Endless Flight

by A. C. Cobble

  Ben took the first watch and moved into a sitting position. The ceiling of the hut cleared his head by two hands. He knew if he lay down, there was no way he’d remain awake.

  Outside of their hut, he could see through the small vent holes that it was near total dark. Heavy clouds obscured any moon or stars. The only sound was the steady breathing of his sleeping companions. He wondered if the snow was still falling. He couldn’t hear a thing, of course, and in the darkness, he couldn’t see either.

  Briefly, he considered crawling outside to hold his watch there. A demon attacking them while they were in the hut would be a messy affair. He thought about the thigh-deep snow and bitter cold compared to the relative warmth of the hut. He decided they would have to risk it.

  Alone with his thoughts, he practiced hardening his will. It was difficult to know if he was doing it well, since neither Towaal nor Amelie was awake to test him, but the way a half-trained initiate was able to pull heat from his body scared him. A fully trained mage would easily defeat him. He resolved to keep practicing every moment he got—sitting quietly at night or while they were walking.

  Eventually, he thought enough time passed that his watch was done. He scooted over to wake Corinne.

  In the black of the hut, she yawned and patted his hand in acknowledgement before sitting up. He crawled back to his bedroll and was instantly asleep.

  He woke to the sound of Rhys grunting and swearing.

  His friend’s legs were hanging inside the snow hut but the rest of his body was in the hole going out the entrance. Bright morning sunlight spilled in from the vent holes.

  The girls were already awake and watching Rhys’ legs.

  “What is it?” asked Ben.

  Amelie grinned. “Apparently it snowed quite a bit last night.” She pointed to Rhys. “We’re blocked in, so he’s digging his way out.”

  Rhys’ legs thrashed around one more time then wiggled out of sight.

  Ben smirked, pulled on his treated leathers, and followed his friend into the morning. The entire world was bathed in brilliant white light. He had to cover his eyes with one hand. After the dimly lit snow hut, the daylight stabbed into his eyes.

  The snow was now waist-high all around them.

  “Now this,” declared Rhys, “is snowshoe worthy.”

  Ben nodded.

  “But first,” said Rhys, “we need to get Towaal up and moving. That means another fire and more tea. We should also take the time to find any edibles that we can and supplement our food supply. At this pace, we’re going to be running thin by the time we get back.”

  Corinne wiggled out while he was finishing and offered to look for food or game. Ben collected firewood and teamed up with Amelie to heat and light it again.

  This time, he concentrated, and just like the farmhouse, he was able to sense what she was doing. After earning one hard scowl when he hardened his will and stopped her, he let her draw his heat. She did it slower and smoother this time, lighting the fire without chilling him near to death.

  Rhys made tea and gently tipped it into the still-sleeping Towaal’s mouth.

  The bright light lifted everyone’s mood, but they still had no solid plan. By evening, it was apparent they wouldn’t have much more food. Corinne came back empty-handed.

  “Tight rations while we’re resting. We’ll save as much as we can to eat when we’re moving and need the energy.”

  One more night in the snow hut kept them warm and out of the cold at least.

  ***

  The next day, Towaal finally woke.

  “How long?” she asked groggily, blinking and examining the interior of the hut.

  “Two days,” replied Rhys.

  “Where are we?” she asked, poking a finger experimentally into the snow and ice wall.

  “A snow hut about two bells walk north of the demon attack,” said Rhys. “A blizzard swept through the next day and we couldn’t make much progress carrying you.”

  She nodded, looking around. “Grunt?”

  Corinne’s eyes fell down and Rhys quietly answered, “The arch-demon was injured by your lightning but wasn’t killed. It rose unexpectedly. Grunt faced it first.”

  “Did you finish it?” probed Towaal.

  Rhys nodded.

  “We need to talk about our plan,” he said. “We wouldn’t have survived much more than that swarm. If we face that again, we might not finish this mission.”

  “Let me think,” she answered.

