Once they figured out how to handle the Trolls, the wandering fangs quickly refined their approach, making short work of the beasts—or at least as short as possible when trying to bludgeon a stone monster to death.

They were lucky these things didn’t have the regeneration abilities Emily was familiar with from her world—or at least from the stories she’d heard.

Instead, whenever they came across another group of trolls, they would maneuver around them and slowly wear them down. The beasts never seemed to learn from their mistakes and as luck would have it, they mostly stayed in smaller groups.

Atticus had been at the front and he had pointed out that the closer to the bottom of the ravine they traveled the more of these creatures they found.

After that, it became an easy task to move up higher on either side.

Over the last few days, Emily had grown accustomed to the slightly warmer weather; however, it wasn't meant to last. As they ascended, she could feel the weather turning for the worse once more.

Only this time there was no escape from it.

The weather around the mountains wasn’t particularly snowy; in fact, it was more damp than anything else, leaving patches of stone slick with ice.

The higher they climbed, the more apparent this became.

Mist rolled in around them in the late hours of the afternoon, though it wasn’t too thick it made for an interesting landscape.

With the clouds brewing overhead and the mist filling the ravine below them, it gave a strange sense of movement to the mountains, as though they were floating through the clouds. Emily knew it was just an illusion, but to her, it felt like the ground was shifting beneath her.

Alex had pulled Mist up beside Cupcake.

"You guys might want to bundle up tight soon. We’re almost guaranteed to see rain," he said as he glanced up at the dark clouds

Tehila cocked her head.

“What do you mean Alexander? I was under the impression that these mountain ranges were incredibly cold.”

Alex nodded.

“Oh, they are. In fact, they’re so cold that the water up here actually struggles to freeze. But as we go further in, the hot winds from the burning dunes will start to reach this area. I read that this mixture of air causes the heavy rainfall here.”

Emily glanced up at the thickening storm clouds, which ushered in a sense of foreboding. Every rumble of thunder on the horizon was a warning to keep their distance."

Emily squinted at the skyline to see if she could spot an end to the mountain range and yet nothing but sharp stalagmite mounds stretched out for as far as the eye could see.

The forest had shrunk behind them and it wouldn’t be long till it disappeared behind them completely.

Cupcake currently made her way to one of the mountain ledges as they all continued to traverse the narrow path.

“We’ll know we’re halfway when we get to the lakes,” Alex said pointing off into the distance.

Emily hadn’t seen these so-called lakes but apparently, they would reach them after the first week. This meant if they were lucky they would make it through the mountains in two, but they couldn’t be certain of anything here.

Alex broke away to join Atticus soon after, but Emily kept Cupcake near the front just in case.

Emily had been listening to Tehila’s latest heartwarming song when the first water-laden clouds began to spill their tears over the land.

Emily jolted when an icy droplet numbed her cheek as the supercooled water sapped the heat from her body.

Once it began, the clouds refused to let up, as streams of rain fell from the skies in sheets.

Not expecting this Emily tightened her layers to prevent the water from seeping in and yet it did little to help.

Pretty soon Emily was shivering and Tehila had huddled closer for warmth but the rain was unceasing.

Emily wasn’t even sure how team four was leading them in this downpour, unfortunately, there was nothing for it but to keep going.

So, pulling out her broach, Emily tied it to her chest and hoped that it could push back the cold trying to seep into her boots.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Glancing around she saw everyone had their own way of fighting the water. Kael seemed to be having the easiest time, as the water never even touched him. It was either his new breastplate or the fact that he had blue source.

The people with blue and red bridges probably had the easiest time as they could directly fight back the cold, while yellow and green struggled to keep the rain off them.

Beth drew her bow and wrapped herself in a current of air but wasn’t perfect and some raindrops still got through. Gerade had whipped his bolas and created a thin sheet of rock to shield the pups, but it only helped so much when the turbulent wind changed the direction of the rain so swiftly.

Eventually, the situation got so bad that Kael had to call for them to stop and gather up. If they continued to press on there was a chance they could lose one another in this hellscape.

Tehila had to shout over the sound of thunder and rain as she moved her mouth to Emily's ear.

“What are they doing?” she shouted in a level tone.

Emily followed where she was pointing and saw Ashe and Nox getting off the backs of their respective mounts.

Ashe pressed her hands into the rock, and with a gesture, a small awning jutted out from the mountainside. Nox moved under it and, using his magic, brought out a stone slab. He began making hand gestures over it, and there was a brief humming noise, followed by what looked like a wave of force exploding out of the slab. Only, instead of pushing anyone back—which would be a disaster up here—it simply hedged out the rain and wind. Emily's eyes widened as the world quieted, and she watched a large bubble briefly illuminate the air before fading, while the freezing rain pattered against the roof of the dome.

