by J B Cantwell
Connell was a traveler. The first time I'd ever met him, he was taking the first steps on his journey away from Eagleview. He was nervous but excited, and the Sleeping Tree that had protected me so many times had welcomed him as well. When he left that next morning, he released his horse, knowing that it would have no place in the mountains. As he walked away, I’d hopped onto the animal's back, and that horse had taken me for the ride of my life. Never had I been so free, free enough that I knew if I were to fall to my death, it would've been worth it.
It had been a long time since I'd felt that way. Maybe that last day in the grass with Oriana could count for something. I was in danger then, too. And when I thought back on it now, I knew I would’ve given my life for that moment as well.
"Tell me the best memory you have of your sister," I said.
Tosia wiped her tears from her cheeks, pink from the cold. Her stark, white hair reminded me of Oriana, too. Memories seemed to be flooding back this night.
"We were little," she said. "Father had been looking for us, and he was out in the village shouting our names. I had hidden us a little ways away from our home behind some boulders he’d already checked. I could extend my hiding to Trina, but I was never able to hide my mother. I once tried to, but I failed."
Her blank eyes dropped a few more tears, and I wondered what punishment had befallen her that day.
"I'm glad to hear that you had the defenses you did," I said.
She glanced at me, then went on.
"We went for a long walk that night. Trina knew the way because of her secret journeys. Nobody knew it, but Trina knew these mountains better than anyone else in the village. She took me to a secret spot high up on a precipice. We needed to walk because, unlike myself, Trina couldn’t extend her powers to another. But that was okay. I knew we were safe. When we got to the top, we sat down, our backs together. She told me about the things she'd seen, the light above the clouds. She told me that one day we would see through the dark. I don't know why she didn't fly away right then. She could've had such a life."
"Why didn't you ever run away?" I asked.
She smiled, then shook her head sadly. She didn't need to answer the question.
"When Father died, we considered it. She knew the way to go to get us through the darkness and into the Wild Lands. But we knew our mother would not, or could not, make the journey. Her heart was broken, something I will never understand."
"But you had that day," I said. "It may not have been a perfect day, but you spent it together, safe atop that mountain."
She nodded.
I moved around to her other side and placed my back against hers, at least as far as it could reach. She flinched for a moment, but then she leaned back into me, and her sobs began.
This was, should've been, a time of strength for me. But I cried, too.
I drew fire from the stone, warming us while we slept. Duna did what she could, walking around to each of us in turn, giving us whatever piece of herself she had available to help. I wished I could do the same, that my support was somehow measurable, that my success could be counted up like coins in a market stall.
As the morning crept on, I stood up and walked to the entrance of the cave. The snow was even brighter now than it had been the day before, and the worst of the storm had stopped.
Connell walked up behind me.
"Are you ready for more?" he asked.
"I suppose I have to be."
He nodded.
"You're the leader of this group. If you tell us to stay, we'll stay. But I don't think you're going to tell us to stay."
I glanced at him and saw he was smiling.
"I hope the others feel the same way," I said. "I hardly know what I'm doing as each hour goes by."
"We know that. But how could you? None of us do."
It was only then, with the brightness of the snow, that I could see his eyes. I had never noticed before because we were always in the dark, but they were blue.
My chest suddenly felt odd. The feeling made me nervous, and I turned and walked away. He stayed behind, looking out over the dimly lit valley.
I frowned as I walked up to the others, feeling confused.
All business. I needed to be all business.
"I think we should go soon while the storm is at a standstill," I said as I approached. "We don't know how things will be in an hour."
Everybody got to their feet and picked up their things. I blew on the fire. Then, we all moved to the entrance of the cave. Our eyes adjusted from the brightness of the fire, and soon everyone was able to see the beauty of the mountains across from us. Few of us had ever seen the light of day in this place, not even some of the ancient giants we’d been traveling with. I think it must’ve been only Angus and Arte who had lived during those bright days.
Those days will come again.
I took the first steps out into the open. But as soon as I left the cave, I desperately wanted to get back inside. Something was wrong outside, though I couldn't put my finger on what it was.
It only took a moment for the Wicks to descend. Suddenly, the quiet of the morning was shattered with the sounds of screams and weapons clanking against each other. I drew out my knives and slashed my power through two, four, eight Wicks. I had within me the power to massacre. Before I’d met the giants, I wouldn’t have considered it to be so. But now that I knew, or I thought I knew, that these… animals were there by choice, slicing them apart was easy.
"Back to the cave!" I yelled.
The group listened, and I might've let go a breath of relief, but I was too scared. They ran, and I moved backward, doing everything I could to protect them. Luckily, we hadn't gone too far yet, and taking shelter was only a matter of moments, not hours.
But as soon as we were inside, the Wicks started acting confused, and then they flew away. Then, I realized why.
Tosia.
