The Walls of Westernfort

by Jane Fletcher

  “We’re going to get over that?” Natasha voiced her doubts.

  Ash overheard and twisted around in the saddle. “It’s much easier than it looks from a distance. I’ve ridden over this pass a dozen times or more.” She gave a grin worthy of Dani. “It’s the other side you need to worry about.”

  That night, they camped in the shelter of an isolated clump of firs. The ground cover was more snow than grass, although it was clear under the trees. It was Cal’s turn to cook the evening meal. Leaving the others chatting with her by the fire, Natasha went and stood at the edge of the trees. The spot provided a good view of the cliffs they would ascend the next day. The sun was lost behind the mountains, although the sky was still pale blue. The rock faces looked harsh and grim in the fading light. Dani came and stood by her shoulder.

  “If Ash says we can get over, then we can get over,” Dani said encouragingly.

  “Oh, I trust her. She knows what she’s doing.”

  “She ought to. She was an official Ranger for over twenty years, and she’s done another sixteen since the 23rd Squadron deserted to Westernfort.”

  Natasha said nothing. She was not sure whether she was being too sensitive or whether Dani was standing too close. She knew she was hopelessly drawn to the young heretic. It was a huge ethical dilemma. Her commitment to celibacy had not been so severely tested for a long time. The circumstances enforced by the journey were a mixed blessing. There was no escape from Dani’s daily company, but the continuous presence of the other three gave her no opportunity to yield to the temptation.

  Natasha clenched her teeth. No. Even without the others, there was no way she would act on the attraction. When they got to Westernfort, she, Rohanna, and Cal would complete their mission, and almost certainly be killed themselves. When Dani found out that she had been deceived, she would hate the women who had lied and abused her trust. But, Natasha told herself bitterly, there would be a limit to the abuse. Dani would have enough cause to curse her memory as it was.

  While these thoughts had been going through her mind, Natasha’s eyes had dropped from the mountains to stare, unseeing, at the snow before her. Suddenly, she registered what it was she was looking at. She twisted around and shouted, “Ash!”

  “What is it?” The veteran Ranger came running.

  Natasha held out her arm, pointing to a double row of paw prints.

  Ash stood over the tracks, her expression of concern turning to relief. “Mountain cats,” she pronounced and then smiled at Natasha. “They’re much too small to be snow lions, if that’s what you were worried about.”

  Natasha felt foolish. Now that she looked more carefully, even to her untrained eye, the prints were not nearly big enough for the huge predators. Sheepishly, she mumbled, “Sorry to bother you.”

  Ash patted her shoulder. “No. You were right to bring them to my attention, rather than try to identify the marks yourself and risk making a mistake. And even mountain cats can be nasty, though not at this time of year. There’s still plenty of their natural prey about.” She turned to walk back to the camp, Natasha and Dani tagging along. Ash continued talking while they walked.

  “You don’t get snow lions this far south until late December at the very earliest, and like the cats, they won’t attack people while there are fenbucks and spadehorns around. We’re poisonous to them, and they can smell it. They have to be starving to try. Early spring is the dangerous time.”

  Rohanna and Cal were looking anxiously in their direction, wondering what had caused the excitement. “What’s up?” Cal called.

  “Nothing much. Some mountain cats have been around here.”

  “That’s hardly a surprise.” Cal turned back to the task of preparing dinner, although Rohanna continued to look apprehensive. Ash began to repeat what she had already told the two younger women.

  Natasha flopped down in the warmth beside the fire. The smell of the cooking food was welcoming after the long day. She stretched out her hands toward the heat and tried to act at ease as Dani also sat down close by.

  *

  Ash was quite correct about the climb; it was far less difficult than it looked. Once they got closer to the cliff, an oblique shadow at one side turned out to be a gully, a path eroded into the rock by the action of wind and frost. They were even able to ride for most of the ascent, needing to dismount only at the more awkward spots. In little over an hour, they had reached the top, where they found themselves on the brow of a snow-covered ridge, slung between two jagged peaks and barely more than a dozen meters wide. Ash led the way across and then stopped to let them take in the view.

