by Allan Joyal
I laughed as Natalie kicked some snow towards Al. The trio of kids had stopped just ahead of us. I could see Shaylin and Gertrilla watching us. "We're rotating who's pulling the sleds," I called out.
Shaylin nodded and then whispered something to Corwar. She accepted the strap from the sled he was pulling and he began walking back to us. I shrugged and held the spear out to Natalie.
"Oh, happy day!" Natalie gushed. "I get to have the big pointy stick! I'm queen for the rest of the day."
"You're always the queen," Al said cheerfully as he set the harness on the snow. "Come knave, we have sleds to pull."
He tapped me on the shoulder. We started walking down the left side of the sled, heading for the back. I could see Steve walking the other direction.
"Victoria is helping our new man get strapped into the harness," Steve said. "I'll take the front one. Do we switch out immediately?"
"Your call," I said. "I'm sure Al won't mind a bit of time in the back, especially with Verval. They will need time to get the rhythm down."
Steve nodded. We were at the front of the second sled, so I turned to walk over to the harness. Jennifer had already pulled the straps off and was holding the assembly in her hands. Heather was chatting with her. My blonde-haired vixen had her back to me. I held up a finger to indicate that Jennifer was to stay silent and crept up behind Heather.
She chattered on, oblivious to the fact that I was right behind her. I reached out to carefully grasp the harness. It shifted slightly but did not tug on her back and she continued to talk to Jennifer. Once I had a hold on the harness, I slid my right leg behind Heather and tugged hard on the harness.
Heather fell back, tumbling over my outstretched leg. I caught her as she fell. She was still gasping in surprise as I lowered my lips to her and gave her a passionate kiss. Fists beat on my chest as I teased Heather's lips. Finally, my arms started to hurt from the strain of holding Heather in an awkward position, so I broke the kiss and stood up.
Jennifer was standing there, laughing as I returned Heather to her feet. "Oh, that one was perfect," she gushed.
I pretended to ignore Heather as I squatted down to collect the harness for pulling the sled. When I stood back up, I kept my back to her as I climbed into the harness and made sure it was settled comfortably on my shoulders. Once it was secure, I turned back to look at Jennifer.
"How was the walk, Jennifer?" I asked casually.
Heather reached out to grab me around the neck. She stepped in close so her breasts were pressed against my chest and her nose bumped mine. "You will pay for that!" she hissed.
I put my arms on Heather's shoulders and shifted her to my right so I could continue to look at Jennifer. Jennifer had a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were lit up with mischief. "Why, Heather," she said, "I'd almost think you didn't like the welcome Ron gave you."
Heather grabbed my chin and forced me to look into her eyes. I held her gaze. There was anger burning in her expression, but she ruined the effect by putting her right arm around my neck and pulling me in for a long kiss. "Warn me next time," she growled when the kiss ended.
"Ron, if you do that, she'll make sure you fall down on top of her," Jennifer said.
Heather sniffed. She winked at me and then turned away to look at Jennifer. "And don't you forget it," she said with a giggle.
"Wagons ho!" Steve shouted from ahead of us. I could see his sled begin to move. The laughter between Jennifer and Heather stopped as Heather and I leaned forward in the harnesses and started to pull the sled. We struggled for a moment, but Jennifer moved around and started pushing from the back. Once it began to move, we were easily able to maintain the same pace as Steve.
Heather and I did not waste breath in conversation as we walked. Kariy did come by. She shyly admitted that Verval made her nervous, so she had avoided him during the morning
"And since you were with him, I ended up avoiding you," she said.
"He's not the nicest man I've ever met," I admitted. "But he appears willing to try. We'll see if Al can't sort him out."
Kariy giggled and agreed. She and Jennifer started talking about the village we had left, speculating on how long it would take the former headman to realize we had left. Natalie allowed Steve to pass her and then joined in the conversation, the trio having a fun time as we fought our way through the snow.
