“What?” Dartan was still struggling with the questions his mind kept asking, and it was taking a moment to process Logan’s words.
“Fine. I know, I know, she’s not your girlfriend,” Logan said, rolling his eyes. “Whatever she is, you have got to make up with her. I can’t stand another second of her constant chatter.”
Dartan glanced over at Aliet. She was staring down into her lap, but her head was tilted towards them. “She can hear you,” Dartan whispered.
“Don’t care,” Logan said, and gave Dartan a push. “Now, off you go.” Dartan stumbled around the fire until he stood next to Aliet.
“Hello,” he said.
“Hi,” she answered without looking up.
“Mind if I sit?” he asked awkwardly.
She answered with a simple shrug. Dartan glanced back at Logan who promptly pointed his finger down, and mouthed ‘sit’. Dartan slowly lowered himself to the ground next to Aliet, and waited. Truthfully, he wasn’t exactly sure what to do now. He and Aliet had certainly had arguments before, and he wanted the silent treatment to end, but he had no idea what to apologize for, or even if he could apologize with enough sincerity to be believable.
He looked back up at Logan, who was ready to explode. Logan threw his hands up in the air, then pointed fiercely at Aliet as he mouthed ‘talk to her’. Dartan nodded, took a deep breath, and opened his mouth. He had no idea what was going to spill out, but luckily he was interrupted.
“I didn’t mean what I said, you know.” Aliet spoke quickly, and without looking up.
Dartan struggled to stop the flood of words he had been ready to loose, somehow stemming it down to a simple, “Really?”
“Yes, really,” she said, finally looking up at him. She shrugged her shoulders and added, “At least, I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.” Dartan relaxed a tiny bit, but didn’t dare speak. Stopping her now could be catastrophic.
“Following you isn’t crazy,” she admitted. “I just felt crazy for doing it blindly.” She sighed loudly. “I don’t know why I felt that way. I’ve always done what you wanted.”
“Never blindly though,” Dartan said with a grin. “I’ve always had to pay for your allegiance in one way or another.”
“Ah, how many sweets have you bribed me with over the years?” she asked with a laugh.
“More than I care to count.”
“I suppose that will change soon enough though, right, Your Highness?”
“Is that what all this is about?” he asked, flash-frozen smile on his face. “It is, isn’t it?”
“No,” she said quickly, but couldn’t look him in the face. “Well, at least, not at first.” Dartan raised his eyebrows. “My first objection had to do more with sleeping on the ground again so soon, but I’ll admit I let it blow up in my head. Before I even realized it, I was mad just because you were getting what you wanted without even considering what I wanted.”
“And now?” Dartan had wondered what kind of leader he would make. Aliet’s reaction was not making him feel confident in his abilities.
“And now,” she echoed, “I realize I was just mad because I didn’t get my bribe.” They both laughed and Dartan could feel the tension between them dissolve completely. He still wasn’t sure he had made the right decision, feeling a little crazy himself for his insistence to leave, but at least Aliet was talking to him again. Something he regretted almost immediately.
“So,” she said, “what exactly are we looking for?” Dartan peered over his shoulder into the darkness. In the light it had been easy to be blinded by the mountain pass and its pull, but here in the dark, the question stared him in the face and demanded an answer.
“I don’t really know.” He was shocked to hear the words actually come out of his mouth. Even if it was true, there had to be a better way to phrase it. He would deal with his traitorous mouth later, right now he had to deal with Aliet.
“What do you mean, ‘you don’t know’?” she asked in a tone that increased in volume and accusation simultaneously. “So, the wizard says go, and you don’t even ask why?”
“No, not exactly,” Dartan managed to interject before she broke in again.
“What exactly is the plan once we reach the pass? Stand around and just hope Alain appears to show us the way? Because he’s been so reliable up until now.”
No, not the wizard. Dartan was remembering parts of his conversation with Alain. He hadn’t told Dartan what they were going there for, but he had told him how to find it. Dartan looked over Aliet’s shoulder, and there was his answer. Marcus never even saw it coming.