  The cliff they had climbed had been chiseled out of the side of a mountain by the elements. The summit was still high above them, to the south. The towering crest of rock blocked out half the sky. To the north, the line of mountains continued and was eventually lost in the distance. A steep slope of snow fell away at their feet until it reached a line of firs two or more kilometers below. Beyond the trees, they could see the terrain drop in a series of folded steps, eventually leveling out in a rolling, tree-covered plain. The lowland was still several days’ travel away, but they had reached the top of the high pass.

  Ash pointed out the route. “One good thing about coming this way is that once we get down there, we’ve finished with high mountains. It’s a fairly straightforward run from here to Westernfort. The detour will only add four or five days onto the journey overall.” She smiled and slipped from her saddle. “Now, this is the tricky part. The horses will need coaxing down. Hold the reins tightly, but if you think you’re going to lose the fight, let them go. If you trip and start rolling, you won’t stop until you hit the trees at the bottom.”

  The slope was nearly vertical in parts. Ash began to scramble sideways down it, kicking footholds into the hard-packed snow, while leading her horse and one of the pack animals. Rohanna and Cal followed, sharing the second spare horse. As usual, Dani was close by Natasha at the rear, but the need to watch their footing, and at the same time urge on the horses, prevented any conversation.

  Despite the need to concentrate on the descent, Natasha’s thoughts and eyes kept straying in Dani’s direction. Of course, there was no telling whether the heretic was interested in anything more than friendship. She might well have a lover waiting for her in Westernfort. Or more than one. For a moment, Natasha considered the tales of wild heretic orgies. But now that she had met some real heretics, the claims seemed even less credible than they had in the taverns of Landfall.

  Natasha’s foot slipped, and she went down on one knee in the wet snow. And if I don’t pay attention to what I’m doing, I won’t even get to see Westernfort, she told herself firmly.

  After several overcast days, the sun was dazzling off the snow. The wind felt warm on Natasha’s face, as if the weather had switched from winter to summer in the space of a few hours. The party was wearing blankets as additional cloaks, and by the time they were halfway down the slope, Natasha found that she was sweating. She was trying to work out how to remove the blanket without losing control of her horse when a sudden eruption of noise broke out above, starting with a roar and ending as thunder.

  Natasha looked back. Her immediate impression was that the mountain peak had come to life. One corner near the summit shuddered like a sleeper roused from a deep sleep and then detached itself from the rest of the mountain. It simultaneously crumpled and billowed out, and began to flow toward them.

  “Avalanche!” Cal shouted.

  The distance at first confused Natasha’s assessment of speed; then she realized that the wall of snow was racing down the mountain toward them, getting swifter by the moment. She stared at it, stunned into inaction, until her horse tore the reins from her grasp and began to plunge down the hill, bolting away from the oncoming danger. Natasha was turning to follow when Ash’s voice rang out.

  “Let the horses go! Quick—follow me! Get to cover!”

  Natasha saw where Ash was headed: a heavy shelf of rock, brea
king through the snow and overhanging a deep hollow. The spot was a good twenty meters away and slightly above where they stood, but fortunately, the gradient of the slope had leveled out slightly. Rohanna and Cal were already chasing after Ash. Natasha took one step and then stopped, halted by the sound of scuffling.

  Several meters downhill, Dani was engaged in a battle with her panicked horse. The animal was fighting to escape toward the firs. Dani was virtually lying in the snow to prevent herself from being dragged after it and fumbling at the knife on her belt. The pair clearly had no wish to stay together, but Dani’s wrist was tangled in the reins. Without stopping to think, Natasha bounded toward them, drawing her own dagger. The tough leather of the reins put up a brief resistance before parting. The horse skidded backward, floundered, half fell, and then fled. Natasha hauled Dani to her feet, and they began to run.

  Up ahead, Cal was already diving into the hollow. Rohanna and Ash were a few steps behind. The wall of snow had reached the ridge where they had stood and taken in the view. It was apparent that the main body of the avalanche would miss them, but even the fringes would be lethal to anyone caught in the open. The ground under Natasha’s feet was shaking with the sound of rumbling.

