The Raven

Chapter 5 - 306

I was fine until the 5th hour. Hours 1-4 were fantastic. I hollered at a few people who were complaining about the tax prices of the Spider, scared a couple of kids into believing that I had the power to melt them on the spot, and got a front row seat to a brawl with 2 men over a chicken. All in all, I was having a GREAT day.  

As I stood in front of the castle gates, the clouds above kept thickening. They were almost black in color now, even though it was only around noon. As I viewed a few women who were commenting, rudely, on the quality of the local fabric, a fat rain drop splattered on the shoulder of my red tunic. I frowned, and glanced up at the sky, only to receive another drop to my forehead. Great. This was when things turned sour for me.  

As a guard on guard duty, I was not allowed to leave my post for anything. It could be hailing with lightning, and I still had to stand outside in the brutal weather with nothing but a tunic and boots that didn't repel water, but collected it.  

As everyone who was on the streets made their way slowly inside to continue business, I remained at my post outside the gates. Now, only the beggars were out on the streets. Having nowhere else to go, the pests scurried beneath shop awnings and bundled up in what shabby blankets they had. For a fraction of a second, I allowed my shoulders to slump. This was going to be a rough rest of the day. So, I fell back on the old default.  

Whenever I got bored or didn't want to listen to whatever Commander had to say(which was quite often), I played a little game with myself. I would place myself in a rough situation and solve it using only magic. Last time, when I had gotten dinner duty and had to wash dishes for 3 hours, I solved a desert riddle using only a Moisture spell, 4 pebbles, and a camel. I enjoyed these sort of riddles. It kept my mind of more pressing matters.  

I settled myself deeper into the voluminous tunic and clasped my hands tighter behind my back. I already had experience with a desert, a lake, a forest, and an expanse of plains. I hadn't done the mountains yet. I smiled. This one would be fun. I imagined a cliff with bitter snow flying everywhere. Then, a little hooded figure positioned itself atop the dense layer of ice that covered the cliff.  

The most important thing to do was keep warm. The little figure conjured a flame in its hand. Knowing that the fire wouldn't last long against the howling winds, the figure held the fire in one hand, while dug in the snow with the other. It scooped up a bit of hard packed dirt from under the snow and brought it up to its face. With a muttered spell and a gentle blow of warm air, the dirt glowed with heat and became a clear liquid with heat rolling off of it. Again, the imaginative person puffed air onto it, and the melted dirt ballooned into a sphere of something almost like glass. The figure gently placed the exposed flame into the ball and sealed it. Inside the little protective sphere, the flame didn't need to worry around being snuffed out by the harsh winds of the wintry mountain.  

The person, a young girl, held the now heated ball to her chest. The heat felt good. Now, she needed a way to get off the mountain and below the clouds. I blinked, and thought of what to do. The snow was bound to be thick, and my booted feet would surly sink right through. That would sap my energy, and the little person wouldn't make it down the mountain in time. So, the little figure decided to do a Cushioning charm. A Flight would have used less energy, but the winds would take the figure and plummet her to her death. I decided not to do Flight.  

The girl lifted her feet one by one and placed the charm on both. When she set them down, an invisible force kept the heavy boots from sinking more than an inch below the snow. I smiled. A mountain was going to be easy. I considered indeed using a Flight spell, just to see if I could get myself out of the sticky situation, but then put the idea to rest. Last time I had done something risky like that, I ended up at the bottom of a lake with a fractured lung and fish in undesirable places.