“Something a bit more immediate.” Asa’s eyes were fixated on the blond’s lips. “You know, in case neither of us live to see tomorrow. Life’s too short. I want something that I can have right now.”
“What do you mean?” Avery rolled his eyes, before Asa cut him off, pressing their lips together. “Oh.”
It wasn’t the hasty embarrassment that had been their first kiss, or either of the quick pecks that they had enjoyed since. Only the stars were there to watch them as they sat there, both crossing their legs so that their knees touched. The world around them seemed to have faded and slowed, nothing could matter outside of this. Erebus was nothing but a word; his influence was null and void when the two of them were together. They were unstoppable.
They reluctantly broke apart, the world shifting back into sharp focus. Asa squirmed away from Avery as he brushed a lock of hair from the nape of his neck, though neither of them said a word. They made no pretence of not linking fingers that night. The air was still warm though the wind was high, and after an indeterminably long time watching the fluttering fireflies, Asa let his eyes drift shut.
It was around the third day in the mountains that Asa fell. His stumbling walk was replaced by a swift flurry of movement as he curled up into a ball to protect his head. Once he had stopped sliding on the frozen stones, he lay there motionless, breathing shallowly through his teeth as he tried to right himself on his own. He pressed a cautious hand to his chest, which was aching badly. There seemed to be no sharp pain, no broken bones. He heard Avery’s heavy footsteps thunder towards him, sending sharp shards of rock over his body.
“Asa?”
He moved in affirmation. The dust was coating his face. Asa wetted his lips with the tip of his tongue, longing for the clean rationed water. He could have drunk it all in one sitting.
“I’m fine, Avery.” His voice hoarser than it had been. He coughed up some rock dust, covering his mouth with his hand. “Just took a tumble.”
“No, you’re bleeding,” Avery argued, taking Asa’s hand and gesturing to the dark droplets beaded on the palm. “We can’t go on if you’re injured.”
Asa considered arguing that he was already dying, and that was about as injured as one could get. However, his body ached and his head was slow and useless. He shook his head.
“I didn’t hit my hands.”
“Well, you’re bleeding anyhow,” his friend said, wiping the blood off of Asa’s hand with his own. “Did you get cut anywhere else?”
“I don’t think—” At this, Asa started to cough again, feeling the sharp rock shards scraping at the inside of his throat. He covered his mouth in the usual reflex action and shook his head again. “No. I don’t think so.”
Avery caught one of his hands in his own, before Asa could wipe his on his trousers. Asa saw his face recoil for a moment in reflexive disgust, before softening into a frown.
“Asa.”
“Avery, no. I’m not in the mood to discuss it.”
Why wouldn’t he just let it be? Of course Asa was not well. Avery had known that when they had set off. Why, then, was he now fussing like this? It would not do for Avery to fuss anymore, Asa decided. He should not be under any more stress than the situation warranted. He moved his hands away from his friend’s gentle grip, wiping the blood away on his grimy trousers. No, it would not do to upset Avery.
“Asa, you cannot just ignore this,” Avery said sincerely. “You know as well as I what this means.”
“I can do just that,” Asa declared. “It isn’t over until it’s done.”
“Your heart won’t wait for you.” Asa heard a deep sadness in the usually bright tone. “Asa, we’re going to have to get there sooner.”
“Oh, lay off, Avery.” His head hurt so much, like it was filled with mud. Asa curled in on himself on the sharp rocks. “We can camp here, can’t we?”
He registered the childish impetuousness of his voice. Avery apparently did too, because he let loose a low chuckle.
“Seventeen years of age and still throwing temper tantrums? Come on, Asa, we just need to get to that outcrop over there.”
He gripped Asa’s cold hand in his warm one, somehow managing to pull him to his feet. Asa swayed, clutching Avery to stand straight. He tried to lift his feet, but it was as though they were made of lead. Walking was clearly out of the question.
“I—I can’t,” he murmured, clasping his friend even tighter as blackness started to make its way into his vision. “I just can’t.”