  Outside of the hut, they stoked another fire into life and tamped the snow around it to form chairs to sit on. Ben came up with the idea and was rather proud of it, but no one else seemed impressed.

  Towaal sat down with the map page in the book. She studied the map and flipped to other pages before going back, muttering under her breath as she read.

  They fixed a simple breakfast then Ben and Amelie practiced walking in their snowshoes. The light powdery snow still sank under their feet, but with the wide shoes, they stayed above most of it. Ben found it much easier to walk in the shoes than trying to break a path.

  The air was freezing cold, but the light exercise of walking and the bright sun kept them reasonably warm.

  Finally, after a bell of reading, Towaal announced she had an idea. She called them close and traced a finger along the map.

  “You see this?” she asked, showing the ring of mountain range that surrounded the valley the Rift was located in.

  They all nodded.

  “It appears to have the same geological characteristics as some islands in the south sea,” she said. “We might be able to use that.”

  “Islands in the south sea?” asked Rhys skeptically.

  She nodded.

  “As in volcanic islands?” pressed Rhys.

  “Exactly,” replied Towaal.

  “If you are thinking what I am, isn’t that rather dangerous?” he worried.

  “Yes,” agreed Towaal. “Extremely dangerous you might say, but I would attempt a controlled release.”

  “What are you talking about?” demanded Corinne. “Something that is more dangerous than what we were already planning on doing?”

  “A volcano,” explained Towaal, “is a rupture in the crust of the world. When these ruptures happen, extremely hot gases and a substance called magma are released. Sometimes, the release is in the form of a violent explosion, which naturally few have survived to describe. The release can also be slow and steady, which is observable and is documented in the Sanctuary’s library.”

  “And how does this help us?” challenged Corinne.

  Towaal pursed her lips. “If my suspicion is correct, then this valley we are traveling to is actually a dormant volcano. If we can activate it from a distance, we could direct the magma to the Rift and destroy it from afar. Assuming the release is controlled, it might be safer than facing the demon swarms we think will be populating the valley.”

  “Might be?” inquired Ben.

  Rhys tapped his finger on the map. “Here,” he said. “It looks like a tall hill from the drawing, just a few days walk outside of the valley. You might be able to far-see from it.”

  Towaal glanced at the map. “It’s not too far out of the way. Let’s give it a try.”

  Walking north again, Ben felt comfortable with their plan. It wasn’t perfect, and he didn’t like the risk Towaal implied about the volcano release, but it was better than nothing.

  One snowshoed step at a time, he mused, picking up one foot and placing it in front of the other.

  “Not too bad, once you get used to it,” remarked Amelie, who was walking beside him.

  “Yeah, it’s a little awkward at first, but I think I’m getting the hang of it,” he responded.

  Amelie was about to reply when an angry shriek filled the forest. Ben’s breath caught and held for several heartbeats.

  Rhys commented, “Just one of them.”

  In the distance, they saw a black shape leaping through the high snow, disappearing then reappea
ring is it struggled forward.

  Corinne slung her bow off her shoulder and smoothly nocked an arrow. When the creature popped up again, she timed it and loosed a shot, hitting it near the center.

  A pained howl burst out, but it kept coming.

  She fired off two more arrows before it crashed down into the snow and didn’t come back up.

  They all listened for a tense minute, but no other sounds intruded on the quiet, snow-shrouded woods.

  “Nice shooting,” complemented Ben.

  “One good thing about the snow,” answered Corinne, “it slows them down. Easy targets.”

  “At least there’s one good thing,” said Ben, kicking loose a clump of powder, which had become lodged on top of his boot.

  ***

  A week passed and they encountered several more demons, but nothing that they weren’t able to deal with quickly and reasonably safely. The constant cold and effort required to hike through the snow were taking a toll on them, though. Ben felt the entire group was wearing thin.

  “Just two or three more days,” grumbled Rhys one morning. They were out of kaf and he had to be stingy with his liquor before that ran out as well.

