Ch.17 Fool Caught in the Storm

It is said that the most peaceful time of the day is just before dawn. It is a time when the world still lays beneath a blanket of fading stars. The sky is still dark. The earth remains quiet. It is a time of silence. And yet, the atmosphere is filled with anticipation. It is the calm before the storm. And in just a couple of hours the sun will rise with a hurricane of colors. And as another day begins, another day ends.

We can't speed up this process. We can't slow it down. There is nothing that we can do to change this cycle. It is one of the only things that humans can't change. Seasons come and seasons go, days come and days go, and time will always move on in a steady stream.

Time was something Adadora wished to have more of; something Wedge wished to get rid of and something Travis wished he could rewind. But time doesn't work like that. Once you've lost it, you can't get it back. Once you've got it, you can't ignore it. Once a moment is gone, it's gone forever.

The barn they were sleeping in was not abandoned. And the smell of horses filled Travis' nostrils. He wasn't sure if his new found companions were sleeping. But it didn't matter now. They had been running for so long and he was so tired. The thought of leaving once they fell asleep had crossed his mind. But the voice had filled his thoughts.

The black horse has arrived. 

Those words confused him. What did they mean? What is the 'black horse'?

He pulled Quinn's watch from his pocket and traced his fingers around the engraving of her name. Time had gone too fast for them. He remembered the last time they had seen each other. They had argued over something but he couldn't remember exactly what. They had argued, parted ways, and never saw each other again.

Adadora's voice came in the dark. She leaned in close to his ear and whispered.

"Are you asleep?"

He hesitated before responding sleepily, "Not anymore."

"Good. The black horse has arrived. I know those words mean nothing to you. But you must trust me, those words mean your life and mine. We must hurry."

"What about his life?"

Even in the dark, he could sense Adadora sneer and she hissed harshly, "If he stays here, he might survive the black horse. We must leave quickly."

"I need sleep."

"We don't have enough time."

She pulled him to his feet making as little noise as possible and they escaped into the rising sun. Dawn had finally come. The storm that had been brewing had now arrived.

Wedge smiled to himself. He opened one eye and watched them flee into the early morning sun.

"Fools." He muttered.