Despite what she hoped, the group of students following them did not disperse. They lingered awkwardly, even sitting and trying to appear nonchalant, until Tori and her group put their things away and got up. Sonia let out a disgusted grunt as they started walking, only to be followed.
To make it worse, the further they walked, the more the other students began to complain loud enough for Tori and her group to hear.
“We’re going too far!”
“This is such a waste of time. We should just cross here.”
“The river is getting wider the further we go!”
“How long is this going to take?”
Tori kept her eyes forward, resisting the urge to turn around and scream ‘then cross the fucking river; I’m not stopping you’. However, while everyone else was paying attention to the distance or her leading the way, she kept looking over at the river through the treeline, trying to assess its speed and strength.
Twice, she saw something brown floating down the river and smashing against rocks; lost bags from upstream. She pursed her lips and kept her sighting to herself so as not to alarm everyone. She could only hope that whoever lost them was all right and that maybe one of those bags was the lost one with the rations that belonged to Alessa’s group.
She tried not to dwell on what she’d seen. There was even a chance she’d seen wrong at that distance. Her brother and his juniors never mentioned anyone dying during an excursion. She tried not to let the thought stop her from at least trying to enjoy the overall majesty of the forest. It had towering trees, verdant fields, and the backdrop of granite mountains on either side. If they didn’t have a time restriction, and weren’t stalked by an entire class of people, this would’ve been very relaxing.
Ilyana sighed behind her. “It would be nice to come back in the summer when it’s warmer and watch the stars.”
“Tori, is your uncle coming back again this summer?” Ewan asked, looking over the tops of his friend’s heads to peer at her at the head of the line.
“He says he comes every summer, but I don’t know when,” Tori said.
“He’s not coming for fun, Ewan,” JP said. “He comes to pick medicinal plants and do some studies on them.”
“I can help,” Ewan said. “I filled up a whole jar of the guijava yesterday and I was the one who first spotted the curcumin and sarata.”
“And we’re very impressed that you were able to find them amongst all the dense foliage,” Tori said. “But Uncle does come to do work. If you tag along, you’ll likely end up watching Marco and Mateo.”
“Well...they’re fun, too. Are you interested in going, Ilyana?” Ewan asked.
“I want to, but summer break is long enough for me to travel home and back and spend a decent amount of time there.” She sighed once more, but this time sounding helpless. “It takes almost a month each way.”
“Then what are you going to do for winter break?” Sonia asked. “It’s only a month long; you can’t even make it there and back in that time.”
“And the dorms are closed for winter break.” Tori knit her brows together. Should she invite Ilyana to Presidio? Her mother would be pleased to know she made a friend.
“I’m staying in Horizon. My father has already arranged a room at an inn not far from campus,” Ilyana told them.
“If you want something to do while you’re here, we can always use an extra set of hands at the merchant’s guild during that time. There are a lot of records that need to be copied and filed,” Henrik told her. “It’ll be a good experience for you to get used to seeing and handling business paperwork, as well.”
“That sounds so boring, Henrik,” Sonia said with a snort. “Ilyana, you should come by my and JP’s house. Our house has an extra room and we’re by the Imperial Stables. I can give you lessons.”
Ilyana’s face lit up. “Thank you, Sonia...I’ve actually never ridden a horse before.”
Tori jutted her lip out. She wanted to take lessons, too...instead she had to take a weeklong, motion sickness-inducing trip back home. She sighed heavily. “Looks like this forced bonding excursion wasn’t for naught. I’m kind of envious. You all get to see each other over winter break.”
Ilyana jogged forward to catch up with her. “You can stay, too!”
She shook her head. “I can’t. My family is expecting me back. I’m going with Auntie Lucia’s family and then my eldest brother will drop me off after the new year, since he has to come back for work.”
“That’s disappointing,” Ewan said. “I was hoping we could get in some training over the break.”
“You have five brothers and sisters to train with,” Henrik told him. “And your dad.”
“Dad has duty at the palace and I’m pretty sure Tori can beat most of my siblings.”
“You’re giving me too much credit.” Tori waved her free hand dismissively. She squinted and began to get closer to the river. “Do you see what I see?”
