?"

"Yes, sleeping always helps me. I dreamt I was a frog"

"A frog?"

"Yes, I was looking for my pond and it was rainy and dark. I was very cold."

"That's an odd dream... do you always remember your dreams?"

"Most nights," Mark shrugs, he never considered it strange because in Reopa it's not. When he was younger he often told the seer his dreams, and she would tell them what they meant. This one wasn't so technical, he could guess, easy as anything, that it was about his literal journey to the old city. He wonders though, why the frog in his dream was looking for home, and where that might have been.

"That's interesting, I almost never remember my dreams" BamBam leans back as Mark does against the crates. Mark appreciates that BamBam goes out of his way to talk to him and learn about him.

"The Auja used to say that dreams were our connection to the future, and the past, shown to us in the present. It's up to us to figure out which way they are coming from and why" Mark looks up at the clouds and smiles, faintly. "It will rain today, just like in my dream"

"What's an Auja?"

"A wise woman. A seer, she can read the prophecies and old stories left to us"

"That is fascinating, I've never heard of anything like that"

"It's nothing special, plenty of old tribes have them, crazy old people who call themselves prophets" Jackson says, dismissively.

"You would dismiss anything that didn't come from your world, she isn't crazy and she isn't a prophet—"

"'Auja' whatever, it's all the same" Jackson interrupts.

"It isn't the same!"

"Hey kids, no fighting or I will turn this cart around" Jinyoung threatens them from the front, clearly not bothered by their arguing in the slightest.

It's just a long day of driving the cart and Mark is beginning to feel bad for the horse. He is also going a bit stir crazy, desperate to get out and stretch his legs. But they've shown no signs of stopping.

It only gets worse when it finally starts to pour, the rain coming down in torrents. They reach Idris with the sun going down behind the clouds, painting the sky purple. They find an inn near the center of town and decide to stay the night.

After parking the cart around back and putting the horse in the stable, they all go into the inn to ask if they have any available rooms for the night.

"Sure we do, but you'll have to share."

"That's fine, the seven of us can cram in just fine, if there's plenty of floor space" Jinyoung smiles, leaning on the counter.