Snow Fields - Book Two of The Fields of Mendhavai Trilogy

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Snow crunched and a cold razor wind slashed at me, blowing sharp crystals of ice against the exposed skin of my face, as I stepped out of the far side of the portal. I tugged my fur lined hood down over my forehead and tightened the wool scarf around my neck and chin. Squinting through the tears brought on by the icy temperature and the sun glinting off leagues of snow, I nodded at the two guards who had preceded me through and turned back to watch for Taphille. He’d never travelled the Ways before so the loss of equilibrium when he reached this side would come as a shock to him, regardless that I’d warned him about it.

I watched the shimmering eastern view of the Ghost Fields, the Navoro Range in the distance, and the Aller Forest to the north, framed by the tall stone arch. It was so green on that side, thriving with life. Not at all like this cold harsh place where very little survived the year round temperatures that hovered below freezing. I gave hearty thanks to Apethna that we had four recognizable seasons in Raldia, even if spring, summer and fall did seem far too short.

The portal here was much like the one in Raldia would have been before it had been destroyed and rebuilt. Though Tap Hill’s stone mason had done a superb job in restoring the portal and the Temple of Lucent surrounding it, one could tell that some pieces had been replaced. The stone that had originally been used in the building was nothing any of us had ever seen before in Raldia’s valley, nor on the surrounding mountain ranges; it was a smooth creamy color. Judah had taken his crew to Mount Kinnett to cut new stone to replace the destroyed sections of the pillars.

I stretched out a hand and drew the fingertips of my mittens down one of the supports. Even through the lambskin I could tell how smooth the stone was. Above me, a gleam of yellow-green caught my eye and I looked up to see a fist-sized peridot centered in the arch of the portal.

Just then, the image of Raldia seemed to bulge and with an audible pop Taphille came through, arms flailing to catch his balance as his foot sank deep into the snow. I reached out and grabbed him by the back of his heavy cloak to steady him.

“Thank you, my Lady,” the youth breathed heavily, leaning on my support for a moment longer and closing his eyes against the dizziness. “Is it like that every time?” he mumbled.

I smiled briefly, helping him wind his scarf back around his neck and brushed snowflakes from his hair before he put his hood up. “No,” I said, my voice muffled by the wool. “It gets easier each time.”

Two black timber wolves followed on the heels of two more guards as they popped through the portal, one right after another, and then the picturesque view of Raldia faded away.

I glanced up at the bright spot of light above that should be the sun, shading my eyes against the blowing snow. Luckily it was summer, even here, and this far to the north we would not run out of daylight. However, it would get very cold, even colder than it was now, when the sun reached its lowest point. We’d have to make camp then if we hadn’t reached our destination yet.

“What now, m’Lady?” Smythe, the soldier Peps had assigned as commander of this excursion, asked, shivering and stamping his feet.

I cast a look about me, trying to determine where we were, but, with the sun directly above and no landmarks within sight, I had no sense of direction here. To my right and left I could see bobbing glitters that I assumed was sunlight bouncing off small pieces of ice in the sea, while behind and before me the dunes of snow reached as far as the eye could see; not far with all the blowing snow.

“Well, the only island that is this long and narrow is Crescent Isle…” I trailed off lost in thought as I brought to mind the image of Father’s large map in the library that Compa had scrounged up for me.