“I see...the river opening out into a lake?” Ewan asked.
“The river is opening up.” Henrik rustled through his satchel and pulled out the map. He looked from it to the scenery in front of him and grinned. “That should be it.” Tori bounced off the path, energized with reaching an important landmark.
She carefully went down the dirt slope towards the riverbank. The space between the water and the dirt was far wider than it had been upstream. In the spring, the water reached further up, closer to the dirt and trees after the glacier ice began to melt, but in the fall, the river had receded significantly.
“It’s quite a ways to the other side,” Ilyana said.
“Yeah....” Tori looked around and found another stick. She rushed towards the river’s edge and chucked the stick into the water. It made a dull splash and wasn’t submerged completely. It floated at once and began a slow ride down the river. “But the current is slow here,” she said with a smile. “Look at the surface. It’s much smoother.”
She lifted her hands and began to unbuckle her chest and waist strap. She knelt beside her bag and fished out the leather sandals in one of the pockets before sitting down and taking off her boots. She peeled off her socks and stuffed them in her boots before hooking their buckles onto one of the bag straps.
Seeing her move, the rest of her group began to follow. “How long do you think it will take us to cross?”
“To be honest, not too long,” Tori said as she stood up. “You all stay here. I’m going to test out the depth.”
“Alone?” Ewan frowned.
“It’ll be fine. The current is slow enough that if I slip and fall, I won’t be overwhelmed. Plus, it feeds into a lake. I can swim to shore once I’m out of the current,” she said. “Watch my bag. In case it’s deeper and faster than I think, I don’t want to drop it.”
“Do you want me to carry it over when you’re across?” Ewan asked.
“No, I’ll come back. Go ahead and put on your sandals and hang your boots securely on the top strap of your rucksack and be ready to cross when I come back.” She walked towards the edge of the river. The water lapped at the small, smooth stones gently and Tori put her hiking pole in ahead of her.
Once it was secure, she stepped in. A hiss left her and behind her, her group shot up with panic.
“Tori!
“It’s cold!” She gritted her teeth and moved forward, not wanting to dwell on the cold temperature of the water. It was like a cold pool; just dive in and get it over with. She still took her time crossing at a slight angle upstream. Before she took a step, she made sure to put her hiking pole down and that it was secure.
At the midway point, she began to smile. The water was just a bit above her ankles. Still cold and the current was a bit faster in the center, but it wouldn’t sweep her away unless she lost her balance. Even then, she was quite sure that as long as she didn’t fight the water, she would just sink and sit there until she pulled herself up.
As she reached the other side of the river, she turned around to the sound of her group cheering. Tori then began her wading back, a bit faster now that she was used to the rhythm. JP handed her rucksack back to her and Tori put it on.
“Don’t buckle your chest and waist straps of your bag. If you fall, get rid of the bag. I don’t care what’s in it. The bag will drag you down. You are more important than the bag, okay?”
“Okay!” they chorused. She could feel the slight tension over them and smiled.
“Relax. The deepest part was just above my ankle. If you fall back, let go of your bag and just sit there. Don’t fight the current. I’ll come back to help you up. You’ll be fine,” she said with a reassuring smile.
“Do we follow behind you?” Henrik asked. She saw him squeeze his hiking pole as he glanced anxiously at the water.
“Yes. Try to step in the areas I step. Remember to always keep two points of contact to the ground and do not attempt to move forward until you are steady. We’re not going fast. Just follow my lead,” Tori told them as they filed in a line behind her. “Okay, hiking pole first. Secure it. Step forward and steady yourself. Then hiking pole. Secure. Step and steady.”
She kept her voice over the sound of the water as they began across, moving in the same upstream angle as her first crossing. Tori tried to keep her beat steady; chanting: pole, secure, step and steady in even cadence. The sloshing of their feet in the cold water sounded and with every step, Tori listened for any sound of splashing or struggle.
Once or twice, someone faltered and Tori stopped, turning her head to see who was struggling. Ilyana had managed to grab on to her hiking pole to steady herself and JP managed to keep steady when Sonia slipped back and fell back against him.
