by J. K. Holt
Fish trudged to the door, raising his hand to knock. It opened a moment before, and the man stood before them.
“Oh, apologies,” Fish stuttered, squinting. “Our-”
Rosie screamed, pushing forward with a primal surge and tackling the man as the others reeled. “What in the name of-” Fish began.
A stilted sob escaped Tess, followed by another as the emotions swam through and over her. “Fish,” she said, grabbing his arm, “it’s okay.”
Rosie was clinging to the man as if he were her salvation, lying on the floor with him as he laughed and hugged her back, attempting to recover from her insane greeting. “Nice to see you too, Rosebud. Thought you’d never show.”
Dray. Here.
The how and the why would come later. At the moment, Tess just allowed the happiness a moment of its own.
∞ ∞ ∞
Fish was next to bear-hug Dray, pulling him up from the floor only to nearly topple him back over with the force of his own greeting. Dray was grinning from ear to ear, clearly as relieved to see them as they were to see him.
For some reason, Tess’s feet refused to move, glued to her place directly outside the door. The moment of elation had followed with that of panic- he must know the truth about her, by now. Would he be so quick to forgive for the months of lying as Fish and Rosie had been? Their bond had seemed built of deeper feelings, which, when first laying the foundation, were all the more likely to be hurt, irrevocably, by a betrayal.
As his gaze last settled on hers, the humor dimmed slightly from his eyes, though he reached out a hand to her. He did know, then. “Tess. Come inside, where it’s warm.”
She obeyed, though the cold seemed to follow her inside. He touched her arm, lightly, to help her enter, and closed the door behind her, but otherwise made no other bid to touch her or draw her near. The absence, in light of how he had greeted the others, stung, though she seemed the only one to notice it.
Fish and Rosie were busy, both talking at the same time like small children fighting for a parent’s attention. They seemed to be trying to catch Dray up on their travels as well as ascertain how on earth he’d come to be here, waiting for them. Dray raised his eyebrows, humored, but unable to get a word in edgewise.
Tess intervened after another moment. “Slow down, both of you. Let’s unpack, and get some food. We have time to sort through the rest.”
Seeing the logic, they agreed, though neither stopped talking for long. Between bouts of bickering amongst themselves for who told what piece of the story, and short pauses when one would be chewing or changing clothes, Rosie and Fish summarized the trip for Dray as he fed the fire. Tess loosened the kinks along her neck and stood, listening, as she gazed out the window in the direction of Merktown. She doubted Loren, or anyone else, would be arriving this late in the day, but it made her feel better to know she would have warning if he approached. And it gave her a handy excuse to remain slightly removed from the others.
The inside was sparse, with two cots pushed against the far wall and a few chairs settled beside the fire. A small bin containing firewood stood to the left of the fireplace. Otherwise, the interior was clean, but bare. A quick stop-off point, nothing more. The lack of any other physical comforts said all it needed to say- don’t get too comfortable.
The three of them sat side by side beside the fire, with Dray in the middle. Rosie leaned close, nearly touching elbows with Dray, the firelight flickering over her copper hair as she talked. Fish leaned forward as well, eager and excited, though he glanced back at Tess from time to time with a questioning glance. She dismissed his looks with a shrug and a gesture to the window, though she could tell he wasn’t buying it.
Tess felt a strong force of magnetism as she stood guard, as though her body both wanted to be as far away from Dray and as close to him as possible in the same moment. It made her feel like crawling out of her own skin. She shifted her weight between her feet, feeling cagey.
After an hour or so, they’d finished recounting their tale, and Rosie seemed to notice for the first time that Tess was not with them. “Oy, Tess, get over here,” she said impatiently over her shoulder. When she looked back, she cocked her head at Tess. “Reydon’s not going to be following us tonight, not in this dark. He doesn’t know where we are, and even if he has the resources, he won’t put them all toward this location. He’s more likely to think we’re still hiding out in the town somewhere.”
Dray turned around, his grey eyes settling on her. “Come and sit, Tess. You can have my seat.”
So formal. So detached.
