Cairo

Chapter 28: Back Track

After several days traveling acrossing the country, the trio finally arrived at the base of the Hourig mountain. The Azar village or civilization as some called it was renown for their devout practice of the oldest religion known to the original fire mages from before they set foot on Cairo. They were the only group of people that held true to being pure bred fire mages, the descendants of the rather large group of the original fire mages who, while willing to teach the residents of Cairo, refused to bred with them and kept to their own kind. Very few people had access to the village, and most people who went there came with a recommendation from one of the Fire Mages as they were mainly the only outsiders the people of Azar kept in contact with.

From the base of Hourig mountain, there were two ways to get to Azar. Neither were easy. The longest way, however, was by far the easiest to travel through on feet. It involved climbing up a steep mountain pass. Because not many people used it, it was riddled with grown over tree branches, broken limbs, weeds that made it hard to distinguish the path from the rest of the mountain, and many hidden rocks.

Cairo had traveled up the pass so many times, it was second nature to him by now. Cane, on the other hand, didn't posses Aerie's adability and struggled with every step he took. Occasionally, Cairo would look back when he'd hear twigs snapping to find Cane clinging to an overgrown branch for dear life after slipping on a rock.

It took them eight hours to climb all the way up. An hour of it was used up by Aerie having to calm Cane's panic attack when he realized that one clumsy mistake on his part could be the difference between life and death. The rest of it was Cairo waiting for Cane as Aerie helped him step by step to climb without slipping too many times. He walked liked like a crawling baby, so by the time that they actually got close the village, Cairo's temper was already rising.

The sun was dipped low behind the mountain top sending waves of orange and reds through the small pass to the village. Around them, the air began to thin Neither Cairo nor Aerie seemed to be affected by the sudden decrease in oxygen, but Cane could feel it—the dizziness, shortness of breath; they were already catching up to him.

Cane stumbled next to Cairo who only spared him a millisecond worth of time to look at him before bringing his focus back on walking. After treading in silence to what Cane thought was an eternity, he finally spoke.

"I really—"He stopped, leaning over to place his hands on his knees as he huffed for breath. "—am having trouble breathing."

The last thing Cane expected Cairo to do when he said that was laugh. He looked Cane in the eyes for a second, then sighed and shook his head. "Don't worry, it's just a mild case of AMS."

"AMS?" Cane said, his voice rising a pitch. "Is that some kind of mountain disease? I didn't get sick because I came here, did I?"

Cairo rubbed his temple. "It's acute mountain sickness, otherwise known as altitude sickness. There's less oxygen in the air here; it's thinner. If you're not used to it, you can get a mild case or worse, but we're not so far up you have to worry about it being fatal."

When the words passed through Cane's ears, his eyes went wide and a pink flush highlighted his face. His eyes went straight for the ground as a man hollered in the near distance. After a moment, Cairo turned around and Cane finally looked up.

The man was tall, the top of Cairo's head going to his upper midriff. He wore a goofy smile that slanted more on the left to make it look more crooked than it probably was. His clothes were scruffy, frayed at the edges, but it was easy to see from his almost bulging muscles that it was the pure result of his hard work day after day of grueling work.

His outward appearance was gruff, roughly built together with a stern step to his walk that made people wonder on multiple occasions if he was mad or just deep in thought. The hairs that made up his beard curled every and any direction they wanted as they wrapped around his face. Cane was sure there was food stuck in it, but when he smiled and flashed white pearly teeth that held no imperfection, Cane wondered if he saw wrong.