“Are you all right back there?” Tori called out.
“I’m fine! The rocks are slippery!”
“I know; imagine if you were crossing barefoot!”
They reached the other end and Ewan let out a loud cry of excitement. Tori laughed and told them to take a moment to rest and dry their feet.
“Can we put our boots back on?” Ilyana asked.
“Yes. Go ahead and hang your sandals on a strap; the canvas is waxed and won’t get the contents wet. Dry your feet thoroughly before putting your socks and boots on,” Tori told them. She put her bag on the ground, closer to the shore. She bent down to unbuckle her shoes from the rucksack when she heard a scream and a splash. She whirled around and saw one of the girls in the other group in the river.
She was on her back and her bag was being dragged by the current. It was slow, but she was faltering and the people with her could barely keep themselves standing up straight. The remaining groups on the shore seemed hesitant once they saw the other group in trouble.
Tori and her group made it look easy, but this part of the river was almost three times as wide as the northernmost point. She swallowed hard as she watched the girl struggling to stand, only to continue to slip in panic. She winced, thinking of the hard river stones at the bottom.
“Tori?” Ilyana asked from the ground, where she was running a small towel over her feet. “Are you okay?”
Tori closed her eyes. She didn’t want to. She really didn’t want to. “Dammit.” She put her boots down and headed back to the river. She could not, in good conscience, leave those children to flop around in the cold river water, especially considering that their clothes would not dry before sunset and they could get seriously sick.
Her cousin always told her she was too nice. She wasn’t. She could be just as terrible a human being as anyone else. It was just that she didn’t want any lingering guilt or regret. If those students got sick enough to cause long-term damage to their bodies, she would feel guilty. Especially when they didn’t really do much to wrong her and she had the chance to help them.
And lastly...they were just fourteen-year-old kids. As someone with an adult soul and the ability to help, she couldn’t bring herself to shake that responsibility.
“Tori!” Her group mates called behind her.
“Ewan, clear space in the dirt up ahead for a campfire. JP and Sonia, when you get your boots on, try to find some burnable twigs by the treeline. Henrik and Ilyana, get my fire steel from my bag and one of the bundles of starter kindling and start building a fire!”
“What?” Henrik sat stunned with the others. “Why?”
“Because they’re going to need a fire to warm them up and dry some of their shoes!” She slammed her hiking pole into the river. Tori made her way to the girl still on her hands and knees with tears in her eyes and stopped beside her. “You! Stop moving!” Her voice must’ve carried across the river as everyone on the other side seemed to freeze. The girl at her feet trembled and looked up. “Lift up your left hand and grab on to here.” She tapped a section of her hiking pole and the girl, with seemingly no other options, did as she was told. “Is your grip firm? Put the other hand above it. When you’re steady, lift one leg and put your foot flat on the stones. Push it down until it won’t move, then move your hands up the pole one at a time and stand, pulling yourself up. I’ll hold the pole steady.”
Once the girl was on her feet. Tori looked back at the others and told them to get back on the shore. Those who were on the shore were told to go and find a mostly straight stick at least two fingers thick and at their chest height.
From the other side of the river, Ilyana was blowing into the kindling as Ewan cleared a space next to her. Henrik looked impressed. “You can tell she’s from a martial family. Look at how she’s giving orders.”
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They could hear Tori’s faint yelling as they watched students rush back with sticks, check with her, and then begin to take off their boots and peel off their socks before putting their boots back on. She gave each of them the same instructions.
“I’m going to take one group over at a time,” she said. “The water is cold, I know, but we’re going to take our time, so bear with it. Just follow my rhythm, okay? My group is preparing a fire on the other side. You can dry off and warm up there!”
There were four groups that had followed them and Tori crossed the river alone three more times after the first group crossed. Then guided the next group forward. Ewan and Ilyana started another fire because there were more people and instructed other groups to blow and feed the flames.
Ewan and JP stood by the river’s edge, greeting students as they arrived. “Good job! Grab a seat by the fire and warm up!”
“Take off your boots and dry your feet. When they’re dry, put your socks on,” Sonia told them as she walked between campfires. “If you can, wring out your shoes or wipe them dry. You want them as dry as possible before you keep moving.”
