Chapter XXXVII: To Zeo (Cont. V)
“What the hell was that?!” West and the others had begun to move towards the three, the brief confrontation jarring them into reality again.
“I don’t know,” Adelia said with a genuinely stunned look.
Samden glanced down at the elven priestess, she stared up into the sky as if dead. “Well, then I guess we head for the mountains.”
The priestess slowly began to exhale, as if upon her final breath. A whisper of words came from her voice, the group gathering to listen. “Zeo shall not let magic live. Beware the shadows that hunt the thauma.” And with that, she fell back, breathing slowly and lightly.
“What the hell is happening here?” West puffed on his cigarette and stared down at the elf who lay silently, her breathing barely audible.
Adelia stared down, knowing all too well the feeling. “It’s visionary shock. A vision has fallen upon her, but she’s been overwhelmed by it. It’s probably the first vision or premonition she’s ever had.” There was a slight hint of envy in Adelia’s voice, though none but Blackheart noticed it there. “She’ll get better. Her senses are just trying to recover from the shock. We have to get moving, she’ll be fine.” Adelia’s voice cut through the rain.
For the first time, Blackheart sensed a change coming over Adelia. There was a coldness about her now, a distance that wasn’t there before. So often she had poured her very heart into her words, now she seemed guarded–tense. He couldn’t quite understand why, yet, but it didn’t really matter. All he needed to do now, was watch her closely and, when the time came, he’d discover just what it was she was still hiding. He glanced over at West, who was staring at Adelia, too. The man was incredibly smart, Blackheart had to concede. He turned quickly back to Adelia. “What do we do now?”
Adelia stared down at the old woman, her eyes fixed on the old woman’s eyes. What was it like to feel the vision come upon you like a surprise? She had never known. All her life she had shown the gift and when she had been taught how to take advantage of the time stream, it had seemed so common, so ordinary to do so. She knew it wasn’t, but it came to her in such a way that she couldn’t help but treat it nonchalantly. But here was a woman who had never had the gift, who never wanted the gift, who had been struck with a vision solely to save this travelling group from death or from a fate worse than death. She could feel the lingering image of a red flicker in the priestess’ mind, but nothing more. The two women’s eyes locked and as Adelia focused, she could sense something wrong with the red now….something not quite right about it……
“Adelia?” She snapped back up, her eyes locking with Blackheart, who stared at her with a little bit of confusion.
“We go up into the mountains. I’m sure that I can feel the waves resonating from the gateway chamber…..if I focus.” She turned and started off through the woods. The others glanced at each other for a few moments, then set off up the mountain. West and Blackheart lagged back.
West thoughtfully puffed on his cigarette, which managed to stay alight in the icy rain that poured down and froze the ground a faint white. “Something’s wrong with the girl,” he said at last, letting a cloud of smoke roll out and drift into the wind. He glanced sidelong at Blackheart, who continued to stare at the ground in deep thought.
“Yes,” Blackheart said at last, glancing up at the others who travelled on without a sound. Gobudo seemed more distant than usual, Eza having finally given up on conversing with him. She lay on his shoulder, sleeping. Kiki marched along, eyes searching for anything edible that wasn’t vegetation. Thyrus continued to chatter on to Laura, who listened politely to his dronings on, moving herself along with her staff. She glanced back at the two, smiling at Blackheart. He smiled back.