The House of Oldenrock

First Hunt and the Sled Part III

“Do you like staring into the flames too?” Captain Meghan whispered into Hal’s ear.  It startled him, for he had not heard her approach.

            “Yes ma’am,” he quietly replied.

            Captain Thayer sat down on the other side of Hal and said, “The mountain folk tend to revere fire more than we do.  They also need it more, for it gets colder up here. Some of folk in the most isolated villages of the mountains believe that if you stare into the flames long enough, you can glimpse the past and future.”

            “I wonder what they see?”

            “Probably themselves going blind from spending too much time looking into the light.”

            “I see.”

            “Do you now?”

            “You don’t want to talk with the other recruits?” Captain Meghan asked him changing the subject.

            “Not particularly.”

            “Why not?”  Hal just shrugged.  “You aren’t a social butterfly?”

            “Definitely not, and besides, I’ve learned from my experience that in any group of people more than two, there is always one outcast, whether it be deliberate or not.  I got so used to that position, that I ended up putting myself there, but I understand more about people than most.”

            Captain Meghan smiled and said, “Speaking of understanding, have you figured out why we made you bring that bulky shields yet?”

            “No, absolutely not.  Why them out of the much more practical shields?”

            “You’ll figure out why the bulky ones are more practical than the practical ones when we get to the Snowcapped Region.  Although we won’t tell you how, we’ll give you a hint: it makes traveling through the mountains much easier.”

            Hal did not quite believe it, but he doubted that the Captains would lie to him, so he remained quiet.  There had to be a real purpose to bringing the shields, and Hal doubted that it was just to make the trip harder for the recruits.  Yet as their trek through the mountains wore on and they entered the Snowcapped region, Hal was not any closer to discovering the purpose of the shields than he had been before.  At least they finally would get some use when they found the Rossemesian suicide mission.

            Hal was not sure that he liked the Snowcapped region.  The elevation was high and the air thin.  There was not a tree in sight, and oftentimes they would encounter the task of crossing glaciers, which could be very dangerous because glacial surfaces were not nearly as stable as they seemed.  The Captains would have the recruits tie themselves together while crossing incase the ice broke beneath one of them or someone fell through a fissure.  It had happened to Faller.  He had been walking when suddenly the ground gave way beneath him leaving nothing beneath his feet.  It was the people in front and behind him that kept him from falling to his death.

            At least the snow was hard packed.  Hal was very thankful for that.  He had no interest in trudging through the fine deep powder that would blanket the land during the winter months, and he especially had no interest in trudging through that in the middle of summer.  Hal had to admit that the region was beautiful.  The heights led to astounding views, sunrises, and sunsets, but it also was slippery, steep, and cold.  There were times when they had to climb up solid walls of ice, and it made Hal wonder if the recruits who had died on the hunts had actually been killed by Rossemesians, or had simply not been able to survive the mountains.