Tori could not help her proud grin as she leaned against her pole and took the last few steps on to the shore after the last group made it over. “You all did a great job. I didn’t even tell you to make that second fire and -”
“Tori, your feet!” Ilyana nearly screamed. Tori looked down and winced. Her feet were red from wading through the cold glacier water. She wiggled her toes and frowned. They were kind of numb.
Suddenly, her legs were swept up from underneath her and she let go of her hiking pole. “What the-!?”
On one side was Ewan and on the other was JP. Two arms supported her back while their other arms were under her knees as they hauled her towards the nearest fire. Henrik was moving people aside, opening a space for her. As soon as she was placed down, albeit a bit roughly, Sonia wrapped her feet in a dry towel she’d warmed by the fire.
“I’ll warm her socks,” Ilyana said behind her. Sonia was kneeling pressing the towel against her feet after she removed the sandals.
“You were in there for over half an hour,” Sonia said, frowning. “You could’ve taken a break.”
“It wasn’t that cold.” I mean...there was no ice floating around so....
Ilyana moved Tori’s socks near the fire and kept touching them until she seemed to think they were warm enough. Once they were, she brought them back and Sonia unwrapped Tori’s feet and llyana shoved on the socks.
“How are they? Are they okay?”
Tori couldn’t help but shake her head helplessly. “You guys...I’m fine. I can put on my own socks.”
“Just take a moment to rest,” JP said. “Do you want something to eat?”
“No, I’m good. Just give me my boots...Ilyana, I can put them on myself.” Tori had to pry her boots from Ilyana’s hands. She chuckled as she rubbed her socks a bit more to warm her feet and smiled. “I have the best group. Thank you. Just give me another minute and we can continue. Henrik, set the course.”
As soon as her feet felt warm and had feeling again, she put on her boots and stood up. Sonia gave her rucksack back and Ilyana handed her the hiking pole. Henrik led the way into the forest, double checking with his compass.
Tori was about to disappear into the forest with them, when she stopped and turned around.
“You all take as long as you need. Remember, it’s not a race. For the girl who fell in the water, if anyone has spare clothes, please let her borrow and change into them. In this weather, her clothes won’t dry by nightfall and she could get sick if she wears wet clothes. When you’re done, make sure to smother the fire. And from here, follow the river upstream for less than an hour and then start going northwest again. I trust each group has a compass?”
She watched several students pat themselves down to check. One of the boys gasped and paled. “I...I can’t find it. Yohan, do you have one?”
“No, you were the one in charge of it!”
“Oh, for the love of....” Tori rolled her eyes. She reached into her shirt and pulled out her compass. “Just return it tomorrow.” She tossed it towards the boy and shook her head as she turned around. “Only have one compass per group...honestly....”
“Lady Guevera!” She heard someone call out to her and she looked back over her shoulder at the complicated expressions on the students. Finally, one broke the silence. “Thank you!” Words of gratitude poured out one by one and Tori just crinkled her eyes.
I just don’t want to witness someone die in front of me... She sighed and gave them a nod before turning and walking into the forest. “See you tomorrow!”
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“I’d get paid?” Ilyana looked surprised.
“Yes, of course. But it’s not much.” Henrik appeared a bit embarrassed after he’d built up working at the merchant guild over the winter break. “Don’t expect a lot. It’s per day, basically enough for a decent lunch and dinner.”
Their last campsite was roughly half a day, if not less, from the northwest end of the valley, where the headmaster and their wagons back to Horizon were waiting for them. To make up time after losing an hour following the river south and then another significant amount of time helping other groups cross, they opted for a hike up a steeper area.
Tori borrowed Ewan’s compass as she and Henrik had to make sure they maintained walking in a constant direction through the thick foliage to get to an area near the base of a small waterfall. It allowed them a good water source and when they surveyed the area, they found the remnants of a campfire, likely from one of her Uncle Maurizo’s stays.
They were cutting it close with the sunset and Tori started getting nervous when they had a little under thirty minutes left of daylight. It was the same procedure as the day before, except as soon as the tents were up, they split into two groups to get more kindling while Tori started the campfire first to have a source of light.
