The rain poured down on us all night long. Between the rain, the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements (I hate sleeping on the ground!) and my mind racing with thoughts of nightmares and of Jakob, I didn't get one ounce of sleep last night. Things are definitely crazy right now. I had no idea it was going to be this difficult or scary, and it's only the second day! My head hurts! My heart aches! I'm a mess! I'll try to keep myself composed in front of Antonia and Olin. I suspect Antonia isn't faring much better. It really puts a whole new perspective on these disappearances when a child goes missing, as opposed to just animals. I know I've hinted that my life thus far has been fairly dull and boring and I wanted a little excitement, but I never imagined I would find myself involved in something like this. Whatever "this" is?We were all up before sunrise to break down camp so we could get to the village of Pont. The rain made it absolutely miserable and I don't think the horses were having much fun either. We finally loaded the last of our things and made it to Pont by mid morning. Olin tracked down our contact here, while Antonia and I asked around about Rex Thyne. The folks we talked to knew him, but didn't know where he might be, or if he would be through these parts anytime soon. Strike one on finding Rex. Pont is a much larger village than Bountiful. It serves as a major trading center out here in the Grunlow Plains. Nowhere near the size of Distress, but big enough to have its own Royal Guard regiment stationed here to protect it from brigand raids. Antonia and I talked to a few of the guards about anything they may have heard about the disappearances. Of course, we couldn't let on that we were investigating the mystery just in case any of them recognized me. We acted like we were just curious to hear the latest rumors. More of the same unfortunately, and it doesn't seem that Jakob's disappearance had reached this far yet. We kept it to ourselves.
Olin found us and we ate, then hit the road again. We had a long way to go to get to our next destination, Edgewood. The terrain started getting a little more hilly (is that a word?) and our progress slowed. We were nearing the edge of the "Green Giant" and closing in on Edgewood when we were confronted by four armed raiders. They wanted our supplies and our horses, but Olin was going to have none of that. He may have a dull personality but his skill with a sword are unbelievable. He didn't hesitate for them to make the first move, and before I could even think about unsheathing my sword he had disarmed and killed the closest raider. The others fled in such a flash I couldn't even describe what they looked like. Thank God for Olin, and I'll have to thank my father for insisting that he come. He is a smart man, after all.
We reached Edgewood as it was getting dark, and after our most recent excitement, we were all tired and only wanted to sleep. Maybe I'll actually be able to sleep tonight. I'm exhausted. We secured some rooms and as we were heading off to bed I thanked Olin for being there. He nodded and said, "It's my job." as if it was all in a days work for him. I appreciate him a little more tonight than I ever have before and it made me realize that I have been very insensitive and shallow with him. I'll change that.
I'm going to try and get some sleep...wish me luck.
Wishing you luck...
ReplyDelete