Young Writers Society

It was the end of the second day into the trip, and Carris was starving. And freezing. Devlin had given her his fire-starting kit, something that had surprised her, but she had taken without argument. Then she had left that morning, winding down the mountainside through the droves of snow that had been pushed aside by Eridan. She hadn’t caught any glimpse of him or his two companions -although she had spotted the dark grey cluster of stone that could only be Atheron down off the mountain- and had been pre-occupied mulling over what Devlin had said to her.

As she now huddled by a small fire that had taken entirely too long to get started with the heavy wind, her mind went back to their argument.

“Who does he think he is?” she huffed to herself as she huddled underneath a small shelter of branches she had propped up against a tree on the mountainside. She poked at the fire with a stick.

“Calling me a coward. Trying to butter me up with compliments just to get me out here.” She jabbed the fire, sending sparks fizzing out in the cold air.

Of course, he had a point. If Eridan got to Atheron first it could be too late to stop him at that point. Why should Carris care? Astoria had never treated her well. Sure, she would like to have worked in the Royal City, creating jewelry and fashion for the higher-ups, having her own house and running her schedule, but she could go to Gormica and do the same. Her mind ran back to Gwyn.

Not for the first time in the last week, Carris let her head roll back until it struck against the tree. She closed her eyes. Poor Gwyn. At least she had a loving mother, siblings, and hadn’t been harassed by Malcolm for years. Now, that was all gone for her. And what could Carris do? It wouldn’t be fair to bring her along if she didn’t want to leave Astoria. Yet, she couldn’t just live on her own. She was too young and too vulnerable.

Carris turned on her side, grunting as a rock dug into her side. She clawed it out of the hardened ground and tossed it aside. Her stomach rumbled again, joining in with the howl of the wind. She made sure the fire was going well, and slowly dozed off...

~ ~~ ~ ~

Carris slept restlessly, waking every hour or so, tossing more wood on the fire and huddling back down underneath her shelter. At last, she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her stomach growled more ferocious than ever. She stood, groaning as her back ached, and kicked out the fire, waving a hand in her face as the smoke swirled around. The wind had picked up and it tugged at every stitch of clothing.

Carris glanced at the path ahead of her, cleared away by Eridan, but slowly being covered in a new white coating as the snows fell from the sky once more. Carris put a hand to her belly and started off at a slow gait. She knew she should move faster, but the moon was still out with dawn nowhere to be seen yet, and she doubted that Eridan was moving yet. Not that it mattered if he was.

“Not going to catch up to him,” she muttered to herself.

She wondered how he had kept himself, the nameless companion and Jacoby fed. She had seen no carcasses, hadn’t even found a campfire from where they might have stayed, even though she had followed their path exactly. Carris looked around her now, wondering if they had cut back on her. She felt strangely calm, despite the heavy wind and the threat that there may be Sadorians waiting around the next tree to kill her. She reasoned that it must be the hunger and lack of sleep, but she simply did not have the will to be fearful.

It must have been hours, it felt like hours when the sun began to poke over the peaks of the Agressi. It did nothing to ease the cold or melt the falling snow, but it did make the snow shine and glitter. Carris squinted her eyes.

Why did it have to be sunny?

The trail thus far had been one of ease, avoiding most boulders, thick tree clumps, and meandering streams, but now it narrowed between an outcrop of rocks. Carris could see blue sky through the entrance.

“Must be a drop-off,” Carris muttered.

She came upon the boulders and placed a hand on either side as she peered over the drop-off. It was a good twenty feet, straight down. There were no branches or vines to climb on, no roots from a nearby tree. No easy way to get down. And yet...

“The trail keeps going,” she sighed. She could see the tunnel of snow that led down the mountainside. And near the base of the mountain, she could see three dark specks descending, surrounded by a white cloud of snow.

“Gotcha.”

Carris felt energy coursing through her veins. There was new life in her step and she clapped her hands together. She wasn’t sure why the excitement came flooding in. Maybe because she had finally reached the bottom of the mountain, or maybe because one way or another this would be over soon. She peered over the edge again.

How do I get down?

