Chapter 17
"I wouldn't touch that if I were you."
"Why not? Look how pretty the flowers are."
Rommus put his hands on his hips as he watched Alana hover dangerously close to the plant. "That plant has a poison that will make you very sick. Some people get it worse than others, and in some rare cases, people have died."
Alana backed away from the vile bush growing from the rocky soil. "How can something so beautiful be so harmful?"
"Well I don't think a plant would do well if it had ugly flowers. Of course, we humans define beauty differently than an insect might, but those flowers are to attract insects, not humans. The poison is what the plant has to offer you. It keeps you away so that it can keep its flowers."
"But that's not fair," Alana said with exaggerated displeasure. "Look how the blue fades to white. Look at the swirling pattern of little dots. I want them."
"I don't think I'll ever understand females and flowers. It seems pretty silly to me. And flowers die, so why cherish them?"
"Because they are flowers," she said as if the statement stood on its own. "Usually a man gives a woman flowers and when we look at them, it reminds us of him and how he went out of his way to do something nice."
"Well, personally I'd rather have something I could keep forever. Anyway, come on we can't stay on this path for long. We need to get back into the woods before we get to that rise over there. We can be seen from a great distance after we reach that point."
"Is any of this looking like what you saw in the dream?" Alana asked as she pushed some unruly hair over an ear.
"No, I haven't seen anything from the dream in a while, but I'm familiar with these paths, so maybe that's affecting my memory."
"I'm still having a hard time believing you. How do I know that you didn't already know the path we were on and you just said it was from a dream?"
"I can't prove it to you, but I might be able to when we get to Vindyrion. I have never been there before but the dream showed me some of it. I would normally think it was just a simple dream if we had not found that old statue on its side in the brush. I am still having a hard time believing that a dream could show me such a thing, but there's no denying it now. I told you about it before we got there."
Alana looked at him from the corner of her eye as they walked. "Oh sure I believe you Rommus," she said sarcastically. "And what did the dream show you of Vindyrion?"
"It's hard to remember, but there were mountains. They were sharp and jagged, not like here. The sun was setting behind them in the red sky. There was snow at the tips of most, glowing pink from the last of the sun's rays. The people lived in towns for the most part, not in the cities. They had tall boots like yours, and dressed in dark colors. I saw no faces because they were all running away from something. I looked back to see what it was and there was nothing but darkness. It was strange though, it seemed darker than actual darkness could ever be. It was like any light that would ever shine again had no chance against it."
"Well Rommus, except for that part about darkness, you could have heard any of that from any Vindyri; and I have never seen any darkness like that there. I'm not impressed yet."
"Well there's more. There was water nearby, loud water like a great river. I never saw it but I heard it. There was a light that I first mistook for the sunset, but it was in the wrong place. As I was facing the real sunset, the light came from my right. Whenever I turned to it, it would fade and disappear. Then men in silver robes rushed past me and entered the darkness. Some of them bowed to me as they passed, but they hurried along and vanished in the blackness behind me. Then all the sounds around me bent into a new sound. It became a voice that came from the false sunset. I couldn't understand the words, but I knew what it wanted from me. It wanted me to come to it."
"And because of a dream you've decided to really go there? I'll tell you Rommus, I thought you were pretty smart, but to do what you see in a dream seems really silly to me. None of that stuff is in Vindyrion. You make it sound like it's full of magic and danger. It's just a place."
Rommus ran his fingers over the golden sword at his hip as he walked. "So there aren't mountains there with snow on them? There aren't people with high boots living in towns and men dressed in silver?"
"Well yes, those things are real, but don't you think you could have dreamed all that because of what I have told you or because of what you knew of Vindyrion before?"
"No, I don't. I know it sounds silly, but it wasn't a dream. It was something more; a vision or something. I have never been so haunted and inspired by a dream before. I have to go there, to the false sunset."
"Rommus, you sound ridiculous. There is only one sunset, no matter which land you're in. See the sun up there through the trees? There's only one. It hovers a hundred miles up there above us until Oderion commands it to set in the evening."
"Now who sounds ridiculous?" Rommus asked her with a smile.
"What do you mean?"
I mean two things. First, that the sun is not a hundred miles away. Second, it's ridiculous to think Oderion makes the sun set. But those things are yours to believe if you choose."
"Then just how far away is the sun, if you know so much?"
"I don't know how far away it is."
"Then how can you tell me I'm wrong? Many people believe the sun is a hundred miles away."
