Tak

Aldervale - Part 3

     The pace he was forced to set to keep warm soon began to take its toll on him.

     He was forced to stop and rest, but before long the icy wind had chilled the slick layer of sweat that covered him and he had to set off again before crippling cramps began setting in. He slowed his pace a little, to stave off the effects of fatigue, but the difference between the warm glow of his body and the chilling numbness of his extremities made him feel strangely giddy. As midday approached he also had hunger to contend with and he cursed his foolishness for setting out without any food. He'd put on a little fat over the past couple of years, though. He wouldn't starve.

     Just as the yellow sun was passing its zenith he crested a ridge and paused for a moment to examine the land laid out below him. A lichen encrusted boulder sheltered him from the wind and faced the sun to create a welcome pocket of warmth, like an air pocket for a diver exploring a submerged wreck.

     The valley below him was wider and greener than the narrow ravine he was leaving, and the stream that had been accompanying him joined others to make a fair sized river. Here and there were pockets of woodland, but mostly the valley was covered by spring heather across which a few sheep grazed, staring stupidly about themselves. The road followed the river for the most part, at one point crossing it by means of an arching stone bridge, and then it climbed the hills ahead of him and disappeared out of sight. Those hills were miles away, and there was no sign in the valley of any kind of habitation. Not even a farmer's cottage.

     His heart sank with despair. He'd been hoping that the view from the ridge would reveal the village to him, but now he could see that he still had hours of walking ahead of him, and for all he knew he might reach the summit of those hills and still see no sign of it beyond. How far away was the village anyway? He seemed to remember Molos Gomm using a figure like sixteen miles, but was that the distance travelled by the road or as the crow flies? What if he was still out in the open when night fell?

     Well, he would die, of course. There was little chance of his surviving the night out in the open. Fool! To have just set off like that, with no food, insufficient clothing, no way to start a fire... He remained by the rock for a few moments longer, enjoying its warmth, then set off once more. However far it was, he had to make it by sundown. He had to!

     As the sky began to darken with the setting of the yellow sun and the iciness of the air took on a sharper bite, Tak began to get seriously worried. He'd reached the summit of the hills only to find dense woodland beyond, which protected him from the wind but concealed who knew what ravenous beasts looking for their supper. And he'd come without even a knife to defend himself with. What was worse, the road had become little more than a narrow track, difficult to follow among the drifts of fallen leaves. What if he'd come to a junction without realising and taken a wrong turning? He refused to even contemplate the possibility. If he'd gone the wrong way, he was dead.

     The sky, where it was visible, was turning a livid pink, heralding a fine day tomorrow, if he was still alive to see it. He pressed on, his limbs long past registering any kind of sensation, his hands nerveless and useless. His skin was an almost transparent white he didn't like at all, wrinkled and shriveled where blood had been withdrawn to the vital organs to conserve warmth. His mind had grown slow and sluggish, and he'd almost walked into the house before he was aware of it.

     He looked up in dull surprise, saw a door in a log wall, and almost collapsed in gratitude and relief. He thumped on the door with his frozen hands, sending bolts of pain up his arms, and kept on knocking until it opened and he fell inside.

☆☆☆

     "Why, it's only a boy," exclaimed Toby Barlow as he half led, half carried the shivering Tak over the threshold and sat him in front of the fire. "Who are you, boy? Where'd you come from?"