Days later, Flindra looked across a
vast, rock strewn plain. As far as she could
see, there were rocks, boulders, and massive monoliths. She couldn't imagine what force of nature
could produce such a collection of rock debris.
It was if some gigantic force had hurled the rocks together. There was no order to the placement of the
rocks. It was a jumbled mess, which
would make crossing difficult.
It was late afternoon and the shadows
were long and blue against the ground.
The long shadows made the ground look as if there were gaping holes in
the earth. Flindra suppressed a shudder
as she looked across the boulder field.
On an instinctive level, she felt uneasy.
"Guide my steps, Spirit," she
prayed briefly. "Keep me
safe," she added in a whisper.
Flindra loosened the reins and let Deru
pick his own way. It wasn't long before he
discovered a game trail winding through the rocks. The path was in the general direction of the
pass so she let him continue on his chosen way.
The deepening shadows turned the
massive stones into bizarre shapes and forms.
Flindra was overcome by a nagging sense of danger. "Well Deru, I'm being a silly, little
girl letting a bunch of rocks make me afraid.
Leudh would laugh at me."
Talking to the horse made her feel better but the fear didn't go away.
She made camp by a spring that bubbled
from beneath a boulder. The water from
the spring trickled into a depression in the underlying rock forming a natural
basin. It was clean and clear and tasted
refreshing. She had a long drink before
she did anything else.
There was little grazing for Deru so
Flindra slipped a feedbag over his nose.
"Short rations for you tonight, Deru. Tomorrow should see us out of this and into
the mountains. Hopefully, the snow will
be shallow enough that you can dig your way to grass." She had enough grain to make it across the
pass but she knew the horse preferred to graze.
After her austere dinner was eaten and
the fire was only embers, Flindra spread her furs on the hard ground. She stretched out on her bed and wiggled,
trying to find a spot where a rock wasn't digging into her back. She finally had to put her saddle blankets
beneath her sleeping furs before the rocks no longer dug into her side.
Because her bed was so uncomfortable,
she couldn't sleep right away. With her
head pillowed on her saddle she looked up and gazed into the night sky. Tonight there was a new moon so the sky was
bright with stars. She looked at the
stars and picked out the familiar constellations. The Bear was still trying to catch the Horse
as they raced through the stars. The
Traveler always looked so burdened with his huge sack thrown over his
shoulder. Flindra felt a certain degree
of empathy for this stellar figure tonight.
Her burden was more emotional but it still weighed her down.
She laughed aloud as she realized how
silly it was to compare her situation to an imaginary figure in the sky. The laugh lightened her mood so she
surrendered to her blankets and closed her eyes.
"Beloved Spirit," she
whispered, "thank you for another day.
Bless my sleep tonight and guide my steps tomorrow. Thank you."
She was drifting off to sleep when
suddenly she became acutely aware of the crystal orb. It was in the bags that were still laced
across the saddle. Flindra hadn't
thought of the crystal since she had left home.
Without thinking, she reached into her saddlebag and found the
sphere. She immediately felt an intense
vibration as she clutched the crystal in her hand. It was as if the orb was suddenly pulsating
with life.
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