Mountain Hike

“Lord Bryson! Lord Bryson!” Coni cried out as she flew over the remnants of the ice giant camp. She desperately searched for any sign of life in the mass blanket of white snow. Aside from the occasional piece of debris, there was nothing.

She quickly flew over to a group of the hunting party currently trying to excavate a large mound of snow. Fluttering down next to the leader she asked, “Find anything?”

“No sign of Lord Bryson or of Miss Florence.” He replied with a shake of the head, “So far only found giant corpses.”

“Oh…” Coni said sounding heartbroken.

“It’s a good sign though.” The guard assured her, “It means it’s unlikely that the two are here. They might have been swept away further down the mountain.”

“That’s better?”

“There’s more of a chance that they’re still alive.”

“Keep looking.”

“Of course. If we don’t find them, Duke Coldwater will have our heads.” The man joked trying to alleviate some pressure.

“That might be true.” Coni said, not really paying attention as she continued to search for any sign of the two children that were swept away.

The man gave a small grimace as he watched as the pixie sadly float away. It seemed the weight of guilt hung on her as she flew.

“Let’s hurry up our search!” He commanded his men.

***

“Fantastic. We have no idea where we are.” Bryson grumbled as he shook his Communicator which was currently dead.

“We travelled quite the distance down.” Florence observed looking up at the mountain as she did a quick once over the small medical bag she managed to keep on her.

Indeed they did. As Bryson and Florence were about to get enveloped by the snow, Bryson was able to cast a barrier. Creating a bubble of protection around them as they rolled their way down the mountain. It was a basic shield spell that Bryson had been practicing for years now.

Unfortunately, he didn’t think about planting the bubble shield down to the ground. It didn’t even cross his mind as he was trying to create the strongest barrier with the least amount of mana possible. Creating roots that could stick to one spot seemed like a waste.

It no longer felt like a waste, as the force of the snow carried the bubble up and out of the land basin and rolling down the mountain. Bryson and Florence tumbled inside the shield as they travelled downwards. Completely losing their sense of direction as the avalanche ended. The barrier did hold up however, and somehow they managed to hold down their lunches. Other than some dizziness neither had any real injuries.

“Can we climb back up?” Bryson asked as he squinted up at the mountain. He had no idea where the giant camp would be. He had no idea how long they travelled and how far they went. He had his Communicator slip out of his pocket as they rolled down and unfortunately it broke as they had tumbled down.

“No, we don’t know the way back. It would be smarter to try to get back to one of the villages and send a signal from there.” Florence said.

“Alright. Have any idea where?” Bryson asked.

“I have a rough idea of where the villages should be.” Florence said before glancing over to the sun, “We should hurry before nightfall.”

“Lead the way then.” Bryson said.

***

“We… still have no sign of Lord Coldwater.” One of the scouts reported to Coni.

“I see.” Coni said gloomily as she gazed out a frosted window in one of the houses that the villagers lent them.

Some of the team had returned back to the village to set up a base camp, it had been several hours since the resolution of the ice giant’s camp. So far, no sign of Bryson and Florence had been found. They did find all the bodies of ice giants, however. Which was a sign that at least they weren’t dead in the basin.

Coni knew that Bryson could put up barriers, so she hoped that he had formed some type of barrier and simply been swept away. While that didn’t help in finding their location, it would mean that they would be alive and hopefully not hurt.

“How are the search parties?” Coni asked.

“Still searching, oh and we have a volunteer to help look.” The scout said.

“A volunteer, yes they’re waiting outside.”

Coni curiously exited out of the house with the scout and was greeted by a teenager with a friendly look on his face. He had messy copper-brown hair and simple adventuring equipment adorned over his winter jacket.

“Hello, can I help you?” Coni asked cautiously.

“Hey, I was helping out with one of the other villages hunting for giagantahorn when a supplies arrived. I was told that it was Lord Bryson’s work so I came to see him and now I’ve been told that he’s in trouble.” The adventurer explained.

“You know Lord Bryson?” Coni asked surprised.

“Yeah, he’s a friend of mine.” He said nodding his head fervently. Coni wasn’t quite sure she believed that.

“My name is Spencer. I’ll help in whatever way I can.” Spencer said properly introducing himself to her.

“Coni Pinop. I work for the Coldwaters.” Coni said in greeting, “Currently we’re searching on foot. I’ve reported back to the Coldwaters. They are sending an airship now.”

“That’s going to take some time and it’s getting dark soon.”

“Which is why I would like you to be part of a search party. It’s unlikely that you’ll find anything, but at least we can eliminate some more area.” Coni said.

“Alright then, show me the way.” Spencer said.

***

“So damn cold.” Bryson complained as he and Florence trudged through the snow. They had been walking diagonally up the mountain. Having to traverse several hours over steep rocky terrain, Bryson was tired. Florence seemed unbothered. Though that didn’t surprise Bryson much considering what he’s seen her capable of.

“It’s getting dark.” Florence said watching the sun slowly set, “It will be dangerous to travel through the night and you need rest.”

“I can walk for a bit longer.” Bryson said.