They had set up a ward to keep the rain off them.

One of the biggest downsides of wards was their inability to be moved. The magic’s at play worked far better when they remained stationary, but this one seemed to go against that fact.

“Alright everyone, we’ll camp here tonight. You have permission to use the rooka wood, but make sure to limit it to three fires. Eat, rest, and dry off, we move again in the early hours.”

Emily glanced up at the clouds, but the heavy greys were so dense it was hard to see the light above.

By the the light flickering behind them it was already early evening, but Emily couldn't help staring out at the scene beyond the screen. If they didn't have this ward they could have easily lost people tonight to the cold.

Rooka wood turned out to be an extremely long-burning wood that produced a lot of heat. As it was, a single log could burn for over nine hours on its own and it produced a lot of heat while doing so. Smiths that could afford it would use it in their forges, but a single log cost close to an oval so it was used sparingly.

Dismounting just in time, Emily watched Cupcake shake off her coat, sending water splashing onto Tehila, who shrieked in surprise.

People were starting to light the fires but Emily was more interested in the slab, going over to see if she could make out the ward it used.

It turned out that this particular slab was an enchanted item in the shape of a pentagram and about twenty centimeters thick. The runes on it were nothing impressive, Emily even recognized some of the engraved shapes, but it was still a decently expensive item.

“Hey Ashe,” Emily said as she sat down next to the woman. Ashe looked haggard and water still dripped from her hair as she rested, a knowing smile appearing on her face.

“Hey Emily, I’m guessing you’ve come to look at the ward. Be my guest, just don’t touch the slab, it has to have an uninterrupted supply of source.”

Emily noticed that Nox was still beside the slab as well. His eyes were closed and his hand rested on it, probably what was keeping the water screen up.

Emily nodded and did exactly that as the rest of the wandering fangs set up camp. She could see the ward and it was fairly easy to replicate but she drew it on the little chalkboard Alex had given her just to be sure.

It was a good thing they had this item because drawing chalk in a downpour like this was probably impossible.

Hell, that was probably the very reason they had it.

Just as Emily was finishing up the last touches to her ward she looked up to see Alex sitting near one of the fires. He was talking to Svent, the two of them locked in conversion, but that was not what caught Emily's attention. It was the group of men who were watching Alex that caused Emily to sit straighter.

Marth sat by the farthest fire, speaking to the men around him, his gaze dark and unreadable.

Team two had monopolized one of the three fires, but it was too far to make out what they were saying.

If only she knew how to read lips as he and Oscar looked like they were mulling something over.

Emily narrowed her eyes, preparing to go investigate, but Gerade’s voice pulled her away.

“Emily! Help me with the wolves or we’ll be smelling wet dog for the rest of our journey!”

Emily frowned when she noticed Marth look up from Oscar and lock eyes with her. His eyes soured and he narrowed his gaze as he got up and walked away.

Emily pursed her lips and glanced at Kael, seeing the man currently talking to Atticus and Selia. She scratched the back of her head and shook herself before heading over to Gerade.

When she got there, she did helped unsaddle the Rime wolves, but pretty soon she was grabbing a plate of food.

By the time she looked over to team two again, Marth was nowhere to be seen. Oscar was there but when he felt her eyes on him he glanced up and just rolled his eyes at her.

Emily continued to eat, but something didn’t feel right.

So getting up she moved over to where Alex was sharpening his blade on a whetstone, but when she came over he lowered it.

"Yo, you might want to keep an eye on Marth," she said quietly as she sat down next to him. “He’s been acting weird ever since the tomb. He might just be sour about me getting the artifact, but I also noticed him staring at you. It was super stalker-like”

Alex’s brow lowered and he glanced about the area in search of the man, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Keeping his voice low, Alex spoke with a tone of certainty.

“I’ll keep an eye on him, but I know him. He shouldn’t make a move unless he’s certain he will come out on top.”

Emily looked over to the distant fire and back to Alex.

“You have to be joking. That man looks like he twirls mustaches unironically.”

Alex pressed his lips together as he squinted at her analogy.

“Arg, you get what I mean right? He’s acting way too suspicious.” Emily sighed

Alex shook his head again.

“Trust me, Emily, he wouldn’t make a move, at least while Kael is still around. Their strengths are too far removed, he would not take that risk.”

Emily sighed as she let it go. The guy had seen the future after all. If he said it was okay then she’d just keep one eye on him instead of two.

Blood points: 197