Luna of Rogues

Part 26 - Making Enemies

I'm heading away again this week and unfortunately ... no wifi :( So I'm giving you a double chapter now and the promise that I'll continue as normal the Monday after next.

This chapter is dedicated to llanii_23 for reading the entire story in a day and voting on every single chapter <3

The winter holiday wasn't over yet. In fact, if I had my way, it was only just beginning. As Last Haven basically ran itself (especially when Ollie did all the work for me), I had found another free afternoon to chill.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Leo asked me cautiously.

It had been a whole day since our snowball fight/snow-animal building contest, and we had come up with a new and even better idea. The previous afternoon had been spent digging through the equipment stores in the cellars so that we could participate in dangerous outdoor sports. Today's activity was skiing down a woody slope to the west of camp.

"It'll be fine," I replied, brushing off his concern.

"Famous last words," he muttered but helped me fix the skis onto my shoes.

"Nah. You pessimist."

He bridled indignantly. "I'm the most optimistic person I've ever met."

"And you've met yourself, have you?" I scoffed. "Look, let's test it out."

I picked out a water bottle from my rucksack and showed it to him to ask the age-old question, "Half empty or half full?"

"Half full," he said immediately.

"Buzz buzz. Wrong." I emptied the bottle over his head. "Completely empty."

Leo spat out a mouthful of water and moved soaked hair out of his eyes. He was astonishingly chill about the whole thing. "Okay, so we've proved I'm an optimist. And you're clearly a sadist."

I accepted that title with a grin. "What about Fion?"

We turned to her, only to see my open rucksack spilling its contents on the ground and my sister sat in the middle, munching on a fallen chocolate bar.

"Opportunist," Leo decided mildly. It was accurate.

As it was my chocolate she was devouring, I wasn't nearly so calm. It took a full ten minutes to rescue the food, by which time the water on Leo's scalp had frozen into icy powder. Before he died of hypothermia, I hurriedly picked up the two branches which would serve as my ski poles.

"Okay, let's get this over with."

Fion caught hold of my jacket, in case I started slipping off before I was ready. It was harder to balance than I had imagined. "Whenever you're ready."

Below was a view of the land between Snowdonia and the Silverstones. Two huge mountain ranges which split the land. And in between? Somewhere in the mess of forest and rivers was Lle o Dristwch, although I couldn't actually see it. Beyond the horizons was pack land, but everything in front of me was rogue country. There was acres of it.

We were on a big hill or a small mountain. Whichever you prefer. And the slope below me was littered with trees, both standing and fallen. I would have to dodge all of them on the way down. As I had never skied before in my life, it was going to be a very steep learning curve (pun intended).

I took a deep breath, ready to push myself off, when Fion gave me a not-so-helping hand. She shoved me down the slope, and all I could do was struggle to stay on my feet. And even worse, by the time I realised what had happened, I was too far away to push her back.