Chapter 64

Sylvi 

The path was as treacherous as they said, and every step drained the little strength I had left. In the end, Sara offered to carry me, not wanting to entrust my life to our packhorse as we navigated the pass.

I felt her magic pulsating in the air, weaving a bubble of warmth and courage around our group, but I knew she only did it for my sake. I asked her once to stop it, knowing very well how much it drained her, but she just looked away, and I didn’t dare to ask again.

The land here felt so alien and barren, with sharp rocks sprouting from the frozen ground and the never-ending gusts of freezing wind that howled between the peaks. Even our guides, despite their fur clothes and the strength that emanated from them, grew uneasy when the sun hid behind the mountains.

Everything was so quiet and devoid of life that I wondered how they managed to live here, yet they called this place their home with pride. My forest had become nothing more than a distant memory, and I dreaded that one day I would forget how it felt to walk between its ancient trees and sing my songs as the silver stars shimmered in the night sky.

We had tried to keep to ourselves and stay out of the way, since none of us had any skills to contribute in this barren land, and the food we had brought had almost run out in those first days as we entered the mountains.

At least we were safe from those who wished us harm, but the mountains brought a different kind of danger. Zamir had warned us that if snow began to fall at night, we needed to stay awake, or we might never wake up again. I shivered at the thought of losing my friends like that, but part of me was grateful for the cold, as it quenched the flames that used to dance before my eyes whenever I closed them.

One of those nights, as we sat around a small fire that I knew from experience wouldn’t last long, we shared some fatty meat that tasted strange. Zamir urged me to eat it because it would keep me warm, so I did as he told me, watching the dying flame, with Kim between my legs and Cat and Aicha on my sides, trying to protect me from the cold wind.

When only the glowing amber remained, our guides began to sing. The first time I’d heard them, I was terrified. Their songs felt so different from those I knew from home, but by now I find strange comfort listening to their voices echoing between the snowy peaks.

I closed my eyes and let their voices carry me when Cat shook my body, and I opened my eyes and saw snowflakes falling from the dark sky above us.