Saturday, September 17, 2005

   Chapter 7: Lucifer (part 1)
It wasn’t until high noon that they stopped to eat and rest at an inn. Pen finally managed to separate himself from Nomei when they went into the building, finding a seat at the far end of a long table where Tory and her friends had already taken seats. He watched as the others ate; food made him sick, and he never understood why everyone made such a big deal over it.
After an hour to rest, the group made off again. Pen made sure to choose a place as far away from the lady soldier as possible, but she seemed to have talked herself out for the day. She, too, walked in silence along the main trail, herding along the group of kids. Contra took up the back this time, on foot; his horse was still away somewhere, grazing. She caught up with them a few hours later, where her rider allowed her to walk alongside until nightfall.
The kids were tired when they finally stopped for the night. The soldiers had found a nice expanse of mossy ground at the side of the trail, on which they spread oiled leather sheets to keep the moisture out and cloth blankets for warmth.
The exhausted children were too tired to complain about the nature matress. After stacking their backpacks away, they curled up together on top of the “bed,” using each other as pillows and for warmth. They looked like a big pile of puppies after an extremely exciting day.
Pen was not amongst them. He sat alone with his back against a tree with Lucaya leaned against his chest. He watched as the soldiers settled down for the night, most of them laying down to sleep, with only a few staying awake on watch. He knew that these would change shifts with others half-way through the night, and the next day those who got to sleep the night through would be the ones to watch.
Akana, the horse, was nowhere in sight. Contra was sitting against a tree facing away from the camp and to the forest; Panda doing the same on the opposite side of the group, leaning against Keion instead of a tree. After a while, they both appeared to be sleeping.
As complete darkness fell, the forest began to awaken. Little sounds sprang up everywhere. Pen closed his eyes, letting his senses go free. It was as close to sleeping as he ever got.

That was how they spent the next three days. They would walk for hours straight, stopping at inns to eat or trading food off merchants that they came across. The kids grew accustomed to the schedule and to each other. As they walked, more elf-kids joined the University Caravan. The group became larger. By the time they reached Goswen Port at the end of the fourth day, there were about three or four dozen kids gathered together.
The port was even larger than Quont-Ein, possibly because the houses were more spread out. Nearly everything in the town was brown, from the wooden houses, to the plain dirt streets, to the practical clothing that all the travelers wore. There were lots of interesting things to be traded, but they did not have the time.
Many people greeted them with smiles and congratulations as the University Caravan shepherded the kids to a large inn overlooking the Acheron river. There, they took baths and ate dinner in shifts, before they were all assigned rooms for the night.
Pen was sitting at a table, waiting for the soldiers to give him a room, when a draft of cool air brought his attention to the door. Panda was greeting someone dressed in a long, black cloak, whose face was hidden beneath a large hood. The two exchanged words that Pen could not hear over the chatter of the remaining kids and the soldiers. Then, Panda led the person up the stairs to the rooms.
The black-eyed boy gave it no more thought, shifting his ears to the travelers seated near him.
“… them intruments sold well, though.”
“Really? Well, who’d ‘a thought that?”
“The folks ‘ve got time now to play ‘em an’ listen. They couldn’t do that before now, right, with the war an’ all. It was all “fight fight fight” back then, ya know.”
“Weapons ‘re still going, too, though.”
“Yeah, well, they still wanna protect themselves. A lotta wild magic has sprun up in forests lately.”
“They should send Havoc or something to go sort out those crazy wizards.”
“They’re thinking there’s only one mind behind it all though, a’ least that’s what I heard…”
“Pen,” Panda interrupted his hearing, “I can show your room now. Unless you want to keep listening…”
“No, I’m coming,” the boy said, not knowing how the angel knew that he had been eavesdropping on the travelers. He followed Panda up three flights of stairs to one of the higher stories of the inn.
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