“There’s no need to wait on Alain,” Dartan said, rising and moving towards Marcus. “He told me someone else knows the way.”
“Who?” Aliet asked, following Dartan to where he had stopped – directly behind Marcus, who was readying his bed roll.
“Marcus.”
He answered with a grunt, followed closely by, “You two are blocking my light.”
They both took a giant step to the left in unison, and Aliet repeated, “Marcus?” Her mouth hung open a moment, her eyes shifting from Dartan to Marcus. “So, he must know what Alain wants.”
“No,” Marcus corrected her. “I know the way.”
Dartan nodded, the memory becoming clearer. “That’s right. Alain only said Marcus knows the way.” Marcus grunted again, then went back to his work. Aliet was not satisfied.
“Come on, Brother,” she pleaded. “You have to know something more than just ‘the way’.”
“Yes,” Dartan joined, pleased his plan had worked, but sure he would pay for it later. “What is it that’s so special about Varlain Pass?”
Marcus gave a heavy sigh that moved through his crouched body. “You both know the story of that pass,” he said quietly.
“You mean that everyone who’s attempted to cross it has died?” Dartan asked. “We’ve all heard that story, but there must be easier ways to kill four people.”
“There certainly are,” Marcus replied with a smirk. “But we aren’t going there to die, and the stories you’ve heard aren’t true.”
A shuffling noise behind them made them all turn, hands on hilts. It was Logan, frozen mid-scoot under their collective stare. “What?” he finally asked of their silence. When they didn’t respond he continued moving over next to them. “Come on,” he said. “I haven’t heard Marcus say much more than two sentences at a time, and you think I’m going to miss him telling a story?” Aliet and Dartan looked at one another, shrugged, and sat down next to Logan. Marcus shrugged as well, then settled down in front of them with another grunt.
“It wasn’t always known as Varlain Pass,” he began. “Of course, there’s only one person alive today that might remember it by any other name.”
“The wizard,” Aliet whispered, to which Marcus nodded.
“It’s also seen many more deaths than just those foolish enough to attempt its crossing,” he continued. “The Great Dragon War took the lives of hundreds of thousands men, women and children across this entire land. That high mountain pass was the site of the final battle. I have no idea how many scorched and broken bodies lie beneath the frozen ground there, but one thing is certain - without the Great Wizard it would have been the end of us all. That pass was where he defeated the remaining dragon army, banishing them from this land using their own magic against them. He locked them behind a gateway, a window into a world of fire, ash, and death of their own making.”
“That’s why I’m here.” They all looked at Logan, who seemed not to realize he had spoken aloud. That is, until he noticed everyone staring at him. He was surprised, but quickly recovered. “For Alain to use dragon magic,” he explained, “would have required dragon parts.”
“And you’ll be able to find them,” Aliet finished. “Do you think that’s what you feel pulling you now?”
“Maybe,” Logan answered, looking into the fire. It was perhaps the first time Dartan had seen him unsure of himself. Logan shook his head
slightly and met their eyes again. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Remember, I’ve never come across any dragon remains to know for certain.”
“But, these parts,” Dartan pressed, “they would be important, right?”
Logan began nodding even before he spoke. “Yes, definitely. If they were used to bind the spell, then they could be used to dissolve it as well.”
Alain’s warning rang through Dartan’s head. “The ruler of the Northern Kingdom,” he said. “Would he be capable of such magic?”
“I would put nothing past Jarel,” Marcus spat. “He would align with the devil himself for a chance to rule Pavlora.”
How much of Pavlora would be left to reign over? “We cannot allow his men to get their hands on whatever awaits us in that pass,” Dartan proclaimed.
“Then I suggest,” Marcus said, “we all get some sleep, and start early in the morning. I have seen no sign of the Northern mercenaries, and that makes me nervous.”
