It Begins

The mountain loomed up above me. Cold stone broken and shoved up from the plain below like a festering sore scabbed over and waiting for someone to scratch it off and let all that puss free. Nothing grew on it .. nothing at all. Where there should be moss .. or scrub brush there was simply bare rock. Mist clung to the top like a new born babe might cling to its mother's tit. Afraid to let go .. afraid to face what it could not fathom nor rightly know of.

I stared at it a long time before I realized I was not supposed to be there. I was not supposed to be looking at this mountain. I was supposed to be at the Harigga .. in my wagon ... with my new mate. Making sons and ... well I suppose a few daughters in there too. Not here .. not now. There was no preparation .. no ritual .. was I dreaming? Well of course I was .. was this not a dream war?

I swore at myself for the fool I was being. It just was not rational. Why now? Yet rational or not .. it was there for me to do and standing around staring at it was not getting the thing done. Nor was it bringing me any closer to being back at the Harigga .. in my warm furs with my new mate. A healthy motivation .. even setting aside my burning soul-fire of a drive for revenge.

I took stalk of what I had with me. Nothing but what I was wearing. Figures. When was it that Fonce was going to catch his break? Seemed it was not going to be today. Seemed today was another bad day to be Fonce. Too bad Fonce was me.

Leather jerkin .. leather pants. Leather boots .. I reached down to find that the familiar small blade was still in the one. Ah .. things were not so bad after all. Though what I was going to do with a tiny blade I had no idea .. but the polished steel made me feel a little better .. charged my spirits somewhat. I shoved it back and straitened .. squaring my shoulders. Took my first step towards that mountain. The first step in what would turn out to be a much longer journey than I ever could have foreseen .. even being the Spex I was.