Loading... Chapter Twenty Two
When the dark started to creep in, they decided it was best to rest for the night. Daniel let go of the reins as the horses stopped. The crisp air made him glad for the hood that shielded his ears.
Making a fire was the most compelling thought in his mind. Daniel carefully worked on guarding a young flame until it was large enough to survive on its own. The heat of it nipped at his fingertips and kissed away the cold.
Once Daniel had his fill of the fire, he moved back over to the wagon, and converted it to serve as a tent. Didn't take much, needing just two poles sticking into the ground. "Mademoiselle," Daniel smiled, gesturing over their accommodations for the night.
"Thank you," Amilia smiled. She had tried to help set up the camp, but Daniel always seemed to handle things faster than she could. They wasted the rest of the night around the fire until Amilia retired to bed. After checking a few things, Daniel followed after a short time later, and found everything he needed for bed laid out and ready for him. He stole a small glance at Amilia, who was curled up on her side of the wagon, sleeping soundly already.
Owen expected a calm feeling to wash over him as they skipped ahead to the next day. Instead, the game continued to move in real time. He wondered if the headset had frozen altogether. The usual peace of the day change was replaced with panic. Owen felt pins and needles behind his eyes. He gasped as his sight went black for a second before being replaced with the vision of Amilia near the water's edge. A waterfall rained down with a constant drumming before she stepped towards it. The world skipped ahead with jarring stitches. Amilia's arms trembled as she tried to push herself up off the ground. Now soaked down to the bone; her clothes and hair clung to her small frame. She blinked slowly as if her head had its own set of objections. The next time he saw her was when Amilia stumbled over to a horse.
A shadow of color moved down the side of her face. At first it was written off as water, but Amilia lifted a shivering hand to touch her cheek, and her fingers came back spotted with blood.
Another jarring stitch, and he saw Amilia now riding, or as well as she could as her body began to shut down. She had made it far enough that the falls no longer dotted the background. But it was still too far to make it back in her state. Amilia started to fall off her horse before Daniel woke up with a start. His heart pounded against his ribs. He might have been able to convince himself it was all a bad dream, but when he looked over to where Amilia was sleeping there was only a pile of blankets.
Maybe this nightmare wasn't over.
He climbed out of the wagon, and took a quick glance around their camp. One of the horses wasn't far, just a few paces from where he should have been at a new patch of grass. The second one was absent, likely still with Amilia.
Daniel closed his eyes, centering himself as he focused on the direction the vision showed him. He didn't have to ride far until he found Amilia, and the missing horse. The latter had been slowly making its way back to camp, while Amilia had been abandoned in the grass to freeze to death. Daniel dropped to her level as he scooped her up in his arms.
"Amilia, don't do this to me," he begged.
Panic slowed his mind, but the icy touch of her was enough to kick his brain back in gear. He moved as fast as he could back over to the fire. Very carefully he laid her down next to it.
The fire had gone down over time, so Daniel moved to feed it more wood. The fire greedily sparked back to life, making the area it touched warmer than the wagon had been.
"Please make it through this to be mad at me in the morning," Daniel said. He doubted that she could hear, which was the scariest thing out of everything. If she had been shivering, or at least awake, he would have found some hope lighting the way. Her soaked clothes would keep the cold in, so they'd have to go first. He pulled off what he could, and tore or cut away at the fabric if it proved too much of a hassle.
When she was down to her undergarments, he stripped off his own tunic just to give her something as he went to gather the blankets. Fear bit at his heels while he was away. Telling him he'd never move fast enough to save her. Once out of wet clothes, piled with blankets, and tucked safely close to the fire, the only remaining thing Daniel could do is cuddle up next to her to share his body heat.
He closed his eyes and pleaded silently. Instead of falling asleep, he stayed alert to the world. Listening for any snap of a twig, every rustling leaf, without a twitch, like a watchdog carved from stone. He'd lend her his heartbeat if he had too.
