Chosen

Chapter Four

   It had been barely a day since we left Wrolan. Markus was tired and he could barely sit up on Mila. Ruth and I, on the other hand, were doing perfectly fine. We were almost adults. We could manage it.

   "How far have we gone?" Markus groaned.

   "A few kilometres. We've still ought to get past the mountains," I said.

   "Oh, then we're passing into the grasslands, right? Where there are real trees?" Ruth asked.

   "Yeah," I said. "Been a while since I've seen real grass. Trees, even. All the trees that surround Wrolan are dead."

   "Wonder how we get enough air around here," Markus pointed out.

   I nodded slowly. In the distance, about five kilometres away, I saw the mountains. I sighed. They were huge, lifeless things. Some of Wrolan's best explorers had travelled to them and had returned. There was no life there, and the mountains were nine thousand metres tall. We couldn't go around them since they were all cramped up next to each other, and if we kept trying then we'd eventually end up in the ocean, food for the sharks.

   "We're almost there," I said, breaking the silence. "Just five kilometres. Maybe we can rest in the mountains for a little."

   "Just Five kilometres?" asked Markus. "Just?"

   "We're on horses," Ruth said. "They're not walking, they're running. We'll get there in no time."

   Markus considered this for a moment and then shrugged. "I guess so. After we get through that, how long until we get to Haroin?"

   "Well, the mountains may take us about a week to get through, so to go to Haroin," I thought for a moment, "About three days. The mountains aren't that far. And then from Haroin to Aroson will be... Well, we're most likely going to stay in Haroin for a while. I'd say four days at the most. Then a trip to Aroson from that would be about one week, and then from Aroson to Reria. Another week."

   "Oh," Markus said. "Deep explanation."

   "You're welcome," I said.

   The horses were barely tired as they ran faster and faster, and as the mountains started getting larger and larger. And then we were right there, at the mountain. Trying to look all the way up hurt my neck. We all had stopped there in awe from the mountains.

   "My lord," said Markus. "I think that'll take us more than a week to get through that."

   Ruth gulped, "Maybe you're right."

   "Well, I don't think the horses can walk up this. It's too steep. We'll just go by foot until we reach some flat surface."

   We began walking up the mountain. Every bit of it was a struggle. We had almost reached the top when I had realized something. "Did anyone bring a tent? Wood, at the least?"

   Ruth and Markus shook their heads.

   "Well, damn," I said. "I guess we don't have a shelter tonight."

   "Maybe there will be wood scraps on the mountain," said Ruth.

   "I doubt it," I said. "But if we do find them they'll only be enough for a fire."

   "So be it," Markus said. "I'd rather be warm and not have shelter than be cold and not have a shelter."

   "That's true," I pointed out, huffing. We finally made it to the top of the steep part, but there was so much more to go.

   The land was a little flat by now, and it was almost sunset so we decided we'd rest here. We looked around a little and found a cave. We checked inside for anything, nothing was in there of course. We settled ourselves in there since we were already exhausted. I laid myself down.