Chapter 40 - Arrival

Jude walked for several more days, following the aurora and the occasional fire. He did not experiment more with his powers, nor read the Kryonomicon, nor attempt to solve the cube. His only thoughts were on rescuing his lover and friends. He did not know what had happened to them, but the sign was ominous.

He had been hoping that Survivor would send him a message through dreams as to the nature of the peril that his friends were in, but no such things happened. And so he had no choice but to follow the Dances to lead him to where they were.

And it had been last night that he had another vision. While watching a fire that he had set with his powers, he saw Survivor’s face materialize. It spoke swiftly.

“Jude, you will be there tomorrow. Look for the sign.” And it was gone.

“Wait!” called Jude, but to no avail. Survivor was gone. And Jude still did not know what to expect when he arrived there.

And so he slept. The aurora spun overhead, but he did not notice. No dreams filled his augmented mind, nor did he wonder more about the vision. He did not read nor solve the cube, and for the first time in a long time, he slept peacefully.

Jude awoke in the early morning hours. He was lying in a street, and the skeletons of a few deer were lying in the road. They were burned, leading him to believe that someone had caused this to happen.

He lit a fire and watched it and his mind’s aurora to find where he had to travel to. They aligned themselves as always, and he began to follow them.

He crested a hill about two or three hours later. Below was a motel, and people milled about it. And a sign was there, having advertised it before the war. Most of the letters of a changeable part of it had fallen, but the remaining ones read out saying “elaya”, a kryon word. The word meant “here”.

Jude knew that this was the sign that Survivor had spoken of last night. He looked around to see what the trouble could be that his friends were in. The colony seemed to be peaceful, although he had rarely seen people who looked like they had been through so much in their lives before. Even those of his own village looked happier.

He scanned the motel area, and did indeed find something strange. There was an overturned truck, and six men stood outside, each wielding some sort of kryon or human weapon.

Jude focused his mind, and felt it spinning within his head. His vision magnified what he saw.

The truck was locked. That much was clear. The guards outside were not just holding rifles but kryon laser cannons, well-known for their extraordinarily high firepower, albeit they did have unreliable batteries and slow recharge rates.

Only one thing would require that much protection – Jude’s friends. He knew that was certain. He looked back at the motel to see the people who were there. He did not recognize any, though most seemed to be upstanding people, not the sort that would be savages.

But then a face stuck out from the crowd that Jude did recognize. It was Krynn’s. What was Krynn doing mixing with a crowd like that? Jude looked closer.

Krynn’s face was a sign of anguish and inner turmoil. Jude had never seen him so torn apart. He did not know what was going on, but he didn’t like the looks of it.

Also, Krynn seemed to be showing little emotion. Granted, much had changed since Jude had last seen him, but Krynn had always been an active, happy person, usually with a smile on his face. He wore his heart on his sleeve at the village.

What had changed? Surely Krynn had not turned to evil, and was not harming his own friends. These people that Jude could see surely were not in danger, and he trusted his visions that Survivor had sent him – after all, they had gotten him this far.

And so Jude decided to go investigate what was going on at the truck.