"I'm aware of that, but they're wrong. Have you been in a room with a candle before?" he asked.
"Of course I have. Don't be silly."
"Well what happens when you get close to the flame? What happens to your shadow behind you?"
She put her head down as she thought for a moment. "It gets bigger. The closer you get to the flame, the bigger your shadow gets."
"That's right," Rommus said as he stopped in a clearing in the woods. "It's because light comes out from the flame in all directions, and when you get close, you block more and more of it, not allowing it to hit the wall behind you. This makes your shadow bigger."
"I think I understand what you mean, but I don't see what a candle has to do with the sun."
"Hold out your hand like this." He held his hand out and she did the same. "Now look at the shadow on the ground."
She looked at the shadow of her hand and tried to determine what point he was trying to make. "I still don't see what you're getting at Rommus."
"What do you notice about the size of the shadow?"
"Nothing, it's just a normal shadow."
"It's the same size as your hand. Now kneel down and hold it closer to the ground."
She knelt and inspected the shadow of her hand. "It's still the same size!" she said with the first rays of understanding.
"Exactly. And I have seen the shadow of men's hammers as they worked on tall buildings and they are the same size as the hammer. I have seen huge rocks fired from Medoran ballistae shot high over my head, and they cast the same size shadow no matter how high they fly."
"Well why does this mean that the sun is not a hundred miles away?" she asked as she looked up at him.
"If it was near us at all, the shadows would change, just like they do in a room with a candle. My guess is that the sun is so incredibly far away that the slight difference in size cannot be detected. It's something that is difficult to prove though, since I don't know how much a shadow would change if the sun was only a hundred miles away. And it's hard to measure that anyway since shadows get blurrier as the objects get higher."
Alana straightened her shirt as she stood. "I don't know. I think I understand what you mean, but I'd need to see some hard evidence before I actually believe it."
Rommus laughed as they started walking once again. "But you don't need hard evidence to prove that Oderion magically makes the sun rise and set?"
"That's totally different. Everyone knows that Oderion controls the sun, moon and stars. What other explanation is there for it?"
Rommus looked up to the sky and paused a moment before he spoke. "There is anothe
r explanation, but I don't think you're ready to hear it yet. There are many explanations for things in the world. I think you should think about what I said about the shadows for a while, and maybe you'll come up with the answer yourself."
Alana's eyebrows wrinkled up at him as they walked. "And just who told you all these explanations Rommus?"
"No one."
"Then how did you discover them?"
"By thinking on the matters continually."
She shook her head at him in amazement. "I thought I had you all figured out, Rommus Tirinius. Now you have to go and say something impressive."
He smiled but he kept his gaze on the narrow dirt path before them. "I'm not trying to impress you; I just think it's important to understand things."
"Oh and he's modest too!" she said, teasing him.
They walked on for a while in the warm sun, weaving in and out of the forest onto different trails. Some were simply animal trails, and Rommus took them knowing they would lead to water where they could drink. He put water skins on the list in his head of things they needed to purchase at the next city or town. He also considered buying horses, but with the money they had, they would have very little money left over for food and supplies. For a moment he thought of just buying one horse, but it would have to be a massive animal to carry them both so far. He was certainly heavier than most ordinary men, and she was not petite like Mirra. She was tall and had a frame that was larger than a lot of women, although she still maintained an exquisitely feminine appearance.
Patches of sunlight moved lazily on the forest floor as they made their way back onto a more suitable trail. A gentle breeze cooled them as it rustled the leaves in the canopy overhead, weaving the sounds of nature into a pleasant song. Both of them took some time to be silent and enjoy the surroundings, content just to breathe the fresh air and walk together through such a glorious landscape. Rommus lost himself in his thoughts until he almost lost himself in the forest, forgetting where he was going.
"What about at dusk or dawn?" Alana asked.
Confused, Rommus jerked his head toward her. "What are you talking about?"
"You know, in the morning and in the evening the shadows are longer. Why are they not the same size at dusk and dawn?"
"Oh I see. They are the same size; it's just the angle of the sun that distorts them."
"But I have seen my own shadow stretch out for almost as far as I can see when the land is flat. How can you say it's the same size?"
Rommus scratched his head and twisted his face slightly as he thought of how to explain it to her. "I admit your shadow covers more area, but it's not larger. It's still exactly the same width, it's just that the sun is coming from a different angle. If there was suddenly a wall in front of you, and your shadow fell upon it instead of the ground, it would be normal again. Like I said it's all about the angle."
