OoOoO

They left Geristan with little more fanfare than with which they had left Vaelona. Awenis had been hesitant even to leave so much as a note for Thanic, the tailor. In the end, they locked up their tiny home and left the key beneath the mat. They each carried only as much as they could carry in a rough cloth sack. Jatheryn's viol was too large for his bag, and so instead he rigged it to his shoulders with a string harness.

At the city gates Jatheryn pulled up on Nightwish's reins to look back. Geristan was just as grey and plain as they had found it. There was warmth there though, and company, all tucked safely inside, beneath roofs blanketed with thick white snow. Before them the road stretched bleakly into the distance. They had only been in Geristan for five months, yet Jatheryn had never looked back when they left Vaelona.

In front of him, Awenis fidgeted. The folds of her thick winter cloak caught the wind and peeled back away from her swelling stomach.

"Are you sure about this, Awenis?" Jatheryn had to ask one more time.

"I'm sure," Awenis insisted, ever stubborn. "They say it never snows in the east, and that even the deepest nights of winter are temperate. Won't that be a sight?"

Jatheryn shrugged the hood of his cloak off his head, letting a few snowflakes catch and stick to his forehead. "I myself have never minded snow."

Small mittens touched Jatheryn's hands. Awenis rested her hands on his for a moment before gently tugging the reins out of his grasp. Without any further delay, she urged Nightwish on down the long road toward The Teeth.

Geristan sat only half a day's ride from the mouth of The Old Mountain Road, the only passage through the mountains from west to east. By the time the sun rode high in the sky they were already so close to The Teeth that Jatheryn had to crane his neck to look up at them. Warmer winds from the south came to chase away the clouds. Towering granite peaks soared up into a pale blue sky, where they pierced the clouds like needles through cotton. The enormity of the mountains clenched Jatheryn's lungs with awe.

"I wonder if our ancestor, Taebor Saurivic, ever looked up at The Teeth and felt—"

"Small?" Awenis finished for him.

"Small, but also inspired. They make me want to write music about them. I also can't help but wonder what someone like Lord Taebor would have thought of us, his descendants."

"I don't know, Jath. But you know what?"

"What?"

There was a note of defiance in Awenis's voice from in front of Jatheryn. "I don't care what he or any other of our ancestors would have thought. They made us, so they can bloody well either be proud or go and eat barnyard dirt!"

"Awenis!" Jatheryn exclaimed. "Where did you learn language like that?"

"From Thanic." Now Awenis sounded downright pleased with herself. "That's one of the milder words, actually."

"Where is my sweet, silly little sister?" Jatheryn mourned aloud.

"This growing babe ate her for nourishment. Now you will both just have to live with me, its peasant of a mother."

Their laughter, high and low, rang out across the foothills and echoed back at them off the sheer faces of The Teeth. A flock of starlings huddled in the frosty brambles of a nearby thicket startled and took flight. Nightwish tossed her blue-black mane nearly into Awenis's face, as if telling them to pipe down.

Finding the head of The Old Mountain Road was harder than Jatheryn had initially thought. They rode for nearly half the afternoon along the mountains, looking for any gap in the impenetrable stone hedge. At one point Jatheryn even dismounted so that he could hike up through the brush alongside the road for a better vantage point. Sticks tugged at his cloak, and he found himself regretting not having taken his viol off his back before breaking from the road. One low hanging branch even slapped at his cheek as he tried to duck under it.

Muttering curses under his breath, Jatheryn finally emerged onto the hilltop. The snow crunched under his boots where he ploughed through, leaving a trail of indelicate prints in his wake. It looked like a small bear had just come that way through the brush, actually.

Once on the hilltop, Jatheryn squinted long and hard against the glare of sunlight on snow. As far as he could see, there was nothing but wilderness, mountains, and cliffs. He saw no clearing, no outpost, nothing to suggest the presence of a road. Frustrated, he glared at The Teeth, not finding them quite as awe-inspiring as they had been that morning.

