When the snow finally settled, Haur was the first to extract himself. Haur’s instinct and the pull of his mahee along with Borianna’s quick thinking had probably saved their lives. Haur had wanted to take a longer break than usual near a tall stone wall and as soon as Borianna realized what was happening, she directed them to hide inside breaks in the rocks and under them. Though they were not unscathed, Haur noticed his entire party was alive.
“What was that?” he asked as soon as he saw Borianna.
“An avalanche,” she answered as she dug at the snow where a single arm was waving around.
With the falling snow, the air seemed to have cleared because Haur could finally see the others. He rushed to Borianna’s side and helped her in extracting one of the mortals where he was covered in snow.
“The others?”
Borianna shrugged and used her hook to break larger pieces of ice and snow away from the man. Once he was free, he climbed out and took giant gulps of air. Haur reached for him with his mahee, letting the scent of honey seep out into the clean air around them. The mixture reminded him too much of the wars, back when he was under Thar’s command in the cold reaches of the mountains fighting the demons.
Now, it allowed him to touch the man’s essence and calm it. It took a few minutes before he was breathing normally again. By that time, Borianna had looked over their last party member and confirmed he had a dislocated shoulder and the beginnings of frostbite on his hand.
“We cannot go on,” Borianna informed them from where she had dropped to sit as well. “We were lucky to find shelter here. We have to turn back.”
“The others. What are their chances?”
“If they found shelter like us, good. If not, we are unlikely to ever find the bodies.”
Haur felt a stabbing at his throat and chest and closed his eyes tight. “We have to try.”
“That is not a good idea,” Borianna said. “If there are any after-falls, we could be next to die.”
“They are not dead!” Haur snapped out. “They cannot be.”
“Look—”
“No!” Haur interrupted. “I would feel it. I know. They are alive.”
“How do you know?” she sounded so skeptical when she asked that he felt it like a burn along his spine.
“Our mahee,” Haur answered. “We are one. If one of us is… badly hurt, very badly, or no longer in this world, we all know. We feel it. And I do not feel anything like that right now.”
Borianna was silent for a long time before she nodded slowly as if agreeing with him, even though her words sounded like a contradiction when she asked, “Is it possible you missed it?”
“No. Impossible. I just… look – imagine like, like there is something around your heart. A rope, a cloth, whatever… when one of us dies, that tightens to the point where the heart can hardly even beat. It is an unbearable pain that cannot be ignored. No matter how strong our individual mahee is, we are still one.”
Borianna looked at him with something that hinted too much at pity, but after a long while she nodded. “The closest party to us was led by Massi.”
“Yaling! She and Abbot were on her team. She can tell us how the others are.”
Without further prompting, their small party got up. Borianna checked their ropes even though the air was clearing, and then set them off in the direction Massi’s party should have been.
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It took them the rest of the day, but they found them.
“You made it!” Yaling was grinning so wide that it looked painful. “I heard it, I told us to walk toward you, but I had to see it!” she sounded like she was holding back tears.
Abbot greeted Haur with a tired tilt of his chin and the mortals all greeted with hugs and handshakes.
“The others?” Haur questioned once everybody had made sure the others were whole and safe. As safe as could be. The other mortal in Massi’s group was limping when Abbot was not supporting him.
Yaling shook her head slowly. “I have not heard anything.”
“Try again,” Haur ordered.
“We have tried,” Abbot spoke quietly. “I have been using my mahee to clear the air, create a light, maybe call to the others like a beacon to regroup. You are the first that Yaling heard.”
“I will try again,” Yaling said quickly. “The wind has calmed and it is quieter now. Maybe…” She shook her head and then closed her eyes. “Hold your breath,” she instructed them.
Yaling concentrated, the citrus scent of her mahee coming out. She furrowed her brow and then suddenly her face relaxed and her eyes snapped open. “I hear something! It sounds like… hitting ice?”
“Jonson’s party was closer to us, so it is probably them,” Borianna seemed to gain a second wind from the information. “You may not hear Vinson’s party because they were furthest out from us.”
“Yes, you are right,” Yaling nodded quickly. “Maybe if we get closer to them, I will hear the others.”
“No. We should go down and regroup—”
“Not without the others,” Haur argued.
Borianna glared at him for a long moment before finally relenting with a stern, “But we have to be careful. The snow will be soft in some places,” she informed then turned to Haur though there was no smile on her lips. She tilted her chin slightly to the side and both she and Haur stepped away from the others.
“She may be hearing the ice settling under us,” Borianna spoke quietly.
“She may,” Haur agreed with a hum. “But it is something.”
With Yaling directing and Borianna choosing their path, the small group slowly trekked through the newly settled snow. Too many times someone slipped and stumbled, but the others were all there to catch them and they continued at a steady pace.
Once the sun started setting, Borianna directed them to a large outcropping of rocks. They walked the rest of the way there under Abbot’s light and then made. As soon as their tents were set up, Yaling put her ear to the rock face and opened her mahee again.
“Nothing,” she said after a long time and the exhales from the others were heavy this time.
“It is night, they may be resting,” Abbot sounded like he was trying to convince himself rather than the others, but Haur nodded first, and the rest followed suit.
“Rest, tomorrow we will continue,” Haur ordered, and they all split into their two tents.
Before she could enter, Haur stopped Borianna with a hand on her arm and said, “Be truthful with me. What could we expect tomorrow?”
Borianna visibly hesitated. “It took us too many hours to get here. If they are trapped and without any supplies, the cold may kill them. We are high enough for climbing sickness to take over - it tears the throat and lungs apart, it feels like drowning and for us, mortals, it is certain death.”
“What is the intervention?”
“A herb, I made sure all of us have it packed. The leaves and stems both, one in hot water the other to be chewed. Both Vinson and Jonson know what to do with it.”
“And without it?”
“A day at most. I’m not sure about your kind. Can you even—never mind. If anybody is injured, then even a day is not enough. Internal injuries would be impossible to treat until we get down and the cold makes the healing for any open wounds much slower, easier for an infection. You’re lucky we only have sprains and dislocations here, otherwise, I would have turned back even against your word.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I still think your friends and mine are both dead.”
“They are not,” Haur repeated with a firm voice. Though something inside him started nagging at him. He chanced a glance at one of the tents where Abbot and Yaling were. He wanted to go to them, to ask them if they felt it, if maybe, somehow, he really had missed their death. But they would have said something. No.
The others were alive.
Haur frowned. They had all known this was a dangerous trip, but it still hurt, and it felt like it was his fault that any of them could be in danger.
“Don’t think about it,” Borianna said after a while. “You have to rest so we can go strong tomorrow. Yaling will guide us, and we will do the same as tonight until we find a secure shelter. But I must warn you… three days at most, two would be preferable. If we find nothing by then, we have to turn back.”
“I understand.” Haur did not feel like eating so he went right back into the tent and laid down. He closed his eyes but did not sleep.
The following morning, Yaling once more opened her mahee to listen. The only sound she heard outside of the regular shifts in the snow was the ice under them shifting and cracking. They continued ahead.
“We should have seen Jonson by now,” one of the mortals spoke quietly. “Unless they went on or joined with Vinson’s party, we should have passed them.”
Nobody responded to that, and their mood dropped.
Then just as suddenly as it dropped Yaling shouted and collapsed to her knees. Abbot joined her in the same breath and Haur felt it almost at the same time.
The mahee.