Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 19)

(Uhhh let’s say a week? Probably waited until she was sure he was stable-ish and she’d recovered enough)

(Okie dokie. Wanna start?)

(Sure! We skipping straight to her leaving or did you have something else in mind first? No preference here)

(We can skip to her leaving; I don't have much planned.

We have 2.5 months and 4 days before the awakening. Each month consists of 28 days split into 7 day weeks)

(Haha good to know. At what point will that intersect with the long night?)

Ky had been meticulous in her planning. It wouldn’t have been possible for her to be any more careful had Aleth been standing over her with whip.

She was sure to play her cards exactly right. Throwing suspicion off herself as much as possible. Being sure no one witnessed her squirreling away food or a tent and other camping supplies. Intentionally skipping breakfast so they’d learn not to miss her presence there.

Then the day came when she was ready to make her move.

She woke up early — well before the sun — and made her way down to the stable bundled up from head to toe. She chose the horse she usually rode when she went out, and left a little note in its stall that she’d gone for a morning ride and to expect her back around lunch. Hopefully throwing more suspicion off her.

Then she got started.

It was dark and spooky and she wasn’t at all happy to be on her own out here. But they’d made it abundantly clear that she was on her own, whether she liked it or not. She’d waited around months for them. She wasn’t going to wait any longer.

She had her horse, her sword, and hopes that Rönn would agree to watch her back. And faith that Haelar wouldn’t let her die, given what he’d said. He wanted her alive. So she’d make it. One way or the other.

(In about two months the sun will be up only a few minutes at a time. It's up a few hours at a time right now, like five and a half or six. And then a week after that it'll be down completely, at which point the hemisphere enters a four-month night.)

It was a clear morning; it had snowed overnight and the ground was still crisp and white, with only a few animal tracks breaking its surface. The forest was quiet except for the occasional owl, and the howling of wolves was well off in the distance.

(Okay cool)

Ky was guarded, eyes watching all directions at once or at least trying to. She wanted to quit and go back. But then she envisioned what it would feel like to have her Mother’s arms around her again. To be plowed over by the boys as they wrestled with her. To chat with Anneliese and giggle like they were children. The warmth of her home fueled her to press onward.

The sun would not rise for another few hours; it had been setting earlier and earlier and rising later and later in the past few weeks. Some of the creatures of the forest seemed to be taking advantage of the extra darkness; an elk carcass lay off to one side with the bones picked clean. There was no indication that it was Rönn's doing.

Ky shivered and sped up a bit, patting her horse's shoulder encouragingly. “We’ll be okay,” she whispered, and realized her teeth chattered now that she didn’t have them clenched. She clenched them again and pulled her coat tighter around herself. She had to go. She had to. No turning back.

(Lemme know when you think she's far enough out)

The wolves' howling had died out now, and only the creaking of trees and wind whisking snow off the drifts could be heard.

(Anytime, I think! I’ve nothing planned)

She forced herself to focus on her family at Caracal Keep. Not think about the family she was abandoning behind her.

(Okie doke)

Up ahead of Ky, there was a mass covered in snow, about the size of a cow.

Ky squinted at it, trying to determine what it was. A boulder? Snow drift? Gods, she wished the sun was up. She wished she hadn’t left so early.

It was moving, albeit very, very, very slowly. There was an arm, stick-thin, reaching out to grasp at the ground in front of it, dragging behind it the being's body.

Ky slowed, then stopped, gaslighting herself about whether it was moving or not. What should she do? Her blood pressure spiked and she moved her hand to the hilt of her sword, though she didn’t draw it, yet.