Healer of Sakkara

Chapter 23 - Snow

Galen ducked his head against the freezing wind and struggled to hear the others' shouts above the gale.

"This way!" Sev yelled, tugging on his hand. "We will shelter by the rocks!"

They had passed a large outcrop of stone right before they chose a place to camp.

"Good idea!" Rea shouted in reply. "They'll have stored some heat from the day and should keep the snow off for a while!"

"Everyone gather whatever fuel you can! We'll need to get a fire going!" Sev hollered, and Galen slipped his hand free and dropped back a bit to help Behn scoop up armloads of the firewood they'd already collected.

Laden with their burdens, they followed the others as the icy wind stung their ears. Within minutes, the few flakes had increased, and fell so thickly they could hardly see more than a few yards ahead through the swirling sheets of white.

"Damn it!" Sev swore loudly several minutes later. "We've gone too far east! We need to double back!"

"Sev, we're losing light fast!" Obi warned.

"I know! Stay calm!"

They turned back, retracing footsteps that were already vanishing beneath thickly falling snow.

Galen shivered. He'd been wondering what they would do when they reached the mountains. Their clothes and blankets were warm enough for most weather, but from Harrald's tales he knew the snow was another matter. Despite the warmth of exertion, he already felt the bite of cold through his clothes; cold never seemed to bother Thrynians like Triss and Behn, but Galen hated winter. Moreover, despite the rush of triumph he'd felt after healing Obi's hand, he couldn't deny it had left him drained. He wasn't sure how much trudging through blizzards he was up for.

Meanwhile, Obi was right. The light was fading, dimming from pale gray to blue, and within an hour would be gone entirely. Then, if they did not have a fire, and with the moon and stars behind thick clouds, they would be as blind as Zenír, and in all likelihood they would freeze to death long before dawn.

"There it is!" Triss yelled, pointing ahead to a dark shape just visible through the snowy gloom. "The rocks!"

Galen's heart lifted as Rea gave a whoop of excitement. Obi chimed in, but Sev remained silent, and as they approached and the shape resolved itself, their hopes dimmed.

It was an outcrop of rocks, but not the ones Sev had in mind. Those were a jumble of upthrust slabs, some of which leaned together, or canted at angles that would have made good shelter; these were little more than a cluster of rounded boulders. Still, the largest was the size of a small shed, and offered at least some measure of protection from the wind.

"We must make do," he said, as they all huddled against its leeward side, heads close together. "We can't risk getting even more lost and being left with no shelter at all." He picked up a stone the size of a loaf of bread, with flattened surfaces. "Look around for more rocks like this, but don't stray beyond sight of one another."

Without question, everyone obeyed, and soon they had a pile of such stones. Then Obi and Rea began laying them in a half circle, with the boulder forming its flat side, building a firepit with high, curved walls, like a beehive with the top cut off.

To everyone's great relief, they soon had a fire going strong, and while the wind still licked at the flames, it burned steady and bright.

"We must conserve our fuel," Sev warned. "And as soon as we are able we must gather more. The first snow will have left everything wet, and it will need to dry before it burns."