“No,” Fish said. “She can have mine. I need to move a bit.” He stood. “Tess, I’ll keep watch for a bit if it’ll make you feel better. I don’t have your… gifts, in that area, but they wouldn’t be riding in the dark without some form of light. The moon’s hidden- torchlight is the only way they’d be able to approach, and even I can see that.” He crossed the room and pushed her toward the hearth. “Go, I’ll do it.”
She crossed hesitantly, hating her halting reaction and wishing she could be more at ease. She pulled the chair a bit closer to the fire before sitting- just a hair further away from Dray. If he noticed, he made no sign. Tess held her hands out, welcoming the distracting warmth of the embers.
“So now we’ve told our tale,” Rosie said to Dray. “And we need to hear yours. How on earth are you here?”
Dray became still, running a finger over his knuckles as he turned his gaze to the flames. “The lampreys came for Loren two mornings after you left, under some guise or another. The constable showed up at the bakery with some rough looking men, said he’d been given a tip that we were hiding some fugitive of the law, wanted by the capital for questioning. They searched the whole rotting place, trashed most of it. Gave Ashe a broken arm for fighting back, and then a warning to the rest of us. The constable looked scared as he talked, like a puppet unwillingly roped into the show. They didn’t find anything, luckily- we’d cleared whatever scant evidence remained after you left, in case.”
“Oh no,” Rosie said, horrified. “My parents?”
He shook his head. “No one’s been to the Spilling Inn, at least since I left. I checked with Gowan as well,” he said in answer to the question forming on Tess’s lips. “He said he’d had a few unknown characters in his shop, but none who were directly threatening.”
Little relief followed the information, as Tess knew the only reason Gowan would be in danger was because of her. Still, at least he was alright.
“After that, those of us remaining realized how important it was to the lampreys to find Loren- sorry, Reydon- it’ll take some time to get used to the new name,” Dray said. “And we came back around to the information he was holding, and how important it truly might be to get to Green Springs and try to retrieve the scholar. So I started off after you.”
“But how did you know-” Rosie started.
“Because I know you,” Dray said, insulted. “Because the idea of the three of you heading off for some air in the countryside is ridiculous. And your taking Loren confirmed it. I knew where you were heading as soon as I realized you were gone.”
Their excuse seemed so thin now. Tess wondered if she ever thought Dray or the others would believe it. She turned her eyes to him and was surprised that he was staring at her as well, his gaze pained.
“You all shouldn’t have left the way you did. I understand it, now, even though I don’t agree with your reasoning, but still. It was wrong. And it hurt me most of all.”
Tess shrank back at his words. An apology formed on her lips but seemed insignificant. Still, worth saying. “I’m sorry.”
Rosie and Fish muttered similar platitudes, and Dray shook his head. “I had the time to cool off as I followed. Just don’t lie to me like that again.”
“How did you know for certain you were following us?” Fish asked.
“Your uncle confirmed you took the horses- it didn’t take much to talk him into giving me one as well,” Dray s
aid. “There’s only one real route to take, and I stopped at every place along the way where you might have stayed for confirmation you’d been that way. I was a couple of days behind you, but then thought I’d lost you when I arrived in Barrowville. No one had seen you.”
“We swung west, to avoid the town,” Rosie said.
“I guessed as much, though it made me nervous to lose your trail,” Dray said. “But your taking the long way around gave me the time I needed to get ahead of you. I rode straight on to Merktown, and then found out that you’d need to come through here exactly to cross the mountain. I left my horse in town, as it looks like you all did as well, and came out here to wait and catch you as you crossed. I found the place last night, stole some sleep, and got up first thing to wait. I didn’t want to miss you, so I kept my eyes on the road. Tried to make myself useful by tidying up the place a bit, and chopping some more wood for the fire. I’d just begun to resign myself to turning in for the night- I didn’t expect you to get here so late.”
“We were waylaid, waiting to see if Reydon reappeared,” Rosie said by way of explanation, though Dray had heard it already. “But knowing that you’ve been here all day does confirm something else.”
“Which is?” Dray asked.
