| The sun arose as it always had. There was bird-song coming from a clump
of trees not even a stone's throw to the south. After some stone-throwing
Astra and Anina enjoyed some roasted aves as their breakfast. The hike
proved difficult as the landscape had changed to one mostly of rocks and
boulders. The strangeness of the invisible screamer still bothered the
two women, and the second nightmare did nothing for Astra's spirits; what
made it worse was that she felt she could not confide with her age-old
mentor.
There was little conversation as they made their way southward and eastward.
Astra knew they were not making good time, they still had not entered the
bounds of the Great Kingdom, at least there were no markers that made it
known. She knew that the Great Kingdom was great indeed; both in military
might, monetary power, and lands. Once they entered the Kingdom it would
take them another great number of days to reach the Northern Mountains
and then their motherland.
Astra began to think of the year in which she found herself. The fisherman
from Fleetsholm had said it was the fifth year of the King Geoffrey. In
her own people's calendar that would make it the ninth year of Queen Maia,
the year 910 after the death of Matron Hipparcha.
She sighed as she thought of herself, only nine years old, playing sticks
with her friends and studying architecture and philosophy under the tutelage
of Mistress Cerin. Of course, the bulk of her time during those days was
with Mistress Anina.
~~During "those" days~~ thought Astra. ~~By the gods, "those" days are
happening right now!!!~~
Her head ached at the conflicting thoughts this paradox conjured. She
was not supposed to be here, not in the borderlands of Elmeria, not on
the Continent at all, at least not having 25 years under her breastplate
(as the saying went in those days in that place). Simply by being here
she was changing the past! And the closer she came to her own native land
the more severe the disruption would be. Aquilarian history would now unfold
differently from how she, Astra, remembered it. Indeed, her nine-year-old
counterpart would now presumably have the memory of the mysterious disappearance
of her Mistress that she, the adult Astra, didn't have! And what was going
to happen when she arrived in Aquilaria and came face to face with her
very self? Astra couldn't shake off these thoughts.
And what of Mistress Anina? If this was indeed the year before the great
battle; before the Siege of Plythia and the sacking of Athinz, then her
own presence here was also a contradiction of the past as Astra knew it.
And though the idea of a time-twist explained why Anina was alive, it still
didn't explain how it all occured. And now that she was here, how would
this arcane happenstance alter the coming year? the coming many years?!!?
These disturbing thoughts were interrupted by a loud crunch.
Looking down Astra realized she had inadvertantly stepped upon what
looked like the thigh bone of a human being. Looking about, the women discovered
that they had come upon a most grizzly scene; strewn along the boulders
were the dead bodies of numerous men, and by their torn and tattered armour
these were knights of the Great Kingdom!
-
 The wounds of the knights
point to one kind of creature; Giants!
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