Sisters Three (Completed)

7. Adair (1/2)

Almost immediately Adair regretted running away. She and Silver were ill-prepared for sneaking off in the middle of the night with only the clothes on their backs and a chunk of bread each. Not to mention that the winter's air stung the open gashes on her cheekbone and brow bone. She touched one gingerly, knowing that it had scabbed over the day before, but also wondering if it would leave a scar. She hoped not. She didn't want to ever have to remember that night in the barn where the shepherd made it quite clear that there would be no more mysterious frost anywhere near his home. She dropped her hand from the cuts and bruises and forged ahead on the dimly lit road. Silver jogged to keep up.

After the first week on the road, it became easier to find things to eat and places to keep warm. They took to waiting until the darkest part of night and sneaking into chicken coops like foxes. They left the live chickens alone and only poached eggs, careful not to stir the sleeping birds too much. Silver was the best at it. He was used to slipping into and out of places without being seen. He'd been there when the shepherd had taken his crook to her face, and the man had never even noticed...

It wasn't until they had entered the next town over that Adair began to set a course. Silver didn't seem to care if they had a direction or not, but she knew where she wanted to end up. It wasn't the best idea, and probably was the worst idea given their pitiful supplies. But as she looked up and saw the very tip of the snow-topped mountains over the horizon, she knew she had to go there. Her mother's home. A place that ran in her blood even though she'd never been there before. The North.

They pressed through the town, collecting what supplies they could pinch without anyone noticing. They eventually gained some food and warmer clothing, and set off for the mountains. It was slow going and not a pleasurably journey. Nearly a month passed before they reached the barren foothills and crossed into the North. Adair felt her heart lift as they began to climb the first mountain in the range. No snow had made it this far down, but she could see the white up above.

Night caught them still on the far side of the ridge, and they bedded down in an outcropping of rock that kept the frigid wind off their faces. They might have collected some cloaks and stockings from washing lines, but even those clothes weren't enough to make sleeping in the mountains an easy thing. Silver created a fire from two rocks and some dried grass, and they huddled around it as the sounds of mountain animals echoed in the darkness beyond the threshold of their outcropping.

Silver lay on his side by Adair's leg and she rested her hand on his ribs. They rose and fell as he breathed and she felt the exact moment when he slipped into sleep. His breathing went into a rhythm and his face lost the tension it seemed to now always hold. She eventually tore her eyes from his resting features and face them to the patch of sky she could see. Snow-clouds covered the stars, and Adair wondered if they might be in for a blizzard. It made her nervous. She wiggled down next to Silver, pushing blizzards and snow from her mind.

A question had been floating in her mind since she arrived in the North. Would the tribe still be there? She didn't know exactly where her mother's people were supposed to be from, only a vague "north" description. Yet she thought they had to have been nearby, otherwise it would be impossible for her mother to have been in town when her father first saw her. Adair imagined that her mother's birthplace was just over the next ridge, complete with fur-tents and elders that would rush to welcome their princess' lost child.

Only, deep down she knew that would never happen. The northern tribes had long ago been extinguished by wars amongst their different factions, and those that had survived had moved into the town for an easier life. Not a soul lived in the North now. Just the wild animals and two children insane enough to delve into nature's most fierce territory. Adair knew she and Silver were the only ones here, yet she couldn't quite let go of the fantasy of a family waiting for her return.

The morning came and they pressed on, pushing further into the mountains. They scaled ridges and nearly slid down the other sides. After a few days, the rocks soon gave way to snow and straight trees of deep green. Adair and Silver's boots sunk deep in the powdery white and they were sometimes forced to crawl on their bellies to pass certain points. It was sheer luck when they stumbled on the ancient path that crawled up one of the main mountains. And even more sheer luck when they discovered it was tramped down by the animals that used it to get to grazing ground. Adair thanked her lucky stars as she stepped onto the first solid ground in days and her legs were able to rest.

Silver took the lead, walking a few yards ahead of her and making sure the path didn't crumble away under the snow. Thankfully there were old stone railings on the side that faced the sheer drop to the bottom of the mountain, perhaps placed there by her ancestors. She ran a hand along the frozen surface, knocking snow to the ground and wishing she could have seen who carved the stone and made the path.

"Adair," Silver said, holding a hand out for her to stop. She looked up, her hand straying to her side where she'd tucked a sharp rock earlier in the day. Silver's eyes weren't afraid, though. They were almost excited.

"What?" she asked, taking a few more steps forward. Silver renewed his gesture for her to stop, so she did.

"Rabbit," he said, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. It had another name, relevant to them in this snowy wasteland: Food.

Adair froze with one foot up, teetering while Silver bent over to quietly approach the animal she could not see around a large boulder. Silver eased around the edge and slid from view, leaving Adair shaking and hungry on the path. They hadn't had anything to eat in a few days, having run through the pitifully small supplies they'd gathered in towns. Though it had looked sufficient before they scaled the mountains, they soon learned that food to keep two, healthy children alive was not something they could carry over their backs.

A minute stretched by and Adair replaced her foot on the ground. If the rabbit hadn't run when Silver was sneaking around, it wouldn't run when she found a place to sit down and wait. Only, there weren't any places free of snow around her. She picked her way silently toward the railing and rested her backside against it. The stone ate her warmth but for the moment it was a fair trade for a brief rest.

Somewhere out by the boulder there came a scuffle, a thump, and then a muttered curse from Silver. He soon reappeared, rubbing the back of his head and grimacing. Adair raised her eyebrows and he sheepishly came to her side.

"Blasted thing had a bolt hole I didn't see. I dived to catch it. Hit my head on the cliff face when it went underground."

"Poor thing," she said, not clarifying if she was talking about Silver or the rabbit. She pushed away from the fence. "Oh well, we'll just push on and see if we can't find something to eat up there." What, exactly, they could eat in all this snow was a mystery. There were no bushes or trees in plain sight, and the rabbit was the first animal they had seen in a while.

Silver pushed off to lead the way once more, and they walked for a mile or so without saying a word. She knew better than to think he was sulking, but she did have an inkling that he might be brooding over their predicament with a little more detail than she was letting herself. No doubt he'd come to the conclusion that they were stupid children who trudged out into a vicious wilderness woefully underprepared. How did they think they'd survive? She pursed her lips and hurried her steps until she was able to reach out and take Silver's hand in her own. He was deliciously warm. She moved closer.