Veles, page 23
When it did, their hearts would probably stop. That, or their lungs would cease to function. Both of which sounded like terrible ways to die, but that was assuming they even got that far. They might fall off the mountain or die of dehydration before then. Or maybe the poison would simply kill them in their sleep.
She didn’t know, and she found herself clutching her necklace tight as she closed her eyes and tried to steady her heart. She needed to calm down. She needed to figure out what to do. They couldn’t stay here – to stay was to die. Forcing herself to breathe out, she re-wrapped her hand. There was no point in washing it – nor was there any point in panicking because it wouldn’t do her any good to lose control.
So, she took a deep breath and forced her eyes open.
They had to keep going. Their only chance at making it now was to continue up the trail and hope that they found some herbs. It was unlikely – but it wasn’t impossible. Plenty of herbs grew along the ridge, so she knew that they could thrive even in the worst of conditions, even in between cracks in the stone. It was too early in the season to find woundwort – but they might be able to find some comfrey, and possibly even some arnica.
Letting out a low sigh, she turned back to Aiden and gently shook his shoulder. They needed to get going before the storm grew any closer, but she didn’t know if she should tell him about the poison. She figured she probably should, but as his tired amber eye cracked open and his face grimaced in pain, she felt her mouth go dry, and the words died on the tip of her tongue.
She could tell just by looking at him that between the two of them, he would be the first to go if they didn’t find any herbs, and she found she couldn’t stomach the thought. He struggled to stand as she helped him from the ground, and she could feel her eyes stinging as she looped his arm over her shoulder once more, and they moved back out onto the path.
They paused so he could drink. Then they set off at a slow and steady pace up the narrow trail as Mizuki gripped him tight and ignored the stabbing pain in her heart. She would tell him later. She would tell him tonight, maybe, if she could find the words to say.
They travelled all day mostly in silence until the sound of breaking rocks falling into the crevasse startled them mid-afternoon. They both froze when they saw an odd-looking brown creature climbing up the side of the mountain. It scaled the jagged rocks with an ease and speed that she would have never thought possible, and they both stood and stared in awe. At first she worried that it might be dangerous, but when the creature spotted them, it quickly darted off, and she saw that both sets of eyes were outward-facing like the deer they hunted from the Woods. Her fear was then quickly replaced by a dull flicker of hope, and she saw Aiden smile from the corner of her gaze as they both watched the animal disappear into the mist that surrounded the mountain.
If it was living here, it meant that there was water and food, and Mizuki couldn’t help but grin as they set off once more and made their way up the path. As the air grew colder and the sun disappeared behind the clouds, her hope started to falter. The path was growing more treacherous, and there wasn’t a hint of green nor any other sign of life as her legs struggled to keep moving. By the time they stopped for the night and collapsed next to a small rock formation that jutted up from the side of the path, she could hardly move, and Aiden could barely stand. Any hope she had of finding herbs or water was gone, and she leaned close to Aiden’s side in defeat as her windburned skin stung in pain.
The next morning, her low spirits dropped even further as her eyes fluttered open and she saw Aiden. He had wrapped his arm around her again while he slept, but he looked worse than the day before. He struggled to stand as they made to head out, and he was sweating heavily despite the cold. The awful sickly tinge to his skin had grown a deeper shade overnight, his breathing had become ragged, and as she looped his arm over her shoulder and looked up to meet his gaze, she realized that he already knew, because he was looking down at her in the most agonizing way. Pain radiated from his face as he clutched her tight and his lips shifted into a sad smile.
Aiden was dying, and he knew it.
Yet he forced his legs to move, and he didn’t utter a single complaint as they walked on. By noon the storm was rolling in, and she had yet to find any cover. The path was barren, no more than a few feet wide, and it was a mess of mud and rock as the rain began to come down. They struggled to keep going. Her feet kept slipping across the wet surface, and twice they fell as Aiden lost his balance. She groaned out in pain and frustration as they hauled themselves up from the ground once more. She couldn’t see where they were going; the sky had grown dark, and the fog around the mountains refused to dissipate even though it was raining.
“I’m not going to make it,” Aiden panted by her side as his legs shook beneath him.
“We’re going to make it,” Mizuki grunted, gripping him more firmly and forcing her legs to take yet another unbearable step. “We just have to find another alcove – just until this storm passes.”
“No, I’m not going to make it,” Aiden clarified, groaning in pain as he forced them to stop. He pulled his arm from around her shoulder and leaned back against one of the small rocks that littered the path. He looked at her in the growing darkness, his face exhausted as he shook his head. “I’m slowing you down, Mizuki. You have to leave me behind.”
“I’m not leaving you behind,” Mizuki said, clutching at her cramping side and fighting to stay on her feet before him. Her legs wouldn’t stop shaking, and even without the weight of Aiden on her shoulder, she felt like she was going to collapse.
“Mizuki–,” Aiden argued, but she cut him off and shook her head firmly.
“No,” she said, flat out refusing to hear it as she looked at him hard.
She shuddered as the cold wind tugged at her waterlogged jacket and made her stumble on her feet. The storm was getting worse, and she knew if they didn’t get off the open path soon, they would be knocked off of it and sent falling to their deaths. She understood what Aiden was trying to do, but she refused to accept it. They had come this far, and they were in this together.
