Eagles

Eagles Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

Into the Mountains

The mountains spanned forever along the darkening horizon. They sloped gently and harshly upward, creating silent bowl shaped in the smooth, white slopes, and reaching sharp and triangular tops that stuck out with fury. Yet, the points and mountains seemed peaceful, almost too calm. They casted shadows across themselves in the setting sun. Pink outlines made shapes in the gradient. All around, loose snow tumbled into the depths and crashed into a raging white explosion, sending ashes of fallen flakes flying in the wind. The snow whipped around and created twisters and funny shapes in the air. They danced and floated above all the whipped cream below, sparkling and spinning. Each flake seemed to dance with any other flake that it could, moving and turning, unafraid of rejection and loss. They moved onward toward their destination, always moving like the fire had, but never stopping, always piling on top of each other in a giant mass of fluff. Standing on a large mass, were Ella and James, attempting to start their task.

Swiftly, they began to walk, up and down, down and up. It was a daunting task, climbing mountains, but if that's what they had to do to succeed, then that's what they would do. They climbed on and on, taking every chance they could to slide down the side of the vast, icy mountains. They scaled the steep walls of ice to the top, where the snow continued to fall.

The smell of cold and ice soon filled their nostrils, covering the smell they had always known. The smell of safety and stone was gone, along with the constant dampness of the castle. It was replaced with a new smell of freshness and air. Still, sickness was in the air, and it engulfed them. It was not the physical sickness, but a feeling of death and intensity. The electricity and anger of a room filled with fuming people.

On the top of a large peak they stood, watching for anything that might stand in their way. Ella reached in her bag and took out a small piece of bread and a canister filled with a warm drink that steaming longingly into the sky. They ate as they watched the fiery orange sun set, sending cascades of color falling onto their shoulders. Glittering, magnificent, pinkish flakes glided lazily down from the heavens and landed on the ground in a fashion that could never be mimicked.

"The sky is so red," James spoke in the silence, "it seems there will be death soon."

"There has been death for a long time James," Ella said emotionlessly.

When they finished, they decided to stop for the night. Out of the snow, Ella created a blanket for each of them and they turned in. James spoke first, staring up into the star covered sky. "Do you think we can do it Ella?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure, of course there's always the chance we'll get killed by some random thing, but I think we've got better luck than that. Now, fighting a giant eagle on the other hand, I think it will probably be a miracle if we can conquer that."

"Way to be optimistic Ella."

"You asked."

With one sigh and one long breath, James fell asleep, feeling worse than before.

Ella looked around once, scanning the perimeter for danger, and then stared at the stars. Unable to fall asleep, she began to think, recognizing the same stars that she had looked upon with Elwood. It was looking upon those stars a long while ago that she had had an epiphany about death. She had realized that even when someone died, life went on. Music did not stop playing, the waves still lapped at the shore, the rain still dropped, and no one would lose the ability to laugh or love. It was only when one did not allow themselves to go back and laugh and love that all hope was lost. It was under the stars that she realized that nature had the right idea.

When she did fall asleep, she fell asleep peacefully. The sky was black above them and the stars twinkled in and out of the whipping snow. They dove in and out of the black sea of sky, ever changing, never leaving. The two silhouettes in the night were barely noticeable in the snow, and they were lost in the swirling mist of rain and ice.