A Mischievous Tale of Magical Mayhem

13 | Frostbite and Spiders

Within an hour, they had everything stowed inside the wagon. Maisie and Holly lay in the packing hay with Fann, while Ben rode up front with Harvey. Sprout kept a lookout from the top of Ben's head.

Soon the snow fell thick and fast, obscuring the road, but Maisie kept them on track with her compass, and they made good time, nonetheless.

Ben didn't know if the Arborean's gift had imparted some blessing on the old wagon, or if the vehicle was sturdier than it looked, but they rolled along at a good pace despite the weather, and both he and Maisie were grateful to be spared the pain of traveling on foot.

That night, they camped among an outcrop of rocks, which amplified the heat of their meager fire, and in the morning, they woke to a world clothed in white.

"Storm's holding off," Harvey said, shielding his eyes and peering up at the leaden clouds. "Though not for long, I'd wager. Gets any deeper, an' we'll be shovelin' our way through."

Around noon, the clouds darkened, and snow fell again, just as they reached the place Aeslin had described. A sheer cliff loomed to the north, and broken boulders dotted the land between. A tall peak loomed, equidistant from two smaller ones on either side, and it was for this they intended to make.

"Good luck, strange friends," Harvey said, saluting them from the wagon's seat. "If we make it safely to our port, we shall visit old Brixby at the Tularul and give him word of thee. Safe travels, and may fortune favor ye."

Maisie and Holly shared one last quiet conversation, and then the parties separated, Holly and her grandfather continuing on down towards the forsaken coast, where they hoped to catch a coal barge bound for Ballsdeep, while Ben, Maisie, Fann and Sprout turned towards the forbidding peaks and set off on foot, heads bowed against the biting wind.

Snow flurried around them, sticking to their cloaks and hair. Even with scarves wrapped around their faces, nothing protected their eyes as ice formed on their lashes.

They walked for some hours, though their progress was slow and the cold ate steadily at their strength. The clouds were so dark, it was impossible to tell how much remained of the day before a freezing night descended. The snow fell in a steady, unremitting veil, making it impossible to see beyond a few steps ahead of them. Without Maisie's compass, they would have been hopelessly lost.

"Is this storm n-natural, do you think?" Maisie asked as she hugged herself and pressed forward, hunching her back.

Ben shook his head and his teeth chattered so hard he bit his tongue. "I d-don't know. It n-never snows much in B-Ballsdeep."

Shielding his eyes with his hand, he struggled to make out the shape of the land through the swirling flurries.

"What did the qu-queen say about f-finding the entrance, again?"

Maisie bundled her cloak tighter around herself. Her woolen cap and thick hair did a little to buff the wind, but not nearly enough to keep her warm. With shaking hands, she fished out her compass that Harvey had kindly attached to a chain. Turning slightly northwest, she pointed. "It's... that way. There's a c-cave annnnd... a maus...oleummm."

Already numb with cold, Ben shrugged out of his cloak and placed it around Maisie's shoulders.

"Here," he said. "You n-need this more than I d-do."

It was a lie, but it seemed chivalrous; the sort of thing Tallon would do, were he here.

Ben wished he was.

Falling to his knees, he wrapped his arms tight around his chest and sent a mental call to Fann. The wolf, being well-adapted to the cold, had been having a grand time playing in the snow. Now, he pressed his cold nose to Ben's brow and whined.