He fell backwards as Avery let go. Startled, he let out a small yelp, which he stifled as his friend’s arms arrested him. Avery manoeuvred Asa until he could pick the man up in his arms. Asa lay back into the warmth, shivering at the frigid mountain air. His cheeks were wet, he realised. Why were they wet? The fierce wind bit into the exposed skin, turning what once was damp tear tracks to flushed cold skin.
“Don’t drop me,” he said, clutching at Avery’s tunic. “I don’t want to fall.”
“I won’t, Asa.” He could feel his friend’s deep voice in his chest. “I’m never going to let you go. You are the most precious thing that I have ever loved.”
“You’ll have to, one day,” he snipped back, a fierce glint alighting and dying in his eyes.
“Today is not that day.” He was taken from the warmth of Avery’s arms and set on the rocky ground. He propped himself up, head spinning as Avery talked to him. “Nor is tomorrow, nor the day after.”
Footsteps walked away from him, crunching in the frost. Asa tried to stand but fell back, mind clouding as he tried to form a coherent sentence over the frantic rushing of his heart. “Don’t!”
“Don’t what, Asa?” Avery asked, feeling his forehead. Asa didn’t want to know if he had a temperature or not.
“Don’t leave me here alone.”
“Never,” Avery swore. “I will stay with you for as long as this takes, Asa. I promise you that.”
ELEVEN
CLIMBING THE FINAL PEAK was the hardest thing that Asa had ever done. His legs ached, his back hurt, and even the act of placing one foot doggedly in front of the other was enough to make him gasp and groan in protest. Avery was faring only slightly better. His boots had worn through on the soles and the bottom of his right foot had been scratched into a raw and bleeding mess. They wrapped their arms around each other’s waists, not knowing if it even helped their struggle, but the simple act of feeling another warm being was enough to keep them both on their feet and moving.
They reached the top at mid-morning. The sun was still rising in the miraculously blue sky, not a cloud in sight. A thin sheen of sweat covered Asa’s entire body as he squinted around for their next climb from the mountaintop. Avery had collapsed onto a small cairn of stones, picking bits of gravel out of his foot. Asa looked once, twice, and started trembling, unable to believe what he could see, or rather, what he could not. No more steep rocky slopes met his gaze. A stretch of flat land lay before them, not far in terms of length. And then all along the horizon lay something vast—shimmering and azure blue.
“Where land, sea, and sky meet,” Asa mouthed, unable to believe his eyes. “The concourse.”
His voice had risen to a whisper, and Avery looked up from his foot-tending duties.
“The what?” he yawned. “Speak up?”
“The concourse!” Asa’s heart was pounding, whether from exhaustion or excitement he did not know. “Look, Avery.”
Avery heaved himself onto his feet and limped over to where Asa was standing. As his eyes scanned the scene in front of them, a grin spread over his face, tugging at his cracked lips.
“We’re here.”
“Almost.” Asa shrugged, trying not to show his frenzy of conflicted emotions. “Not quite.”
Avery’s face dropped, even his eyes showed no hint of confliction. “Asa. How’re we going to get home?”
Asa shrugged. “The pendant, remember? I didn’t know how Queen Ria had magic before, but I guess that it makes sense fo
r an ethereal.”
“Oh yeah, the pendant.” Avery didn’t look any happier.
Asa turned to him in a panic. “Wait, you still have it, don’t you?”
The idea of them making the return journey was impossible, terrible. Avery nodded.
“Never took it off.” He withdrew it from inside his ragged shirt. The stone glinted in the strong afternoon sun.
“Well then, why do you look like someone has slapped your mother?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Avery huffed. “Tired, I guess.”
“We can’t afford that now.” Asa took a deep breath. “Tiredness will have to wait.”
He looked down the relatively steep path that led onto the marshy land. The ground was lined with small and relatively sharp stones. Avery was nursing his foot, one leg lifted as he rubbed at the sore skin. One of his fingernails caught on the wound and he flinched, falling over. Asa would have laughed if the situation had been different.