“It will take time to find a place to take shelter and it’ll get even colder when the sun was down.” Florence said as she began to change her trajectory and searched for shelter.

It didn’t take long as a few minutes later after passing a rock mound they turned the corner and came across a large cave. Studying the cave for a moment, she noted that its entrance was as tall as a two-story house, it looked sturdy and would block most of the wind. Though it was too dark for her to peer in.

“Let me see if the structure is sturdy.” Florence said gesturing for Bryson to wait for her.

“You don’t have to coddle me.” Bryson said following close behind her.

“It’s for your own safety. What if there’s a collapse?” Florence argued.

“Then you would be buried.”

“I could escape.”

“So could I.”

Florence stared at Bryson in silence for a moment. Whether it was because she didn’t want to argue anymore or couldn’t come up with a convincing argument, she broke the stare down and headed for cave. Bryson trailed right behind her.

Studying the interior of the cave, two things could be noted. First, was that this cave seemed extremely sturdy and unlikely to collapse. The second thing was that the cave went deep, so deep that neither could see the end of it.

It seemed that the cave slanted downwards and into the dark abyss below. It reminded Bryson a bit about the time the Spencer Khan had fallen down into a ravine that suddenly appeared a couple of months ago.

“I don’t think I want to explore any further.” Bryson said.

“No I don’t think that would be wise.” Florence said as she looked around the entrance of the cave.

“So we’re staying here by the mouth?”

“Yes. It should protect us from the worst of the winds at the very least.” Florence said.

“Wouldn’t making an igloo be better?” Bryson asked.

“Yes, but we don’t have the tools to do so.”

“Remember what I can do?” Bryson said waving his hands.

“Ah.” Florence said as Bryson began to work on building the small piece of shelter.

After a number of minutes had passed, with the use of Bryson’s magic to gather up the needed snow, a basic igloo was successfully built. Finally packed snow in the form of a dome and an entrance to enter and exit.

“Magic is rather useful.” Florence noted as Bryson crawled in.

“Yeah, now let’s get out of this cold already.” Bryson grumbled as he crawled in.

Florence followed behind and as Bryson got himself comfortable on the snow bed. Florence laid herself next to Bryson inside the igloo. Immediately Bryson felt awkward laying down shoulder to shoulder with Florence.

“Maybe I should’ve made two.” Bryson mumbled.

“No it’s easier to retain heat this way.” Florence said with a monotone voice.

“Hmm.” Bryson grumbled.

“How do you know how to build an igloo anyways?”

“Father forces us to live in the bush on occasion, we get taught by the indigenous people on basic tips.” Bryson said with a shrug, “You’ve built these before?”

“Yes, had to considering how low the temperatures get in Wrabuth.”

“Hey.” Bryson realized, “Have you only lived in Wrabuth?”

“Yes.”

“You ever travelled outside it?”

“No.”

“You want to?”

“It would be nice for me to expand my research horizons.”

“Of course it’s for research.” Bryson said rolling his eyes before speaking, “Do you want to go on the next family trip?”

“That would be nice.”

“I’ll keep that in mind then.” Bryson said as he turned away from Florence. Closing his eyes he realized just how tired he really was. Despite the lack of an actual bed, the snow was soft, and he was warm. Not the best, but it will do. He thought, “Wake me up when something happens.” He mumbled as he dozed off.

***

Time passed when Bryson woke up. Groggily blinking away the sleep from his eyes he knew that at most only a few hours had passed. Something had woken him up. He honestly didn’t know what. Bryson felt as though there was a slight disturbance, that or he was just being paranoid.

Bryson stayed still for a moment, then he swore he felt a small rumble. Bryson sat up and turned to Florence to wake her up. He paused for a second and simply stared at the sleeping Florence.

She looked calm and elegant, her face seemed so gentle and beutif-

“Wake up.” Bryson said quickly shaking any thoughts away.

In response to Bryson her scarlet eyes opened, and she sat up emphatically. Looking over to Bryson she asked, “What is it.”

“I think something is near us.”

“Do you sense anything?”

“No.” Bryson said, he felt no magic anomalies around them at all. But even now if Bryson concentrated he could feel a slight shake of the ground. Florence seemed to notice it to.

Quickly poking her head out of the igloo, she saw nothing. Ducking her head back in she looked at Bryson confused, “Nothing out there.”

Bryson thought for a moment, “What about further down the cave?”

“It could be. But what could be causing it.” Florence said drawing out her firearm. The two of them sneaked out of the igloo and crept their way further down the cave.

It led downwards and curved, and as they moved, they both noticed how large this cave was, the ceiling was several times their own height.

As they travelled further down, Bryson’s eyes began to glow pure white. Using the enhancement, he tried to look through the wall to get a sense of something amiss. There he faintly saw a large blob right around the corner.

He signalled Florence that something was there, and she took the lead. Pointing her weapon outwards, she slowly turned the corner. As she poked her head out to peek, she froze.

Bryson out of curiosity also poke out his head and stared in disbelief. As he and Florence stared at the hollowed-out den of the ice dragon, with the big silver and blue lizard slumbering before them.