“We can’t do anything more tonight,” Arik insisted. “If they’re ok, they’ll find their way back.”

“And if they’re injured?” Thea asked.

“He’s right, Thea,” Nyla added with a bit more sympathy. “We can’t be out in the dark yelling for them when we don’t know who or what else will hear us.”

They had been searching for over an hour. The blood wolves had disappeared at the same time as the missing three. The white wall that had plowed down the mountain had left no trace of their passing. The biting wind had let up, and the snow that still fell drifted down in big lazy flakes. Between the trees, the snow, and the night, the search party could barely see ten feet in front of them. Thea knew they were right, the concession a bitter lump in her throat as she let them turn her back towards camp.

The first hint of dark blue was tinting the black sky before they made it back to camp. All three were exhausted from fighting the wind and plodding through the newly drifted snow. Nobody wanted to sleep at the site of the night’s attack, but moving might mean that Math and the others wouldn’t be able to find them, if they were out there.

“We’re no good to anyone if we wander about collapsing in the forest,” Arik said. “You two eat and rest, I’ll watch. Get a couple hours of sleep and we’ll go back and search again.”

Nyla set to work trying to coax the few remaining embers back into a flame, while Thea rummaged through the tent for something for the three of them to nibble on to regain a little strength. She emerged with a few dry biscuits and saw that Nyla had built the fire up quickly. The tough Sidhe woman added a few small logs for good measure and set a some mugs of snow nearby to melt into drinking water. They ate quickly, the women crawling into the tent and climbing into their bedrolls as soon as they were finished. Thea was asleep before she pulled her blanket up to her shoulders.

She slept fitfully, dreams flitting from howling creatures with bloody jaws to suffocation under mountains of snow to creeping underground horrors clawing up from the earth beneath her. She woke feeling bruised and anxious and as exhausted as if she’d never slept at all. Beside her, Arik was climbing out of his bedroll. They must have traded watch while Thea slept.

“What time is it?” she asked, clambering out of her blankets despite her fatigue.

“A bit before noon, I’d say,” Arik replied.

Thea paused and stared at him, mouth open, not sure she had heard right.

“What?” she shouted, anger quickly clearing the rest of her weariness away. “We should be looking! They could be trapped or hurt!”

“Take it easy,” the big man said. He gave her a tired smile that didn’t cover the fatigue in his eyes. “We’ve been out looking all morning. Nyla caught an hour of sleep, then her and I took turns. She got back about an hour ago, so I took an hour myself.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“I’m sorry,” Thea said. “Thank you. You must be exhausted.”

“It’s nothing. A person can go without sleep for a day now and then, with no harm done.”

“Any sign at all?” she asked.

Arik shook his head. “We’ll give it one more day. After that, they’ve either found their way clear or there won’t be much more we can do.”

“I’ll go out now,” she said, wrapping her thick cloak around her shoulders.

“I’ll go back out with you. Grab a couple biscuits, we’ll eat while we walk.”

Thea nodded her appreciation. Even this much effort on their part may very well be just their way of humoring her. Regardless, she was grateful for their efforts. She pushed aside the tent flap and stepped out into the snowy day, Arik right behind her.

The blanket of snow that smothered the world outside the tent lent a quiet calm to the morning. The chaos of the night before was hidden under a deep layer of pristine powder that dampened sound and nipped crisply at Thea’s cheeks. Arik’s fresh footprints leading back to the camp, and nearly covered footprints where he left hours before, were all that broke the uniform whiteness. The snowfall covered everything, including any sign of – or track from – the struggle the night before.

Thea looked around, lost and unsure where to start. Without any sign, she had no way to pick up a trail. She stood for a moment, just looking at the snowy landscape, and just before she let despair make its way into her heart she chose a direction.

Keeping the Wall to her right, she did her best to retrace the memory of her path through the confused memory of last night’s attack. The snow was deep enough to reach her knees and made every stride heavy. Arik followed just behind her left shoulder, not letting any sign of fatigue show on his face or in his walk as he plowed his own path through the powdery silence. She knew he was only there for her benefit, and she also knew that he would push his way through the snow for as long as she did.

As she walked, she mindlessly finished the biscuits without even realizing she was eating. Only when she had to brush the last crumbs from her hands did she even notice she had taken a quick snack. After that, she didn’t even have food to occupy her mind. The walk was more a meditation than a search. She knew her friends likely did not survive and were hidden somewhere under the smooth expanse of snow. But she had to take the walk, had to let the thought settle into her mind. An hour into the trek, she felt the reality of her emotion finally forcing its way through the numbness of her awareness. When she felt the first tear leave a cold biting trail down her cheek, she stopped walking. Arik stopped when she did. He stood silent behind her, letting her process. Finally, she turned back, and only then did he rest a hand on her shoulder.

“If they’re safe, we’ll find them,” he said.

“If they’re safe.” She couldn’t meet his eyes. She began the trudge through the snow back to camp, the trail at least a little easier for having been somewhat cleared by their walk out. “And if they’re not, we’ll never really know, will we?”

“We’ll know,” Arik replied. “But we’ll find them. Let’s sit and eat and think on what to do next.”

Thea nodded. The walk back was less of a meditation than her mind in shock, trying to grasp her loss. The tears stopped and left her with just a numbness and inability to think about what to do next.

Nyla had the fire still going when she returned, a small area cleared to sit on blankets laid over a fallen tree. Thea and Arik sat, and Nyla handed Thea a skin of water. Thea took a few swallows and passed it to Arik. With the sun higher in the sky, the morning stillness of a new heavy snow was fading. A cold breeze occasionally stirred the branches and snow, and the sounds of a forest were more alive.

The two let Thea sit with her thoughts, knowing there was nothing more to say, until Thea herself finally broke the silence.

“So we continue on. It’s on us to get the key now, right?”

“It is. Nothing left to do but finish for them,” Arik replied.

“Mmm,” Nyla nodded, a grunt of agreement.

“So, where to then?” Thea asked.