  Ben felt his friend’s pain. They were all grumpy and on edge. In the last two days, they had started seeing more and more tracks that signified demons were in the area. Mostly, it was one at a time, but late in the afternoon yesterday, they stumbled across what could only be a swarm. Rhys and Corinne both studied the path broken in the snow. Neither could tell exactly how many demons were in the pack. Enough, figured Ben.

  The trees started to thin out and were replaced by rocky outcrops and ridges. It was a broken land they traveled over. Fewer trees made it more obvious how devoid of life the rest of the terrain was. Anything that took a breath and had a heartbeat had been consumed by the demons. Ben ached to see a rabbit hop through the snow or hear a bird chirp.

  “There,” pointed Amelie.

  Far in the distance was a high stone butte. It could be the one on the map.

  Rhys squinted at the butte and guessed, “Two days walk, maybe a day and a half if we push it.”

  “It will take half a day to climb that,” remarked Towaal. “Let’s push it.”

  The short northern winter nights didn’t leave much daylight for hiking, but after seeing the butte, Towaal suggested they walk through part of the night. The moon was high above and the snow-covered landscape provided plenty of light to go by. Worst case, if they tripped, they would land in a cold but soft pile of snow.

  The wind picked up at night and sent a chill down Ben’s spine. He shivered as it whipped his cloak around his body and sent a blast of loose snow swirling around his legs.

  Finally, a day and a half later, they made it to the base of the tall rock tower. It rose half the height of Whitehall, Ben estimated. Out in the desolate Wilds, it stuck up above anything else near them.

  They circled the butte until they found a section where a loose scree had collapsed, giving them an easy ramp halfway up to the top. It was steep, but with the thick snow covering it, they were able to climb up with little problem.

  At the top of the scree, they found a seam of rock angling toward the top. They would try to climb it.

  “Anyone bring any rope?” wondered Ben.

  No one brought any. Each of them would have to brave the climb on their own.

  Rhys went first, removing his snowshoes and scampering up the seam. It was as wide as his foot. Ben’s heart caught in his throat as he watched his friend climb higher.

  “Scared of heights?” asked Corinne, noticing Ben’s nervousness.

  “Climbing ice-covered rock three weeks away from the nearest physic and surrounded by swarms of demons? Why would I be scared?” he joked back, barely concealing the quaking in his knees.

  Amelie came up behind him and placed a comforting arm on his. She smiled at him but remained silent as Corinne placed a confident foot in the seam and started up after Rhys.

  Ben studied where she placed each hand and foot, hoping he could repeat her motions when he made the climb.

  Near the top now, Rhys paused and leaned back, gripping an invisible piece of rock as he looked up at the remaining three paces. Ben watched in amazement as he scaled, spiderlike, up a flat-seeming section of rock.

  Shortly, Rhys disappeared over the top lip of the butte. Corinne, following close behind, paused at the last section. Rhys reappeared and hung halfway over, one hand vanishing above the lip to, Ben hoped, hold onto something. He motioned to Corinne, who passed her pack to him. Rhys hauled it up. Corinne, unencumbered now, followed him up and out of sight.

  Towaal went next. Despite her scholarly appearance, she made good time. She scaled the last section quicker than Rhys or Corinne. Ben watched in amazement.

  “She’s magically holding herself to the rock.” Amelie scoffed. “It has to do with gravity and amplifying the force from the butte.”

  “Huh?” asked Ben.

  “Never mind,” said Amelie. “Just don’t feel bad. She cheated.”

  With that, Amelie started up.

  Ben was impressed with how easy she made it look. Just like Corinne, Rhys materialized to take her pack at the top and pointed out where she could place her hands.

  Ben sighed and placed a booted foot on the seam near the base. He looked down and saw a layer of ice was coating the rock. If he was going to fall and die, might as well climb quickly, he thought. The higher the fall, the quicker the end.

  The hard ice was slick beneath his feet but there was enough rock to support him. He was able to find crevices with his fingers and pull himself upward. Halfway to the last section, a breeze picked up.

