Roots and Oxygen

Chapter 57 - Rapid Torrent

The escape plan was so fast, Sage barely had a moment to process what was happening until he was faced with the harsh cold weather. Trudging through the snow was hard when he had time to prepare, but he had barely eaten his breakfast. He barely had a moment to wake before a coat was thrown on him and he was hurrying up the side of the hill.

The guards were all around him, not walking too fast nor too slow, but they all glanced at him from time to time and Sage felt the need to pick up the pace. The general mood of the group was unease. Nobody really knew what the outcome would be. Sage could barely believe he was letting Taro and a group of strangers guide him through the snow in an unfamiliar place.

Each step burned the muscles in his legs. He was getting warm under his thick winter jacket, but they pressed on, hoping the snow would continue to fall and cover their tracks, but it only made it harder for them to travel.

Sage rested a gloved hand to his brow to block the thick snow chunks from hitting him in the eyes. He could hardly feel his face as the wind and snow whipped by. At the highest point of the hill, the wind was so strong, Sage struggled to put one foot in front of the other. Everyone huddled around him. He felt like a penguin chick among adults- clueless and clumsy.

"How long?" he yelled above the wind.

"Another two miles," Taro replied, pulling Sage's hood up. "It's all downhill now but be careful not to fall. I doubt you'd stop rolling until you got to the bottom."

Sage looked at the view. All he saw was white. There was barely a change in colour from where the sky met the ground, and he struggled to see how steep the decline was. Snow gave the world around them an illusion of flat land. They had to tread carefully.

This is a mistake, a voice screamed at Sage as they started to descend, but that was just his anxiety. He was a creature of habit, and this was severely out of his comfort zone.

A few guards walked in front, so Sage could step in their footprints. The snow started to reach his knees and he wondered where it would be if the snow continued to fall so heavily. Each step threatened to slide until Sage stepped with a little too much force.

He fell into the guard in front of him, who then fell from Sage's impact. He stumbled into the snow, and the top layer separated like a sheet of ice. Sage tripped over his legs and was carried down the hill with a tide of snow tumbling after him. He rolled like Taro had warned, trying to tuck his limbs in until his head collided with something hard and sharp, and for a moment, he lost control.

The rest of him was battered by the frozen snow underneath the fresh layer as he fell, rolling over and over, seeing nothing but white. He felt the wind as he rolled, until the ground levelled out and a thick carpet of snow covered him.

Sage laid still for a moment, trying to figure out why he could barely move. Everything was dark, yet he could blink. Everything was heavy, yet he could only just move. A searing pain zapped through the right side of his face. His left shoulder pulsed, yet he could still breathe.

I'm trapped, he thought, trying to kick his legs out in front of him. I'm trapped under the snow! He didn't know which way he faced- the sky or the ground? Would kicking up bury him more? Or would pushing his head back bury him more?

He struggled until he could hear muffled voices. "Help!" he yelled and felt his own hot breath against his face. I'm going to suffocate like this! "Help me! I'm here! I'm here!" Sage could move enough to take off a glove and started wiggling his fingers up, hoping he faced the right direction.

He kept wiggling, up and up until suddenly he felt wind. Push further, push further Sage! He reached out into the open, hoping his hand was visible. "Taro!" he yelled, moving his fingers around frantically.