She brought her fingers to her mouth as she thought. "I think I understand, but I'd still like to test it somehow."
"Well maybe we'll get to test it sometime soon. We have quite a long ways to go before we get to where we're going, and there will be many sunsets between now and then."
"Rommus, what will you do when you get to this place? I mean, what is your plan?"
He breathed deeply and let out a quiet sigh. "I don't have a plan. I have never really had a plan for anything my whole life. Finally I see a light at the horizon?which is actually a light on the horizon, oddly enough?and I feel the need to go there. I don't know what waits for me, or if anything is there at all. All I can do is hope that there's some meaning to all of this."
She stared at him quietly for a moment before she replied. "Do you think that maybe you're dreaming about this light because of how you feel about life in general? Could it just be a way that your mind is trying to tell you what you're actually thinking?"
He ran his hand through his hair and down the back of his neck. "I don't know. I have never put much effort into unraveling the secrets in dreams. I do believe that they tell us what's going on deeper inside ourselves, but this one was different. There was this feeling, like this great importance to it. In other dreams, I could see why I dreamt them, but this was like it was something shown to me, not something I created in my own mind. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Well I have never experienced anything like that, but I can understand. I remember when I was little I would wake up from dreams because I realized I was dreaming. When I knew something was too strange to be real I would question it, and as soon as I did I would wake up."
"Yes I have done that a few times too. After a while, you can learn not to wake up. Once you know it's a dream and you can stay asleep, you can do anything you want. You can fly from here to the moon if you like. I have not had it happen in a long time though."
They walked on for a while in silence before she asked another question. "Rommus, how does the moon stay in the sky and not fall to the ground?"
"What makes you think I know the answer to that?"
"I was under the impression that you knew these kinds of things. Do you know?"
He smiled down to her as they walked. "I have an idea why, but I can't be certain it's correct."
She stared at him as he turned back to the path ahead of him. "Well are you going to tell me?" she said with exaggerated impatience.
"I think you had better figure out why the sun sets first, but I will give you a hint. It stays up there because it is falling."
She stopped walking abruptly and he had to stop and turn back to her. "Well, I was thinking you were more clever than I ever imagined, but now I'm convinced that you're just crazy."
"Crazy huh? We'll see about that. Just remember to be open to the idea. Not all things are easy to comprehend at first, but once you have a working knowledge of things, other things seem to fall into place around them."
Through an opening in the canopy above them, Rommus could see a dark gray mass of clouds far off to the east ahead of them. Although it was sunny and pleasant, he knew that within a few hours those clouds would bring rain. They would have to find shelter before the night, and he didn't think they could make it to a town before the storm. He shook his head, cursed his luck, and chose a new trail. He made an effort to find a path back to a paved road. Since the army used the roads to move swiftly through Medora, he was sure to find a campsite somewhere where there was some sort of shelter. He hoped that he could find a site where no soldiers were staying.
He didn't fully explain to Alana why he was taking these paths and trails, and he was glad she didn't ask. Of course it was faster to take the paved roads, but there was always a chance of running into the army, or worse, Mages. Aside from that, he was doing what he saw himself do in the dream. He thought that it was guiding him, and he didn't feel right ignoring it and sticking to the major roads. It was difficult to maintain a steady eastward course, but it was better than running into a group of Mages. He wasn't exactly sure that dead east was where he needed to be anyway.
"Where in Vindyrion did you say you were from? Burnhamheade?"
"No not Burnhamheade. I have been there, and it's not all that far from my town, but I live a little north of there."
He nodded his head as he walked. "Where is Burnhamheade in relation to where we are now? Is it northeast, or is it more east?"
"Well I can't tell where we are right now, but from Brinn it's northeast. It's a lot more east than north though."
"What is your northernmost town or city? Do you know?"
"There is an old deserted town that is up there somewhere, but I forget the name of it. The nearest town to it is called Reyth I think. I have never been there though and I don't know anything about either of those towns. I just remember seeing them on a map."
"Would Reyth be near jagged mountains and a loud river?"
"Well there are definitely mountains up there, but the river I am not sure about. If I had to guess I'd say there was some sort of river there, because we don't build aqueducts like you have here, w
e build our towns near water."
Rommus paused as he examined the dark gray clouds in the distance. "I think Reyth is where we need to go. Do you think you can find it?"
"I think so. It shouldn't be too hard since roads connect most of the towns. We can just ask someone where it is."