Under the faint light of the fire, Tori was able to start digging another Dakota fire hole, but familiarity did make things easier and once it was made and the sticks were laid in a combination log-cabin and tent pile in the hole, she took some wood shavings and straw from the campfire and dropped it in to the kindling below.
Still, dinner would be later than the night before, but the group snacked on some cheese and crackers while waiting. She watched as the noodles boiled in the pot while the twins grated cheese to add to it. Across from the large, exposed tree roots where Ilyana and Henrik were seated, Ewan was doing practice swings with a random stick he found.
It was a calm and peaceful evening. They were relaxed, checked in with the crystal, and had their route planned for the next day.
Tomorrow, we’ll take that cliffside hike up. It’ll save us at least another hour and Uncle said it’s a safe hike, just steeper than the more gradual incline from the valley floor. Plus, the views of the valley will probably be great. Tori nodded to herself.
“I think we’ll arrive at the endpoint around lunch. What do you think about stopping for a mid-morning snack to rest and then eating lunch when we reach the endpoint?” She looked over at the group.
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
“Fine with me.”
“Then can we make heavier snacks?”
“Ewan, do you just want to eat lunch as a snack?”
“Tori’s Uncle said that it can be a tiring hike if we’re going to make it in that short amount of time.”
“Then you make the sandwiches-”
“Help!” A faint voice came from the forest and the group turned towards the sound. “Hello? Is anyone there! We need help!”
“I hear ‘help’....” Tori said as she narrowed her eyes. “Do you hear ‘help’?”
“I heard of stories where people hear voices from the forest calling for help,” Ewan said, his eyes fixed on the darkness. “They lure woodsmen and hunters into a trap. By the time they get to where the voice is loud and clear, it’s too late and-”
“Ewan, if you say it’s a ghost, we’re going to abandon you here tomorrow.” She shot him a glare as she unsheathed her dagger. The boy quickly shut his mouth.
“Help!” This time the voice, or rather voices, were clearer. Tori stood up and took a few steps forward. She couldn’t see any glow of a light crystal, but the voices didn’t stop calling. She looked back at her group, hesitating.
“They might really need it....” Ilyana said, her voice a mixture of concern and caution. Tori took a deep breath and looked at Ewan, giving him a nod. He took a few steps closer to the tree line and cupped his hands around his mouth.
“Who’s there!”
“Students from Lycée du Soleil!” The voice sounded tired, yet desperate.
“We’re Lion’s Gate!” Ewan shouted back.
“What?”
He sighed. “Lady Guevera’s group!”
They were answered with silence. Tori squinted; a bit offended if she were honest.
“Well,” Sonia said as she raised a brow. “That takes care of that.” Shaking her head, she returned to grating cheese as the others returned to their activities.
“Tori! Someone's hurt!” Tori looked back up and shot to her feet as Ewan rushed towards the trees. Two boys were on either side of another, who was seriously limping, between them. Ewan went to help take the burden from one of the students as Tori narrowed her eyes and looked them up and down.
“Is he injured?” It was obvious that he was, but she couldn’t stop the question from coming out. "What happened?"
“We were crossing the river and he slipped,” one of the exhausted, pale-faced boys said as he stumbled forward. “We tried to get him, but we were swept down with him. We think he twisted his ankle.”
“And you didn’t bind it?” The boy recoiled back as Tori yelled. She circled the fire. “Lay him down over here. Elevate his injured foot on the tree root. Ilyana, get the medical bag from my bag and Ewan, get the curcumin roots you collected and some rocks to mash them with.”
She loomed over the students and ordered the two seemingly uninjured ones to remove the injured student’s shoes and socks, as well as roll up his pant leg. She let out a low hiss as she made out the awkward coloring and swelling in the fire light.
“Holy crap, that’s ugly...,” she said under her breath. She shook her head.
“Tori, here.” Ilyana nudged her with a small canvas bag.
“Get one of the spare rags and soak it in the stream water, then bring it to me. It’ll have to do to chill the swelling,” Tori said as she knelt down. She opened the bag and took out a roll of cotton bandage. “Do any of you three have a transmission crystal? Have you put in an emergency signal?”
