Mermaid Tear (The Fated #2)

14 | Old Faces

Traversing the mountains proved to be as equal parts miserable and fascinating as Kain expected.

Aptly named after one of the many legends behind its creation, Iris Pass was similar to its counterpart in many ways. Frozen walls of rock and ice stretched leagues above their heads as a single path no wider than the breadth of two carriages cut through it with unnatural smoothness. This time, however, when they bid farewell to Semele--who promised to watch the queen mother with a careful eye, lest the assassins return to finish their work--no roar of a wyvern met their passage.

Instead, they walked through an unsettling silence.

It took Kain perhaps an hour of their increasingly strenuous trek to realize why it was unsettling. He couldn't hear a single bird, bug, or scavenger amongst the rocky landscape. The crisp autumn air formed clouds with each warm huff of air, signaling the reason behind it all. They were late enough into the season that any intelligent creature would be fleeing the mountains, lest they be caught in the way when the nightmares extended their territories to include the soon-to-be-snowed-in pass.

His hand stuck close to his sword, but the first day passed with ease.

That night, they settled a travels alcove that cut into the stone wall, leaving a cave-like hallow to set their bedrolls in. Chill clung to his lungs as he buried himself within his blankets. He understood, then, why Rhode had cautioned them prior to their previous attempt about plunging into the mountains unprepared. Had they not packed fur-lined cloaks and enchanted warming stones, he likely would have lost a finger each night onward due to the increasingly frigid temperatures.

The fact the mountains felt like an environment all their own made it clear why there were so many legends about them and the gods.

But fates how the view from the top made the building ache in his bones worth it.

Leagues after league of cloud-dusted land stretched out as far as their eyes could see. Thick, pine forests with the occasional break for farmland were broken up by the occasional black dot of villages and people. Something buzzed along his spine, settling energy into his bones as he stared out at Cieon and realized that everything below him, each inch of land and each creature drawing breath, would be--if things proceeded as planned--his to watch over and protect.

Kain sunk his fingers into the fur at Natia's neck as his stomach threatened to rebel. But, simultaneously, he could almost feel Melitta's hand at his back and her soothing voice in his ears, reassuring him that no matter what happened, he could handle it.

'Good people, with great power, can do amazing things if they find the will to step forward.'

Kain was the first to break away from the edge and continue their tireless trek forward.

The occasional nightmare attack had continued to plague their journey, of course. With so many nearby, it would have been impossible for them not to have had to dispatch a handful of recklessly aggressive beasts.

It wasn't until the tenth day that they encountered a true threat.

That morning, they were jolted from their slumber by Dalphie's shout of alarm seconds before a loud crash resounded through their camp. It didn't take a genius to realize that the person-sized boulder now occupying the space where their campfire had burned meant that whatever his curse had summoned this time would need more than a single arrow to subdue.

"Scatter!" Kain called. "Don't stand together, it'll make you a target."

Following his own advice, Kain jogged further along the stony ground as his eye skimmed the height of the stony ravines lining each side of the downward sloping pass. It took mere seconds to spot the creature--a giant, abomination of bloated, frost-riddled skin and death-clouded, black eyes. His mind spun, searching for what it could possibly be, even as the giant bent over, fingers digging into the stone at its feet as it decided to dangle over the ravine, before dropping the thirty foot, open-air distance between it and Kain.