The storms of the
day prior continued the morning Bilcole began his journey. The sun had
not yet risen in the East when he lifted his weary head from the soft comfort
of his pillow and threw back the warmth of his blankets.
Bilcole had hardly
slept that night. The stress of the journey ahead had started a day early and
plagued him until his eyes could no longer stay open. The storm had made travel
impossible. Winds, sleet, snow and rain plagued the northeastern borders of
Middle Earth that Bilcole called home. No one who wanted to could leave,
and most did not venture out from their homes. The land had been locked down,
and the steel eagles Bilcole depended on to take him to New Orleans had been
too timid to take off for fear of getting lost or damaged in the snow filled
clouds. The unfortunate consequence of this was that Bilcole's comradeship was
forced to disband. In order to have any hope of reaching their journey's
end, the Fellowship of the Bachelor
was forced to go their separate ways and to try and converge again at their
final destination. This meant many things for the adventurers. The
Bachelor himself was
forced to travel by ground with his brethern on an exceedingly long and trying
over night journey. Others journeyed to the nearby city of Philadelphia, known for the great companionship and love
with which it shows it brothers – they hoped to benefit from such open-ended
comradery . Gan-Kwon the Asian was attempting to fly out on a different steel
eagle with another companion, leaving Bilcole to fend for himself. A year of
planning had gone by and in a single act of nature it was all thrown to the
wind. However, the trepidation Bilcole had experienced when the adventure had
first arrived on his doorstep had turned into excitement and expectation -
expectation that he would not let down. After many frustrating hours of
waiting and holding and dealing with the witches of the Delta, who held the passes to the eagles, Bilcole
was able to secure a position aboard a bird hoping to take flight before the
storms were at their worst.
So that morning,
when Bilcole awoke, he was filled with nerves. After all, the Delta witches had assured him two times prior
he was to leave for New Orleans in the morn, yet twice he had been let down.
And with the others already on their way, this was his last chance.
--
In the twilight of
the morning sky Bilcole left his adorned home and took the first steps of his
adventure. He went beneath the Earth itself to ride the iron centipedes
that would take him to the land where he would meet the steel eagles, a grand
palace filled with commuters, rangers, adventurers and all matter of beasts
from far off lands, known only as JFK.
Much to his delight,
Bilcole arrived at JFK without
a hitch. When we came back to the Earth's surface however, he saw that
the storm had already started and his gut was instantly filled with dread.
"I have come
this far already." Bilcole said to himself. "There is no
turning back now."
Despite the storm
his eagle was scheduled to depart as planned. He boarded and nestled
under the wing of the great beast, next to a sleeping dark skinned man.
Bilcole himself was exhausted from the lack of sleep and the stress
brought on from embarking the adventure of a lifetime, and so he himself
quickly nodded off as well.
He awoke two hours
later to find the eagle was still sitting on the ground, and had hardly moved
since he had sat down. The elves that tended to the animal claimed there
was a "mechanical issue" and that this bird would not be leaving for
some time.
This was grave news.
Bilcole had to meet another bird in the distant metal city of Detroit, and from there yet another eagle would
take him to the southron town of Memphis where yet another bird’s flight would finally have him arrive in
New Orleans. All this insanity, of
course was courtesy of the wicked storm brewing in the skies and those even
more wicked witches at Delta.
“This place is more
likely run by orcs then not.
Sauron himself must have cursed this trip for it to have fallen on such
ill fate.” Bilcole thought to himself.
But he had no
choice, and so Bilcole climbed down from the eagle and began to speak franticly
with one of the elves of JFK.
The elf was nice, as elves are, and tried his best to help but his hands
were bound. There was but one eagle to fly out of this part of Middle Earth,
and it was going to the distant desert land of Dallas, home to the infamous cowboys.
“There is no turning
back now.” Bilcole had no choice but to acquiesce.
--
Now, what happened next
was a journey within a journey.
The factors are boring mostly and so the readers of this tale shall be
spared them in detail. But
needless to say, Bilcole’s first, initially simple task of merely arriving in
the city of New Orleans was made not so simple. The birds took him to Dallas where he heard news from a fox and ate chicken
from a man with popped eyes. He
was then flown to another southron city: Atlanta.
Bilcole’s time there was short as the next eagle was set to fly out just
moments after his arrival. And so,
with hardly any time to catch his breath Bilcole ran through the palace that
housed the birds in Atlanta
and hopped onto to his next flight grabbing on by the talons as the beast beat
its wings and ascended into the air.
Finally, after many
arduous days (17 hours by the time of humans) of flying, running, and trudging
through snow and sleet, Bilcole arrived in the great and legendary city of New
Orleans. It was time to reconvene with the fellowship, and for the festivus of Mardigras to begin.
