Saturday, October 22, 2005

   Chapter 14: Girls (part 1)
“Wow,” breathed the angel with pink wings, her brown hair streaming in the cool breeze from the mountains. They stood together, speechless and spellbound by what they saw, not even realizing it at first when more and more groups from the Caravan gathered at the top of the slope to watch the suns rise.
“It’s so… amazing,” the other angel-friend of Tory’s group—the one with the blue-gray wings—finally said, her voice hardly louder than a whisper.
“Yeah,” Lucifer agreed, a smile spread across his whole face. His eyes were filled with memories and knowledge; mountains were his home, regardless of which they were.
“It will a hard path ahead,” Sharp announced, his voice carrying over the crowd of kids.
“From now on,” Nano said, riding over the slope and pacing Lyanni on the edge of the water before them, “the rest of the way will be against the current. It will be hard, slow work. There will only be one meal a day, for we cannot bring any more.” She pointed to the River Lethe in the distance. “There are only certain places where we can stop. Until we reach them, we have no choice but to keep moving!”
With those words, Lyanni sprang into the sky and wheeled above them, her wings shining like steel.
“Also, keep in mind that there are many predators that call these mountains their home,” Panda added from behind them, his tone—like that of the others—adopting unusual authority and wholesome seriousness. “Getting to University is not an easy task. We will protect you to the very best of our ability, but we are not as powerful as the mountains. Protect yourselves. Protect each other.”
The boys caught each others’ eyes, and the girls did the same. And, almost without noticing it, the two groups exchanged kindly glances; the circles of friends overlapped and merged.
Tory caught Pen’s eyes and smiled cheerfully, but he turned away quickly, unsure of what to make of the girls’ friendliness. He felt insecure about opening up to them. It wasn’t like him to be sociable; it wasn’t like him to care about anyone.
“Get your boats,” Sharp ordered. “We will leave now, while the day is still young. The first stretch of the river is always the longest.”
As the kids started to flood back down the slope, talking, Pen cast one last look to the mountains. He froze.
The fog at the edge of the Lethe broke apart, and there was the shadow of something huge and white, standing at the water, staring directly at them. For some reason unknown to him, shivers ran through his entire body. But as soon as Pen blinked, it had disappeared, leaving him to wonder if it had just been a trick of the fog and the light. He gave it no more thought, turning around and trotting after his friends, down the hill to the boats.
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