The Fairy Diary Day 682 #TFDbyRWOz2

Meribabell writes:

We passed into the pixie territory under lowering skies before midday. A storm appeared to be brewing ahead in the direction of our destination. We could not see Gilgorgon’s mountain as of yet, but the gathering blackness seemed to be settling over its general location.

My companions did not like the look of it. Nor did I.

About that same time the voice from Dunfallon’s ring was intoning an alarm urging us to be on the alert. And the pendants on my chest throbbed in unison.

I passed the word to our escort to be vigilant. And Dunfallon ordered his soldier less weapons to close ranks around the cages. Rumble reined in Cluyjil to a steady walk.

I felt a rush of air behind me and turned about in time to see a black bird swoop down from the sky and attempt to close its talons on one of the cages. It missed. I notched an arrow to my bow and let it fly after the retreating bird. It caught one of its wings and the bird spun to the ground, bursting into flame upon impact.

We halted and sent the escort back to retrieve the remains. They returned, bearing only the arrow, and reported that dust was all that remained of the bird.

Rumble interrogated the Caretaker afterwards, but he could give no answer to his questions, and protested that neither he nor the renegade queen had ever seen the like before.

The thing of it is, we had.

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Day Eight Hundred Twenty Six #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

Come morning I thought it time to shake the dust from our feet and move on. Elijah concurred in my assessment, but Quasimo was unwilling to leave as of yet.

Elijah and I considered continuing on without him. We were out of danger in so far as pursuit was concerned. And we had no real need for his guidance anymore, but we both sensed that he needed ours. Or more to the point he knows not how to follow the lead of the Spirit and we felt the responsibility to be sure that he knows before we part.

We then decided simultaneously that we had to be sure ourselves about our next move.

So we felt no guilt in staying.

Day Eight Hundred Two #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

We avoided the center of the riverbed. It was too swollen with dust, making movement nigh impossible. In addition staying on the edges had the happy result of insulating us from the roar of the road traffic.

Our friends were much in our thoughts and prayers as Elijah and I went along. I must say I miss Tomas’s intrepid oversight of our band. And the thought that he doubtless continues in that capacity, cheers me.

As we trekked onward, the soil became more sandy, the air more arid. Yet the view ahead did not look at all like a desert. Instead the landscape was green and lush, stretching to the horizon across which was spread the megapolis that is Babylon.

Day Four Hundred Ninety Two #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

We made some unsettling discoveries after the truck sighting. It effected our choice of shelter and our security consciousness.

Detritus in front of one building led us to surmise that the truck had been positioned outside. We entered. In Elijah’s evaluation it was a temple of some kind. I had the same thought, but was puzzled at its barrenness. But then with that truck, its contents could have been carted away easily.

Then around in a candle lit alcove the image of Stan looked benignly down upon us.

We left immediately and looked for a place to rest far away from that edifice.

A fitful day passed with frequent watch changes.

Come night we shook its dust from our feet.

Day Four Hundred Thirty Nine #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

The dust of many a mile had coated our limbs by our arrival before the walls of this port city. And like we found its sister port on the mainland behind us, no gates were open. And no one presented themselves to greet us or send us away.

Elijah set our immediate agenda. We washed off in a public fountain outside a closed gate. Then we proceeded to skirt around to the nearest point from which to view the harbor.

He judged the day too far spent to allow us time to trek around to the far side of the city. So we set up camp and built a larger than usual fire.

Perhaps they will come out to us.