December 18, TSR
The Dragonback Mountains

Dark figures loomed impossible tall over him and shouted things he could not understand. There was some kind of siren singing in the background and occasionaly flashes of color interrupted the chaotic landscape. Sage tried to concentrate, but somehow could not. He could not seem to feel his body here. Could not quite seem to control his actions. And he realized, then, that he was in a dream.

Normally, Sage knew immediately when he was dreaming, but then normally he was able to stay almost fully conscious and control most of what was going on in his dreams. This was different though. He forced himself to wake up. He looked frantically through his bags for his scrying mirror and brought up Kaat'n on it. Sage's breath caught in his throat. Instead of Kaat'n, his scrying mirror showed a sooty black mist. That had never happened before. He had a terrible feeling in his stomach.

He got up. It was dawn. They had been resting in a cave in the mountain they were on. Kaat'n was about a day away. The journey had been complicated by bad weather, by the mountains, and somewhat by Jaron for whom they had had to acquire a mount as he had collapsed from exhaustion. A day away. Sage sighed. He did not want to turn around, but... He needed to get to somewhere safe, so that he could determine the nature of the problem. It was his experience that discipline always defeated desire, in the end.

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"Whaddayu mean, turn around?!" Joerda was not unexpectedly upset.

Yes, uh, well, you see, I forgot. Yes, I forgot about some business I needed to conduct. I need to go to Justice Keep. I'm already incredibly late, three weeks I think, and I've --

Sage sighed and tried not to listen to Joerda shouting endlessly at him. At least now he wouldn't have to wake up the rest of the would-be apprentices; she was doing a fine job of that herself. He supposed that no explanation would satisfy her other than the truth.

Listen, Joerda. The truth is, I think that something terrible is about to happen at Kaat'n. Something that I cannot prevent. I don't know what it is, but I have the feeling that being present for its occurance will not be conducive to my finding out. Despite what you may believe, I am at least as anxious to return to Kaat'n as you are. I need to get somewhere where I can consult with other mages about some things pertaining to this matter. Unfortunately, there are not a great deal of mages still alive who would be useful to me in this matter. One of them is the Dantimosian High-mage, Indoru. He's a study mage who knows a great deal about scrying. There are other more powerful mages, but he's -- listen, anyway. The bottom line is, you can come with me or you can not come with me. I can provide you with protection. I'll let you venture to guess what the mountains can provide you, and incidentally, you won't be able to get into Kaat'n without me. Now, I intend to leave as soon as possible, so I must begin preparing. I leave the choice to you. Sage did not see the intensity of Joerda's frown, because he had turned his back to her.

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{I could sense the fear in him, and a deeper fear because he is never afraid. He's being sincere.}

"How can you be sure? I don't trust him anymore. I didn't really trust him to begin with."

{You don't have to, just trust me. I'm sure because I know.}

"But what about you? You need to stop moving about so much. You need rest. You need to heal."

{I'll be alright. This is a mental ailment, not a physical one. I don't need rest so much as I need time. Just time. I'll be fine, love. We'll go. We'll be safer with him. As long as we stick together.}

He closed his eyes and sunk back into sleep, and Joerda felt like the whole world was turning its back on her. Then she rebuffed herself and started preparing their things to go.

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OOC: Follow-up, which should bring them up to the "present" should be coming relatively soon.