“So poetic,” said Kol.
“Stop,” I said.
“So moving,” said Kelser.
“I’m going to get mad,” I said.
“I think I’m going to cry,” said the princess, with a fake sniffle.”
“Me too,” said the red haired young man.
“Okay, that’s it, no food for you!” I said.
“Wait, no, I really meant it!” said Kol, quickly.
“Yeah, it’s so well written, it’ll be remembered forever!” said Kelser, fighting the urge to laugh.
“You know, there were some fruits in the valley back there that I picked with magic hands, secretly,” I said as I brought out a nice, big, juicy red fruit. “I was going to share it with you guys. As a gift to celebrate reaching this important milestone, but now…” I bit into the fruit. “I think I’m gonna have it all myself.”
“No fair!” said Kol as she tried to grab the fruit but was raised into the air by magic hands.
“Jokes on you!” said Kelser as he reached into his pack. “I saw them and grabbed one too!” His eyes went wide. He reached both hands into his pack and rummaged inside, then shot me a glare.
I took another fruit out of my pack and bit into it too. Then, I made Kelser hand in the air, upside down. “That’s what you get for being a philistine. I’ll remember to give you lectures on art and poetry the rest of the way there.” I looked over to the subject of our little spat. It was the large stone marker that I had left up here in the North.
“To have climbed the giant’s foot, only to come upon the leg, is the folly of the ant. To have climbed the mountains, only to find that they were hills, is the folly of the explorer – Caspian Holm,” it said.
I wouldn’t say it was profound in any way, but it wasn’t meant to be that deep. I panned my gaze to the other side, where horribly tall mountains rested, straddling the earth and the sky. They made the ones we’d just crossed look like dwarfs in comparison. All I’d wanted to do was share my feelings with anyone who might come across them in the future. Anyway, I finished off all the fruit despite the protests of my struggling, floating companions, even brushing aside a few of their spells, and let them fall on their faces. I threw away the seeds and told them to keep up.
These mountains were taller than the ones in the range the humans called the ‘roof of the world,’ which made me wonder what kind of name they should have. The roof of the roof of the world? Maybe they should rename the other range to something else, instead. Like the second floor of the world, so this one could be the roof.
Pushing aside my idle thoughts, I made the princess float in the air again. Kol was still grumbling about the fruit, but at least she’d stopped making fun of my little inscription. I conjured up a ball of air around her head, which surprised her so much she shut her mouth. Kelser asked what that was for and I told him the air up here was going to be so thin, all of us had to use magic to help us breathe. Kelser conjured up his own ball of air as he began casting magic on himself. I cast magic on myself as well, while attaching a magic hand between us just in case either of us lost our footing.
“We don’t want to go up too high if we can help it,” I said. “And keep your eye out for any passes or valleys, really anything that’ll help us get over these mountains more easily.”
“Got it,” he said. “Also, sorry about making fun of those words back there. Looking at these guys up close, I sort of get what you meant.”
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I raised an eyebrow. “Wow, wasn’t expecting that kind of maturity from you. Apology accepted!”
Kelser nodded his head. “You should definitely just write mountains big, me scared, next time, though.”
I threw a volley of snowballs at him.
---
“Sorry, Cas,” said Kelser between gasping breaths.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, also breathing heavily.
“Now I’m glad I was up here from the start,” said Kol.
“Yeah, it’s really nice up here,” said Kelser, “if it wasn’t for the burning feeling in my chest and the blood dripping off my knee.”
“I’ve already bandaged your knee,” I said as I took another step down the mountain.
“Oh,” said Kelser, “then I guess I wish I could feel my knee.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll feel better after some rest at a lower altitude,” I said as I jumped over a crevasse. These mountains were littered with them, and a lot were hidden by snow or thin layers of dirt and gravel. Kelser had accidentally stepped on one, even though I’d told him to always check his footholds with air magic or magic hands before committing to them. Worse still, he’d jumped on it while jumping over another crevasse, so the poor guy would’ve fallen to his death, his head bashing against sharp rocks and icy formations, if I hadn’t pulled him up immediately with the magic hand I’d tied on him before. He’d still managed to get a gash on his knee and hurt his chest, but at least he’d survived.
The impossibly tall mountains had been even more dangerous and difficult to cross than I’d thought they’d be. Worse still, there was absolutely no food up here and the mountains were packed so tightly together, there were hardly any valleys or ravines that could have bits of life in them. Whenever we found one, we usually stayed for a full day just to eat up and replenish our supplies. Right now, I’d spotted a lush looking valley right underneath this mountain, so I was rushing down as fast as I could while carrying both Kelser and Kol with magic hands.
These past few days had taken a big toll on Kelser’s stamina, so it wasn’t too surprising that he messed up that way. Still, I decided to give him a good scolding once he was warm and well-rested, so he wouldn’t try to push himself so far without telling me in the future.
We finally reached the valley and I set up a small, makeshift shelter. I dropped Kelser into the shelter and lit a fire next to it, powered by some wood from the few trees that happened to grow up here. I dropped Kol right next to an enraged monster that was mad at us for invading its territory, and the demon princess nearly panicked. I sat down on the ground and watched the monster chase the demon princess around for a little bit, until she finally realized I wasn’t going to help her, and darted behind a tree. The monster circled around the tree, only to find a burst of fire. As the monster reeled, Kol hit it on the head with a pile of rocks, before pushing it on its back with wind and pouring water into its nose. The monster rolled on the ground and coughed because of the water. By the time it opened its eyes, it saw the large floating rock that Kol had barely managed to throw into the air above its head, and it rolled out of the way.
Their fight dragged on for a few minutes, until the monster got too close to me. For some reason, it decided to charge at me instead of dealing with Kol, at which point I grabbed it by its hind legs, lifted it into the air like a doll, and threw it back at the smirking demon princess. Kol’s eyes widened as she jumped out of the way of the monster. The monster, dazed but still alive, fell at Kol’s feet, and the princess grumbled as she finished it off.
“Why did you do that!” asked Kol.
“You should contribute to the team by hunting dinner,” I told her. “Why’d you bring it towards me?”
“I didn’t, it ran that way on its own!” she insisted.
I shook my head. “Whatever.” I threw a knife at her feet. “Get skinning.”
The princess frowned but grabbed the knife anyway. The sheltered, pampered princess got her hands dirty preparing the monster. She’d learned these skills at my insistence back at the city, although she’d thrown up the first dozen times she’d had to do it.
I turned my attention to Kelser, whose wounds were quickly washed, before being disinfected with some of the alcohol I’d brought along for exactly this purpose. After warming him up with some fire, feeding him with the meat the princess had just brought along, and giving him a nice, long rest, I wrapped his knee up, tightly, and lifted him up with my magic again. The princess also started floating, and we continued traveling off the edge of the map.