Logan unsure and Marcus nervous – Dartan felt sick. Sleep did not come quickly or easily, despite the weariness enveloping his entire body. Even after sleep finally claimed his body, his mind refused to rest. It produced an endless stream of frustrating dreams, each one with him trying desperately to catch the attention of an oblivious Alain. Between them was always some insurmountable obstacle – a chasm, an ocean, a raging storm – and each time he would awaken with outstretched arms and an ache in his throat.
By sunrise Dartan felt even more exhausted than when he had lain down. At least I’m not drenched in freezing water though, he thought as he eyed a serenely sleeping Logan.
Chapter Twenty-three
Rumble. Rumble.
At least he wasn’t the only one hungry, thought Dartan. How long had it been since he had eaten? Or even stopped to rest?
As soon as the mountains were visible through the morning mist, he began to feel their pull again. And he wasn’t the only one. He had caught Logan staring and drifting towards the now nearer peaks, only to stop and realize he wasn’t finished packing.
Once they were actually on their way, things only got worse. The transition from forest to sloping mountainside was not even a memory in Dartan’s head. The only thing he could vaguely recall was a stop to put on warmer clothes when they began to encounter snow. It was less than a memory though, and more of just a feeling. There was agitation at being forced to stop, which only relented when he was allowed to move forward again. It was a wonder Marcus and Aliet were still travelling with him and Logan.
Rumble! Rumble!
Louder this time, and definitely from in front of him. Must be Logan. It was madness to continue on at this pace. He called out to Logan, “Why don’t we stop for a minute to rest and eat? It will do us no good to reach the pass and die of exhaustion.”
“We’ve all heard your stomach,” Logan called back. “Just tighten your belt another notch. We’re too close to stop now.”
“Are you so delirious as to not even recognize the grumbling protests of your own empty stomach?” Dartan asked.
Logan stopped, confusion on his face. “That wasn’t me.”
Before anyone else could speak the rumble came again, even louder. More concerning though, was this time he could feel it in his feet. Logan’s eyes widened as he looked down at his feet, hidden in the shin deep snow, then looked back up at the mountain. A sharp crack rang through the air, followed by a steady, deep rumble, growing louder by the second. Small rocks tumbled past them, while the snow shifted and moved like a river around them. Logan turned and shouted what they already knew. Avalanche.
They were dead. It was a simple fact, and no way Dartan could see to avoid it. They were in the open with a wall of snow, ice, and rock barreling towards them at a speed he could not even imagine being able to outrun. They had absolutely no where to go or hide. Nothing could save them … nothing except, he was a wizard.
Dartan had absolutely no idea from where the thought had come. In fact, he had believed his mind capable of processing nothing beyond the white death imminently approaching. Yet, somewhere deep and warm, part of his brain not completely frozen in fear, had offered him this simple solution. You are a wizard. Luckily, self-doubt was too preoccupied with ‘you’re going to die, you’re going to die’ to be able to chime in with ‘technically you’re only an apprentice’.
With that thought, everything seemed to slow to a crawl around him. He could hear Aliet screaming his name from beside him, and saw her reaching out for him. Above him, Logan was running, headed fruitlessly for a distant patch of trees. Beyond Logan stood Marcus. He had planted one knee on the ground and braced his shoulder behind his heavy pack. Mere meters from Marcus, crashing towards them all with still significant speed even in his altered state of perception, the wall of snow moved, oblivious to them all.
This was the hard part. How exactly does one just stop a force of nature? Dartan reached out and touched it with his mind. His knees threatened to buckle under the crushing weight and swirling chaos that was the avalanche, throwing his thoughts into a frantic panic. Melt it? Part it? Lift it? Lift them?
Slowed down sense of time or not, he was nearly out of it, and had only come to the conclusion that being a wizard wasn’t much help to them at all. His mind eased, resigned to its fate, and then he looked to Marcus again. Marcus, calmly awaiting his own fate, futilely braced behind a hopelessly flimsy pack he had made into a shield. There was something else there his mind felt, under the physical, Dartan was struck by a strength pouring out of Marcus. It formed almost another layer around him. A barrier. Another shield. That was it! He needed a shield.
