Waking of Tuesday, May 2, 2017 ~ 2
Toffa was the man’s name. The old
man at the stable who had asked me to go find the white horse.
I didn’t dare show him until after
I’d registered him though; he is willful.
A proud and powerful beast. <3
Toffa was shocked and delighted and
dumbfounded and just full of joy. The sight of the pure white horse!
“Son, you just made my life,” he
said, “I guess staying alive in this godforsaken land was worth it after all.”
The stories from his grandfather were
true. This must have been some grandchild of that stallion from long ago, and
it was magnificent. He became wistful. “They say the sight of the Princess
riding her white horse was a beauty beyond all words,” he said.
He was so happy to have seen the white
horse, that he gave me—the Royal Family’s
saddle and bridle?
They were the very same. The same
from my memory.
Augh,
and how splendid Memory looked
wearing them.
Regal and handsome.
I do wonder where and how Toffa came
by that tack....
I rode Memory over the road north,
all the way to the base of a big hill where we saw a moblin lurking around a
bit higher up, and then back again to the stable. Just for us to get a bit more
used to each other. The piano rollicked along in our wake all the way like
sunlit raindrops, cadencing perfectly
when we stopped.
But after that I boarded him again;
there were no guarantees of flat ground where I was headed. The Stables would
take good care of him while I was out.
I headed north again on foot,
crossed Manhala Bridge, crested Sanadin Park Hill, and jogged across the skirts
of Satori Mountain. A wide green field lay at its foot to my left—it again
looked like a gorgeous place to have a row with something big and mean....
I didn’t stray into it, but kept
near the river.
It was quite a long trek, and the
rain came again before the end of it, this time with lightning. Strange, it’s
become second nature to just switch to non-conductive gear; and if the ground
beside me is flash-fried in an earthshaking bolt of electricity, I hardly even
bat my eyes anymore at the little grassfires that may be left over.
I neared a very sticky bridge—I mean the sight of it
made it seem comprised of just such a mess of sticks.
Was this the rickety-looking bridge
I’d seen from below....?
Jeddo
Bridge it was called. And shortly before I set foot upon it, I heard once
again the sweet, poignant little waltz played on an accordion....
Through the downpour’s haze I could
just make out, on the other side of the bridge, perched atop a big craggy
hillock like a one-man stage.... Kass.
Joying out his song to the wild wild rain in sweetloving abandon like he does.
I love that guy. <3
As I crossed the bridge I could
tell it wasn’t as rickety as it looked—but did it ever look it. If I didn’t know any better I’d say something huge had
taken bites out of it.
Come to think of it, I guess I
really didn’t know any better. o.O
I could see the river far below.
This was the split that I had been
looking for! Excellent.
But I had little time to celebrate
because just before I reached the other side of the bridge, three stalmoblins burrowed up out of it and laid me out flat. I very nearly plummeted into the
gorge, but only just managed to cling onto the stone just below the bridgeplanks—but
I wouldn’t be able to hold on for long in this rain....!
But I looked, and there was a
little ledge just below me. I dropped down onto it and sheltered beneath the northern
end of the bridge for a while, the stalmoblins jabbing stupidly in my general
direction with their spears. But they lost track of me momentarily and only
snorfled around for some sign of anything else to harass.
I couldn’t very well climb back
up.... I’d make a beautiful target until I reached the top. And besides that it
was still raining.
I guessed I’d just have to wait for
a change in the weather, or daybreak. Or both.
At length the stalmoblins
disappeared and I did make it up to see Kass.
He hadn’t heard me come up on him;
he was thinking about his teacher, who had passed away a long time ago. He
played me the last song his teacher had taught him, and it spoke a riddle of a
single arrow passing through two rings to make a shrine appear....
“Do you suppose it means all these
strangely-shaped rocks?” Kass suggested, for there were numerous rings carved from jutting stones all around.
An Odyssean challenge!
Well! :D
I went to it.
It was tricky, as the land was so
hilly and angled, and some blue chuchus interrupted me, but eventually I found
a couple of rings I could thread a single arrow through. And as I did, the shrine
of Sheem Dagoze rumbled out of the
earth....
“Kass, look what I did!” I ran back
to show him. He was politely astounded. ^_^
I had a warpable right at the root of the split I needed
to search. Excellent!
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