“No...no, our group leader has it, but we were separated when we were pulled by the river,” one of them said. “I’m sure they already signaled that we’re missing, but we had no way of contacting anyone. We just kept walking until we saw the fire.”
“Shit...Henrik! The crystal!”
“I’ve already put in the emergency signal,” Henrik said. “Hopefully, the instructors and volunteers will come soon.”
A cold towel was wrapped around the swollen ankle as Tori tried her best to grind the curcumin roots into an orange substance. They didn’t have a lot and she wasn’t exactly sure how much to use to be enough to reduce inflamation, so she ground all of it. When it looked pasty enough, she had them take off the towel and rub the root paste on their group mate’s ankle.
She then began to tightly wind the cotton strip around his ankle in what she could remember of a basket weave, then tied it with a little knot.
“Rest here and keep his foot elevated for now,” she said as she lifted an arm and wiped her brow. Now that she had a moment she noticed that aside from their clothes, they had nothing else on them. “You lost your bags.”
“They fell in the river. We didn’t see them when we managed to get to shore.”
Tori let out a low breath. She turned to her group mates, helpless. “Their clothes are still wet and it’s already cold....”
“I got it,” Ewan said. “I’ll lend them my spare.”
Despite the reluctance on his face, JP agreed to do the same while Henrik offered up his shirt from yesterday and gave his vest to the injured student. Tori left JP to stir the cheese into their pasta while she, Ilyana, and Sonia went into the tent so that the boys could change with some privacy.
When they came out, Ewan had tied their emergency rope to two trees across camp and was hanging the wet clothes on them, close to the fire. JP scooped up a bowl of food for each of member of their group and then put the leftover pasta in the empty charcuterie tins. Tori supplemented it with some bread and handed them to the three ‘guests’.
“It’s not much; we packed to reduce the weight we’d have to carry,” Tori said. “Sonia, when you’re done eating, get the ginger tea from your bag. And if two of you can let them borrow two more cups. I can let them borrow mine for tea.”
She got up and went to put water in the kettle.
“The food is really good, Lady Guevera,” one of the boys said as she returned. “Thank you.”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry that’s all we can do right now. Once the water is hot enough, I’ll make some ginger tea. It’ll help your bodies warm up.”
“Thank you....” The injured student looked as if he were about to cry. “My name is Albert Martin. If you ever need anything, I’m in class 5A.”
"...You can call me Tori." She gave them a small nod and began to eat. She managed to get two neat forkfuls of delicious cheese coated noodles to her mouth when a series of voices called out from the forest and several floating light crystals were seen. She narrowed her eyes. “Are fucking kidding me right now....” she whispered.
“Lady Guevera?” A hopeful voice called out to them and Tori closed her eyes. “Is that you?”
“It’s not that Solstice group again, is it?” JP said with a frown.
“No, there are much more light crystals approaching,” Sonia said. Tori placed her half-eaten pasta aside and stood up. If it was Alessa and her love interests again, she was going to scream.
“Who’s out there?” she asked as she walked around the fire. At this point, she was resigned to her fate. Let’s just get this over with.
“Lady Guevera! Thank goodness!” Several students came out of the forest and Tori recognized them as three of the four groups from the river crossing. She let out a relieved breath. At the very least, it wasn’t Alessa again. “We thought we were lost!”
“I knew we should’ve followed them,” someone said. “Lady Guevera and her group know where they’re going.”
“Okay, enough. It’s dark. Why haven’t you stopped to set up camp?” Tori said with a frown.
The large group looked unsure of how to answer and Ewan furrowed his brows. “Were you looking for us?”
“Tori gave you directions before we left,” Henrik said. "But you should've ended up east of here."
No one seemed to want to admit it and Tori rubbed her temple. She recalled Henrik and her being rather clear when discussing the direction. Since they didn't stray, they could be followed easily and now this happened. Each new person was an unwanted responsibility and part of her wanted to cry.
“Whatever the reason, you’re here now. What’s important is getting your tents and bedrolls ready for the night. There is an open space over here; it’s a bit cramped and you need to make space for fires. Do you have your things?” she asked, shoving back her bitter tears of frustration.
