The Rise of the Sea Ghosts (from The Gelid Times Trilogy)

Chapter 6

The River Teme; To the West

As Forest walked away from the only home she had known, the early morning mist began to clear and laid bare the fields that edged close to the riverbank. The hedgerows that divided the fields formed a patchwork quilt of iced white blankets and the frozen grasslands were interspersed with bare patches of rock-solid earth. Despite the rising sun, the bitter cold penetrated Forest's duffel coat; she retracted her arms in the long sleeves to warm her hands as she walked in the direction of the Tenebris Mountain Range and its caves. Forest knew that this journey to fulfil her destiny as the Kingdom's true leader would not be without danger, but at night, once she left the borders of her town, it would be perilous, and hence, reaching the caves by twilight was imperative.

The road followed the River Teme but at the edge of the town, it veered away from the river and as Forest crossed the cattlegrid, she entered the boggy wastelands beyond the borders of the town. Before her, the endless barren boggy wasteland stretched and the mottled browns and burnt sienna of the sharp gorse gave the heavy frost an underlying sordid feel. The undulating, jagged landscape disguised the treacherous bogs, which, in the spring would be deadly, but now, in midwinter, was decidedly less so. On this open road, Forest was safe enough on the solid ground, but was far too conspicuous. This she knew as an absolute. In the wasteland, she could hide, become small, invisible. The road, however, was the most direct route until she was closer, but despite its benefits, it was not without its own dangers. She would be picked up and returned to the town by the town marshals if they caught her.

Forest, feeling the vulnerability of the road and the expansive the wasteland that stretched before her she began sprint as far as her legs and breath would take her. Sucking in the freezing air and exhaling her warm breath which froze into tiny particles around her mouth and nostrils, she knew she would have to leave the road eventually to head north, across the boggy lands, to reach the Tenebris Mountain Range and eventually, the far North and the Tree at Lux Brumalis. The sun was high overhead and Forest abruptly stopped running and felt the hairs on her body stand on end. What was there? Her held her scarf away from her ears. Until this moment, she heard nothing but her heartbeat or her frozen breath or her feet crunch hard on the frosty ground. But now, she held her breath, quieted her heart and stood still. Listening more intently, she was sure something, nay, someone was gaining on her. Someone on horseback or more than one someones. The rhythm was irregular but simultaneously steady – three, four, maybe even five horses and they were going at a pace. Forest looked to her right. The wasteland stretched as far as she could see. She looked to her left. Off in the distance, there was a hint of the mountain range, obscured by the glare of the sun, the horizon bled the frozen earth tones into the snow-covered mountains which dissipated into the whiteness of the sky. Forest rubbed the arms of her coat, but she still felt the small hairs on her arms underneath standing on end.

There was no cover.

It was too early to leave the road. She had not yet reached the sole tree on this stretch that indicated she should veer off and head towards the caves of the Tenebris Mountains. If she left the road before this point, the boggy wasteland crossing would be longer and far more treacherous. However, with the loudening of the horses on the frozen road, the threat of staying her current course increased tenfold as the horses gained on her.

Forest had no choice. She had to leave the road, cross the boggy wasteland early and head towards the mountain caves. She pushed her hands through the cuff of the coat and pushed her scarf completely off of her head. Her fingers were mix of red and white and chapped skin. She moved her hands over her face as if she was washing it and lifted her face towards the sun in preparation for her sprint. The warmth of the sun provided a momentary comfort but was soon abashed by the freezing blast of wind that cut across the open spaces.

Forest checked behind her again, no one yet, but she could feel the tremor in the belly of the road. So many horses!

Forest scuffed her feet, ran forward, and veered off to the right, away from the mountains. Scent was everything. Bluffing and double bluffing, she ran as far and fast as she dared and then doubled back on herself, covering the same ground until she reached the road and then did something that her father taught her when she was very small. She launched into a handstand, and, very gingerly, in a walking handstand, crossed the area of frosted road where she had scuffed her feet until she reached other side and cartwheeled through the gorse, catlike with stealth and agility.

Landing on her feet, Forest assessed the damage. Her duffel coat mostly protected her body, but she could feel where the gorse pricked between the fibres of her trousers and her lower legs stung. Tiny specks of blood stuck to her trousers and froze almost instantly. The fear of the boggy wasteland dissipated as she broke into a run, zig zagging across the aggressive landscape; she hoped that her efforts in subterfuge had bought her enough of time to create a distance between herself and the horses and those that rode them. She looked back with cautious satisfaction, she could see no one and the sound of the horses had, for the moment, disappeared and the hairs on her arms relaxed.

The distance between Forest and the Tenebris Mountain caves still seemed leagues away and Forest picked up her pace. The caves were a stopping point for trade. Not legal trade. Everyone in the town whispered about the dark comings and goings. No one deliberately ventured across the boggy wastelands to the caves. No one who valued the goodness in themselves. The whispers of those who accidentally strayed too far and never returned were rife. The caves were the first test for Forest, and while this journey would have many tests, Forest knew that she would either die in the wastelands or reach the caves, for after nightfall, what roamed the boggy wastelands would be far worse than those searching for her on horseback. So, Forest suppressed the goodness in her soul and hardened the armour of single-minded purposefulness that would allow her to preserve her lives with defensive aggression and pushed her legs harder; she needed to not only create distance, but she needed to make up time. Time, her father had always told her, was paramount and time had to be aligned, always.

The gorse shrubbery grew in thick patches, and Forest was all too aware of when she stepped from solid earth to frozen marshland by the crack of ice as her foot hit it. Whereas moments before, on the road, she urged the sun to warm her, now she begged clouds to cover the sun, and keep the chilling frost solid. One step into the bogs, into the freezing muddy waters, would surely be a death of her and she had too long a journey to lose more lives at this point.

As Forest neared, the mountain range towered over her, and the craggy face of the mountain roared as the wind picked up and found its way through the deeply black ridges. The mountain range, like an army, stood unrelenting and powerful, a force that drew from the depth of the earthy wasteland into a stone fortress. Out of breath, Forest paused for the first time and surveyed the extent of the mountain range that extended to her right and left. The blackness of the mountains, a monster, rather, a series of monsters, overwhelmed her.

She turned around and stared hard into the distance. If she scanned the way back to the road too quickly, she would have missed it, but Forest was careful, often to a fault her father used to say, but on this occasion, careful 'to a fault' was what was needed, and there, in the distance, she saw the moving mounds of men and horses. There was only one way to go to reach the caves and relative safety, and that was up.

Forest stared hard again at the boggy wasteland and felt the hairs on her arms stand on end and with all her might, hardening her heart, she ran towards the craggy, blackening monsters and prepared to scale its face.