“I won’t do it,” Mizuki said, her gaze narrowing into a glare. “So just stop – okay? We’ll figure this out.”
She wrapped her arms around herself as she took a few steps forward and looked up the path. She could see it turning up ahead, and it looked like it doubled back on itself, which might give them some kind of shelter.
“I think there is something up ahead!” Mizuki yelled over the wind as the rain started to pour harder. “It’s not that far – we can make it, Aiden.”
“Fine.”
She heard his faint voice echo behind her, and she let out a sigh of relief as her shoulders dropped. She hadn’t wanted to argue with him. She turned back to face him, but just as her foot shifted across the stone, a horrendous crack cut through the air. She jerked as lightning flashed through the sky, and she realized too late that the crack wasn’t from the thunder. Fear sliced down her spine like a knife as she twisted toward him.
“Aiden?!” Mizuki cried, her eyes growing wide with panic as the rock that Aiden had been leaning on fractured away from the edge of the path. Her hand shot out. Her body lunged forward. Everything seemed to slow down as she watched Aiden reach for her while the ground beneath his feet broke away.
“AIDEN!!” Mizuki screamed as she dove for him, her hand just narrowly missing his as he tumbled over the edge. She grunted hard as she hit the ground, struggling up onto her knees and scrambling toward the edge of the path. “AIDEN – AIDEN!!”
She gripped the edge tight, ignoring the violent shaking in her body as she lay down in the mud to peer over the edge into the darkness below as she screamed his name. The wind tugged at her body and threatened to push her off the opposite side. She had to lay as flat as possible to search the edge of the crevasse.
“Mizuki!”
Her eyes darted to the left, her ears barely catching the sound of his voice through the growing storm. She squinted into the rain, willing her eyes to see as the next flash of lightning struck through the air. It all looked the same, nothing but rock and darkness, rain and mud, until she saw a hint of movement and clawed her way along the path to get above it. Then she saw him, a flash of lightning illuminating the chasm just enough that she could make him out. Aiden was lying on a small ledge roughly twenty feet below her, and she could just barely hear him groaning in pain as he clutched at his leg.
“AIDEN!” Mizuki yelled, leaning further over the edge and hoping that the rocks didn’t break beneath her weight. She squinted as the cold, hard droplets began to sting against her face like little cuts. “I see you! Are you okay?! Can you hear me?!”
“I hear you!” Aiden yelled back. He went quiet as a huge gust of wind rushed over the path, and Mizuki’s nails bit into the stone to keep her from dislodging. “Mizuki – I – I can’t move! I think I broke my leg!”
Cursing into the wind, Mizuki’s eyes searched the edge of the path. There was no way to get down to him – it was nearly a sheer drop. The ledge was much too small for the two of them, but even if she could climb down, she would never be able to get him back up with his leg broken. She turned around, looking across the path through the rain. If they had supplies, had rope – clothes, something, anything, she could fasten it to one of the other jagged rocks that littered the path and try to pull him up. But they didn’t have anything, and she could feel her panic growing as her throat started to tighten.
She couldn’t do this.
She couldn’t help him.
If the roles had been reversed, maybe he would have been able to climb down and pull her up, but she wasn’t strong enough to lift him on her own.
“Aiden, I’m coming down!” Mizuki yelled as she peered back down at him through the rain.
“WHAT?!” His voice rang out through the wind, and she could just barely see him twisting to look up at her as the sky flickered with light. “Are you insane?! You’ll die!”
“I’m not leaving you!” Mizuki screamed, her heart thudding in her chest as her eyes filled with tears. “We’re both dying anyway!”
“NO!” Aiden yelled back up, and she could hear the anger in his voice. “Go up the mountain, Mizuki!”
“We don’t even know if there is anything up there!” Mizuki screamed, barely managing to yell the words before she had to duck her head against the next gust of wind. “If I’m going to die – I’m going to die with you!”
“Mizuki, I swear to Veles if you come down here, I will never forgive you!” Aiden screamed at her. “If you even think about trying it, I’ll throw myself off this ledge before you even get one foot over the edge! Go up the mountain!”
Mizuki eyes turned back to the path that extended to the north. She felt like she was going to be sick. She couldn’t leave him here, but she knew she couldn’t go down to him either. Going to him meant death for both of them. There would be no coming back from that drop – but so long as she was still able to move and was still on the path, she could try to find a way to help him.
“I’m going to come back!” she yelled over the edge, struggling to her knees in the storm and forcing down all the emotions that were raging through her chest. She could feel her eyes prickling with tears again. “I’m going to find something to help, and then I’m going to come back! Don’t move, Aiden! Hold on to the ledge!”
“Mizuki!” Aiden called, and she could just see the outline of him as thunder rumbled through the mountains. “Mizuki, I need to tell you something!”
“No!” Mizuki yelled, shaking her head as she fought back the urge to be physically sick. “You’re not saying goodbye – not yet! Just hang on! I’m coming back!”
