NOVEL NEXT Chapter 34: Down the Mountain
"More are coming. We should be moving now."
I jerked awake as the voice startled me. I sat up and looked around, and I saw that it was still dark and everyone was still asleep. Save for Father and Paul, who were standing near the ledge. I glanced around to see who had whispered in my ear, but I saw no one. Everyone else was sound asleep.
I gulped nervously. "Hello?" I whispered, yet I received no response.
Whatever that dream voice is, they weren't wrong before. I thought as I nervously got up off my bed roll and approached my father and Paul.
The two men silently stood there as they ate their morning rations. As I approached, Father's left ear twitched, and he turned to look at me.
"What is it, Luna?" He asked, "You still have a couple more hours before we get moving."
I gulped and said, "I-I had one of those dreams again. The one Isa told you about, more are coming, it said, and we need to move now."
"Excuse me?" Paul asked with a confused look. "Dreams?"
Father's face hardened, and he muttered a curse as he bit down on the last remaining piece of jerky and wiped his hands clean. "It's a long story. Yet my little seer here has a knack for telling us when bad stuff is coming." He smiled and patted me on the head. "And I say that in a good way."
Paul still looked immensely confused. "Okay then. What is coming?"
I shrugged. "Most likely those machines," I muttered. "I don't know why I know when they're coming, but they just are."
Father turned to Paul and said, "I'll leave the choice of your people up to you. Though I'm going to get my folks out." Father looked at me and said, "Go wake your brother and mother; I'll go around and get the others."
I nodded and ran towards Varis. I got down and shook him lightly. "Varis, it's time to get moving."
He groaned and shifted as he reached up to rub the crust from his eyes. He opened them and said, "I-It's still dark."
"I know, but we need to get moving fast," I said, and his eyes widened.
"I-Is there more of them coming?" He looked at me, and I bit my lower lip. I wanted to say no to not make him worry, but I didn't, and I nodded.
Without a word, he got out of his bedroll and began to roll it up. I then sneakily stepped around the others and went to Mother, who was sleeping on a spare bedroll one of the strangers provided. I bent over and gently shook her awake.
Her face contorted a little in protest, yet after a moment, her eyes slowly began to open, and upon seeing me, a goofy smile appeared on her face: "Hello, Sweat pea." She muttered softly and went to hug me, though I stopped her.
"I-I'm sorry, but we need to move. M-More of those things are coming," I said softly, and my mother's face shifted to one of surprise before scowling.
She then sighed and nodded. "Okay. Where's your father?"
I pointed to Papa, who was already gathering Isa and Peter, who were branching off to get the others. Mother nodded and smiled at me. "Thank you, Sweetie." She leaned up and kissed my cheek. "Go get your stuff."
I nodded, turned around, and went back over to Varis, who was kind enough to roll up my bedroll. He handed me my bag and items, and I made sure everything was there.
It seemed that Paul decided to heed my warning as he went around gathering his people as well. Thank God, he's going with his gut feeling. I thought to myself but stopped as my ears twitched.
The sound of something rippling through the air turned my attention upwards as, falling from the sky with a stream of mist trailing behind it, a large, cylinder-like object flew overhead and collided with the earth in a dense woodland at the base of the mountain. I saw the plume of smoke and debris first before the sound of the roaring impact reached us.
For those who were asleep, they are now awake. As folk gasped and muttered to one another before finally someone said what was all on our minds, "What the fuck was that?!"
"Some form of Rusivite artillery?" Paul muttered.
Peter stepped past me and went towards the ledge, hands over his eyes, as he squinted towards the forest fire that was brewing in the distance around the impact site. "Bloody massive shell if that was from artillery. Gods can only dream how big the gun is that fired it."
"How in the hell could they have gotten their artillery to the front so quickly?" Paul said it with disbelief as my father raised his voice.
"If the Rusivites are starting their morning shelling, most likely that means they're about to push! Everyone, we're moving out now! Grab what you can and lets go!"
As dawn's light began to grace the world, we continued down the mountain path. Sometime after sunrise, the sound of one of those cylindrical shells flew over our heads again and pounded into the earth many, many miles ahead. Yet the shockwave of the impact was still felt as the earth trembled beneath our feet.
It must be some massive railway gun, I thought to myself, like the Germans used in World War II, just even bigger. I bit my lower lip. It had to be something like that, right? Even in a fantasy world, there's got to be limits to the absurdity of it all!
"What did you see in your dream?" Isa asked, her voice snapping me out of my thoughts, and I turned to look at her as we made our way down the road.
I thought back and tried to recall what I saw, but nothing came to mind. Only the voice.
I shook my head. "Nothing. At least that I can remember, but I heard a voice. Like someone hovering just above my right ear," I said as I tapped my long, pointy ear.
Isa's face scrunched a bit as she thought and pursed her lips. "What about the night before? Anything then?"
I thought again. "I felt like I was watching myself sleep. Then someone appeared before me, but I couldn't see them. It was the same voice as yesterday morning." I tried to mimic the voice, forcibly lowering my voice to sound like a mountain and speaking monotonously, "Northeast, ten miles; there are three of them, and they're coming rapidly."
Isa's eyes widened a bit. "Ten miles?" She thought. "I have never heard of that unit of measurement. Do you know?"
Ah shit, I did it again. Maybe I can play it off as something from the dream? Yet even then, how would the dream know too? Do I just have an uncanny ability to sense danger? Or is someone, or something, out there guiding me? Even then, how would it know what measurements to use to guide me? Can they see my memories?