Jatheryn was just about to give up and trek back to Awenis in defeat when something caught his eye. It might have been just a shadow cast along the rough rock faces, about half a league to the south of where he stood. The longer Jatheryn looked though, the more the shadow took on depth with the movement of the sun. Sure enough, it was there, right where it ought to be; the channel through The Teeth to the east.

By the time Jatheryn reached the road where he had left Awenis and Nightwish, there were twigs tangled in his hair, and snow had gotten into his boots. Awenis's cheeks were bright pink from the chill, as well as her nose. She greeted him with a hopeful smile.

"Did you see anything up there?"

"You and your map were right. I caught a glimpse of the passage through, not far south of here. Hopefully we can find where the road branches. I would have thought that it would be more obvious and well traveled though. Doesn't anyone ever come this way between east and west Goran?"

Biting her lip, Awenis looked troubled. "I would have thought so. How does the king ever manage, trying to govern such a place?"

"I can't imagine, but I can only give thanks that it's not me trying to fulfill such a duty."

Mounting up on Nightwish's back once again, Jatheryn realized just how try that sentiment was. He shuddered to think how horrendous his life might have been if he had been born as he was into the royal family. Then there really would have been no escape. But then, at least maybe some noble family would have been ambitious enough to risk betrothing one of their daughters to him. That was neither here nor there, he reminded himself. With a flap of his cloak he shook off the extra snow he had accumulated on his short hike, and the two of them were off again.

To both Jatheryn and Awenis's surprise The Old Mountain Road, the one land bridge between the two halves of Goran, was marked by only a single upright pole of wood. Someone long ago had carved a strange, dog-like figure into the top of the pole, its human arm extending toward the mountains beneath a long, lean canine face. Words could be seen scrawled up the enormous signpost, deep but worn with the ages.

"The Wal of the land of sunlight bids you welcome," Awenis read aloud.

Nightwish pawed at the ground, gouging hoof prints in the hard snow. The blue roan seemed just as eager to begin their journey as her mistress. Jatheryn felt like the only one still with misgivings. The alien-looking creature on the signpost did little to alleviate the quiet, niggling doubt that continued to gnaw at his stomach. They paused for a quick midday meal at the side of the crossroads. Chewing mechanically, Jatheryn barely tasted the flax and cranberry crackers and cheese they had packed.

"Do you have any idea how long it will take for the mountain crossing?" he asked Awenis.

Her mouth still full from her last bite, Awenis held up a finger to her lips for a moment while chewing. Then, brushing the crumbs from her lap, she turned to dig the map from her bag. Jatheryn's eyes followed his sister's belly as she moved. Did Awenis ever feel the little one? Were they even big enough for that? He wondered, but held his tongue out of respect for Awenis's privacy.

Once Awenis was settled again, her legs tucked under her on the cold ground, she spread the map out and held it up.

"According to the legend here, The Teeth are sixteen leagues across. Then it's another four leagues north from there to the village of Trosk, our first stop. Now, normally I think we could safely plan to make anywhere between eight and ten leagues a day riding. Traveling in the mountains will be hard going though, so I'm guessing it will probably be four days at least to make the crossing."

"You do know that that means we're going to be sleeping out in the open, in the mountains, in the winter, for four nights then, yes?" Jatheryn tried one last time to see if he could sway Awenis.

Awenis didn't seem at all dissuaded. Instead, she set to rolling the map back up and closing her pack. Standing, she brushed the dirt and snow off the hem of her handmade purple kirtle, custom designed to accommodate her pregnancy.

"We can always kneel Nightwish down and sleep against her side for warmth if need be. Besides, it hasn't been that cold as of late. Come on Jatheryn, why so hesitant? Don't you want to see the east?"

"I'd rather see it in the springtime," Jatheryn muttered.