She screamed the words as she got up from the ground and staggered her way up the path. She didn’t know what she was looking for, and she didn’t have a clue what she was hoping to find. She just knew that she couldn’t stop. She knew she couldn’t give up, and she couldn’t leave him there. Not after everything they had been through, not after everything Aiden had done for her – not after all these years.
He was her best friend.
Her only friend.
He was everything to her.
He was – he was –
She couldn’t finish the thought, and she felt her body shaking as tears started to pour down her face. She pushed herself up the path, her feet skidding across the mud and stone as she navigated by the light of the storm and struggled not to slip off the edge. She fell to the ground when the wind caught her body, and the rain washed her feet out from beneath her. Her worn leather shoes weren’t helping, so she tore them from her feet and threw them aside as she hauled herself up once more.
With every step she seemed to slide five more backwards, and she could feel the skin of her hands tearing against the stone every time she slipped to the ground. It grew darker. Colder. Sweat poured from her skin as she grunted in pain and crawled her way up the path. It had doubled back at least four or five times now; she had long ago lost count, and it had grown steeper at each turn.
She was panting for breath and clawing at the mud as a massive gust of wind tugged her body down, and she skidded across the ground. It was all she could do to hang on; she felt some of her nails crack as they dug into the stone, her arms and legs hugging the surface as she fought not to get thrown off. Then, when the wind finally slowed, she forced herself up and kept crawling. It happened again and again, and each time she thought it was the end. Then each time the wind faded, she would clamber further up the path. She couldn’t feel anything anymore. She didn’t know how she continued to move, but scratched her way up the next incline.
Aiden was waiting for her.
Aiden needed her.
She was all he had left, so she couldn’t stop.
She wouldn’t stop.
Even if it cost her life, she would find a way to get back to him because he meant more to her than she had ever allowed herself to recognize. It was the right thing to do, and it was what Miku would tell her to do – and she would not leave him to die alone. She would find a way to help him, and if there was nothing at the top of this path that she could use, then she would fight her way back down to be with him when the poison took hold.
Heaving from exertion, she pulled herself up and over the next ledge, rolling into the mud and coughing and gagging as she struggled to breathe. She wheezed out in pain as she rolled onto her stomach and slowly raised her head to look up at the path – and she froze, for there was no path.
Her eyes widened in disbelief as her gaze shifted across the large flat plateau. It was more than thirty feet wide, stone, mud, and rocks extending out from the side of the mountain like a massive shelf. Yet that wasn’t what stilled her and made her heart stutter in her chest. What stole her breath away was the dull flicker of firelight that she could see through the sheets of rain.
And it was coming from a large, open-mouthed cave.
Veles
The warm glow was unmistakable.
The low light flickered through the darkness like a beacon of hope, and it made her heart stutter within her chest. The storm had grown so bad she could barely see, and she laid there in the mud for a long time while staring at the light, unable to move. If there was a fire in that cave, it meant that someone lived here, and if someone lived here, it meant one of two things. She could find help, herbs, and a way to save Aiden – or she could be in even more danger. She didn’t know what to expect, and she could feel her muscles tensing as cold terror started to shift down her spine.
What if this was Veles? What if he lived here? What if all the stories were true? What if Earnan was right and the Elders really had spoken to a god, and she was about to trespass through his home?
A loud crack of thunder rocked through the air, jerking Mizuki from her straying thoughts. She couldn’t stay here. The wind was getting worse, and it was tugging at her body, threatening to yank her off the flat plateau. She would never know the truth unless she moved, and Aiden would die if she didn’t at least try to find something within this cave to help him.
Drawing a ragged breath, Mizuki hauled herself from the wet and muddy ground, her legs vibrating beneath her as she struggled to stand in the harsh wind. She staggered toward the cave, teeth chattering in the cold. As she grew closer, she could just barely begin to make out the details of the cavern, and she collapsed under the weight of her soaked clothes as she stumbled through the curtain of water that was pouring over the lip of the opening. Shaking on the dry ground, she looked around and felt her heart still once more.
It wasn’t a small, cramped cave like the one that Earnan had been living in along the Southern Mountains. This was something else entirely, and an acute nervousness began to spread through her body.
The inside was warm. It was as if there were an invisible barrier at the entrance that prevented the wind and rain from passing over the threshold. She could feel the heat of the large fire against her face as she trembled and fought to breathe. The sound of the storm was lessened, the once deafening thunder now only a gentle rumble as the lightning that continued to flicker in the sky behind her cast flashes of white light across the large rocky shelter.
The space was tall and wide – more like the Meeting Chambers in the Hall than a cave, though the entire thing was carved out of the mountain stone, and there were deep gashes that marked the ground in odd patterns. The fire was burning in a hearth, wood was stacked beside it, and an old metal pot was resting on the edge of the stone. Herbs hung along the ceiling and walls from strands of string, and stone jutted out from the side of the cave like shelves. They were covered with small containers, cups, bowls and pitchers. A wooden chair was sitting before the fire, and a leather pack was resting against the wall nearby. A collection of odd symbols were scratched into the stone, similar to the cave that Earnan had been living in, but just like with Earnan’s cave, the only symbol she recognized was that of Veles.
