To Melt A Frozen Heart | ONC 2024

Chapter 9 | An Unexpected Journey

Did I dare ask any questions of him? It wasn't like with Wrynn – his annoyance, I could at least manage. But Cassian, I didn't want to do anything that might set him off and shatter this almost pleasant interaction.

Eventually, after a while longer of silence, I plucked up the courage, opting for something that I assumed would not cause any offence.

"What's his name? Your horse?"

Cassian glanced at me; I kept my attention straight ahead.

"Quinn," he said finally.

I was about to follow this up with another question, when Cassian surprised me by offering up more information of his own accord.

"He was a gift. On my eighteenth birthday."

Eighteenth birthday... so how old did that make Cassian now? 28? 29? 30? Older?

"How old are you?" The question slipped out from my musings before I could stop it.

Eyes wide, shocked by my own forwardness I looked to Cassian. He smirked at me. At least he didn't seem offended.

"I am 29."

29... 9 years older. He seemed older somehow. Lines etched his face; his silver hair blew gently in the breeze – time had not been kind to him.

I fixed my eyes on the trail that stretched on before us. Snow covered it, but small tracks of dirt could faintly be seen as though something like a cart had traveled it recently. Supplies maybe?

We approached a cluster of trees. Huddled beneath them was again another of those creepy angels. Had Cassian ordered them? I decided to ask, after all he did seem in a relatively talkative mood.

"What's with all the angel statues? They are everywhere."

Silence.

For a long while.

Then: "I like to think of them as guardians. They watch over those of us who are left."

Of all the cryptic answers.

"Did you put them here?"

"No."

"Then..."

"They appear."

I frowned, before commenting sarcastically, "As if by magic?"

Cassian caught my eye. "Exactly."

He did not look away. I shivered almost instinctively. There was something about the way he said it. Almost as though he were trying to say something else.

Unsure what to make of his explanation, I glanced away, out into the snow-covered fields, deciding not to read too much into it. After all, magic didn't really exist.

He must have been speaking figuratively, in that round-about way that both he and Wrynn seemed to employ.

Occasionally, on our journey, I snuck glances at him, through lowered lids. Sometimes he or I would make brief conversation about something trivial, but neither one of us breached a topic that caused upset or offence and for that I was grateful.

But one question still plagued my mind: how long would it last?

And another: where were we going?

Suddenly, I realised that all this time, I'd been blindly following him, but I myself had absolutely no idea where we were headed.

It seemed that I trusted him – at least a little.

An hour must have passed by now. Or two. I couldn't be sure. It wasn't like back home, where one could always use the position of the sun to determine the time. Here, the eternal snow clouds, blocked out the heavenly timepiece.