"I'd like to avoid as many people as we can. I don't want to alert anyone to our presence there. I know it's unlikely that anyone there knows who I am, but I don't know the relation between Silver and Black Mages. There's no telling who is looking for us."
"Well I understand how you don't want to draw attention to yourself, but Rommus, people are going to see that you're Medoran. You're going to stand out whether you like it or not."
"I know that. We'll have to deal with that when we get there."
Alana scratched at her arm. "Rommus are you sure you want to go to Reyth just because of a dream? It's a long way. What if we get there and we are out of money and we can't even eat?"
"We'll be careful. Besides, not all food comes from shops. We can find our own food if we need to. I thought a girl like you would be more resourceful." He smiled at the face she was making at his comment. "Are they going to bother us for carrying swords?"
"People are allowed to carry swords in Vindyrion, but you're Medoran. Some people might not trust you with one, so if I were you I'd find a cape or something so that you can at least conceal it somewhat."
"Yeah I was thinking of getting one anyway so that I can use it to sleep on. Black is probably the best for going through your land unnoticed, but I doubt I'll find any black fabric here in Medora. I guess I'll have to sleep on the hard ground until we get there."
"Well your father wore black."
He grabbed her by the arm and stopped her suddenly. "How do you know that?"
She seemed to stumble over her words before she could get them out. "Well, you told me he wore black, don't you remember?"
He studied her eyes for a moment before he answered. "No, I don't, but with everything that's been going on lately, I can see how I might have forgotten something so trivial." He let go of her arm and her shoulders relaxed.
They made their way down a long straight trail that led out of the dense forest. When they got to the edge of the wood, they crossed an open area that led to a paved road going north and south. Beyond the road was more dense forest, so if anyone saw them traveling, it would only be people on that same road. The Mages would have to be coming from the west, and they would have a hard time finding them through the thick woods. He decided to head north for a while and look for some sort of shelter that the army would have used along the way. If there was nothing built, he could always look for a cave or some other place to keep dry, but with no supplies, his options were slim.
A few strands of clouds quietly moved in from the east as they walked on the stone road. The storm was moving faster than he anticipated, and shortly after noticing the clouds above him, he heard the distant rolls of thunder. The air turned cooler, and the breeze picked up, but it seemed to irritate the leaves at the treetops more than it bothered anything else. Soon the bright sunlight fled and left only a muted gray light that blurred the shadows.
"Oh good," Rommus said, "we didn't pass it while we were in the woods."
"What didn't we pass?"
Rommus nodded up the road ahead of them. "There's a camp there, over that hill and off a side road. It's for the army but we'll be able to stay there as long as no one is there. There's nothing there to steal so they don't bother leaving guards. I just hope that Commander Soterus isn't keeping his troops there, but I don't think he would waste time camping so close to Taburdum. If I were him I'd be on my way as soon as possible."
"Will there be a place to get out of the rain?" Alana asked as she held her hair back against a sudden gust of wind.
"Of course there will be. It wouldn't do much good for an army to be cold and wet all the time. They have shelter there."
They walked along in the deepening gloom and reached the side road that led to the campsite. They turned right onto the road and headed east for about a mile before reaching the camp. When they got there, Alana stood with her mouth open.
"This is what you call a camp?" she asked.
"Yes. I know it looks a little fancy for what most would call a camp, but the army needs places like this for when troops are gathered."
"I wasn't expecting buildings. Most of them are made of stone. It's like a town almost, but lacking the charm."
"Well it might look nice and neat, but don't expect to sleep well here. The Medorans keep their soldiers uncomfortable on purpose. A comfortable soldier is a lazy soldier."
"I can see how that can be true, but what could be so uncomfortable about this place?"
"Well, it's not that bad. But you won't find any bedding here or blankets. I can't imagine it will get very cold though. We can build a fire if we can find some dry wood before it rains. There might be wood in one of the buildings."
"What about food? Do you think we'll have anything to eat tonight?"
"You know for someone so slender, you sure worry about eating an awful lot."
"For someone so big, you don't seem to worry about eating enough."
He laughed. "There might be something there but chances are slim. There's no one here to look after that sort of thing, so any food that is here is probably rotten. If we're lucky, Soterus and his men will have been through here and maybe there will be some fresh food they left behind. There will be water there though, but I don't think we'll be in the mood for much water with this storm coming."
Lightning flashed in her eyes. "Well let's find a place to get out of this weather. My hair is already a mess."
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