He allowed Awenis to pull him to his feet though, and within minutes they were off again. Following the beckoning arm of the wooden dog-man, they soon found themselves at a gaping channel in the mountainside. The Old Mountain Road's passage was so abrupt, almost to the point of being unnatural, that Jatheryn wondered if some long-forgotten force had carved it through the very stone. A cold wind came whistling down The Old Mountain Road to buffet them in the face. The air bore faint scents upon it; lichen and wet earth and something else, something wild that Jatheryn had never smelt before.

Then Awenis flicked the reins, and Jatheryn had to hold on to her rounded waist as best he could to avoid sliding off Nightwish's flanks. The shadow of the mountains fell across them, and the lost Saurivic heirs passed out of the west.

OoOoO

That first night was cold, wet, uncomfortable, and every other adjective one could possibly use to describe awful. The wind that had first greeted them when they entered The Teeth never let up. In fact, it seemed to grow sharper and bitterer with every fall of Nightwish's hooves. By the time the sun began to set, both Jatheryn and Awenis's teeth were already chattering.

The stone walls of the mountain pass gradually gave way to more open spaces. Where they chose to make camp, steep mountainsides covered with snow and yellow-orange lichen splattered boulders. Far overhead, the peaks of The Teeth blotted out the awakening stars like a gigantic maw closing. The wind continued to howl, making strange noises as it passed between the stones around them.

With no other better options, Jatheryn and Awenis bedded down for the night in the relative shelter of a fairly large boulder along the roadside. There was little to no relief from the cold wind. Even Nightwish's narrow frame did little to break the chill. The siblings huddled together under their cloaks, wrapped as tightly together as possible. Any attempt at sharing body heat was in vain though; neither really had any warmth to share. Neither of them slept at that night either.

The lack of sleep and bitter conditions left Jatheryn and Awenis cranky come daybreak. They ate a small, silent breakfast of damp bread and dried sausage before carrying on with their journey. All throughout the day the wind continued to howl along The Old Mountain Road, doing nothing to improve their moods. Even Nightwish hung her head as she walked face-first into the onslaught. Around them The Teeth watched the miserable travelers unsympathetically.

The second night was no better than the first. Worse even, as the unearthly shrieks of some wild animal kept them in a constant state of terror. Huddled together beneath a rocky overhang at a bend in the road, they could only stare wide-eyed into the dark, hoping their guttering campfire might keep such beasts at bay. The meek firelight cast strange shadows on the rocks, shapes which the imagination was keen to seize upon and contort even further. Awenis clung to Jatheryn so tightly that her fingers left bruises on his arm. They never saw the creature that made such terrible sounds though, and for that Jatheryn was very, very grateful.

About midday Jatheryn began to accidentally nod off in the saddle. Two nights without sleep was catching up to him quickly. Awenis had fallen asleep about an hour after sunrise. Careful not to wake his dozing sister, Jatheryn readjusted. Awenis's pale blonde roots were beginning to show through the henna dye, he noticed. Hopefully that wouldn't matter where they were going. Then again, perhaps the east would be just as unforgiving of the strange and unbeautiful as the west. That was a possibility Jatheryn tried not to think about too often.

For once, their constant companion, the wind, seemed to have tired itself out. Only a slight breeze blew along The Old Mountain Road, tugging strands of their hair free to wave like ribbons in the wind. There was still an icy edge to the air though, and Jatheryn could feel the inside of his nose tingling.

Still Jatheryn had to admit there was a rather austere beauty to this place. The Teeth were all white snow and grey stone, but there was a majesty to them that defied the delicate beauty of a flower or the Gorian countryside at high summer. They were so far from the rest of the world here, at the very heart of Goran. The mountains really were the skeletal backbone of the world. Once again, Jatheryn felt urged to song by their timelessness.

"Stones below and stars above

And lives lived in between.

I yearn toward an unknown home..."

Awenis gave a start in front of him, her small body leaping within the circle of Jatheryn's arms. His half-started song interrupted, Jatheryn smiled slightly down at the top of Awenis's head.

"Did I wake you? I'm sorry."

"Jath."