“Oh!” Avery cursed, bending in on himself.
Asa frowned, again staring at the gravel-lined path. His own boots were fine, even if they rubbed his feet. Then again, his feet seemed to have grown since they embarked all of those weeks ago. He set his resolve, and then turned to his friend.
“Get on my back,” he said, bending his knees in anticipation.
Avery didn’t move. “What?”
“I’ll carry you down this part,” Asa stated. “It’ll be easier than any other way. You can barely walk.”
“You’re tiny,” Avery laughed incredulously. “How do you think you’re going to carry me so far?”
“Through sheer will and determination,” Asa laughed. “Or perhaps by using my not-inconsiderable strength.”
“Don’t drop me,” Avery warned him, “or I will kill you.”
“Yeah, like you’re the person who I have to worry about killing me,” Asa snorted.
As Avery clambered onto his back, he saw for the first time how little his companion weighed for his height. Asa glanced back to ensure that his friend was secure, and then took a few uncertain steps to the top of the unworn path. Avery’s hands gripped his shoulders as they made their first steps down the steep hillside, leaving deep-dragging footprints in their wake.
Moments stretched on into days as Asa plodded forward. His breath came in short pants, whistling through his gritted teeth. All that he could focus on was the feeling of his companion’s weight on his shoulders and his sharp fingernails digging into the soft skin on the back of his neck. He strained to push them as far as he was physically able to, lungs burning with exertion.
“Thank you, Asa,” Avery said, pecking him on the cheek as he tried to slide onto the ground.
Asa stopped, confused. “What?”
“For doing this.” Avery made another attempt to get off his back, but Asa held firm.
“Avery, what are you doing?”
“Asa, look.” His friend unhooked his legs from around Asa’s waist and landed on the ground with a thud.
There was only a step or so more of the gravelled terrain, the stones merging with fibrous grasses and soft, mossy ground. Asa smiled in relief, running the short distance in his haste for a rest. The mud was cushioned and soft compared to the rocks that they had been climbing over for days. The concourse was in front of them, he knew it. The marshy ground gave out to a low sand bank some way ahead, but the scenery beyond that was completely obscured.
“Ready?” he asked, voice unsteady and hoarse.
“Bring it.”
The sun was shining on Avery’s hair, bleaching it silver with its light.
Stumbling, feet struggling for purchase as they sank beneath the mud, Asa and Avery made their way towards the sandy ground with a new resolve. Gone was any inclination to stop or rest, any feeling of discomfort. The warmth of the sunlight on their backs filled them with courage, hope-filled eyes fixed on their goal. They did not lean on each other, but stood separately, arms brushing each other’s occasionally with their closeness. Asa’s legs were soon covered with a layer of splattered green-brown mud, reaching up to just above his boot tops. They reached the bottom of the sloping mound of sand, which was covered with wiry grass, and paused, stomachs both sinking. Each opened their mouth to say something, and then waited for the other person to. Eventually, Avery broke the silence.
“Asa, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
His tone was sombre, and his eyes were filled with a fear that Asa had never seen Avery have before.
“Neither.” He gave a low, nervous chuckle.
“I just want you to know something.” Avery shut his eyes, and then opened them again. They shone yellow as he swallowed. “You know—if I don’t make it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Asa said.
“Quiet, idiot. I’m trying to say something deep. Asa, I want you to remember, whatever happens, that I love you, and that this was one of the best things that I have ever done. Adventure isn’t so bad, if you can do it with a friend.”
Asa was quiet for a moment.
“Thank you, Avery.” He struggled with the words, though he had thought them so many times before. “I don’t know where I would be without you. You’ve saved my life more times than I can count, yet you still act like the naïve child who was my best friend in Salatesh. You are one in a million. I am so privileged to be your friend.”
Avery blinked hard. “Thank you.”
His voice was choked.
“To whatever end?” Asa asked, sadness that he didn’t understand filling him with trepidation.
