The Home Stone

Roma was uneasy. “We should have gone with them,” she spoke out loud, as Randall just glared at her. He wondered why he asked to stay with her. All she did was complain. Not once did this woman say anything nice to him. Like, thanks for making dinner or making her as comfortable as the forest would allow. No, nothing but complain, complain. He was ready to leave her and catch up with the rest of the party, but he knew that Shamus would have his head, if he left Roma alone out here.

Finally he had enough and asked her. “Is that all you can do? Complain about this and that? If you are so able to walk then why don’t you go and search for firewood or hunt for food?”

Clearly angered by his words, Roma attempted to stand, but staggered right into the arms of the highlander.

Her glaring eyes softened and then she apologized as he helped her back onto her bedroll. Randall had cut many boughs from the trees that surrounded their camp and made a soft bed for Roma, so she could heal faster.

“How are we going to get out of here?” she asked. “The storm is still raging back there and the snow hasn’t melted yet from where it covered the pass.”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” he replied. “If your friends are successful and manage to defeat the dragon, I feel that everything will return back to normal. As for the snow in the pass we might have to wait until the warmer weather and most of it has melted. Besides, you can’t move much yet, so there is still plenty of time. We have food and water here, so that won’t be a problem. With plenty of firewood and our weapons, we should do all right.”

Roma sat back on her makeshift bed and pondered what Randall had just said. It was just that she did not like to be left out of what was in store for her friends. She knew that they would have a fight on their hands and she just wanted to be there and help, but the pain in her side told her that she would not be of much use when the fighting started.

Taking a cup of hot tea that Randall offered, she sat there and sighed.

It took the better part of a day and a half before Shannon and her group passed through the final few miles of the pass and out onto the white plains of the Snowlands. There, a sight greeted them so wondrous that everyone stopped and stared. In front of them stood a forest where the trees were completely covered in ice.

“It’s called the Crystal Forest,” Shamus explained. “Apparently this happened many thousands of years ago when the earth was remade or so according to the tales of the past.”

It was a beautiful sight and when the wind blew the leaves chimed when they brushed up against each other. Shannon felt as if she was in a dream. They stayed and took in the sight and them Shamus moved out with the rest following. They took a road that led them through the frozen trees until the sun vanished behind the mountains casting the last of the long shadows behind them. With the temperature dropping fast, the highlanders made a snow hut and crawled in. Calling for the rest to join them, Shannon and the Drow entered. Inside they burned a lantern for heat, as well as light and settled down to sleep. Each took a turn at keeping watch and to make sure that the lantern stayed lit, for if it went out they would surely freeze to death. Outside a wind came up and the forest rang and chimed with music that finally lulled everyone to sleep. All, except for the watch.

The next morning they ate in the shelter before venturing outside. A light snow was falling and the temperature dropped well below freezing, but with their furs about them, the party stayed warm.

As the day progressed the snow grew heavier, until it became a full-blown blizzard. The party tried to continue, but after some hours of seeing nothing only the occasional glimpse of the mountains to show that they were not walking in circles, Shamus called for them to stop. They hunkered down behind a knoll of snow and let the storm rage all around them. They ate their meals cold and with their waterskins stuffed inside their furs to keep them from freezing they drank the cold water that was held in them.

The storm raged for the rest of the day and well into the night and by the time the sun rose again the next morning the party had been buried in ten feet of snow. To keep them from suffocating, the two highlanders, constantly poked holes into the snowdrift, to let fresh air into their snow cave. The warm sun was a welcoming sight as the party shook the snow from their furs and continued their journey westward. With the sun shining so bright onto the fresh fallen snow, the danger of snow blindness was slowly becoming a reality. From some of the firewood that they carried from in the forest where they left Roma and Randall, Shamus fashioned shade coverings with tiny slits in them. This he said would prevent them from going blind from the glaring snow.

The next few days were uneventful, for they saw no one. Not even a snow rabbit, or fox.

“This land is void of all life,” Shannon spoke, breaking the long silence.

“Not quite,” said Raven, who had been watching the rear to see if anyone was following. “There is definitely something or one back there. It’s been following us for the last few miles.”

Shamus looked back, but saw nothing. “Your eyes are good,” he finally said, “for I can’t see anything.”

“Well,” the Drow continued, “I know something is back there.”

The highlander stared for a few minutes longer and then he saw what Raven saw.

“It’s a snow bear,” he said in a low tone. “He’s hunting. If he saw us he will try to take us if we’re not careful.”

Gilbert was given the honor, as he was the more experienced hunter here in the Snowlands. The party continued the rest of the day and when dusk fell they decided to use the wood they had brought with them to make a fire that night. Sometime during the night the bear made its move and closed in on the camp, but they group was ready for it. Shamus directed the defense and tried not to injure the animal, but just to scare it off. The bear was not going to leave or retreat without its prey and attacked the first person it saw. Gilbert stabbed at it and stuck the spear into its side. He then backed up to the fire while the animal roared in pain. With its giant paw it swung at the protruding spear and snapped it in half as if it were made of paper and advanced towards the group. Raven stepped forward and fired an arrow that caught it square in the chest. Still the huge bear came forward. Shannon had drawn her sword along with the rest and stood in defense with Brianna behind her. Shamus was the next one to try his luck and threw his spear at the bear, but it just swatted it aside. Then Hollis and Raven together fire another volley and landed both arrows. One near its heart and the other penetrated roof of its mouth, piercing its brain. This last shot finally stopped the animal, as it fell dead upon the fresh white snow. Shamus and Gilbert worked quickly to skin the animal and handed the meat to the girls for roasting as they had spent all of their firewood that night.

For breakfast the next morning they ate cold roasted bear meat and then buried the rest of the carcass so that any animal following them would find and feed on it instead. It took another two days before they came within a mile of the castle. Here many patrols were about, hunting and keeping watch for anyone who could be the enemy. They waited until dark before attempting to enter the castle. Shamus, being a good friend and more to the princess, noted that he knew of a secret way into the well-guarded fortress, but first they would have to get past all the soldiers that were camped out here on the snow.