Carris got down on her knees. She scanned the face of the rock. For several hundred yeards both way she could see the rock stretch out. This was the fastest way. She sucked in her breath and stretched her legs over the edge. She could feel slight pieces of rock jutting out. She rolled onto her stomach, her legs still dangling over the edge.

“Here goes.”

She scrambled over the edge, her hands grabbing onto a chunk of rock that stuck out several inches. She ran her legs along the rock, finding footing, and took a breath. She tried her best to look down the rock for the next footholds. With surprising agility, she spidered down the rock face until she was just a few feet from the bottom. She shoved off and landed with an “oof” as her right foot slid out from underneath her. She hit the snow with all the grace of a flailing chicken, but it provided enough padding so as to not injure her.

She was on her feet in an instance, dusting off snow from her knees and sleeves. She wasn’t sure why she was suddenly so eager to beat the Sadorians down the mountainside. Devlin had been wrong. She did take action to help her cause, no matter he said. He didn’t know her, and she didn’t have to prove anything to him.

If nothing else, she was already in the thick of this, so she might as well finish it. And she didn’t like finishing last. She began to run down the cleared path. The open mountainside was sparsely covered and sloped down at a manageable grade. It gave the appearance that Carris was less than half a mile behind the Sadorians, but as the descent progressed she realized that they were in fact at least two miles away, and moving quickly.

Atheron now loomed to the left of Carris, its grey spires poking over the dips and rises as the mountains began to level out. A river cascades down the left, cutting right, as if bordering the mountains from the forests that rolled out along it base. There was one bridge to cross the river Carris knew, directly down the mountain. She assumed that Eridan would head there, but with less than two miles to go down the mountain they cut left. Carris clutched her side where a cramp was forming. Each breath froze her lungs, and she wheezed as she moved as quickly as possible. Although the path was cleared it was still slick with fresh snow matted on dead grass and mud.

Carris halted. The cleared path went down the mountain for another mile at least before it cut left. If she were to leave the path and work through the snow, which was now only a foot deep, rather than three or more.

Why not.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There was smoke coming from the riverbank just ahead of Carris who crouched behind a thick pine tree. She had made up immense distance by cutting across the mountainside. She was exhausted, however. Her legs quivered as she flitted from one tree to the next. She could hear the Sadorians talking now, and could catch the scent of some meaty being cooked. Her stomach rumbled as if to remind her that she hadn’t eaten in nearly three days, and she instinctively put a hand to it.

She wasn’t sure what the plan was. The river was at least a hundred feet wide and a good twenty feet deep, the cause of many deaths over the years as stories went. There was no way to cross it unless Eridan planned on crafting a raft, but only the one Sadorian had an ax, and it wasn’t designed for wood-cutting. It had the arcing half-moon blade, used more for bashing than cutting. She supposed it could be used for cutting a tree down. But why? The bridge would be only lightly traveled this time of year, especially with the snow falling and the wind as heavy as it was.

The trees were thick up until the bank which gave just a few feet of muddied earth before the river swirled by. The Sadorians were set up with a make-shift spit draped across a surprisingly large fire. Carris’s fingers ached with cold as she yearned to get just a little of the warmth the fire offered. All the adrenaline had run off as she had reached the base of the mountain. She listened now as the Sadorians spoke. It was Jacoby who was speaking in a jovial tone.

“Ya know, I usually don’t like rabbit, but at this point, I would’ve taken just about anything, horse included.”

Carris wound around to the left, squeezing between a boulder and a pine. She could see Jacoby huddled close to the fire, a chunk of meat skewered on the stick in his hand. The other Sadorian was much the same, with his back to Carris. Eridan was squatted across the fire, staring into the flames with both hands opened to the fire.

Jacoby went on, his voice turning from the more hopeful tone to that of concern. “Are you sure this will work?”

Carris leaned in as their voices lowered and the fire crackled against the boisterous wind.

“We’ll soon find out. It could save us time and keep us out of sight until nightfall.” Eridan said.

“I know. But you’ve never tried this before. If this doesn’t work...”

“It will work.”

“How do you know?” Jacoby said before tearing a bite out of his meal.

The other Sadorian spoke now as he tossed the bones away from his finished lunch. “Let’s just try it and get it over with. I’m sick of this banter.”

