Chapter Three, Reading # 34

She opened her eyes and noticed the orb no longer glowed when directed north. Flindra guessed it would shine when pointed to the east since that was the direction to the pass over the Greyfell Mountains. Instead, it glowed when she rotated it to the west. She reined Deru in a westerly direction and urged him into a trot for he could keep up this gait for hours. She wanted to go faster but she couldn't run him into exhaustion. As frightened as she was she couldn't abandon good judgment in her hurry to escape.
As the night progressed, Flindra continued to follow the directions of the crystal sphere. It guided her west and then north so by dawn she was at the northwestern perimeter of the great boulder field. Ahead of her was the place where the Greyfell Mountains met and were absorbed by the larger range named the Great Barrier Mountains.
The Great Barrier Mountains ran roughly north south for the length of the continent and provided a geographic barrier between Ostar and Wesperos. Flindra had never heard of a pass through the mountains here and wondered how she would complete her quest to find her way to the Northern Reaches. The crystal indicated that she should continue due north so she accepted the crystal's advice on faith. The orb seemed to be a tool of the Spirit so she trusted its directions.
Flindra was aware that Deru needed to rest before they could continue. At the same time, she felt it was unwise to wait. She compromised. Dismounting, Flindra loosened the girth on the saddle. Then she gathered the reins in her hand and started to walk, leading Deru. To keep up her own strength she nibbled on a piece of jerky.
She placed the crystal sphere in the breast pocket of her tunic. Flindra had noticed it got a little warm when it glowed. She could feel the warmth through the pocket and could stay on the correct path without always looking at the orb, which freed a hand for other things.
At the foot of the mountains, Flindra found a fast moving creek. She let Deru take a long drink of the clear water. She moved upstream of him and refilled her water bags. It was a little surprising to find the creek here since she hadn't seen evidence of it out in the boulder field. The water must seep underground once it intercepted the rock-strewn valley. That could also explain the existence of the numerous springs she had encountered.