Later Steve pulled aside, leaving Heather and me in the lead as we continued to walk through miles of snowdrifts. Shaylin and Gertrilla continued to keep pace with Corwar. The young man had a baffled expression on his face as the two girls teased him. Natalie muttered that the girls had learned a bunch of bad habits thanks to the antics of Jennifer, Victoria, and Heather. Of course Jennifer and Heather protested and a debate started that helped pass the time as we trudged through the snow. I was distracted by the debate and barely noticed when the wind began to pick up and the temperatures started to drop. I was broken from my bemusement when Jennifer shouted. "Ron! Aine is ahead and waving to us."
"Run up and find out what she needs," I replied. I glanced over to see that Kariy and Natalie were pulling their cloaks tighter to cover their bodies. Ahead, Corwar pulled one sled and Shaylin the other as all three children huddled together.
"When did it get cold?" Heather asked.
"Walking keeps us from getting too cold," I said. "But that's not good. When we do stop, we'll feel that much colder," I said.
Jennifer had reached Aine. They talked briefly, and then Jennifer waved again. They were off the road and to the right, but it was clear that Aine wanted us to follow her. Heather and I turned the sled to follow a narrow gully between two drifts that would take us up to Aine. Shaylin and the others had missed the turn, but quickly began reversing the small sleds so they could join us.
Ahead, Jennifer turned and ran further away from the road. Aine left her post and approached us. She was several feet away when she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. "A storm is coming! Hencktor found a place we can camp! Follow me!"
Heather waved. Aine immediately turned around and started running. We were headed in the same direction that Jennifer had gone.
"Let's speed up," I said to Heather.
Heather said nothing, but I could feel her push harder with her legs. The sled fought our attempts as we tried to keep pace with Aine. Our friend was almost running as she led us around one drift and then toward a stand of trees. A sheer cliff rose up to our right. The path we were on was angled downward enough that Heather and I were now concentrating on keeping the sled under control as we continued forward.
"It's going to be hard to get the sleds out from here," Heather mourned.
"No," Lydia said as she appeared to our right. She had a large bundle of wood in her arms. The wood appeared dry. "We'll exit by a different route. We won't be able to rejoin the road though. The path we'll leave by heads south, and the road is heading east."
"Hencktor had time to scout?" I asked.
"He had us running around the forest for the last three hours," Lydia said. "I don't know what he sensed, but he wasn't happy with the weather. We found this place about an hour ago."
"Where do we go?" I asked.
"Aine should be waiting," Lydia said. "Keep going on this trail. It's maybe another half mile."
Heather and I kept moving. The path meandered along the cliff face. Here the snow became shallow, and the rising wind faded. We could hear the angry howl of the wind roaring over our heads as it crossed the top of the cliff. I was beginning to think we were lost when we followed a bend in the path and found Aine standing in front of us.
"Turn into the first opening," she said, pointing to her right.
We looked and found that someone had spent time cutting a path through a thicket. In fact as we turned to enter the path, we could see three paths. Jennifer stood ahead of us and watched us as we entered.
Our friend began moving her hands to indicate we should continue forward. She carefully walked backwards and watched behind us
. Once she told us to shift to our right slightly and then, after we had walked forward another dozen steps, held up her hands to tell us to stop.
"The clearing we'll set up in is right over there," Jennifer said, pointing past the other two paths and a bit deeper into the canyon. Heather and I shrugged out of our harnesses. Heather was ready to rush forward, but I put a hand on her arm.
"Let's grab what we'll need," I said. "No reason to have to hike back because we left our food and bedding behind."
Heather blushed, but nodded. We walked around and started gathering pouches of food from the sled. As we did, we could see Al and Verval and then Steve pull their sleds through the thicket. I noticed that the paths were arranged to allow access to the sleds, but still protect them from what wind blew in the canyon.
Kariy, Victoria, and Esme joined us in unloading sleds. Shaylin, Gertrilla, and Corwar were told to bring their sleds around the thicket and park them on the far side near the clearing. Hencktor came out and grabbed the tent. "We have to hurry," he shouted. "The snow will be falling soon."