Eridan pushed himself to his feet. “Very well.”

He drew his sword and turned toward the river. Carris adjusted to see him as he moved out of sight behind a tree. Her foot crunched on a twig and she froze, her heart rate spiking in an instance. Jacoby spun with hand on his hilt. Carris dropped to her knees behind the boulder, hand over her mouth.

Idiot!

She could hear the crunch of footsteps as she guessed the Sadorians rose to their feet.

“Did you hear that?” Jacoby said.

Carris heard the hiss of a blade drawn.

“Could be an animal.” That was the other Sadorian. “Maybe another rabbit?” He sounded excited by the prospect of another meal.

“That was too loud for a rabbit,” Jacoby corrected him.

Carris pressed her back against the boulder. She wanted to look out, to see where they were at, but she didn’t dare.

There were footsteps approaching from the right of the boulder. Carris squirmed.

Think Carris.

there were trees all along with a smattering of man-sized boulders nearby, but to get to any of them would be involved running at least ten feet in the open.

“Who would be following us,” the Sadorian asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe that girl or the soldier. We never did see their bodies. And I don’t intend to be done in by some wench or little soldier boy. You coming?”

There was the jingle of armor and a grunt. “Sure.”

Carris grimaced as footsteps came from both sides now only ten feet away at the most.

“This is a bad idea,” she mouthed.

She pressed both hands against the boulder and pushed off, headed for a fallen log fifteen feet to the right of her. She took two big steps and dove over the log, hitting the ground with arms outstretched. She quickly scrambled against it, breathing heavily.

“Did you hear that?” Jacoby said with more emphasis on “that”.

“Yep. Definitely not a rabbit.”

“Look! footprints!” Jacoby let out a holler. “Eridan, we’re not alone!”

So stupid. I’ve got to move.

Carris didn’t want to move. Her legs ached to stay still. But she would find out. They would find her in a minute and leave her dead in the snow. She rolled out from the log and pushed herself to her feet up against the nearest tree. Where to go was the question? If she ran for the mountains they would run her down. Maybe Devlin was close. Maybe he had seen her footprints. For the first time, Carris would love to see his shiny army armor and sword.

But that wasn’t going to happen. Carris closed her eyes, listening to her surroundings. The branches cracked against each other, the Sadorians feet crunched in the snow as they moved closer, and the river gurgled like an angry beast.

The river...

Carris pushed off the tree and bolted for the river. They couldn’t get her there. She dashed right past the first Sadorian who had been peering behind a tree. Jacoby was on her tail in a heartbeat. Carris couldn’t help but let out a smile as she cleared a log and exited the wooded area. She closed her eyes again, blocking out any visual barrier of the river. Better to hit it blind then freeze on the riverbank. She could feel the slimy ground beneath her feet.

Almost the-

Carris was catapulted off of her feet and she opened her eyes in time to see the shoreline fading away as she was launched over the river. She tumbled through the air and landed face-first in the water. The water slapped her body and she sputtered to the surface as the current swept her away. She could see Eridan on the shoreline. He was shouting something, sword upraised. Then he jabbed it at the river.

The gust of wind that followed raced across the water, launching a wave against the opposite bank. Slowly, as the wind strengthened from Eridan, the river began to part in two. The water roiled backwards at Carris so that she was tug underneath by opposing currents. She attacked the water to reach the surface. She could see nothing, could barely feel anything as she was tossed about underwater. Then she hit what felt like a malleable wall and was falling in the air. Her body landed on muddy ground and knocked the wind out of her lungs. She groaned and rolled on her back, trying to orientate herself. The waves tumbled on both sides of her nearly twenty feet high. Yet where she lay on her back was dry ground. She put every last ounce of effort she had into sitting up. 

As she surveyed the scene she gasped. Directly ahead of her, on the one bank stood Eridan. He still had his sword outstretched and slowly stepping out into the riverbed, followed by his companions. One of them pointed at Carris. Eridan’s arm wavered. He took a step back onto the bank and lowered the sword. the wind subsided and suddenly the waves on both broke. Carris screamed as the river engulfed her once more. Something heavy hit her head and everything was black.