It was only a single, whispered word, but the tight urgency and the way Awenis seized his knee made Jatheryn's heart skip a beat. Immediately he reined Nightwish to a stop and leaned forward, trying to see his little sister's face past her untidy hair.

"Awenis? Is something wrong?"

Although he couldn't see Awenis's face, he saw her other hand clutching at her belly, fingers squeezed bloodless. Time stopped for a split second. The world shrunk down to Awenis and her fragile, birdlike hands.

"The baby..." Awenis whispered.

Then she cried out. Doubling over in the saddle, Awenis let out a wail as terrible, if not more so, than the animal that had kept them awake the night before.

"Awenis!"

Panic thundered through Jatheryn. They were in the middle of nowhere, at least three days from Geristan in the west and Trosk in the east. Jatheryn's only thought was to get help, but from where? Teetering at the halfway point of their journey, did they go forward or back?

Nightwish pranced in fright beneath them, agitatedly tossing her mane. Awenis cried out again, and the little mare let out a shrill whinny. The urge to join the two girls in their distress was overwhelming.

"Awenis, what's happening?" Jatheryn tried to get something, anything more out of Awenis.

"I...I...don't...Jath, I think I'm losing the baby!"

I know what's behind us at least, Jatheryn reasoned, fighting through his fear. He knew nothing of any practical use when it came to childbearing, only the general principles Mistress Morendial had taught them back in Vaelona. Out here, in the middle of the mountains, Jatheryn was horrifically aware that he was helpless to do anything to help his sister. The only thing he could do was get Awenis to civilization as fast as possible. With that single-minded purpose bringing his scattered wits back into focus, Jatheryn wheeled Nightwish around and drove the blue roan back down the Old Mountain Road toward west Goran.

Awenis continued to cry out in pain, curled over so tightly on herself that Nightwish's bobbing neck nearly hit her in the face. Jatheryn had to pull Awenis upright to keep her secure in the saddle, a motion which apparently induced even further agony. A cold stream of tears leaked from the corners of Jatheryn's eyes. He couldn't tell whether he was actually crying or if the wind whipping past was tearing them from his eyes. The only mercy of their situation was that finally the wind blew at their backs.

Jatheryn rode all through the night, going a third moon without sleep. Awenis stopped crying out as the sun set, making Jatheryn panic for a moment.

"Don't stop," Awenis had gritted out through clenched teeth, her lips bleeding where she had no doubt been biting at them in an effort to staunch her own screams. She was eerily pale though, paler even than Jatheryn for the first time in their lives. When for the first time in hours Jatheryn shifted his position, he was horrified to feel something warm and sticky on the saddle. Both his and Awenis's legs were coated in blood. Red rivulets trickled down Nightwish's sides to spot the snow as they galloped past.

The little horse could only endure so much though. She collapsed beneath them just at the end of The Old Mountain Road as western Goran came into sight. Froth spilled from Nightwish's mouth. Sweat and blood slicked her sides, and the rattling gasps escaping from her sounded mortal to Jatheryn's ears. If he had not been so single-mindedly afraid for Awenis, he would have felt terrible for riding the sweet animal to its death. Nightwish's brown eyes stopped rolling for a moment, as if trying to focus on Jatheryn before he turned away.

Awenis lay curled up on the ground where Nightwish had thrown her when she collapsed. Only now, unhorsed and in the light of day, did Jatheryn see just how much blood Awenis had lost. Her skirt was a sodden mass of blackened red, as was the lower half of her cloak. Heedless of the blood on his own clothes and the saddle sores on his body, Jatheryn rushed to Awenis's side.

"Awenis, Awnenis can you stand?"

Her only response was a low groan and a slight shake of her chin. Her face was almost the exact same color as the snow around them. Even Awenis's lips, always just a little pink and doll-like, were now as white as the rest of her.

Jatheryn scanned the bleak landscape desperately for any sign of settlement. His gaze fell on the wooden man-dog, the guardian of the passage to the east. It seemed almost cruel that that strange figure should have urged them forward on such an ill-fated journey.

