David Bishop and the Legend of the Orb by T.C. Crawford (tools of titans ebook .txt) 📕

last thing he remembered was the intense beating of his heart before all was dark and silent.

Chapter XII

David woke with a start, searching left and right for the building and the mysterious people who invaded his dreams, but he was back in his makeshift bed just a couple of feet from Erin, who was still fast asleep.

He sat up, rubbing his head, looking around the camp. Orin was up gathering berries from a nearby bush and Rex was nowhere to be found, probably out scouting the area, David assumed.

He got up and brushed off the weariness from his eyes. What a strange dream, he thought. He recalled the events of the dream and the words the mysterious beings had said. “Follow the Northern Pass and you will find the answers”.

What does that even mean?

He shook it off and decided to go ask Orin what he thought they should do next. They were safe for the time being, but he knew the soldiers wouldn’t stop searching for them and it would only be a matter of time before they were caught if they didn’t get moving soon.

“Ah you’re awake. Good. You can help me get some water from the stream.” Orin said when he saw David walking towards him. He handed him a small wooden bucket he had made out of thin, twisted branches that he had lined with clay before pointing in the direction towards the stream.

David gladly went about the task, anticipating the fresh cool water that would soon be at his disposal. He was extremely thirsty.

When he reached the stream, David dipped his hands in the cool water and gulped down a few mouthfuls of the crystal-clear water. It was refreshing and cold.

Once his thirst was quenched, he filled the bucket with the water and headed back to the campsite. Upon his return he saw that Erin was up and moving around, gathering up the dried meat and packing it to keep it away from the insects. David set the bucket of water down and went to see how Erin was doing.

“How’s it going?” She asked with a smile when she saw him approaching.

“Good now that I got some water, I was parched.” he replied with a slight smile. “How about you, did you get some good rest last night?”

“Yeah, I suppose as good as I could, given the circumstances. I had some terrible dreams though. I couldn’t stop dreaming about soldiers coming and taking us away in the night, it left me kind of restless.”

“Yeah…I know what you mean. I had some strange dreams myself…” He rubbed his shoulder and told Erin about the dream he had during the night.

“That’s strange…” Erin replied, with a curious look. “That sounds like the Mystics were trying to communicate with you.”

“So, you think that those beings in my dream were the Mystics?” asked David.

“I don’t know for certain, but it sounds like it could have been. Your description matches almost perfectly what the old writings say, ‘They were bathed in the light of the Supreme Being and spoke as one but many’.” explained Erin.

“And they said the General was going to try to open the Dark Abyss? I wonder how he plans on doing that?” She sat thinking for a moment before continuing, “The Northern Pass…that’s a pass leading up the Draconian Mountains just south of the Great Plains. It leads to a region called Ravenfell. It’s home to a sprawling community of mountain-folk, mostly a bunch of brutes who defected after the war.”

“Yeah, that’s what they said” replied David, scratching his head. “I wonder why they want me to go North, when Eldergate is East…”

“I’m not sure,” said Erin, “but if that’s where they are saying you should go, maybe we should talk to Orin and Rex and see if they can think of anything that would be useful for us there?”

“Yeah…that’s probably a good idea,” agreed David.

The two of them hurried along and finished cleaning up the camp. When they were all set for the road ahead they decided to sit with Orin and eat a few handfuls of berries and strips of dried meat from the night before while they all waited on Rex to come back from wherever he went off to. They figured their questions could wait until both Rex and Orin were present, so they could discuss their options all at once.

✽✽✽

An hour or so later Rex returned from the forest with a grim look on his face.

“You’re not going to like the news I have for you.” he said solemnly. The companions gathered close to hear what the barbarian had discovered.

“While I was waiting on you all to get up, I decided to go back to town and see what was going on. It was all a mess. The whole town’s been ransacked and is full of soldiers from the Royal Guard. I think they were all looking for you. I heard them talking to a group of men from the town. They were saying something about King Eldergate being imprisoned…along with some Elder.”

Erin gasped, “So the King isn’t dead!” She quickly shared a look with David at the news, “and the Elder…that must be Tyrius! That explains the sudden disturbance that caused the Elder’s to leave so suddenly. He must be in trouble!” she shouted, renewed worry beginning to build for her mentor and friend. She had all but forgotten he had gone to the palace to speak to the King just before all of this craziness started to go down.

“If the King is alive and he and Tyrius are in trouble, we have to go help them, before it’s too late!” cried Erin, panic-stricken.

“But I thought the Elders already went to go help him?” said David, reminding Erin of their hasty disappearance back in the capital.

“You’re right…that must mean…” she gasped, putting her hand over her face in horror. “They…failed…”

“No let’s not jump to conclusions so hastily!” chimed in Orin. “The Elders are much