Mountains

Finn tugged the scarf tighter around her face and glanced back at Mayra. The younger girl was scrambling up the last slope as best she could, and huffed a heavy breath as she reached the top.

Their packs were lighter now than when they had started weeks ago, as they were slowly eating through their supplies of food. Snow lay in occasional drifts around them, though it was still summer. The journey stretched interminably before them as they rose higher and higher into the mountain range.

Each peak was freezing cold and barren, and though the valleys held some trees for firewood and shelter, they did not linger in those places, as wildlife was more prevalent and potentially dangerous there. The days brought them further and further from civilization for the sake of a fool's errand they were unlikely to complete.

Finn sighed. They were lucky to be there, she reasoned. When The Provider had caught her talking to Ashley, he was furious and ready to have her arrested on the spot. Mayra's baking business was certainly going to be shut down for good. Thinking quickly, Finn had managed to earn them both exile instead of trial.

The Provider would not be cast in an excellent light prosecuting two poor young female refugees, she convinced him, no matter how he might frame things. If his goal was to be rid of them both, they would oblige and disappear from the city. His face had darkened, but he had agreed, promising dire consequences if they should return.

There was no way of knowing what repercussions Ashley may have faced from the encounter, but there was nothing Finn could do about that right now.

As a result of her deal brokered with the Provider, the Shermans could not argue with Finn and Mayra's plan to seek out the Fae. There was simply nowhere else for them to go; the towns were not far enough to satisfy the Provider, and the outlying villages continued to slowly fall to the Rhone.

The girls had been given only a single night to prepare for their departure, and spent most of their combined money on heavy winter clothing, good hiking shoes, and all the provisions they could carry. Finn had quickly whipped up a batch of wolf repellant from Jimmy's recipe, which thankfully had available ingredients. She doubted the Provider intended to let them go easily, and couldn't rule out him being able to direct the Rhone's attacks.

The older couple had accompanied the girls on horseback to the base of the mountains and hugged them with tears. They wanted to help more, but horses would do the girls little good on the narrow, rocky trails that rose steeply enough that climbing was often necessary.

They would have felt too guilty to take the horses on a long term basis regardless. Good animals were expensive. Finn was glad that Peach had someone to care for her in their absence. Eventually maybe the farm horse would be put to her intended use again.

The girls had continued their journey on foot from the base of the cliffs, climbing and hiking and hoping they didn't lose their way. There were no maps of these mountains, as those who had ventured there rarely had the skills to try and map anything. Those that did often did not return.

The first several days of the journey had been difficult. Finn and Mayra had removed the canvas from their covered cart to use as a kind of tent for shelter in the mountains, but it took some practice to be able to set it up well. Thankfully, it didn't rain at all during that learning period, and they only had to contend with the wind. Their bedrolls, also from the cart, had proved to be well insulated as they climbed slowly to higher altitudes and lower temperatures.

Wolves had howled in the night on one or two occasions, but not come close to the two girls. Finn silently blessed Jimmy for his foresight and vowed to make him a whole mess of butter tarts if she ever got the chance.

It was now weeks later and bitterly cold as Finn shrugged deeper into her coat. The girls breathed heavily for a few moments at the outcropping before continuing. Their breath was frosty and visible in front of their faces. They were nearing what had seemed from afar to be a high plateau. Both hoped it would prove to be a nice place for the Fae to live. If Finn were to choose a very high mountain location to set up a town or city, a nice flat area like that would be her ideal.

There was one more steep climb to reach it, but the girls were running low on energy. The higher they went, the harder physical exertion became. Finn hoped against hope that this could be their journey's destination.

Still, once there, even if they found nothing, they should be able to see the next likely place to search. It should have an almost panoramic view of all the surrounding mountains.

Finn lamented that she didn't have better information on how exactly to find them other than 'high in the mountains,' but they would do their best.

Coming to the base of the final rocky cliff, Finn and Mayra looked at each other. They had been taking turns going first. The second person usually had the easier time since the first was scouting the best hand and footholds. Mayra took a deep breath, nodded, and proceeded first.

After the first day of trying to climb in their long gowns, they realized the danger and switched to modified split riding skirts, which they had tightened through the length to hug their legs instead of hanging loose. There was no one around except the two of them, so there was no reason for modesty. The only considerations were utility, mobility, and after climbing much higher, warmth.

The latter consideration battled with the others. The more layers one wore, the more difficult climbing became. It was already challenging enough to do with packs across their backs. Mittens were a mixed bag; they protected their hands from frostbite and cuts, but made gripping more difficult. Mayra elected to climb without hers until she couldn't stand it, while Finn wore hers until it became impossible to safely do so.

The air was much harder to breath as they ascended. Mayra's movements were slower than they had been, and more deliberate. The adrenaline she'd had in spades at the beginning of their journey was giving way to exhaustion over time.

They both learned early on why no one came into the mountains from Klain. The peaks were impassable by any sort of large force. No horses would be able to come through, and the two women felt some days as if they progressed almost none at all. It would be wildly inefficient to attempt trade or make a living in such a place, and they hadn't seen a soul since hugging the Shermans goodbye.

A rock broke loose under her hand and Mayra slipped slightly, cutting herself on the shard. She sucked in air and quickly put the scrape into her mouth. It wasn't a bad cut, but stung. At least she hadn't fallen. Finn didn't have the breath to call up and ask if Mayra was all right.

Mayra waved a signal that she was fine, and the two continued upward. It seemed a very long time before they reached the top, and Mayra dragged herself over the edge to the flat area panting heavily.

She slipped off her burden and lay flat on her back, tying a kerchief onto her injured hand and staring at the clear sky above. It was beautiful and cold, the color of the purest ice. There were no clouds, but mountain weather was unpredictable at best.

She turned her head to the side to survey the outcropping she had just reached. It was a wide, flat area of black and grey rocks. There were no trees, no bushes, no grass. It was like a little piece of a vast barren wasteland plucked from some dark desert and placed here on top of a mountain. There was no Fae city, she admitted as she continued slowly surveying the plateau they'd worked so hard to access.

Suddenly, she sat up and scooted rapidly backward toward the edge where Finn was just now appearing.

"That... that's a...." She pointed, unable to articulate what she was seeing.

Finn couldn't pay attention to Mayra's gesture until she was safely up and away from the sheer edge of the cliff. To divide her attention and slip would mean a very long, very deadly fall. She laid her burden next to Mayra's and finally looked where the younger girl was pointing. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head in alarm.

At the far end of the plateau, stretched along its length was an enormous skeleton.