Beyond the sparse bracken covering the foothills, a small brown shape caught Jatheryn's eye. He hadn't noticed that structure when they had first passed this way three days ago. Sure enough though, it was a building, standing alone amidst the winter fields.

"Awenis, look! Help is close." Jatheryn pleaded with his sister to revive, to at least try to stand.

Her entire body trembling, Awenis did try to move. She dragged herself up onto her hands and knees for half a moment, the snow burying her fingers. Then a spasm made her whole frame shudder and she collapsed.

"Jath...I...can't walk."

Looking back and forth between Awenis and the lone building in the distance, Jatheryn clenched his jaw in determination. He had never been very strong of body, but he knew he had no choice. Kneeling forward, he reached for Awenis.

She was shockingly light, even with child. Taking as much care as possible to avoid her belly, Jatheryn lifted Awenis up into his arms. His own legs trembling from the strain of riding all night and the day before without rest, he took one step, then another. A sharp, coppery scent filled Jatheryn's nostrils as never before; the scent of blood.

The trek felt like it happened in slow motion, every step slower and more labored than the last. Jatheryn stumbled down from the mountains, through the brush and across the field toward that lone building, his only hope. The entire time Awenis did the only thing she could to help, which was ensure Jatheryn did not drop her by throwing her arms around his neck. Her breathing was rapid and shallow against his skin. Every time he stumbled in the snow Awenis's grip tightened ever so slightly, as if reassuring Jatheryn that she was still with him.

When at last the building became close enough to see what it was, Jatheryn nearly cried aloud. It was a derelict old barn, in poor repair and clearly unused. Sure enough, the door broke open with a splintering of rotten wood when Jatheryn merely leaned his back against it.

Inside it was cold, dark, and musty. Pale light from outside filtered through holes all along the walls. There was a pile of damp hay left in the far corner beneath the loft. Not knowing what else to do, Jatheryn set Awenis down there as carefully as he could. Mice skittered away in all directions when the hay was disturbed. Not even a cat lived here to keep the rodents in check.

"Awenis, I'm going to go and get help. Here, take this." Jatheryn began to undo the tie on his cloak.

"No...don't..." Awenis reached out and caught his forearm in a grip no stronger than a newborn's.

Jatheryn continued to shrug out of the cloak. "I don't need it Awenis, truly. You need to keep warm." He scanned the hay pile for any spots that might be somewhat dry. "I'll start a fire for you before I go too. I'll be back with help as fast as I can, I promise."

Awenis did not release her hold on his wrist though. She looked up at him, not pleadingly, but with a strange sort of sadness in her golden eyes. They stood out like two chips of amber in her deathly pale face.

"No...Jath. Stay. Stay with me."

Now Jatheryn did hesitate. A cold trickle of dread began to run down his back. If Awenis were not looking at him, speaking to him, she would have been indistinguishable from a corpse. Or a ghost, he thought in a dark, unspeakable corner of his heart.

"I can't stay; I have to go for help. You need a healer, and a midwife, and medicinal herbs, and..."

Awenis smiled then, small and soft. She nodded, but continued to weakly tug Jatheryn toward her.

"Yes...you should go. But first...Jath...I'm cold. Will you stay with me...until...until I'm warm again?"

Jatheryn's lonely heart was breaking. Barely able to choke the words out past the lump in his throat, he finally relented and allowed himself to sink down into the cold, wet hay next to Awenis. Gathering his sister close to his chest, he tucked her head beneath his chin and stroked her fine hair.

"Alright. I'll stay...until you are warm again."

"I love you...Jath."

"I..." Jatheryn couldn't keep the sob from escaping. "...I love you too Awenis."

No matter how tightly Jatheryn held Awenis, her body just kept getting colder and colder. Taking her limp white fingers between his and blowing on them brought no answering squeeze. Her breath no longer made fog in the winter air though, so Jatheryn supposed she must have been warm now.