“Whether there was some chance that Reydon had beaten us out here and begun his trek over the Misties to get to Green Springs first. You would have seen him pass through.”
“True,” Dray confirmed. “You’re the first people I’ve seen all day. This route isn’t popular this time of year. The Misties catch the clouds- there’s precipitation this side of the mountain nearly every day.”
“They don’t call it the rainy season for nothing,” Fish agreed. “But it’s warming, so at least we won’t have to deal with snow and ice. And if Tess can keep herself from falling into any streams or rivers for a while, we’ll probably be fine.”
“No promises,” Tess said, smiling. Dray looked at her, and she shrugged. “I’ll tell you later.”
Rosie stood, striding to a small table pressed against a wall. A few large pieces of paper were scattered upon it- maps, most likely. “You’ve looked these over?”
“Yes,” Dray answered. “The route meanders a bit, but it seems well kept- if we stay aware, I don’t think we’ll lose the trail. There are also small areas marked along the route that look like shelters, though I’ve no idea of their condition or how much they’d offer. I think we need to assume they’ll be minimal. And making a fire will be difficult with wet wood as well.”
Rosie considered. “Not much we can do about that. We’ll go slow, but try to keep a steady pace. It’ll be slick, and we can’t afford for anyone to get hurt.”
“How long do you think it will take to cross?” Dray asked, acknowledging Rosie as the superior map-reader.
She bit her lip, running a finger lazily along the route as she calculated. “Going up will be treacherous with the rain, coming down slightly easier once we leave the clouds behind us. Still, it’s possible it may take us six or seven days, more if we have to stop due to weather.”
“We’ll need to move as quickly as we can, to try to head off any chance of Reydon sending word ahead of us,” Dray said.
“We should get some rest, but take shifts watching,” Tess said, rising from her chair. “It’s not worth risking it with Loren being so close.”
“Agreed,” Fish said. “I’ll go first. Then Dray, Tess, and Rosie.”
Dray pulled out a bedroll from his supplies and laid it a few feet from the fire. “Add a log to the fire every hour when you’re on watch,” he said to everyone.
Tess and Rosie each claimed a cot and they settled in. Tess was woken quietly some time later by Dray. “Your turn,” he whispered. Groggy, she pulled herself up, rubbing her eyes- Fish had taken Dray’s spot next to the fire. Lest Dray have ideas about joining him on the ground, she pushed him gently onto her now vacated cot. “Sleep here.”
He raised his eyebrows but acquiesced. Later, Tess woke Rosie and took the empty spot she left on the cot. Musical beds, she thought before drifting off again.
Chapter Ten
The Misties were miserable.
They slept in lean-tos, three quarters of the sides protected from the elements but not kept warm, just enough shelter to stop the rain from soaking into their bedrolls, but not much else. Meals were cold and hard, carried in their packs. Fires were wet and short-lived. Conversation was minimal.
They understood the need for the travel, and had begun conversing in a form of shorthand, as though they recognized they had to conserve any and all energy they could. Sometimes hand gestures sufficed, or minimal grunts. When they did speak, their sentences were short and unflourished.
The moisture was all around them- surfaces slick, air thick and cold and cloying. There was very little rain; instead, a steady mist fell, deceptive in its mildness. It never took long before they were soaked, teeth chattering, only kept from the cold by their constant movement, always forward, always up. Up, up, up, into the clouds and further.
No sooner had they crested a rise than another one rose before them. A never ending litany of mountains, craggy rock and moss-covered steps, trees clinging to the barren landscape as they moved forward. Ever forward. Tess didn’t allow herself to dwell on it, so close was the threat of self-sabotage when faced with something that seemed never-ending.
In her mind, Tess concentrated only on the next step- the next hill, the next slippery surface. She gritted her teeth and pulled forth her ‘pluck’, as Maggie used to say. Don’t think, just do.
They had a few close calls. The never-ending water often coalesced into streams, the streams flowing into waterfalls as they crossed and meandered over the trail. Rosie slipped once, her sure footing giving way to fatigue, and Fish caught her before the water pulled her over the ledge, rocks waiting twenty feet below. Another day, a dead tree limb, heavy from rot and water, fell and tumbled toward them. They’d barely had enough time to dodge from its path before it rumbled past, sending rocks and dirt flying, as it flew beyond the nearest ridge and disappeared into the mist.
