D’Argen and Yaling quickly found Thar when they were ready to leave. While Thar opened his mahee to harden the ice right under D’Argen turned with his back to Yaling. With a hop, she jumped on him and wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his hips. He squirmed, adjusted her, flinched from her breath at his ear, then settled with his arms under her thighs.
Usually, D’Argen wrapped his mahee around his companions but they ran on their own beside him. Without a specific destination in mind, he would need to stop on a regular basis and Yaling would need to help orient them. He needed to be as fast as if he was on his own. Vain had once made a record of D’Argen’s top speed. The only things they had found in all of Trace that were faster than him were sound and light. While carrying another, even a Never Born, it was impossible to get even close to his original speed, but at least he would not have to worry if his mahee surrounded every finger on Yaling’s hands.
By carrying her, if they stopped somewhere and broke the ice, D’Argen needed to push them off before they both fell under it. Nobody on this expedition wanted to know if a Never Born could die by drowning.
“Be safe,” Thar said quietly.
D’Argen nodded, grinned, and then made sure he had a firm grip on Yaling as he pushed off. It was not hard enough to make him disappear completely, but it definitely created a crater in the hardened ice.
On their first stop, D’Argen got buried in the ice up to his calves and Yaling lost all the breath in her lungs completely. Both immediately froze when they heard a loud crack under them. They stayed completely still as the ice cracked and groaned before settling into silence. Even then, Yaling was still clinging tightly around D’Argen. Only once his own body calmed did she let go and slide to stand on the ice. They were both slow and careful. Even though Yaling was no longer on his back, D’Argen reached out and kept a hand on her back just in case they had to run again.
“Hear anything?” D’Argen whispered as if his voice could force the ice to break further.
Yaling closed her eyes and released her mahee. D’Argen held his breath again.
“The water under us is loud, the break has stopped, and I hear… I am not sure what it is. I really cannot tell,” she opened her eyes and D’Argen exhaled loudly. “That way,” she pointed.
D’Argen nodded and once the last traces of citrus faded away, Yaling jumped on his back once more and D’Argen ran off again. The ice they had stopped at cracked all the way down to the running water under it but did not break apart.
This time, when he stopped, he tried to be much gentler. He still got buried in ice and snow, but Yaling only grunted in his ear. Unfortunately, he must have chosen a much weaker spot than before because the loud crack under them was followed by many others. Without waiting for Yaling to cling tighter, D’Argen started running again, forcing the break open further until it formed a small hole. This ended up happening a total of four more times until he finally made a sudden stop that was completely quiet. Yaling’s fingers were visible white from where she clung onto her arms tightly around his neck.
They stayed completely still for a moment, waiting for the ice or any other sounds around them, but none came. Yaling slowly lowered herself into the snow, her legs obviously stiff. D’Argen crouched in time with her to keep in contact, and she opened her mahee. Her brow furrowed as if in confusion but D’Argen held his breath and questions.
Once she spoke, he exhaled. “I swear I hear a waterfall.”
“A waterfall?” D’Argen looked around them. As far as D’Argen could see all around him, it was completely flat and empty. And maybe it could have been the dark, but he could not see anything that could indicate a waterfall. Night had fallen completely and though there were a lot fewer of the grey clouds in the sky, those left behind were almost pitch black and regularly crossed the moon, hiding more from their sight. There were no valleys or mountains in sight nor—
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D'Argen stiffened when something flashed before him. It felt like a single hair had fallen in front of one of his eyes. It was not enough to distract, but it was there.
“Do you see something?” he asked.
Yaling faced in the same direction as him and after a long time, she shook her head.
D’Argen let her go and his fingers formed the guiding paths that would help him sharpen his sight. It was enough to reveal a black sky with dark clouds in the distance. That single hair flashed for a moment and disappeared. D’Argen let the spell go and untied his ponytail then retied it tight, pulling all his bangs back into it as well.
“Your waterfall?” D’Argen asked, searching the flat land for a horizon line, let alone a break in it.
Yaling was obviously displeased with his change in subject but said nothing. Instead, she pointed to the east. They would have to turn back soon in order to make it to the others before they broke camp.
After three more similar stops, all of them on solid ice that Yaling said must have been quite thick because the water under it sounded different, they saw something. It was far, too far for them to reach and get back on time together, and D’Argen did not want to leave Yaling alone in the middle of this frozen desert. Even with the spells to sharpen their sight, it only looked like peaks, maybe mountains, but it could have been the clouds blending into the horizon.
“Time to turn back?” Yaling prompted, forcing D’Argen’s eyes to stray away from that bleak sky where he had thought he saw something before. With a sigh, he nodded. The two emptied one of their water skins and then packed it with the snow around them, then Yaling climbed on his back one last time.
D’Argen tried not to shudder when he felt her weight on his back and instead focused on the ice under his feet. They arrived back at the camp just as the sun was rising and breakfast was being had by all.
D’Argen did not bother to try and remember where that patch of ice was. Instead, he aimed for Thar and his cold mahee. He practically crashed into the man, but Thar only opened his mahee and hardened the ice under him even further, preventing any cracks from spreading or anybody falling through. D’Argen grinned and Yaling collapsed to sit on the ground. She breathed slow and deep.
Thar immediately offered Yaling some food and drink while D’Argen skipped off to look for Nocipel and Haur.
“Anything?” Haur asked when D’Argen came upon the two of them.
“Maybe. Not sure. About a week out, it could have been mountains or clouds. Straight to the east, no more north. Yaling heard a waterfall at one point, but we saw nothing of the sort. Otherwise, the ice was quite thin in some places but the further out the thicker it got.”
“Good. Thank you,” Nocipel was the one to answer.
“We go in your direction then and in a few days, you go on another run,” Haur added. “Tell the others to start packing up. An hour and we go.”
D’Argen nodded and left the tent Haur and Nocipel shared. By the time he found Yaling again, she was already bundled up in their party’s tent and wrapped up in the thick furs Lilian had appropriated earlier.
“Will you be good for the walk today?” D’Argen asked as soon as he saw her. She had not looked that bad when they ran earlier.
“Oh yes, do not worry,” Yaling answered with a smile though her face was pale.
Lilian handed her another one of the foul-smelling medicinal drinks, but this one had steam rising from the top of the cup. D’Argen was tempted to ask for some himself but the thought of consuming one of Lilian’s concoctions kept him quiet. Abbot, however, knew him too well because he offered up another cup that was warm and had the sweet smell of honey coming from it. D’Argen drank the heated mead quickly.
Once Haur called for them to get going, D’Argen instructed Yaling to continue sitting while he helped with disassembling tents and packing away their supplies. When everything was packed, Thar started the column again and most walked past Yaling where she was still sitting on the ice resting. Abbot and Lilian waited with her and D’Argen until they were the last in the column and slowly started walking.
The winds were gentle, the sky was free of clouds, and the sun was shining bright on them all. It was a false heat that turned pale skin red even as the cold winds made it sting. The sharp contrast between the bright blue of the sky against the white of the ground blended together in the middle, creating a false horizon in the distance that they walked towards.
The days were cold and long and hurting all of their eyes, the nights were dark and cold and the sky was constantly covered in clouds. Those clouds never stayed for the days though and the entire group was glad not to have to deal with a storm, whether snow or ice or water. They had a direction that they aimed for.
A few days into their walk, the ice under them started cracking. It was soft, gentle, a break under one foot and a crack close to the water further down. It was not until the breaks started connecting, creating a full line from where Thar led the column to the back of the line where Lilian was staring at the sky, that the others noticed. And then they panicked.