Siren Song (The Fated #1)

37 | Measuring Life

As Lykos had warned her, it only took a day for them to begin seeing the mountains.

A certain cold hung in the air the closer they drew, a drastic change from the temperate, yet chilling weather they'd experienced so far. By the time their group arrived in Erast, a trading town located at the base of the pass, one couldn't breath without fogging the air. Iliana couldn't focus on the change for long, however, as her attention was naturally pulled by the wonder that was Fractured Pass.

Even in Aeolis, the majesty that was the Shinde Mountains was spoken of. Said to be a barrier created by the gods to protect the people from warring in winter, the walls of stone that formed its base stretched further than any human could dare scale. Fragile layers of ice coated the rock, further heightening the risk. She'd heard that attempting to dig an ice axe into the wall usually resulted in slowly growing cracks that would eventually shatter and send the climber to their death. It didn't stop people from trying, of course. And, occasionally, some fools would manage to make it. After which they'd have to deal with the deadly cold, nightmare invested mountain forest that stretched for weeks worth of travel.

Walking a pass was much easier. It was a clean cut through the impossible rock walls that slowly rose into the heart of the mountains. No one was quite sure why, but nightmares tended to avoid the pass itself during the warmer parts of the year, although they were always seen prowling the edges. Most believed it to be the will of the gods that kept them from attacking wary travelers. A blessing that didn't keep idiots from wandering and getting themselves killed, or attempting the pass after winter had stolen the gods' blessing and filled the pass with foot after foot of snow.

The trouble came in the fact that only five passes of this nature existed in the entirety of the mountains, which was another reason people believed the matter to be the will of the gods. The first, the one just beyond Erast, was Fractured Pass, the only way into Reotak from Eol without a ship. Another further south led into Cieon, and closed later in the year than this one. The last three connected Reotak and Cieon at varying points along their border.

Once inside Erast's walls, which were admittedly little more than ten feet of thick wood, their group split once again. Most of the crew left to gather supplies for crossing the mountains, while Semele, Eumelia, and Abiel led Natia away to shop for what necessities they hadn't been able to pick up for her at the small farming villages since she'd joined them. That left Ian, Lykos, Callias, and Iliana alone as they found an inn to rent for the night.

Once there, Iliana got the distinct impression this wasn't the first time Lykos had visited the town. The inn-keeper was a bundle of nerves as she rushed to offer them the finest rooms, even urging other customers to move despite Lykos' insistence that anything would be fine. She didn't even bat an eye when Lykos informed her that he would only need one key for the room that was to be his, Callias, and Iliana's, stating that they wouldn't need to leave without him.

Of course, Iliana's protests on the matter went ignored.

The inn was nicer than any they'd stayed at recently. The "room" was more of a suite, complete with a sitting area connecting two separate rooms. Her best guess was that it was meant for traveling nobility who couldn't afford the rumors that came with men and women boarding with each other, or even their servants. The inn-keep left them alone after delivering a simple dinner. Her desire to please their group was made even more obvious by how she settled two bottles of wine with their food, then separately offered Callias a dark bottle labeled in a language Iliana couldn't read.

"It would be a shame if only the humans could feel their drink," she explained before departing.

Much to Iliana's surprise, Callias didn't instantly set the bottle aside. Instead, he studied it with a furrowed brow, finger tracing the label, before sighing and placing it, unopened, on the table. Time inched by afterwards. Lykos locked Callias and her in the room on their own, quoting a need to deal with other matters. Ian was told to keep an eye on them, but wasn't required to stay in their space.