Her talent was for hiding, and while the other giants fancied themselves as great hiders, it was nothing compared to what Tosia could do. She could positively vanish, not too unlike Angus's talent, but not quite the same. For one thing, Angus had trained for many years with Torin, not to mention the fact that he'd had a thousand years since then to practice his gifts.
I wonder what Tosia might make of her gift if she were to have that much time.
"Can you hide all of us?" I asked.
"I… I'm not sure." Her cheeks were just as pink as before.
"Well, you're able to keep us safe here," Kaelin said. "I say we go outside and give it another try."
I looked around at the group, but everyone seemed in agreement. Their wishes had been spoken, and I obeyed.
Tosia went out first, and when she stepped down from the cave, it seemed we were going to be protected. I went out after her, knives lit and ready. It was a good thing, too, because a moment later, three Wicks rushed down through the air and landed on top of us.
I hit them with a bolt of magic, but no blood came. With each blow, the Wick in question would fall to the ground, dead. And a few moments later, it would disappear completely, leaving nothing but a dirty cloak behind.
"Fall back!" I yelled, and we all rushed for the cave, making sure that Tosia stood guard at the entrance.
"I'm not as powerful yet," she said, eyes on the floor.
As if it were something to be embarrassed about.
"Tosia," I said. "I only just learned how to harness my magic a month ago, and from someone here in the dark. You’ll find your strength."
I turned to the others, and I thought about asking them what we should do, but then I realized I already knew.
"You're going to have to stay."
Connell was the first to open his mouth in protest.
"I know you don't want to," I said, cutting him off. "But if you're to survive, you must. We don't know how many of those things are out there. And this isn’t the time for battle. Not yet."
"You know that they'll hound us until they destroy us one by one,"
Kaelin said.
"We need to learn how to kill them, Bree," Connell said. "I'm sure this isn't the last time we’ll encounter Wicks."
"That may be true, but for the time being, I need you alive. Tosia and I can draw them away from here, long enough for you all to flee."
"Flee?" Duna said. "And where do you think we'll go?"
"Go together to the edge of the mountain range. Tosia and I will meet you there."
"I thought you would have us return to the others," Kaelin said.
"The others will follow in their own time," I said. "We've already planned it."
"So we're just supposed to hide?" Connell said, and I saw he was angry.
"I'm sorry," I said. "But I don't see another way." I glanced at Tosia. "If we still had Trina, she could fly up ahead and tell us how many are waiting. But without her help, we won't know. If we all go out there at once, we're all dead. The rest of you can move on and meet us on the other side. Hopefully, there will be light there so we can find one another. In any case, I'm starting to wonder about this army I've been promised. I'm just hoping they're not playing for the other side."
I looked up at Tosia.
"Stay behind me," she said.
"Be careful," Connell said, and while I knew he felt slighted, I appreciated the gesture.
"You as well."
And Tosia and I took our first steps away from our own little army.
They couldn't see us; that much was true. But we had to move slowly. Quickly we learned that it would be best if Tosia carried me. We weren't sure if Wicks were smart enough to follow footsteps, and while that wouldn't have been a concern the night before when the storm was raging, now the snow was still. No new snow was falling to cover our tracks.
I leaned over and pointed my knives at our trail, trying to smooth out the snow as we went.
"We need to get to the base of the mountain," she whispered. "I don't think they'll be able to see us there."
"How do you know?"
"It's much easier for me to hide against the stone. Out here, we’re in the open air; walking through a valley is not the stealthiest thing we could choose to do."
Even so, the ploy seemed to be working. We could see the Wicks flying above, searching, but we were invisible. I wondered why she'd been unable to hide her mother that time.
Maybe her mother had wanted to be found.
"Do you think they can hear us?" I whispered.
"Honestly, I don't know. I've always been quiet when hiding, but I don't know if I have to be quiet in order to stay invisible."
I didn't open my mouth again.
The day dragged on, and I found I was getting cold, colder than the night before. With no movement to warm me, all I could do was hang on and freeze. It made me want to complain as a child might, but that seemed like the worst thing I could do. It was only after several hours that I finally couldn't take any more.
"We need to rest," I whispered.
It had been over an hour since we'd last seen the Wicks, and I hoped that meant that they were off our trail now. I thought about the others hiding in the cave, worried about their ability to defend themselves. But if I thought about it, they were the strongest in the group to do so. Kaelin, with his size, was formidable. And I already knew that both Duna and Connell knew how to protect themselves. I hoped that the snow would melt soon so they could escape and make it to the edge of clouds that shrouded the mountains. Would they find safety there?
I was starting to wonder if it was safe anywhere.
Tosia soon found a small cave, and she let me down as we approached. I was stiff from not moving for those hours spent on her back, and I stretched my legs as soon as we walked into the mouth of the cave. She seemed unfazed, and I realized it was because she was lonely. Her mother had been left behind, and with Trina gone, she had no one. Well, she had me, but we both knew I wasn't the one she wanted.
She sat at the entrance, and I made a small fire right behind her. It would've been stupid to take off my boots, but I still had to convince myself not to. Danger could be around any corner, and I wouldn’t do well fleeing in my socks. I opened up my traveling cloak and let the heat sink in.
