The Last Summoning---Andrew and the Quest of Orion's Belt (Book Four) by Ivory Autumn Page B

the man who had first spoken. It
was to those he looked, and then held up his sword. The light it
bore had grown dim, its grandeur suppressed by the angry people
gathering round him. Yet he held it proudly. “I know that you
cannot follow me now. I understand that you are hungry and thirsty.
I, too, am thirsty, and have fallen prey to the mirages that cannot
satisfy. But I know now where these mirages lead. They aren’t real.
Today he may feed you. But tomorrow he may use you for fuel. A
false trust in The Fallen will only lead to captivity. But soon,
when the Drought has been broken, you may remember my words, and
follow. Until then, I will keep charge of what you have freely
given away.”
    The crowd surged in around him, trying to
pull him and his friends off the wagon. He cried out in anger, and
pushed away from the people and their grasping hands.
    The wagon suddenly jerked to life as Freddie
cracked a whip against the horses at the front of the wagon. The
wagon lurched forward with a start, nearly toppling Andrew onto a
protruding spear. Andrew quickly climbed over to the front of the
wagon with Freddie, watching as the crowd of soldiers and villagers
was left far behind.
    “Andrew!” Croffin howled, clambering over the
heaps of steel and iron weapons, higher into the wagon. “Look
they’re coming after us. They’re going to kill us!”

Chapter Seven
    Fighting blind
     
     
    The further away from Danspire they got, the drier,
and dustier it became. The green land of only a few months back had
turned a sickly brown. Trees had died. The grass had become nothing
but stalks of dry tinder.
    Their horses breathed heavily in time with
the pounding of their hooves hitting the ground as if in rhythm to
some internal war dance.
    Lancedon sat on his horse that Coral had
somehow managed to steal out of Morack’s stables. He held onto the
saddle horn, feeling the wind on his face. He sensed the warm sun
shining down on his skin. He could smell the sweat of the horse as
it worked hard to keep up with Coral’s horse. He leaned down and
pressed his face against the head of the horse, feeling its
powerful muscles heave back and forth as it ran. Coral had tethered
their horses together, to keep Lancedon safely by her side.
    They had been keeping a steady pace all day.
He liked the feel of the wind, of the sky, the sun. To be moving,
to be working for something again, made hope touch the cloud of
darkness that had shrouded his world. Yet, even with this small
shred of hope, his inability to see caused him to feel frustrated
and dependent, like a child. He could do nothing without the aid of
his friends.
    He sat tall in his saddle. His brown hair
hung in loose locks around his face. His eyes stared ahead,
unseeing and clear. Yet his face was full of passion.
    The sun shone through the tall trees, bathing
the world in a relentless, inescapable heat. This was something he
did not need to see, to understand.
    “Where are we going anyway?” Lancedon
asked.
    Sterling brushed sweat from his brow with his
shirt sleeve, and scanned the horizon. “A grand and beautiful
place. I’m not sure if it still exists anymore. But if we can get
there, and if it is like I remember, we may find allies and
friends, people that will help us.”
    Lancedon stared ahead with unblinking eyes.
“I have little hope that we have allies anywhere.”
    Sterling glared at Lancedon with hard eyes.
“It is only because you cannot see. Just because you are blind does
not mean everyone else is. There are still many left. Many who will
come when the call is sounded. They, like us, are biding their
time.”
    Lancedon grabbed a large strand of coarse
horse hair, and wound it up in his fingers. “What makes you think
they’ll listen to me?”
    Sterling breathed out in disgust and shook
his head. “I don’t, at the moment. You must believe in yourself
first. Just because you can’t see doesn’t mean you must act like
you are in the dark, groping for something