  To Natasha, the scene felt like running in a nightmare. Hands in the snow grabbed at her feet, and each step took her no nearer her goal. She tripped once, but Dani jerked her onward. The vibration of the ground was starting tiny snow slips all across the hillside. The roar of the avalanche drowned out all other sound.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Natasha saw the first boulders of ice thunder by, crashing over the spot they had just left. The hillside was rearing up, blocking out the sky. And then, with one more stride, they reached the edge of the hollow and dived over. They found the rock face and pressed their backs against it as the towering wave of snow broke over them.

  Everywhere was filled with whiteness and movement. Hard shards of ice pelted down on their heads and whipped around their faces. The snow pounded them like a waterfall, trying to suck them from their shelter. The rocks behind their back boomed like a drum from the pounding blows. Snow filled their mouths, noses, ears. Natasha was certain that they would be buried or swept away. Then the fury softened. The continuous thunder was split into bursts, interrupted by quiet moments when they could hear the creaking of the snow. The torrent slowed to a sluggish flow and finally stopped.

  They were encased in snow. Natasha struck out with her arm and broke free into the open air. The white blanket was less than half a meter of loose powder. She was about to tunnel her way out, when she felt movement beside her. Natasha realized that she had been sitting with her arm around Dani, hugging her tightly, and that Dani in turn had an arm wrapped around her waist. Natasha could not remember taking hold of Dani—unsurprising, since her mind had been on other things at the time. Now that she was aware of it, the solid feel of Dani’s body was immensely comforting. Natasha was tempted to steal a few seconds more, but Dani began to squirm toward freedom.

  Natasha restrained a sigh and copied her actions. Within seconds, they emerged from the covering. The hollow was now two-thirds full of loose snow. A little way off, Ash was also scrambling clear, and two further moving humps revealed the positions of Cal and Rohanna.

  “Looks like we’re all safe, then,” Natasha said to Dani.

  “Thanks to you,” Dani replied. Then her voice softened. “And I really mean thanks. Without you, I’d still have been caught in the reins when the avalanche hit me.”

  Again, Dani’s arm slipped around Natasha’s waist. Natasha turned her head. Their lips were scant centimeters apart. Dani’s eyes looked into hers, steadily, intensely.

  “I...it...er...” The words died in Natasha’s mouth. She felt a blush flow over her cheeks.

  Dani’s serious expression changed to amusement. She squeezed Natasha, her eyes deliberately holding the lock, and then let her arm fall and moved away.

  The other three were all clear and wading through the powdery snow. Rohanna and Cal both appeared to be slightly dazed. Natasha suspected that she looked the same herself, and for more reasons than just the avalanche. Every time she blinked, she saw the afterimage of Dani’s eyes.

  None of them was seriously hurt, merely a little bruised and cut from the battering by the ice. Natasha had barely recovered her wits enough to appreciate their good luck when the sight of Ash’s expression warned her that the danger was not over. The guide looked worried, even frightened.

  “What is it? Might it start up again?” Natasha asked.

  “The horses.”

  At Ash’s words, any feeling of relief disappeared. With the horses gone, they had lost not only their transport, but also their supplies.

  “Do you think they’ll have survived?” Rohanna asked.

  “No,” Ash said bluntly.

  The party continued down the hillside—a slow, dangerous task in the aftermath of the avalanche. The ground was part compacted ice and part unstable debris, all hidden beneath a thick layer of loose snow. They could see at the bottom where rows of firs had been felled by the force of the avalanche, but there was no sign of the horses until, as they reached the last few meters before the flattened tree trunks, Ash spotted a hoof protruding from the snow. The horse was dead. A bit of digging revealed that it had been one of the pack animals, and the baggage was still in place.

  “That’s a stroke of luck,” Cal said, in tones that showed she was clearly underwhelmed by their good fortune.