I looked up and realized that the sky was almost black. Angry storm clouds had come to block the afternoon sun. Heather gasped as we tightened our arms around the bedding we had recovered and rushed to follow Hencktor.
Chapter 16: Storm Break
Everyone appeared to have looked up at the sky. No one sat out the assembly of the tent. The structure went up quickly. Kariy had the kids look for rocks that could be used to surround the small fire she set up in the center of the tent. The wood Lydia had gathered took a few moments to catch, but by the time we had the tent secure and were setting up bedrolls, a warm blaze burned in the ring of stones Shaylin and Gertrilla had assembled.
Verval was shivering as we finished placing the bedrolls. Everyone had also grabbed food, and Kariy assured us that she could prepare a warming stew once the fire had finished blazing. At the moment, her tripod sat over the fire holding a single cauldron that was full of melting snow.
"How are you feeling, Verval was it?" Esme asked. She had just finished getting Natalie to lie down and was now moving through the tent, checking on everyone.
Verval said nothing, but continued to shiver. Esme put her left hand on his cheek. He pulled away, but she grabbed his chin with her right hand and resumed touching his face. "Ron!" she called. "We need to get this man warmed up."
"Hypothermia?" I asked.
"I don't have the right tools to measure, but it's likely," Esme said.
"Look at his pants," Victoria said. "We should have noticed them earlier. They aren't leather or hide. And they are completely soaked."
"Corwar?" I asked. "How is he?"
Two girlish giggles were the response. "Hey! Those are my pants!" Corwal screamed out.
"Undressed," Lydia observed.
"If he has the same type of pants, that's a good thing," Esme said. "The cold wet clothing will make them colder. Someone get me a fur, we need to get these pants off Verval, now!"
Verval fought for a moment, but Steve came over to help hold the man as Esme removed his boots and then his pants. The legs of the pants made a sucking sound as they were peeled from his legs. Jennifer immediately used a spare hide to dry Verval's legs, ignoring his protests.
Esme watched and once the legs were dry to her satisfaction, tapped Jennifer on the shoulder. "We need to make him some fur leggings," she said. "Those pants will only get wet again."
"This never happened before," Verval protested.
"You probably weren't working hard in the snow," Esme responded. "The problem is that your pants got wet, probably a combination of snow melting on the outside while you sweated from the effort of pulling the sled. Once all that water could start to cool down, it sucked the heat from your body."
"Corwar?" Verval asked.
"I'll check him in a moment, but it sounds like he didn't sweat as much. The light sleds you brought didn't require as much effort to pull," Esme said.
Verval blushed. He had his hands over his crotch. "You should not have seen," he muttered.
Esme giggled. "You'll see all of me soon enough. This tent has just the one room, and I need to get out of my own wet clothes."
"And we don't mind if you look, but ask before touching," Heather said as she jumped into my arms, knocking me to the floor. My hands were under her cloak and wrapped around her naked waist. I hissed in surprise as Heather began kissing my neck.
"Eeewww," Jennifer said playfully. "She's all over him. Mommy, get the eye bleach. I'm going to be permanently scarred by this."
I stiffened and tried to gently push Heather off me without disturbing the cloak. Heather stopped kissing me and looked over her shoulder. "You're not helping," she sang out.
"I wasn't trying," Jennifer sang back. "Anyways we probably need to have a group discussion. Verval and Corwar need to be properly introduced to everyone."
Heather climbed off me, pulling her cloak tight around her body. She then offered me a hand and pulled me into a sitting position.
Esme had walked near the fire. "Everyone, I know it can be embarrassing, but you need to get out of your wet clothes. I've talked to Victoria and Lydia, and they will be hanging clothing around the walls of the tent to help it dry. Natalie helped me earlier by bringing in all of our extra fur. So there should be plenty of ways to stay covered up."
