Moon-Bleached Bones

1

Gwen quivered in excitement. This was unusual for her, a girl who always seemed so stoic and cold, but she couldn't help herself. The idea--no, the fact at this point--that she, yes, she was going to go behind the Icengate for research was just so appalling. Most people on Jorvik didn't even know what the Icengate was, never mind who the Kallter were! She was part of the elite of an already elite club. She couldn't imagine what lay beyond those gates.

Stefan touched her shoulder, gently, and she immediately dropped her grin for her usual look of seriousness. He smiled at her, his own anxiety evident, and she smiled back.

"Are you ready for this?"

"To be honest, I don't think I ever could be." He laughed. "It's not every day a geologist goes into the unknown to find out why some rocks explode."

Right. Unlike Gwen's possibly-far-fetched idea, Stefan had a concrete reason to go where no outsider had gone before. He was there to research the Kallstone, a stone that seemed to have its own electrical circuit. It could glow by itself, or power something that needed batteries (Stefan had stood slack-jawed at that one), or--on the odd occasion--spontaneously combust.

Gwen's own reason was... less exciting. She was there to study the history of the Kalltic people, namely to try and identify when they came to Jorvik. Her ultimate goal was to see how horses originated on Jorvik--if the Kallters had brought them or if they had come some other way--but that was a big step. One that wouldn't be made in just one trip, anyways.

"So are you afraid of the snow or of just the fancy rocks?"

"I think it's a little bit of both," he smiled at her, looking over her shoulder to see if the leader of their exhibition--Matias--was ready to leave yet. He was still on foot, his horse standing idly next to him, his face obviously shrouded in thought. Hawaii Jones was coming up next to him, but he shrugged her away.

Both of them said they hadn't worked together before, but Gwen thought she knew better. Hawaii Jones--a legend in her own right, the main researcher of almost all archaeological works nowadays--should have been the leader on this project. The fact that Matias was the leader instead said something. She wasn't sure what, but it probably meant that Jones trusted him.

Gwen didn't have a lot of trust in anyone, herself.

George--the fifth and final partner on the team--was taking some last-minute notes. Gwen was pretty sure he wanted to research the cold of the Valley. If he had a beer or two and you got him talking about the Valley, he would just go on for hours on how the cold didn't make any relative sense and how he wanted to find out everything behind it. Meteorology wasn't exciting to Gwen, but to George? He probably preferred research to roller coasters.

Matias finally looked up, and shoved the piece of paper he'd been holding into his horse's saddlebag. Everyone knew what that meant at this point; they walked over to their horses and mounted them, eager to see what lay ahead of them.

"It'll be one more minute," Matias said. "we still have to wait for a guide." He scratched his horse's neck, and she whickered in response. Gwen copied him, petting her North Swedish Sasha, but she got only an ear flick in response.

The next few seconds passed both in the span of 5 days and the blink of an eye. The air was thick, and then the gates opened.

Two people on horseback came out from the gate--actually, three. Two of them shared a Fjord horse, while the other sat by herself.

"Hello," said one in a startlingly clear accent. He was the one sharing a horse with someone behind him, but Gwen couldn't quite make out their faces under all their cloaks.