"What do you think she'll be like?" Tosia asked absently as she looked out at the valley. "We've heard legends about her over the years, but I don't think any of us has ever seen her, not even Trina."
I thought about pulling out the map, but she needed to concentrate on hiding us, and she'd be unable to study it with me.
"All I know is that she’s supposed to be very vain," I said. "And apparently, she's in charge of the others. I wonder what she thinks about the obliteration of her Keepers. Maybe she's stronger than the rest."
Because wouldn't that be true? Weren't leaders supposed to be stronger than followers?
"What do you know about her?" I asked.
Her voice took on that far away quality again, and I knew I was distracting her from her thoughts of her sister. I wondered if she minded.
"She sees above the clouds, they say. From the mountaintop, she can see our whole world, like some kind of god looking down on all of us."
"How can she look down on us if she can't see through the clouds?" I asked.
"I don't know. Maybe she can't. If that's true, I suppose she must be angry about it. To be the leader and to be handicapped in that way must infuriate her."
"Well, it would explain why we've received no help," I said.
I tried to imagine this beast at the top of the mountain, her servants down below, unable to escape the wrath of her biggest enemy.
Suddenly, a terrifying thought entered my head.
"Is the bear… good?"
"I suppose she must be, shouldn't she?"
"I don't know," I said. "In the Wild Lands, we came across several Fiends, Keepers gone astray. They were wicked and violent, and we only just got away every time."
We sat in silence for a while, pondering the possibility that the bear had been turned evil by Torin.
"We should go," she said, standing up. "The only way we'll find out is by meeting her in person. It would be foolish of us to trust man or beast. Both lie."
I put out the fire, fastened my cloak, and climbed onto her back, putting up a barrier as I did. The snow had started up again, and with it came a frigid wind. I was determined, though. This day was different than yesterday. We needed to stay moving if only to confuse the enemy because surely he must've believed that the snow alone would kill us.
"How do we know which mountain?" she asked.
"It will be the only one which tip ascends above the clouds."
We'd have to stop again and again in order to stay alive. I wondered if, when we finally arrived at her feet, we would find the bear destroyed like the others. So much Light wasted. So much magic that could've helped others.
"Have you ever seen a Keeper move?" I asked.
"You mean like walk around?"
"Yes. When we went to the tortoise, every move he made with his head resulted in boulders falling down from his skin. He was very, very old, and his Light had been badly pilfered. I wonder, do they ever walk?"
"I can't tell you. The only Keeper I've ever known is the one above our village."
If a Keeper could make a journey, just like the Fiends were able to make journeys, they could be an instrumental part in the war to come. I wondered why they stayed in one place. Probably, though, they were connected to their magic with the Light they guarded. It was amazing to think that men were able to take their Light and use it for their own purposes without consequence.
That may not have always been true, though. Father had been badly burned by the ram in the Wild Lands. It had fought back against him, against all who'd wanted to steal his Light. Now that time had passed, and I'd seen the beasts that lived in the dark, I understood him better. The ram was brave, cruel as he was. He was trying to protect himself and his Light against Torin. It was his way of fighting in the war, his way of not having all of his Light stolen fro
m him. He certainly knew that every other Keeper was also in danger, and I had seen that for myself in these mountains.
Soon enough, I would be meeting the bear, the ruler over the land as far as we could see from atop the mountain. I just hoped we were in time.
Chapter 28
By nightfall, we’d made it to the base of the mountain. If it hadn't been for the snow, we probably would've never found the right peak. But the light bouncing off the white-coated valleys was just enough to see the tallest of the mountains in the range.
We were tired from the cold, but it wasn't safe to stop. The Wicks had been flying all around us along our journey, suspicious despite not being able to see us, and I felt sure they could at least sense us now. I took down the magical barrier to help in Tosia's efforts to hide us. Without it, I hoped we would become completely invisible.
We started up the side of the mountain, the wind blowing fiercely at our backs. It increased in intensity the higher we climbed, and most of the snow had blown away, making the path easier to follow. The further up we went, though, the darker it was. I'd begun holding to the side of the mountain with my hands sticking to the rock, but Tosia had no such power, and I was certain I couldn’t share mine.
I went first. I insisted, though she was frustrated with my decision. She might’ve felt she would be stronger in a confrontation, and maybe that was true, but I could harness power that wasn’t yet understood by her. And besides, going in front with my hands providing safety, I could direct her along the path if it became suddenly treacherous.
"You're making a mistake!" she called through the wind. "Your life is of greater value than mine. If you die, the rest of us will despair!"
"I'm not going to die. None of us are. We're going to win!"
I had to believe it. I had no choice.
The higher we went, the less snow we saw, and we were instead assaulted by the wind alone. I made the mistake of looking back, which led me to look down. Even in the dark I could see how high we were, how far we’d come from that blanket of puffy snow in the valley.