I groaned, but started to take off my boots. Heather insisted on helping unwind the straps that held the fur leggings around my calves. Ice crystals fell from the fur as she pulled it away from my legs.
Several people were clearly shivering as we fought our way out of wet clothing. Lydia strode around the tent holding a fur blanket around her body and collected the various discarded articles of clothing. She and Victoria had worked out a system for placing the items and quickly covered the walls of the tent with drying clothing.
As people were disrobed, they collected near the fire. A thick bed of coals had formed, and Kariy was kneeling by the fire feeding some dried meat and vegetables into the cauldron. She had found a tattered loincloth from somewhere but was otherwise naked. Verval sat and watched her as she worked, but said nothing. Corwar was looking at the ground, as an embarrassed blush spread across his face.
"Hencktor," I called out. "How long will this storm last do you think?"
Hencktor shrugged. "I can't say. In the mountains, a storm like this would sometimes take two or three days to pass. But the winds here might keep it moving, and we could see clear skies by morning."
"Verval?" I asked. "Do you know much about storms like this one?"
"I do," the man said forlornly. "And I should have noticed it earlier. It will probably not pass until late afternoon tomorrow. There won't be a lot of new snow, but the wind won't stop."
"We have the cliff on one side," Hencktor said. "And the thicket and grove will help block winds from the other directions. This tent should protect us."
I nodded. "Good. Now I guess most of you have seen that we have a new gentleman and his younger brother with us. They joined after we left the village. Everyone, this is Verval, and his younger brother Corwar."
A chorus of greetings rang out. I turned to Verval, who was looking up at the group. "I don't know what to say," he said. "Things were very bad for me in the village, and there was no opportunity to find a wife. Joining you was very impulsive, but after I saw you that first night and heard you'd be moving on, I hoped you could take me far away."
"I can understand that," Lydia replied. "Oh, I'm Lydia."
Hencktor shook his head. "And for all your ability to be a pushy broad, you leave the introductions to others," he said mockingly. "I'm Hencktor. Like you, I joined this group after they passed through my village. I can try to answer any questions you have."
"Stew's ready," Kariy said. "I haven't had time to make rolls or anything."
"We have a deer just outside," Aine said. "Hencktor thought it would be better if we had stew before he started to bring in some steaks to cook."
> I shook my head. "The young lady cooking is Kariy; she joined us from the same village as Hencktor. The dark haired girl who just spoke is Aine. She was not part of our group when we visited Hencktor's village, but she rejoined us while we were at the Wizards City."
"I thought you were all from one place," Corwar said. "Well, except for Hencktor and Kariy. At least that's what Shaylin and Gertrilla explained to me."
"Partly right," Victoria replied. "But it's a vastly simplified explanation. The truth is that the magic that pulled us to Jord, grabbed us from three different locations that were many days travel apart."
"We could visit all three locations on the same day though," Jennifer said. "With the devices we had."
Victoria turned to glare at Jennifer. Corwar and Verval seemed perplexed, but I noticed that Shaylin and Gertrilla were paying rapt attention to Victoria. The woman shook her head and turned back to face Verval. "Let's just say that the three locations were far apart. We don't know how the magic worked, but we all arrived on Jord in a magical clearing about two days travel from Hencktor's village. And since then we've been looking for a place to live."
Verval shrugged, but then frowned. "I guess that explains some of the strangeness. So did Aine arrive with you?"
"Victoria and I were pulled from the same location," Aine said. "I believe the others were all pulled from one of the other two locations."
"Yup," Heather chirped. "We were all in Daytona. Ron, Steve, and Lydia for some meeting, Jen, Nat, Esme, and I were going to enjoy spring break. We were originally joined with people from the third location, but they did not stay with us."
Aine sighed. "And you aren't helping. What happened was that the people who appeared in the clearing did not all stay together. I wasn't with this group when they left the clearing. I stumbled into the Wizard's City during the storm, and one of the people I ran into knew of Ron's group. He brought me to them."
