Tipping the Scale

Chapter 22: Children of Air (Part 1)

Lidea woke up to a sense of intense thirst. Her mouth felt dry as she breathed in biting cold air tinged with the smell of bonfire.

Opening her eyes with a groan, she first noticed something weighing down her body. A mountain of blankets had been piled on top of her, allowing only her eyes to be exposed to the outside air. Her mouth and neck covered by the familiar air-converting scarf that reminded her of where she was. Or at least had been.

Lunging upright, her eyes quickly found Crystal, who slept while seated with her back against the cavern wall, a thick blanket wrapped around her.

Searching franticly, she then noticed a fort of blankets, not dissimilar to the one she had been under. This one placed dangerously close to the fire.

"Warchief..."

The image of him collapsing during the snow storm, pushed her out of the cocoon of warmth and into the stinging cold to kneel at his side.

As with her, only his eyes were exposed as he lay there, unmoving. He looked frail, his face paler than it had ever been, his lips tinted unnaturally blue, and with dark circles underneath his eyes.

"Warchief...?"

Lidea's voice wavered as her heart squeezed painfully tight. Fear caught her breath, as she looked over his condition.

The thick layer of blankets prevented her from seeing his chest move. But as she hovered over his face, she detected the faintest flow of breath creating small clouds of steam.

He was alive.

Tears filled her eyes as relief flooded her body, and she allowed herself to cry softly. Somehow all three of them had made it.

Glancing over to Crystal, she wondered how the healer had managed to get them both out. Despite having no way of knowing, she could feel in her heart that it had been her who had saved him.

A deep sense of gratitude fell over Lidea, but she got distracted from her reverie as her teeth started chattering.

Returning to her sleeping place, she wrapped several blankets around her frame. Amazed at their fluffy lightness despite them being so warm.

They were similar to the down feather blankets, she grew up with. Still, these were denser and heavier than those.

Where are we?

Feeling the cold and seeing that none had removed their scarves, confirmed her suspicion that they were still within the mountains.

A circular wall of stone surrounded them, leaving only a single opening which had been closed off using a dense curtain of giant feathers.

Studying their size and unusual silver coloration, Lidea tried to imagine what sort of creature they came from.

Her mind coming up with an answer, that she was not yet ready to believe.

Noticing that their outer clothing had been neatly folded off to the side, Lidea retrieved her items and started to pull them back on. Driving out the cold, one layer at a time. When done, she wrapped one of the blankets around her again. Immediately noticing the temperature difference they caused.

She sat for a while, waiting for either of her companions to wake up, or for someone else to notice she was up. But as time passed, she grew more antsy until she couldn't sit any longer.

Lidea doubted that their trio was in any danger here. These people wouldn't have taken them in if they wanted them gone. Meaning that it wouldn't be inexcusable for her to take a look around.

At least that was what she told herself, as her curiosity became unbearable and drove her to step out of the chamber and into a long cavernous hallway.

All along the tunnel, similar feather curtains separated other spaces, but they seemed deserted, though Lidea could hear the sounds of people moving about their day further up ahead.