Wattel woke with a start, due in part to the excruciating pain in his right leg and hip, but also due to the thump on the back of his head. As he lay there taking stock of how he felt, he realized the pounding n the back of his head was from the rock his travois had just been dragged over.

“He’s awake, Unca Andelt”.

“No, I’m not. I’m dead and this is my punishment for a misspent childhood”.

“Welcome back, sunshine. Astaria, can you take a look please? We’ll stop here and I’ll setup camp.”

Astaria dismounts and hurries over to the makeshift stretcher, checking on his splint and then taking a close look at the bandage on his thigh.

“You scared the life out of us, Wattel! I know the pain is pretty bad, but other than that, how are you feeling”?

“I guess, I’m ok. What happened? The last thing I remember is Hendelt pulled me up toward the river bank”.

“You don’t remember getting hit by the tree? It pounded into your leg and almost pulled you downstream. I’m glad Hendelt anchored the rope first or you would have been swept away and unceremonious tossed over Forever Falls.”

“OWWW”

“Sorry, I need to look at the splint to make sure the hip is still aligned. You didn’t break your leg, but you did dislocate your hip and you have a nasty gash in your thigh. Hendelt reset your hip and I used my best thread to sew you up. We didn’t bring anything to help with your pain. I’m sorry”

“Glacia, could you go over to my horse, and in the saddle bags on the other side, you will find a bottle. Would you bring it to me please”?

“Sure, Wattel, I can do that. Be right back”.

Glacia scurried over to Wattel’s horse and quickly found the bottle he was referring to.

“Is this it? Glacia asked, handing him the bottle.

“Ahhh, yes, that’s it. Thank you.”

Wattel uncorked the bottle and lifting it to his lips, took as big a swallow as he could.

“No need to worry about the pain, Astaria. I’ve got my own medicine.”

“What is that?”

“Pain reliever from Barden’s private reserves. Blackberry brandy”.

“Oh my goodness, I’ll bet he will be livid when he finds a bottle missing. I know how much he values that brandy.”

“Do you think he’ll be any madder, when he finds three bottles missing?”

After hobbling the horses, Hendelt approached the prone figure and Astaria takes the kids and begins preparing supper.

“Wattel, You dead yet”?

“I’ll be fine, after a few more swallows of this. I’ll be back on my horse in no time. Your quick thinking save my life. Thank you”.

“Think nothing of it, old friend, I’m sure you will do the same for me one day.”

“Count on it. So, where we headed”?

“After I dragged you in, we had to head for higher ground fast. The water overflowed the bank and was starting to erode the slope pretty fast. Astaria wrapped your wound and I tossed you on your mount and we headed uphill as fast as we could. Glacia spotted a trail that lead up the slope of the mountain. Once we were high enough up, we stopped for lunch and took care of your leg and hip. That was yesterday.”

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Wattel uncorks the bottle and takes another large swallow. All of his muscles begin to go slack as the liquid does what it does best.

“You’ll be on your back for at least a couple more days, and since the trail appears to be easy going, I though we would just stay on the trail and see where it leads”.

“ZZZZZZZZ.”

Hendalt takes the bottle from his friends limp hand and returns the cork into the neck.

“I think I will let Astaria administer the next dose of pain killer.” Walking over to Wattel’s horse, he mutters to himself “Now where are those other bottles”?

Wattel had woke only once during the night and after Astaria made him him eat his cold supper, allowed him another swallow of the brandy and watched him settle back into sleep.

Hendalt and the kids were up with the dawn, and quietly prepared a breakfast of fruit and bannock, letting Astaria and Wattle sleep.

He didn’t rouse them until everything was packed and ready for the day.

When the sun finally creeps over the side of the mountain, the Wheeler family has made good time climbing the slope of Glacia’s trail.

The frost that was present when they began their morning, had turned into a light fog that just seem to seep into their bones.

Still surrounded by trees, they can now see an open meadow ahead of them and are looking forward to the warming of the morning sun.

Stepping into the light, they are met with the sweet smell of heather running off to the right, up the slope of the mountain. They could see the crest of the hill they have been climbing just few hundred feet in front of them and behind that, the looming peak of Ice Mountain.

As each traveller emerges from the trees, they stopped to take a deep breath, smell the heather and feel the warmth of the sun. This seemed to invigorate them and cast off the gloom of the forest.

Glacia lept down and began running through the flowers, laughing as she went.

“Let me down Mamma, I want to see the flowers too.”

“This looks as good a place as any for lunch. Glacia, stay close, we don’t know what may be prowling in this area.”

“Yes, mamma”, Glacia replied.

After their dried meat, cheese and fresh pear’s were consumed, the party resumed it’s trek with Handelt scouting ahead. As he crested the hill, the sight before him was one he would never have conceived of.

The gentle rise up, became a treacherous track down, with hills and valleys scattered as far as he could see. The trail they followed could be seen for miles, but began by turning uphill toward the peak before cutting down a steep slope to the west.

Right at the point in the path where it turned downhill, there was a bright flash of light as if the sun was reflecting off a pool of water.

“This will make things a bit tricky for the little ones, let alone Wattel”, he mused. “we’ll have to spend a day or two by that lake before Wattel will be able to ride down those hills.”

“Well, isn’t that interesting”, Asteria exclaimed as she can close enough to see.

“What is it?” Wattel asked as he lifted himself and tried to twist around for a look.

“You don’t want to know”, chuckled Handelt, “You don’t want to know”.

After staring at the terrain before them, trying to take in all that they could see, Handelt declared: “Sitting here isn’t getting us any closer to finding the answer to the storm in my head, let’s go.”

The passage uphill was quite a bit steeper than they had been traveling so far, but not so much that it would be dangerous. The visage of the path following the turn in what now was more akin to a road than a path, would be a much larger ordeal and may require that they walk the horses and tether together in many places.

“Any idea how this road came to be”, asked Asteria. “it looks like it’s been here for some time.”

“I don’t think it’s been used in a very long time”, replied Handelt. I can’t imagine why anyone would build a road to the mountain, let alone follow the meandering path it has taken. Maybe the hills and valleys have formed after the roadway was last used.”

“If that’s the case, I would expect the roadway is a lot more uneven that we are seeing from this vantage. There may be sheer drop-offs we can’t see from here” offered Wattel.

“I do hope you’re wrong”, sighed Asteria

A couple hours of riding found them at the turn in the road, but the water they had seen reflecting at first sight, did not appear to be here. There was naught but a small level grass area, barely large enough for their campsite, nicely surrounded by a row of pine trees.

As Handelt began the camp setup, Wattel sat back and stated the obvious: “Since there is no pond or creek here, we’ll have to rely on our water skins for a while. I don’t see any place to re-supply before we reach bottom. Everyone will have to use it sparingly”.

“You just making sure we all understand why you can’t do any dishes, Wattel?”

“Yes, Ma’am, I would hate to think anyone thought I wasn’t at lest trying to pull my own weight. Even in my condition, I would still be able to do dishes, …if we had the water for it.”

“I’m so glad you feel that way. Have you ever heard of dry washing?”

“Dry washing? You’re just making that up.”

“It’s a real thing; you use sand to clean the dishes and I see plenty of sand around here.”

“Hrmmph.”

“It’s ok, Waddle, I’ll help you.”

“Thanks, Antin.”

Asteria and Glacia set about getting supper ready, while Antin gathered sand for Wattel and Handelt hobble the horses and brushed them down.

After a good meal and the dishes were done, Wattel inquired about his medicine and they all settled in for the night.