Eternal Winter

Precious Findings: Part II

"What do'ya want?" the guttural voice emerged from a long, hairy snout on their face...

I hardly took in a full glance of their face—a face set with eyes not quite like the black of the brachion, but a certain depthless chill came from them all the same. A chill that seeped deeper than the winter storm raging around us. The intelligence still sparked within slithered across the party that stood huddled before the open door.

I tugged my hood farther down and cinched my cloak tighter, just someone looking for shelter, even as I angled my face away from the outpouring light. Julian, at the head of the party, stepped up closer to the open door, bringing all eyes to him.

"Just some travelers passing through," he replied, a crooked smile on his face—if he felt any apprehension or surprise, it was masked. "And we seem to be a bit lost."

"Yeah?" the voice—my skin crawled and I tugged Sammy further behind me—spoke our language easily, even set in a mouth that was not meant for speech. "Where ya heading?"

"Grendilian," Julian replied casually as he leaned his weight to the side. "Headed there to wait out this bout of storm. Figured it was the closest place with a bed and meal—unless you're offering any here?"

"None here," spoken with a sneer, or some variation that lifted the dark, blackened lips to show long, yellowed canines. "'Though, you may have better luck just stayin' on the road. Ain't no one available in Grendilian."

"It doesn't hurt to try," Julian pressed—his tone was still light and civil with that smile remaining, but his weight shifted again. His hand nearest his weapon was resting lightly on his hip, ready to move at any moment.

"Sure, it's your time to waste. The sign'll be another...oh, another 50 paces along." A large claw, with nails nearly as long as the fur-lined fingers, wrapped around the doorjamb, allowing a window into the firelit room. A square table with cards and empty plates seated another two beasts, with all eyes trained on us. "But, as ya' can see, we have important business to attend to—courtesy of the Dark Master an' all."

Julian's spine stiffened; straightening himself out he subtly moved his cloak to show his sword's stamped hilt, the very same issued in the Runewind company. The beast's eyes barely glanced at it, but there was a flicker of recognition. Julian's voice remained casual, even with the lick of heat coating his words, "I don't recall any beastmen in the Royal Army."

A bark of a laugh. "Beastmen!" the beast looked over their shoulder, too broad, too wrong for the Army-issued armor currently worn, at the others who did not lack a similar awkward, ghastly appearance. "I like that!"

A round of howls filled the room and drowned out the incessant howls of the wind. The first to drop the howl, one still seated inside, replied, "We're not exactly...official as of yet. If you understand, friend."

The cloak fell around the sword again. "Of course. The Army is always changing—however slow and unexpected it is," Julian stated, taking a step down. The conversation over. "Good luck with your business, friends."

The door did not close gently, but with a slam that knocked the piling snow from the roof. I yanked Sammy to the side just as an icicle stabbed into the snow. My teeth bared I made to step into the house—with shelter and food and fire—ready to rip apart the beasts as I would have in Olym.

Julian still remained between me and the door, though, with a stare like fire pinning me in place before I had moved. "Not them, not now," he hissed, the words nearly snatched away by the swirling wind. "Let's move." At my insistent stare, he added a sharp, "Now."

I curled my fingers into themselves and whipped around, cloak flaring out around me. In a few echoing steps, I found myself back on the cobblestone road, content on leading the rest of the way in silence.

Julian finally halted me with a firm hand on my shoulder. I barely glanced at him, even when he didn't release me. Instead, I growled, "You know I do not take well to being commanded."

"I know, Lyra," he replied, that lick of heat still in his voice. "But, if you would only stop and listen to me, you would understand. Please."

I stomped ahead another few steps, out of his grip. Then, I paused and took in a shuddering, cold breath before I finally faced him. "If you know, then why?" I asked.

"I know a team when I see one," he began, keeping an eye on everything that flickered into view around us. "The Army does not deal in three-person teams."

The recent scene played back to me—there were indeed only three beings within the one-room building that was not a house. Not like my initial thought.

My hand immediately sought out Sammy's at my side. Always at my side.

His final statement set us all on edge, "There are two missing."

We huddled together, shielded at the base of a large, bowing evergreen, and allowed the storm to carry on around us. It was the only sound for a few beats. Jakob's voice was thin when he spoke next, "Could the numbers, perhaps, have changed since your time? It was mentioned they are not of the official sort."

Julian shook his head, shrugging his cloak tighter on his shoulders. "It has been five soldiers to a team for many generations—it is based in the team of guards to the First King of Mysti. I do not suspect there would be such changes as sudden as this."

"It has been over a year since the Eternal Winter began, surely it has been ample enough time to make such changes," Michaela argued, cheeks rosy from windburn and cold and notable frustration, going by the light in her eyes that continued to cast back from whence we came. "I will not rest easy knowing such...beings are in a position of power to be exploited. You heard what they said of the townsfolk of Grendilian, yet, they seemed of no concern."

"Yes, I heard," Julian replied tightly. "But, I stand by my claim. It will do us no good to take action when we do not know who all it is we fight."

"You are absolutely certain on this, then," there was no more doubt laced into Jakob's words. Julian nodded once, anyway.

Jakob briefly set a hand on Michaela's shoulders and she immediately deflated, dropping her gaze to the space between us instead. "You know more of this than I—I apologize for doubting you."

"I would rather take questioning doubt than blind obedience any day," was all Julian replied with. "The true question, then, do we risk going into town or should we continue on? There will be another station in Ingram."

"We stay," I stated briskly. "We do not leave without knowing what the Dark Master's plans on this town are."

An immediate series of nods went around, as if none of them had considered the choice may have been anything other than this one. My heart fluttered in my chest and, for a moment, the cold did not seem so sharp.