Eternal Darkness (The Cimmerian Cycle #1)

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

They kept on riding until they got to the point where their horses could no longer run for sliding across the loose gravel. With heavy hearts they all dismounted. They would have to let the horses go. Kiayani gave her mare a friendly pat on the neck and a scratch around the ears. She had really grown attached to the beast. She removed the saddle and reins, dumping them on the ground as she would no longer need them. She hugged its head and it nibbled at her hair. Kiayani breathed in its scent one last time. She gave a sad giggle and stood back to let the horse go. When it didn’t move she gave it a soft slap on the rump and said, “Go-on, go!”

The horse broke into a quick trot back down the mountain and was joined by the boy’s horses. Leo seemed to be sniffing slightly but she thought she must have been imagining it because when he turned around his face was perfectly dry.

Everyone was sad to see the horses go. The animals had been more than just a steed to ride upon; they had indeed been great comforts to them all.

Sadly they shouldered their bags and began to once again, trek forward on foot.

The walking was much harder than on the flat ground through the forest. Sure there were roots and the like, which were easy to trip on, but the gravel was tedious. It slipped underfoot and there were no solid spots. And when they weren’t sliding back down the hill the slope made their chest pull with each breath and their sides sting with pain. It was a very uncomfortable experience for all of them.

Another thing that was becoming more unpredictable was the weather. It was a lot colder than ever before and Kiayani had to wear her thick coat at night to stop herself freezing once the fire died out. Starting fires was also an issue as they were no longer in the forest wood was not as readily available. Some nights they just went without it all together.

The walking was not good for their feet, after a few weeks of riding they had begun to heal and now they were being re-exposed. Kiayani often thought about what life would have been like in the city, had she been a good girl and stayed in her carriage. She would have been eating hot meals for dinner and been sleeping in a warm bed. And then she would sadly remember that she would be married and that she would have to share that bed.

~~*~~

It was as they walked across a sloped but grassy plain covered in boulders that one of the strangest experiences of their lives would occur. They wound their way through the rocks, always going up. Here the land was not so steep and they walked through what must have once have been a beautiful valley. Except that water no longer flowed down the centre no did trees grow out of the hills. The moonlight lit it all in an eerie way, turning the boulders into demons and for Kiayani, the skeletons of trees into Moose.

Kiayani walked with her head bowed and her eyes half closed. She didn't notice the fact that she was walking waist deep in a thick swirling mist that was rapidly enclosing them. It was only when Leo called out that it became apparent to her.

"What's with all of this mist?" he said.

Everyone looked up and stopped in their tracks. Kiayani could see Koran frown.

"Everyone come to me now," he said nervously. 

Slightly confused, they all grouped around him as the valley filled with mist. The watery air made Kiayani’s hair prickle on the back of her neck and she felt the dampness seeping to her clothes.

“What is it?” Leo asked from beside Kiayani.

But she wasn’t listening. She thought she had seen a figure, a mere shadow, move through the mist. It looked so familiar in some ways that Kiayani swore that she knew who it was. Ignoring Koran’s warning she slowly ambled forward. The image in the mist had entranced her and she wanted to follow it. Her fingers slipped between Leo’s as she broke into a light jog, her eyes fixed on the shadow. It was drawing her in, calling out her.