The next morning, Daniel woke to a small voice calling his name. He let out a sigh of relief before he managed to reply. "I'm here." There was so much more he wanted to ask, but it all fell away in simple gratitude that she woke up.
Amilia couldn't work up a smile, but Daniel's words did help. She turned back, pulling her fingers up out of the blankets to take stock of them. All were their proper color, and that brought a new relief that almost lulled her back asleep.
"I can't believe you are alive." Daniel's words were mumbled against her back, as his arms were tucked around her as if simply letting go would change it.
"Thanks to you," she said softly.
It was a sweet sound, too real for this to be a dream or another vision. If this would have been a Hollywood movie, they might have kissed. Had a crescendo of happiness and life play out of their lips. But instead, Daniel stayed exactly how he was until they had the strength to get up on their own.
It was later than Daniel would have liked to start the day, but it was of little concern, considering. Amilia sat up staring at the dying fire as Daniel packed up their camp. He looked over a few times. His concern didn't go unnoticed for long.
She smiled over at him, her serious expression shifting to a curious one.
"Where did you go last night?" Daniel asked. He hadn't wanted to push her first thing, but now she seemed well enough for a little prodding.
Amilia let out a heavy sigh, needing a moment to digest the question. "I don't know what I was looking for, exactly. I can't even really remember if I found anything last night, but I heard tale of something in this area. I thought I'd look without causing a detour. It was stupid of me." Her worn body made her look so tiny under the blanket around her shoulders, but also made the vague wording in the lie easier to spot. He wasn't sure for whose benefit these lies were for anymore.
Daniel lifted his eyes to the horizon, narrowing them slightly at what could be out there. "I should have a look around."
"Don't you think we better get going?" she said, her voice jumping up an octave. "We've lost enough time already."
He looked back down at her as he raised a brow. "We could afford to lose more. You can either go on, or wait for me to satisfy my own curiosity." It wasn't meant as a threat, just a matter of fact. Something had undeniably happened, and he wanted to know what.
Amilia got up on her feet, the blanket still carefully wrapped around her. They exchanged a glance. Neither of them was certain how this would play out. "May I change first?" she asked.
"By all means."
She tucked her head down and moved towards their supplies. The space in the back of the wagon still was enough for her to change into spare clothes. She took longer than needed before she came back out, but she needed the moment to ready herself to talk about things that even her uncle and cousin no longer wished to hear.
"As a child, I heard my father talk about one of his travels," Amilia said as she stepped out. Daniel paused in putting out the fire to turn and listen. "It was around these parts. At least that's what I believed when we stopped. He said that in a cave behind a waterfall, there was an artifact hidden. I didn't find anything besides freezing water. I slipped, and thus the real cause of the mess I've made."
"What was the artifact meant to do?"
Amilia's head cocked to the side at the question. "It doesn't do anything," she said, "It was just valuable."
Daniel nodded his head, and looked around in consideration. "I don't want you to leave this campsite for a second, for anything."
"Wait, what?" She stared with wide eyes as Daniel moved towards the horses. "I thought you said we'd go if I told you."
"I won't be long," Daniel said, as he swung up to the horse. He was off without any further objection. He rode fast, following the map he had and riding towards a speck of water it showed. The roar of the falls came early, and shattered his faith in the accuracy of his map.
Daniel got off his horse. The falls were a beautiful sight that sent worry into his bones. His steps were careful, not wanting to slip into the water himself as he tried to figure out the place's mysteries. Couldn't even imagine how little of it would have been visible at night. Daniel crouched down at the edge.
There was nothing besides the veil of water that fell like a sheet. Unwilling to give up, he edged as close as he could without fighting the force of the falls. Daniel reached his hand out, and it pressed up against an invisible barrier before it was even fully outstretched.
"It's like the edge of the world map," Owen said. In all of his hours logged into this open-world game, he'd never run into a barrier like this before. So few games had them anymore. Maybe Amilia needed to be here to trigger anything more, or maybe this was an incomplete section that hadn't been patched yet. Whatever the case may have been, one thing was for sure; this was already one hell of a trip.