  His arms and legs shaking, he made the mistake of looking down and realized his assessment was right, the butte was roughly half the height of Whitehall, and he was now three-fourths of the way to the top. He closed his eyes and pressed his cheek against the rock, immediately regretting it. It was ice cold. Having his fingers wedged in there was bad enough.

  Vowing not to look down again and calculate the time it would take his body to impact the rocks below, he continued upward.

  As he edged along the narrowing seam, a piece of rotten rock hived off under his foot and went clattering down the side of the butte. His foot slid down with it, but he gripped hard with his fingers and quickly regained a solid position.

  Rhys poked his head over and remarked, “You still coming?”

  Ben looked up and whimpered, “Yeah, almost there.”

  Closer, Ben was able to shrug out of his pack and Rhys leaned down and lifted it effortlessly away. Ben swallowed and felt along the rock face above him, feeling for any nook or cranny he could wedge his fingers in.

  Rhys came back and frowned down at him. “What are you doing? Just go up the same way I did. Look, right there.” He pointed to a crack in the rock that would be a perfect finger hold. Ben hadn’t seen it.

  “Oh, right,” said Ben. He scooted over to take advantage of Rhys’ suggestion. He pulled himself up and kicked below, trying to find a foothold. Slowly, he started scaling the flat part of the rock face.

  One more time, Rhys came back and groaned. “Still climbing?”

  Rhys reached down with one hand and gripped the back of Ben’s tunic. He dragged Ben over the lip of the butte. Ben’s body scrapped across the rough rock.

  “We don’t have all day,” muttered Rhys.

  “Well,” Towaal remarked from across the flat surface at the top of the butte, “we actually do have all day, and probably two or three days after.”

  Rhys raised an eyebrow.

  Towaal explained, “It will take a few bells to far-see and scout the valley. After that, I’m not sure how long it will take to create a rupture.”

  “Anything we can do to help?” asked Rhys.

  “No,” replied Towaal. “Amelie can observe and I will likely need the power in the disc she is carrying. The rest of you are free to do as you please.”

  “L
et’s explore,” said Rhys to Ben and Corinne. He pointed to a gaping hole in the center of the butte.

  Ben walked over and looked down. He couldn’t see far in the dark, but saw enough to know it went deep. The hole had a rough square shape. It made no sense that something like this would exist in the middle of the butte. “This can’t be natural,” he guessed.

  “My thoughts exactly,” agreed Rhys.

  Ben and Rhys dumped their gear and Rhys started work on fashioning a torch. Ben watched him. Out of the corner of his eye, he also observed what Towaal and Amelie were doing. Towaal pulled out one of their cooking pans and laid it flat on the top of the rock. She poured half a skin of water into it and then moved to look north, toward the valley.

  It was there, in the distance. The two sharp ridgelines they had seen on the map. From the top of the butte, they looked just like Ben would have pictured them. He could see the narrow gap between the two ridges they had planned to pass through. He saw what looked like a frozen river creeping out of it. Beyond that, he couldn’t see anything.

  Rhys, igniting his torch, gestured to Ben and Corinne. “Come on.”

  Rhys stuck his torch in the hole and they peered down. About two man-heights below was a landing with rough-hewn stairs descending from it.

  “Now that’s awfully strange,” remarked Rhys.

  “Who built stairs inside of there?” wondered Corinne.

  “Only one way to find out,” replied Rhys. He then dropped his torch and smoothly slid into the hole, hanging onto the edge with his hands then dropping the rest of the way down.

  “Are you sure you’ll be able to get back out of there?” called Ben.

  “Hope so,” answered Rhys. “You coming?”

  Ben and Corinne shared a look. Then she, too, dropped down into the hole. Ben sighed and followed.

  The landing was small for the three of them but Rhys moved down onto the steps, giving them room to look around.

  There wasn’t much to see. It appeared both nature and man had created then enlarged the hole. There were no signs about why.

  “Let’s move down,” suggested Rhys.