A journey begins - part 8

Part 8.

Looking at the stars showed how they slowly moved over the heaven vault slowly
wandering from one place to another. Some glistened with more power then the
others while some seemed to just fade into the background of the show. Some
combined themselves and formed patterns which she recalled partially from when
she had been spending some time with the old scholar back home.
Yes home, it seemed to be not farther off then a few days walk down back along
from where she came, still it felt as if she had left the safe haven of home
years ago. It was not possible that time would have traveled so fast was it ?
Could the stalled dream have frozen her in time allowing her to continue at a
future moment ? No she must be tired as she was having such conversations with
herself now. Tired but not sleepy.

She looked at the medallion again and it still looked the same from when she had
last peeked at it, it hanged around her neck as if nothing unusual had ever
happened to it. What was its past, its origin and why was it so sought after by
so many. And why did it seem as this little item brought so much suffering and
pain along its way ? Still she could not just tear it off and throw it away. It
was not as if it held any power over here, it was more that it was affectionate
to her curiosity and therefore she wouldn’t part from it until its mystery was
solved.

She had already tried to fall asleep and to force herself in to the strange
dream with the man and the medallion but she had failed and had ended up in her
own nightmare. Probably an occurrence from her past, still not a pleasant one.
Perhaps the medallion was the source of this dream, that it only showed her its
past when it saw fit. Then how had she seen the first dream ? She was certain
that there had been no medallion near the rock until after she had seen that
dream. Such a strange artifact this must be then, a magical artifact. And what
was the gem she had seen inside it, she could not recall its appearance from any
of the books she had read in the old library either. But then some of them were
written in the young days of the village and others had traveled there on the
packs of merchants and distant travelers. Perhaps some of them were not reliable
as facts when they could have been written in the whim of someone.

She stared at the sky as the thoughts passed through her mind over and over
again. What had the carvings on the stone said just before she had awoken ? “key
that opens doors” what key would that be, the medallion ? And what doors for
that matter. She hadn’t seen any house, town or village or anything remotely
inhabitable but she was not so far away from her home village but it was not
satisfactory to go back there. And thinking about what had happened the last
time she had tried to travel on, the ones hunting her. Was it so that the
medallion was defending her as long as she did not stray away from what it
wanted to show her ? It sure had helped her the time she had got her foot stuck
between some branches, but it had also held her enclosed in a frozen dream?
Then again, it seemed as what the medallion wanted to show her was on par with
what her curiosity wanted to find out. It was simply to good of an opportunity
to pass it up.

Oh, was it already so late ? She had noted that a large star she had been
looking at when she first looked at the sky had moved quite a bit since she last
saw it, had the time flown off that quick ? She looked around to see if she
could see any other signs of how much time that had passed since she started to
ponder things. The starlight had with the aid of a thicker straw formed a sort
of clock on the ground and she noted that from what she recalled it had traveled
around two hours already.
But she was not so sleepy, perhaps her bad dream and the curiosity held her
awake still, perhaps if she fell asleep again she would end up in the alleys
again, and what if something happened that could be a clue to her, she didn’t
want to sleep for now.

She moved up and turned into the front side of the rock where the carvings where
and let her hand wander along the rough surface. She peered with her eyes and
tried to focus on where she had seen the translation of the carvings. It seemed
as the translation would have ended up somewhere near or in the middle of the
line of carvings, but she was not sure as she had just seen letters she could
understand and read them before she had awoken. But it somehow were fitting that
it would be placed in the middle of the carvings.

So if this medallion was a key that open doors, what kind of a key would it then
be ? Would the blue gem she had seen inside of it be the key ? And why did the
medallion seem to crack open as if it was a shell merely created to house the
gem, the key. It didn’t have any resemble with an ordinary key like the ones
used back home either. They were just small pieces of iron formed in unique ways
so they would only open one lock. She looked once more “…. key that opens
..door..” it must be some door if it would require such key.
Who had the horseman been ? She tried the hardest she could to remember any
special marks or emblems on his armor but it was all blank and shiny as far as
she could tell. The armor on the horse had seem to be rather mighty for covering
a horse. Often they just had plates covering the vital parts since they were
used to storm into the crowd during battles, but this was a different kind she
thought. It had more markings on it, as if it was not only a defense but also a
mark of rank of its rider.
The armor was adorned with small emblems and the headpiece was holding a
gigantic horn in the middle of the head, a unicorn ? A bit strange though that
the armor of the horse would have more markings then its rider. Perhaps it was
some sort of marking after all. And why would he be after the medallion, was the
carvings on the rock when that had happened ?

There she was again, swirled in questions but no way to find and answer. Perhaps
it was intended by the medallion, that she had to ask herself the right
questions for it to continue to show her the past, to give clues. So what would
she ask herself then, what would be the appropriate question to generate a reply
or an action from the medallion. She thought to herself that it was most likely
time to set the medallion in the center of it all instead of relying on it as a
periphery. What was that thing the old scholar had said so often : “The size of
knowledge cannot be measured by comparison. Even a thin book can hold great
wisdom.”, yes something like that it had been she thought.

Now then, what to ask she thought. Even though it was late at night she was
still thinking way to much then was good for this late hour. But she couldn’t
just force herself to rest now, it seemed as through all the strays of thoughts
she had finally found one that might prove to be the the right approach.
She sat against the rock and let her eyes sway from the ground up to the sky
again, the stars were still there though some had moved a little more. So if the
medallion was the key that supposedly opened doors, what about the gem inside.
Was it part of the medallion or had that part just been a figment of her
imagination. Anyhow she was now certain that she had found the way to look for
new ideas and clues about this.

She closed her eyes in order to remember more details from the frozen dream, and
even trying to see the horseman in front of her again it seemed as she was more
successful now as the details seemed to be clearer to her. Either she was able
to focus on it better, that or she was dreaming again.