I shrugged. "I think it's like gilos or something. It's just what this dream guy said."
"Have you seen the being?" Isa asked, and I shook my head.
"Perhaps there's something more to your dreams than simply being awakened," Isa muttered. "Cailynn, can you slow down for a second?" Isa called my mother, who was up ahead. She stopped, looked back at us, and allowed us to catch up.
After briefly explaining what I had told Isa, my mother stroked her chin. "It is possible to project one's ethereal self into another's dream. The spell alone is called Halicaster's Dream Visit. At least he's the first documented person to use this spell. Such a spell is very powerful; even for my tier as an Ethereal Arcon, it would take a lot out of me to even attempt to cast such a spell. Most likely meaning that whoever cast such a spell to speak to Luna would have to be a Celestial Magus."
Isa pursed her lips once more and said, "Very few of those exist, and those that do are all within the Magus Concordium."
I raised my hand like a child in school, and both Momma and Isa glanced at me. "If that's the case," I said, "How would they even know about me?"
Mother thought and sighed. "Possibly through me. Ever since I left the Concordium, I wouldn't be surprised if the Sovereign Right or the Concodrium have been spying on me."
Isa shook her head. "That would raise the question then as to how they would even know about Rusivite movements." She stroked her chin. "Something doesn't seem quite right."
Mother took a deep breath and placed both hands behind her head as she arched her back and cracked it with a small grunt. "Whatever or whoever this is," she said, stretching. "They're helping Luna and, in turn, us. To which I owe them my thanks." She smirked and looked at me.
I smiled and nodded happily.
Isa took a breath. "Well, still, I would like to know who they are. Luna," she said, looking at me. "If you learn anything else, please let me know right away."
I nodded. "Okay, I'll try my best."
As morning drifted into noon, we were starting to reach the base of the Duskland mountains. I learned from my mother that we were entering the aptly named "Duskwood," which looked just as creepy as it sounded. The trees here, I learned, were called Cadances due to the noise the trees make in the breeze. They were covered in small, little holes, like woodpecker homes, which, when the wind blew, made a sound like that of blowing over the lip of a bottle. It was quite soothing, to be honest. As the mountain breeze came from above and over the trees, the woods came to life like a symphony.
Yet this symphony would soon be interrupted as, over our heads, the sound of rippling air, followed by the screeching impact of another cylinder striking the earth just miles away from us, now sent us all diving to the ground as the shockwave and trembling earth slammed into us.
"By the gods!" I heard Father and Mr. Olson shout as we all slowly got to our feet and looked to the north. We could see a mushroom cloud peaking over the tree line.
"That one landed nearby," Herbert muttered as he grabbed Mila, who was sobbing once again.
"Aye," Mr. Olson said as he checked over his kids and wife. "I have no idea what they're aiming for, but we should keep moving."
"Agreed," Father said. "We should be able to reach the ferry crossing come nightfall." He pushed himself to his feet.
I took a deep breath, stood up, and checked on Varis, who was already pushing himself up.
Mr. Olson reached into his bag and pulled out his map. "If memory serves me right, the path we were taking should take us near one of the impact sites we saw up on the mountain."
"It might be best we avoid it then," Father said. "I have no idea what could've been in those large shells."
"Aye." Olson nodded in agreement.
I felt my mother pat me on the back. "How are you? Did you hurt yourself?" I shook my head. "No, I'm okay. I just scraped my knee a little when diving down."
Mother nodded and straightened up. After we finished checking on each other, Father checked in on Paul's people, and everyone was all set.
We traveled for a few more hours, with the afternoon bleeding into the evening. Another one of those cylindrical pods came crashing down, though this one was much to the northwest. We were able to reach the edge of the Duskwoods and have now made it to the wide rolling fields and farmland.
Father instructed that we make a detour once we reached this point, as up ahead, we saw a crater. From where we stood at the edge of the forest, I could faintly see what looked to be a large cylinder jutting from the earth. It's black and silver, and on it, the red paint of a bear partially sticks out from the dirt.
What the fuck is that, some kind of bomb? I wondered as I squinted at the distant object. From where we were, I knew whatever that thing was—it was massive. The amount of energy an object would need to get propelled here must've been immense.
"We're going to cut through the fields. The trek will be rough, so keep an eye out for any holes or covered rocks. I'd hate for someone to trip and break their leg." Father said to us, and word was passed down the line.
The trip was going to take a little bit longer due to our detour. As we continued off-road, I spotted military convoys blocking much of the road as soldiers began to arrive at the impact site we were maneuvering around.
I bit my lower lip as we continued moving and tried not to pay too much attention to the large object that now sat ominously on the horizon of my vision. Gradually, as time went on, the sun began to set as we clambered over a large hill, and upon reaching its peak, a new town came into view on the coast of Kenchala Lake. The town was packed and brimming with people, and the distant sound of a foghorn perked my attention as we could hear distant shouting and constable whistles.
People are rushing to get the hell out of here, like us. I thought to myself.
"We made it to Kassel," Father said softly as we reached the top. He pointed down to a grove between us and the town. "Once we get through those trees, we should be clear." He pointed to the edge of town. "The military has much of this place cordoned off and fortified. Hopefully, that should stop anything that gets near us."
"One can hope," Isa said softly.
With a deep breath and sore legs, we made our way down the slope of the hill and towards the grove, hoping we could reach the ferry to get out of there.