Chapter 300: Sleepwalking
Irene’s hands were clasping the reins and she seemed to be sitting as usual if it weren’t for the precarious angle her saddle was sitting.
If someone could see her, they would see a glazed over expression and her eyes once green were glowing a faint purple. She weas still sleep walking it seemed. There was no other way to explain her actions or expression at that moment.
Not only that, but she was unbelievably cold as winds swept through, and she was inside of the snowstorm she had been preparing to avoid. However, there was no sign that she even felt the cold at that point.
Even when her hood was covering most of her face and her face covering had gone skewed, she didn’t even close her eyes or move out of the way. Her hands never lifted once to adjust the hood and get it out of her line of sight.
Eventually, the hood was blown off of her head completely, but she still was unresponsive to even that. Despite all the years she had been told about the importance of making sure her head was warm, none of it even registered to the girl who kept uttering friend in Sunstoian and looking off into the distance.
Sammy had started the journey with such determination, but as his head lowered as they went forward because the icy wind was burning his eyes and aking it nearly impossible to see what lay ahead. At a certain point, he was merely being obedient to his master. Whenever he tried to stop or change direction, she squeezed her knees harder and shook the reins.
The pace wasn’t fast but it was steady so the horse never seemed to run out of energy despite the constant forward motion.
Even when the sun set and the moon rose somewhere beyond the clouds that covered the sky and gave them no hope of the snow stopping any time soon, they continued on forward and slowly.
Only when they made it to the village they had gone to by mistake before did Irene finally slip off of the horse and fall to the ground with a thud. The snow that had piled up cushioned her fall but surrounded her until she stood up and dragged her feet in the direction she was determined to go.