“Sure,” Avery replied, if a trifle sarcastically. “For our country, and our people.”
They clambered up over the sandbank together. For a moment, all that Asa could see was a wide beach, the waters clear and blue, with clean pale sand as far as the eye could see. It was as if the world was divided into three strips, two of blue and one of white. Avery stiffened beside him, hand reaching for and withdrawing his sword. Asa followed his line of sight and had to blink the dust away from his eyes to make sure.
“Kaspar?” he breathed, eyes widening. “What are you doing here?”
The ethereal was seated on the sand, sifting the grains through his fingers in a methodical manner. He looked up as Asa and Avery appeared, smiling a strange, needle-toothed smile.
“You made it,” he observed, standing up and walking towards them. The waves washed backwards and forwards over the sand. “I was beginning to wonder.”
“Where’s your brother?” Avery asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I have more than one brother?” Kaspar frowned, a crease appearing between his eyebrows. “Never heard of the chap, I’m afraid.”
“Are we alone here?” Avery demanded. “Where is this monster we were told to fight?”
“Ah.” Kaspar paused. “That. As far as it can be understood by good children such as yourselves, I may have embellished upon the truth there. You might be reasonable in the assumption that I lied.”
A nasty feeling spun in the pit of Asa’s stomach. He looked around the deserted beach. There was no sound. Not even that of the waves that continued to break over the shale. His heart began to race as he and Avery were pulled over the sand dune which they had been hidden behind, drawn as if by magnetic attraction to the ethereal’s feet.
“You lied?” he asked.
“There were only four siblings to begin with,” Kaspar chuckled. “The four pillars of our kingdom and all of that. I thought that if you knew who I was, you would be reluctant to travel with me.”
Asa reached for his sword, but Avery interrupted him.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, you know fully well what I mean,” Kaspar purred, black eyes sparkling. “The name Kaspar was such a clever little trick, such an innocent distraction to my cause. Two ethereals gone, and the third a miserable fool who locks herself in her little walled kingdom. Eodem is mine.”
“You’re not Kaspar . . . You’re Erebus.”
Asa�
�s stomach dropped. He looked at the ethereal, who plumed himself, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.
“You don’t know how happy it makes me to admit it.”
He examined his tanned fingers, muttering a string of incomprehensible words under his breath. Asa gripped his sword. He faced the ethereal, knowing that it would be to no avail. The dry ache in his heart told him enough. They were both going to die.
“We don’t need to do this.” Asa shook his head, trembling. “You can let us go away. We are no threat to you.”
“But you are a threat, Asa.” Erebus looked sorrowful. “You know my little secret. As if any of Ria’s idiots could ever make their way home. I’m sorry, but this is going to be your final adventure.”
“No!” Avery stood in front of Asa. “That’s not fair. We’re making our way home, and you can’t stop us. You have to give us a chance—a chance to fight for our freedom!”
“Oh, little Avery. I never did like you,” the immortal tutted. “Fair. On the count of three—but actually, that’s no fun. Let’s just say that you have until I kill you.”
Erebus pushed his hands together, the crackle of electricity filling the air around them. Asa and Avery separated, each of them gripping their swords, ready to dodge, to attack. Time slowed down as the black eyes turned white, glowing with a power Asa did not understand. The ethereal chanted some words in a tongue the humans did not recognise before a jet of white light was released from the palms of his hands, pulsing away from him and hitting Avery with a crack like a thunderbolt in the centre of his chest.
The blond crumpled, falling to the ground with a sick thud.
“Avery!” Asa jolted into action, running as fast as he knew how to his friend. His legs, previously like lead, had lifted him into a stumbling sprint before he was able to form a coherent thought. He pulled his dragging body to Avery, who was lying on his side, curled in on himself. Asa threw himself down on his knees next to him, unwanted tears forming muddy streaks down his face. Avery was breathing shallowly, his face a mask of pain. His hazel eyes, at once brown and green, looked into Asa’s brown ones.
His Frozen Fingertips Page 20
