In Factorem - The Coming Winter

Chapter 11 - Of Arcana

The fire warms my face and keeps my eyes unfocused with its elegance. Rolling flames seem to lick themselves as they dance along the small logs, burning bright little orange streaks on the back of my eyes. The dusty pink sky marks the beginning of evening, bringing with it a growing cold in the forest as the wind begins pouring off the mountain. Pulling the coat close around me reminds me of how right Cat was, it is definitely going to be chilly tonight.

Cat is nearly finished stringing up the ponchos between two trees, making us a small makeshift shelter to sleep out of the sharp mountain breeze. I wanted to help, but she insisted that I rest my ankle since it started giving me pains during our hike. Her speedy ability to construct tonight’s sleeping quarters makes me think that she would have been slowed down had I actually tried to help.

She sits down next to me and lets out a small sigh. It’s the closest thing to fatigue that she has let slip out all day today. Her ability to trudge through the unknown forest reminds me of the first night we met, when I was chased to near exhaustion by a pair of Protectorate agents.

Despite the strength and training I’ve seen in Cat, we were both nearly killed by the hunters when they caught up to us. Cat nearly gave her life for me while she practically carried me panting and screaming through the forest. To her credit, her ribs were broken. But then again, the hunters were in pretty bad shape too. Seeing how strong Cat is makes me wonder how powerful the hunters can really be. I really admire her courage to face up to such a determined adversary.

Cat is staring intently at the fire. She seems nearly as absorbed in the ballet of flames as I am, although her aura of alertness still presses on me. It’s as if, despite her eyes being fully engaged, her ears are independently twitching around like a cat, listening to our surroundings for something unexpected.

“So what’s next?” I ask.

She draws back from the fire and her self-absorbed thoughts. “I didn’t expect us to make it all the way to New York,” she says, “but I had no idea where we would stop along the way. I wasn’t expecting to stop here, so now I don’t really know which way we are supposed to go.”

“North,” I say, trying to add to the plan as if I know something.

“That’s our best bet for now, although we could be traveling quite a ways. North will take us along the mountain ridge and keep us away from most of the towns, which is good and bad.”

She looks up at our small stash of food hanging in the tree. Her claim is that suspending it will keep the bears from pillaging our supplies. I’ve heard this before, but have never had to actually do it myself. Despite the fact that I love the outdoors, my mom wasn’t much of an enthusiast. I think some of her disinterest rubbed off and left me with little desire for camping. I often wonder if it was something my father would have been interested in, or if working special ops was enough to keep him from craving the woods during his time at home.

With our small dinner, an unsettling hollow burn is already forming in my stomach. “I don’t think that will last us too long.”

Cat pulls out the map and points to a small mark. “There is a cache of supplies nearby. That’s what I was checking on your phone. There should be some supplies hidden away, although there’s no way to tell how much. Hopefully it’ll be enough to last us for a few days.”

“Why would there be supplies here?”

“For a while, there were many caches packed up and hidden around. It’s been a long time since some of them have been maintained. So some are very old and probably aren’t usable, but some have been restocked more recently.”

“So this is a new one?”

“I’m not sure if this one is fresh or not, but it’s the only one nearby and it’s along a stream. At the moment, it’s the best bet we have and there’s fresh water on the way.”