The Book

Chapter 3: Mountain Passes

     As the skies were just beginning to brighten the next morning Raethar wearily opened his eyes. Discovering again why he did not enjoy sleeping on the ground. After a long day of travel his muscles were already tired, and he felt like he had gotten almost no real sleep from the last night’s rest. Several rocks had dug painfully into his back and felt as if they had left gouges in his skin.

Across from the remains of last night’s fire Denellia's chest rose and fell rhythmically. He could not imagine having no family to turn to and hoped that they could find some way to get out of this mess. The storm had ended sometime while they slept and Raethar headed over to check on his horse to make sure she was ok.

After spending a few minutes with the animal he returned with some food. As he came back he saw that there was a new fire just starting. Apparently while he was away Denellia had woke up. She was sitting up against her pack eyes somewhat glazed pointing at the fire as it began to pick up.

Raethar settled down on the ground and began unwrapping some cheese and pieces of dried meat he had brought. Denellia stood awkwardly, grabbing a small pot out of her pack and walked outside. As she came back in small droplets of water spilled out from the pot as she walked. By the time the pot was hung over the fire Raethar had taken out enough food for both of them.

When he came out for this trip he thought he would only be gone for a night. His thinking shifting now to long term survival. There was only enough food for the two of them for a few more days if they ate sparingly. If they were lucky there might be a few edible plants out here, but he was by no means an expert at identifying what was edible and what was not.

If they could find the herd then at least there would be meat if they needed it. Though he still had his doubts about where the herd was. However if there was even a slight chance, he was not going to take it for granted.

The two of them consumed the food quickly, hoping to begin the trek and find a way off the mountain. The weather seemed to have turned in their favor, for now at least.

Denellia went along with it and seemed to be in slightly better spirits then when he had first arrived, even with the pass being blocked off she almost seemed to believe they really would make it out.

As they got everything packed up onto the horse Raethar hopped on and offered Denellia his hand. He pulled her up behind him, surprised at how light she was. She must have been out of food longer than she had admitted. Looking back their eyes locked, for a moment he forgot where he was. Raethar's face began to redden as the warmth from her body pressing into his became apparent. 

Raethar felt very nervous but his voice came out much steadier than he felt as he said, “We’ll find something today, I am sure of it." He paused creasing his brow in thought, "If nothing else we can see if there is enough brush to make a fire and try to signal someone from my town. My house is close enough and my father is surely out looking for me now, maybe someone from town knows another path and can get through to us.”

Denellia nodded and smiled at him which boosted his confidence more than is she had voiced her agreement. At his age it was likely a smile from a pretty girl could do more than a big meal and a good night’s sleep.

Setting off at a slow and easy pace they began the climb up into the mountains. The footing was unstable, the path having been unused for years. The last thing they needed now was a lame horse to go with their various other problems.

The pass seemed to take a winding route. Even though most of the time they could not see very far behind them it felt like they were travelling more east and west than north.

As they climbed the hope seemed to bleed from Raethar's eyes, his senses telling him that there would be no escape from this place. The hours passed far too quickly with no sign of a path leading back down. The brush that was close enough to get at was so sparse that it might as well not have been there at all.