  The whinny of a horse sounded faintly over the whisper of the trees. While the others removed the pack from the dead horse, Ash and Natasha set off to investigate. The animal was nearer at hand than they had expected, its cry weakened by pain. It was the horse Ash had been riding. It called desperately when it saw her and tried to lift its head, but its rear leg, and possibly its spine, were broken. There was nothing they could do except release the animal from its suffering. Ash used her knife with the skill of a professional, but she wept as she did so.

  They returned to the others with the reclaimed saddlebag. After a search, they found another dead horse, but no trace of the rest. If the animals had escaped the avalanche, they might wander back of their own accord; otherwise, they were lost. Ash compiled an inventory and reached the quick conclusion that they had about half of what they would like, although wearing the blankets as cloaks was a stroke of luck, since none had been lost. With winter approaching, the blankets might save their lives. The greatest shortage was food.

  “There wouldn’t be a problem if it were summer,” Ash said. “But at this time of year, not much is growing, and we don’t have time to waste harvesting it anyway...not if we want to get to Westernfort before the weather turns really nasty.”

  “Aren’t we going to run into trouble anyway?” Cal asked.

  Ash scrunched her face as she calculated the journey. “With luck, we’ll make Westernfort by the end of November. The weather might hold. But it will be a hard trek on foot.”

  “The...” Natasha bit off her words.

  “What?” Dani asked.

  Natasha had been about to say, The Goddess will help us. She improvised, “Then shouldn’t we get started?”

  Ash was looking pensively at the nearest horse. “Before we go, I think we should take as much of the horse meat as we can. I’m not keen on the idea, but I prefer it to the thought of starving.”

  “Have you never eaten horse meat before?” Cal asked in surprise.

  “Oh, yes. But these animals were imprinted, not cloned.”

  Natasha fought to keep the expression of outrage off her face. She looked to Rohanna, hoping for a lead, but even the intelligence agent appeared to be stunned.

  Dani noticed their expressions. “Didn’t realize you were riding something with a soul?” Her voice held an unexpected bite of sarcasm. She drew her knife and went to kneel by the carcass. “And now’s our chance to find out what a soul tastes like.”

  “Dani. It isn’t funny.” Even Ash sounded
shocked.

  “Oh, I know, and believe me, it isn’t something I joke about.” And for once, Dani’s face did not hold a trace of humor. She started the butchery.

  Natasha was appalled. Animals were never imprinted, because then they would be unique, which meant they would have souls. The principle was one of the foundations of the faith. Souls were unique and could not be split, so a cloned animal could not take a share of its mother’s soul—even if it had one. The beast had life, but no immortal spirit; therefore, it was not a sin to kill and eat it. But to make a creature with a soul to be used as an object was an obscene sacrilege. Only cloning a human would be worse. And surely, even the heretics would not create such a soulless monster, bearing the form of one of Celaeno’s daughters but without that divine spark from the Goddess.

  Ash shuffled her feet. “At Westernfort...Lynn, our Imprinter, has spare time on her hands. The population isn’t big. She’s worked on improving the livestock. But we don’t eat the imprinted animals—just their cloned descendants. Some of us still aren’t very happy about it.” From Ash’s face and halting speech, it was obvious that she belonged in this group. “The horses, well...you tend to think of them as friends anyway. But...” Ash sighed. “If Gina is right, then all the bit about souls is nonsense, and if she isn’t, then the horse’s souls are with Celaeno, and they don’t need their bodies.

  “But I understand if you find it a bit much to take. If you want, you three can go stand somewhere else. Dani and I will see to the carving. I’ve had longer to get used to the idea of imprinted horses than you. And Dani, um...” Ash shrugged awkwardly. “Anyway, we won’t eat the horse meat until we get desperate. But the time will come.”

  Cal and Rohanna nodded and walked off into the trees. Natasha stood for a while, staring at Dani in horror. She’s a heretic. The words had never struck Natasha so forcefully before. How could she be attracted to such a person? But she was. And maybe the feeling was returned. Natasha remembered Dani’s eyes meeting hers and the arm around her waist. The situation was becoming a mess. Dying might prove to be an easy way out—before she fell hopelessly in love.