There were no words to describe the misery. Unable to think, unable to feel, unable to breath, Jatheryn Saurivic closed his eerie white eyes and fell into a dark and dreamless sleep. He and Awenis lay pale and still in the shadows of the barn, the quiet settling upon them both like a shroud.

OoOoO

When at last Jatheryn awoke, it was dark outside. There was no light in that abandoned place. The body in his arms lay stiff and cold as a statue. The dried blood on Jatheryn's clothes cracked as he sat up. Slowly, dreamlike, he disentangled himself from his sister's final embrace.

"You're cold, Awenis," he murmured. "I promised I would make you warm again."

Crawling on his hands and knees, Jatheryn gathered together a few handfuls of hay on the barn floor. With numb fingers, he dug a flint and striker out of his pack. It took a few tries for a spark to catch and stay in the moldering hay. Little by little though, a fire began to burn.

Before long the fire was big and strong enough to maintain itself without aid. Jatheryn did not move so much as a muscle as the flames began to lick at the main haystack. He still did not move as the first tongues of fire licked at the barn walls. Across the fire, he stared like one transfixed at Awenis. Her eyes were half open still, amber irises gazing at nothing from beneath delicate blonde lashes.

You should go.

Awenis' words came back to Jatheryn, but he ignored them.

"You're not warm yet. I cannot go. I promised."

You should go.

"Not yet. Not yet..."

The fire was gaining strength, engulfing the hay stack and much of the loft above now. Jatheryn could still see Awenis. She lay cast in a golden-red glow, much as she had been in the light of the common room at the SnapDragon Inn. She was still so pale though. Surely she couldn't be warm yet.

Jatheryn could feel the heat of the blaze. It was all around, stinging his eyes and pricking his face. Surely others would see the fire soon. Not that it mattered to him. By the time anyone came, there would be nothing left but ash and smoke. Lifting his face to the rafters, Jatheryn basked in the heat of the inferno.

"Jath, go!"

That was no memory. Jatheryn's eyes snapped open, and he wildly searched for Awenis in the flames. There was nothing to be seen of her though, only a wall of fire. Something hot burned the back of his hand, and Jatheryn realized with a start that he was almost entirely surrounded by flame.

A groaning filled the barn, loud and terrible from overhead. The barn, long rotted and its foundations just about destroyed, was not long for the world. Any moment it would collapse, consuming everything within.

"Awenis?!" Jatheryn called out. The heat was too intense. He was forced to throw up an arm in front of his eyes to protect them. "Awenis!"

There was no answer, but for some reason Jatheryn felt the urge to survive stirring from deep within himself. Staggering to his feet, he turned in search of the door. Fire was everywhere and all around. Sweat streamed from his brow and down the nape of his neck. Every breath was torment, scorching his throat on the way down. For some reason, with nothing left to live for, Jatheryn forced himself to walk through the flames.

His skin blistered, driving a howl of pain from Jatheryn's scalded throat. Still, he pushed forward, his face buried in his sleeve. Surely not even stars could burn like this.

Suddenly there was cold where there had been heat, and snow crunched beneath his boots. Something still licked at the back of his head, and Jatheryn knew that his hair was on fire. Throwing himself down into the snow, he rolled and rolled and rolled until all he could feel was cold. Then the stinging from his burned legs and arms returned tenfold and Jatheryn cringed.

With a groan, Jatheryn pulled himself upright into a crouch. The night wind whipped singed white hair in his face, and his tattered cloak flapped behind him. Jatheryn could only stare at the flaming torch before him where the barn had once stood. It lit up the night like a tiny sun, casting dancing orange shadows on the snow.

Another tiny light in the distance caught Jatheryn's attention. It was a homestead, probably roused from sleep by the fire. With a pained heave Jatheryn forced himself to his feet. Everything hurt everywhere, most especially his heart. Half-blind from the fire, exhausted and injured, the wretched remnant of Jatheryn, second heir to the Saurivic family of Vaelona, staggered away into the darkness.

OoOoO