Dartan dared not touch the crippling force bearing down on them. Instead he focused his will on building a wall. He built it tall, fast, and, thanks in part to Marcus, strong. He held his breath as the snow hit. Hard. His body slid backwards nearly a meter, but the wall held.
Marcus dusted a stray spray of snow out of his hair and stood to face the solid block of snow in the shadow of which he now was. He glanced back at Dartan and gave him a small nod. Good job. Dartan replied with an almost imperceptible nod of his own. It was nothing.
“Now that,” Logan said, moving back towards the group, “is much more impressive than throwing a few rocks around.” He stopped beside Dartan and stared up at the frozen wall. “Never doubted you for a second,” he said, punctuated with a slap on the back. The mass of snow shuddered in response while Dartan managed a weak smile.
“Sure you didn’t.” Aliet grabbed Logan and dragged him away from Dartan’s side. “That was the first time I’ve seen you take even a single step away from the pass since we left Kinsley.” Logan started to argue the point, but she didn’t give him the chance. “Now go stand by Marcus, and try not to touch anything.” He put his head down and mumbled the entire way, but he went. Satisfied he was out of the way, she turned back to Dartan. “Are you alright?” she asked.
What had he expected it to feel like, exactly? Or had he even considered it at all? Certainly he had imagined nothing like this. The physical demand was much like flexing a muscle, deceptively easy at first, but impossible to maintain. The physical complaints, however, were a mere whisper under the mental demand of maintaining the spell. What he wouldn’t give for a spellstone, he thought as he slowly realized Aliet was staring at him. She had asked him a question. What was it? It sluggishly rose in his memory.
“Fine,” he managed to answer, even though he didn’t believe it himself. She squinted, and stared hard at him for a moment before shaking her head and turning back to Logan and Marcus.
“We need to move,” Marcus insisted. “Now.” While Aliet could see the lie in Dartan’s eyes, Marcus had seen the snow beginning to shift, and the sweat forming on Dartan’s brow. Logan, however, couldn’t see beyond what was right in front of him.
“And where exactly would you suggest we go?” Logan asked, indicating the snow wall blocking their path.
“Through,” Marcus answered, pointing to a small crack that
reached to the top of the wall. To emphasize his point, he began walking towards it without another word.
“After you,” Logan motioned to Aliet, who simply rolled her eyes and followed Marcus. Dartan stayed still, wondering how much longer he would be able to hold out.
It was a bit of a squeeze, especially with their packs, but Marcus wasted no time in climbing up the crack and onto the snow above. Aliet followed, but had to have help from Marcus to reach the top. Logan was next. Marcus reached down to give him a hand, but Logan wasn’t there. Instead, he had stopped less than half a meter from the frozen wall.
“That is just the weirdest thing,” Logan said, extending his arm out in front of him. “How is it that it stopped an avalanche, and yet my hand passes right through?” He moved his hand slowly back and forth across the invisible boundary. Aliet, confused about what was taking so long, now poked her head over the edge of the wall and stared down at Logan. “Wouldn’t you think you could feel, well, something?” he asked of no one in particular. He held his hand palm out and slowly inched it towards the wall. He stopped it just before it contacted the snow, and said, “Right there! This should be where it is, but I don’t feel anything.” He then began rapidly thrusting his hand back and forth, pushing against the snow.
“Logan!” Aliet and Dartan yelled at the same time. He quickly pulled his arm back against his chest and looked guiltily from one to the other.
“Enough,” Aliet said. “What part of ‘move now’ did you not understand?”
“Sorry,” he said to Aliet, then turned to Dartan. “I just … Damn.”
“It’s fine,” Dartan said through clenched teeth. “There’s still time. Just hurry.”
“No,” Logan said, pointing down the mountain. “We’re out of time.”
Below them a dozen figures wearing the colors of the Northern Kingdom were moving towards them. Fast.
“Go,” Dartan commanded. Logan needed no further encouragement, leaping for Marcus’s still outstretched hand, he was pulled up to the top of the wall.
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