Rosie kept the lead, all trusting her instincts to keep them on the right path. Often, it was little less than a deer path, turning back upon itself in constant switchbacks up the mountains. They were wrong to think the path would be straight, or easy to navigate, but they were lucky for Rosie. Tess followed directly behind her, with Dray and Fish trading places in the rear.
By the fourth day, they were exhausted to the point of stupidity, their thoughts and moods pulled into their own self-pitying vortexes, internalized and focused. No one dared question how much further the mountains would rise, lest the answer break whatever spirit they had left. The only option was to continue, ever on. No other choice was acceptable.
Sometimes, in her daze, Tess would slip or fall, catching herself before any real damage was done. Hands would grasp her from behind and right her, though she was too tired to see whether it was Dray or Fish keeping her going- perhaps it was both. She would mutter a thanks and walk on.
Tess could feel the blisters on her feet as they swelled and burst, her soles rubbed raw yet again so that new blisters could form beneath old ones. The circle of life, Tess thought to herself, as the giggles threatened to take over her body and trip her. She pushed the thought from her head.
That afternoon, the fog began to thin, so slowly that for an hour it remained unnoticeable. Then, slowly, the sun pushed through, bright beams alighting on dead leaves and the green needles of the fir trees. Ever so gently, the sunshine burned through, stray wisps of moisture disappearing in its light, until there was none left and the air was cold, and still, and clear. Tess paused in her monotonous pursuit and turned, gasping. The clouds fell beneath them now, lit from above, puffy balls of white clinging to the ground below where they stood, stretching in every direction. For a moment, Tess forgot her fatigue and laughed, a sound of pure joy permeating the stillness.
The others turned at her ex
clamation, each of them expressing their own form of awe as they took in the sight that had sprung up behind them. For Tess, she felt a deep sense of power, as if drawing from a well-spring of the spirits that might inhabit a place this beautiful, so high that it erased any small woes or simple problems. It looked like heaven.
Rosie’s voice brought her gently back to earth. “We’ve still got to crest the final rise, so don’t get too comfortable. Another hour or two and we can camp. And maybe even find some dry wood for a fire tonight, with any luck. Come on then,” she urged, when the others were slow to follow.
They began to turn back, but Tess found she couldn’t. Dray pulled even with her and stopped, concern evident in his features. “All right, then?”
“Yes,” Tess said. “Go on, I’ll be right behind you. I just need a moment.”
Reluctantly, they pressed on, leaving Tess. Mindful of the time, she found a dry rock, sat, and gazed out across the expanse of clouds and the realm of Alitura they’d traveled. And quietly, she talked to her mother. She felt close to Maggie up here, in the sunlight. I miss you. I love you. I wish you could see this. I hope you’re alright, wherever you are.
She felt a profound sense of peace, and closed her eyes to take it in. Hi, Maggie. I feel you.
She opened her eyes and smiled out across the world. Then, she pushed herself up, ignoring the aches and pains, and kept going, renewed. Tess could see only Dray up ahead, walking slowly, and she knew he’d stayed close on purpose, so she wouldn’t lose them.
When he saw that she was catching up, he stopped and waited, intending to take his place in the rear. She reached out as she passed, mindlessly, and squeezed his forearm in thanks. Only later did she think to be self-conscious of the gesture, uncertain of whether it was welcome.
They could see the top now, a point where the trees stopped rising and above them was only blue sky. It still seemed horribly far away, but Rosie was right. Two hours later, they’d managed to crest it, finding a large shelter built into the surrounding rock. Rosie was right about another thing as well- they made a real fire that night. They pitched their bedrolls around the crackling fire in a circle, still too fatigued for conversation, and as it burned low, Tess found that she could see the stars for the first time in many nights. With no light pollution, they were plentiful and bright, galaxies spread before her on showy display. Then more wood was added to the fire, and the warmth beside her grew, and she slept.
