The House of Oldenrock

Cold Mountain Part I

Chapter Fifteen: Cold Mountain

            Winter came to the Walls before it came to the lowlands.  The swirling storms coated the mountains in a white blanket far earlier than Margot had ever guessed.  The first storm had come at the end of October, and now as December moved along, there was already over a meter of snow packed on the ground with very bitter temperatures.  The best part was that they had to not only go out in it, but go on an expedition in it, and as they made camp for the night, Margot realized that she had never worn more clothing at one time.

            “So…um…now that we’re out here, where are we going?” Faller asked.

            “Out into the mountains,” Captain Thayer answered.

            Faller squirmed and said, “But where out into the mountains and why?”

            It was Captain Meghan who answered barely even looking up at them from the fire that she was starting. “If you seek to complete the Ethel Dún, then you must first prove that you can survive in the mountains in the dead of winter alone.”

            “So this is part of our Ethel Dún?”

            “Yes, but it’s not the Long Night.”

            “What will we do on our Long Night?”

            “We don’t even know yet.”

            The fire was at that point blazing red and orange, and all of the apprentices gathered around it in an attempt to get warm.  No matter how cold and damp it was, Captain Meghan always managed to get a fire started.  It was a skill that she had learned in the Gray Guard, and all of Apprentice Guardsmen were still struggling to learn how to emulate it.  Margot doubted that she would have been able to keep a fire going in the current snowy conditions, but it was an important skill to learn.

            “I think that the better question is, what we’re going to do now?” Margot found herself saying when everyone was sitting down.”

            “Now, nothing, but tomorrow morning you’ll all break up into groups and cross the Wicked Sisters to Northpost.”  At that, all the young apprentices gave a shudder.  The Wicked Sisters were a notorious branch of three mountains in the Walls that an innumerable amount of people had disappeared in.  The winds would whip through the Sisters, and often blow people off of the narrow footpaths that snaked through them.  Then there was the fact that folk liked to say that the Sisters ate people, for they were prone to rockslides and avalanches that buried their victims alive. However, the most terrifying aspect of the Sisters was Dún Alcöngra, an old ruin of a castle that many believed was haunted, and the belief was not misplaced for it was known few who entered the ruin ever returned.

            Suddenly Chunky raised his hand and said, “Will our route through the mountains take us past Dún Alcöngra?”

            “What? You don’t like Dún Alcöngra,” Captain Thayer replied.  “It all depends on which way you go, but I can tell you that the fastest way is through Dún Alcöngra, and this is a competition, my friends.  The first group back gets more dinner rations, yum, and gets to complete their Ethel Dúns first.”

            “When you trekked through the Wicked Sisters, did you go through Dún Alcöngra?” Margot asked.

            “Yes, Meghan and I both did.  We actually were in the same group.  I am going to tell you a little secret.  Apprentices who brave Dún Alcöngra are more likely to advance faster through the Gray Guard ranks.  Captains Ignus and Marv did not, and they are several years older than we are and still stuck in the low position of training recruits.”