When Given a Lemon

Part 16

The following morning everyone laughs at me because of how much stuff I have packed for our hunting trip. Bastards laugh now, but won't later if it saves their lives! The first time, when Lemon, Merryl, and I got stuck out for the night we got lucky finding the ruins. But the last time it was our group's turn to go hunt, we weren't and it ended up being miserable! Not only did it rain and then freeze to ice, but we couldn't even find adequate shelter and the fire kept going out! Several of us had icicles in our hair and eyelashes, the latter of which had to be carefully pulled apart! I swear we all got frostbite and I am still to this day unsure how we survived it!

If Merryl hadn't found a way to relight the fire each time it went out we probably would have all been doomed! His fire making skills are like magic!

We trekked out as the sky lit up with the rising sun, heading quietly through the pass toward the distant northwestern peak. We quickly passed the fissure near the beginning of it and climbed up higher into the narrower and therefore more dangerous portion of the pass. It hasn't snowed in several days but the world was still coated in a thick white blanket other than all the humanmade track marks. As the sun rose up higher, the frozen crystals glimmered and shimmered in the light, making the straight walled pass look like an ethereal dream out of a storybook. Nan would have loved to see it, but I doubt she could handle, nor would enjoy, the hike up here.

The high up edges to either side of us held old growth sitting high atop the ridges, weighted down by heavy snowpack. We always talked quietly and carefully through here so that we didn't end up burying ourselves in it. I would hate to resurface a freeze-burned corpse come spring.

Up above the pass, the sky held very few clouds this morning.

The sun warmed our faces as we climbed, making me shiver through every shadow I crossed under. I don't even look to see how the others are faring anymore. I seem to be the only one in our group that struggles with the cold. Kipol dances ahead of me in the snow, looking ready to drop anything that moves from the sky above or ground below. She was one of our new squad members, and one of two archers. The other is a lanky kid from the Reaches that was also really good at moving through the trees. They had to be at least eighteen or nineteen but looked more like they were fifteen for how long and scrawny her limbs are. Lemon of course took their tree climbing as a challenge and has since fallen out of more than one trying to race Saiya to the top. I’ve also had to deal with an influx of tree sap and loose bark infiltrating our tent after the stuff keeps getting stuck in Lemon’s hair and clothing.

In addition to Bill, Kipol, and Saiya, we also now have a soldier named Denyel who doesn't talk. Literally. Not a single word. He has dark eyes, has a stocky build like Bill but is a handspan shorter making him look a little stout. I soon learned he was in no way unfit, not that I thought that specifically, but that mass was all dense muscle. And painful to get hit by.

Since he refuses or is unable to speak a single word to us, no one knows anything about him or where he is from. If the lieutenant hadn't told us his name we would have had to come up with one. What I have come to learn is that where Saiya is at home in the trees, taking aim at a distance; Denyel is a brute on the ground that has proven he is capable both with and without weapons at brutally knocking down his targets. –I know because I have been the unfortunate target before when sparring during training. Together Denyel and Saiya would be a formidable foe and I feel bad for all the prey they hunt together when it is time for our squad to go out for food because the wildlife really doesn't stand a chance against them.

The only thing that we are missing is a squad leader, but those I was told are in a separate training camp and meant to join us later. Until then we are like a group of chickens running around without our heads.