There were a series of murmurs and Tori led them towards a flat area a few paces from her camp. Her pasta grew cold as she allocated as even a space as she could estimate for each group and then drew a line in the dirt with her boots to mark the place for a fire. Ewan, JP, and Sonia finished eating and came to help with the fires, bringing some kindling and the large spade.
“Can I speak to each group leader?” Tori called out. Two boys and a girl got up to meet with her. “We’re going to help you get started with the fires, but we don’t have enough wood to share with all of you, so have two of your group members go to the edge of the forest to get wood. Tell them to make sure to stay within viewing distance of our campfire, got it?”
“Yes, Lady Guevera.” They nodded obediently.
“Also, we ran into an injured student. He sprained his ankle and his two group mates fell into the river trying to save him. We let them borrow some clothes since theirs are still wet, but we don’t have enough blankets. If anyone in your group can spare a blanket, they can really use it,” Tori added. “We’ve already sent an emergency signal to the instructors, but we don’t know when they’ll get here and it’s already cold.”
“My group has some spare blankets, Lady Guevera, I’ll have someone bring it to you,” one of the boys said.
“Good. Eat dinner as soon as you set up and get some rest. If you want to follow our group, we’re leaving in the morning and will be taking a steeper climb that’s supposed to shorten our time. Do you want to join us?” Three heads bobbed up and down. “Then be ready by morning.”
It was late into the night when the team of instructors and volunteers reached the camp. The only ones up were Tori, wrapped in her sleeping bag and sitting on a towel, and the injured student with a borrowed blanket, both playing cards by the fire. His group mates were awakened and the injured student was carried into a makeshift tent that the volunteers set up near them.
Tori tiredly crawled back into her tent, trying not to wake Ilyana, and cocooned herself as soon as she finished tying the tent flap closed. She silently prayed as she lost consciousness that tomorrow would go smoothly.
And by some miracle it did.
She slept in, awakened only when breakfast and coffee were ready by a smiling Ilyana. When she crawled out of the tent, she found that the other two tents had already been taken down. Her group mates seemed to almost pamper her as they gave her food and took down her tent and folded her sleeping bag, then packed them away.
Ilyana was putting away the rinsed and clean bowls and utensils after Tori finished eating, when the three group leaders carefully approached and informed her they were ready to go. Tori nodded and went to check with the instructors and volunteers to make sure the injured student and his two group mates were fine before putting on her rucksack and lazily telling Henrik to ‘lead the way’.
The other three groups followed her without question. When she called out for her group to remind them to drink water, the others also drank their water. When her group stopped for a late morning snack over a breathtaking view of Alpine Valley, the other groups joined them and expressed relief that they made the right decision to follow her as they ate.
Tori then pointed to a small opening. “That’s our exit,” she told them. “Just a little bit more and we can really rest!”
There were cheers behind her as she led them forward. As she estimated the night before, it was just past their usual lunch time when they caught sight of the rows of wagons waiting for them. Students let out excited yells and the noise attracted the attention of some of the waiting instructors.
“Lion’s Gate! Over here!” Instructor Ignatius was standing on the driver’s seat of the wagon, waving his arms in the air. In his excitement, he nearly fell off, but managed to grab hold of the wagon and steady himself. He let out an awkward laugh as her group reached him. “Congratulations!”
“Thank you, Instructor....” the group said, tired as they shrugged off their bags in the shade of the trees beside the wagon.
“How many other groups came with you?” Instructor Ignatius asked as he watched several other students pass to get to their respective wagons.
“Three,” Ewan said. “They came to find us last night and Tori let them follow us today.”
“Did any other groups arrive already?” Henrik asked as he leaned against the side of the wagon and chugged down some water.
Instructor Ignatius nodded. “Just a few minutes before you all. Your group came in third, by the way. You made excellent time.”
They all nodded, pleasantly surprised.
“Who came in first and second?” JP asked.
“Oh...uh...what are they called...Summer Solstice and the Armada.”
Tori let out a heavy sigh. “Of course, they did.”