Chapter 60 Home Sweet Icy Home
A little further beyond the troll cave, we came to a fork in the road. The path went straight up the mountain, with a path veering to the right. Magdala called for a brief rest.
“This is where we turn off to our home. Come with us, and as I said, we’ll help you find a safer way through the mountains.”
I looked at the ascending path before us. It was getting steeper, although still navigable by wagon, but it looked like a brutal climb. On the other hand, the path to the right seemed to even out, perhaps not fully flat, but easier going than if we continued up through the pass.
“All right,” I said, glancing at the others. They nodded. “We’re grateful and we accept your invitation. How far until we reach your home?”
Aisling brushed the falling snow off his beard.
“We’ll reach there by nightfall. That is, if we keep going.
We don’t want to rest too long because there are far more dangerous creatures around here than just the mountain trolls.
Whereas, if you were to continue up the pass, you’d definitely find ice giants and elementals to deal with as well. ”
It sounded like six of one, half a dozen of the other. Alina handed out pieces of jerky to all of us, and we filled our water bottles with packed snow, tucking them inside our cloaks. Our body heat would melt the snow as we went along.
The fork in the road led onto a plateau, and I was surprised to see pine trees lining the path on either side. The sight of the trees reassured me. While the barren peaks, covered in ice and snow, were beautiful, the starkness overwhelmed me after a while.
The road was still wide, wide enough for a wagon or even two to travel, and as we turned onto the road towards Magdala’s home, I felt an odd sense of relief.
While the trees were short and bent by winds, they still gave me the feeling that we were in a winter wonderland, rather than attempting a death march towards the sky.
“Were you born here?” I asked.
Magdala shook her head. “I was born down in Tyrnis. When I was fifteen, I became betrothed to a woodcutter from the village of Kartellia. My parents refused to allow me to marry until I turned seventeen, so for two years both my fiancé and I worked and skimped and saved enough to begin our new life. By the time we married, we had managed to build a little home in Kartellia, and so we started out better than a lot of the young couples around here. I moved up to the village with him, and I saw my family once or twice a year until they moved on or died. There’s no one left from my family in Tyrnis now.
My brothers moved away, or were killed, and my parents died long ago. ”
“What about your children?” I asked, glancing over at Alina. “Will you move away from Kartellia?”
Alina shook her head. “Sean and I live in the house that Mother did when she first married.”
Rupert and Aisling mirrored her sentiments.
“This village is our home,” Aisling said. “We were born here, and we’ll die here.”
“As time went on, my husband and I managed to build a bigger house. I live there now, along with Aisling and Rupert. And I took in a young girl whose parents died several years back. She stays home and manages affairs while we’re trading down in Tyrnis.
The poor girl can’t speak—she was frightened when she was young.
She watched as an ice giant slaughtered her parents.
She lucked out and managed to escape. Aisling found her.
She’s very lucky, because if he hadn’t stumbled on her near the remains of her parents, she’d be dead by now. ”
“Did you kill the ice giant?” I asked, turning to Aisling.
He shook his head. “No, I happened to come upon the scene at the very end. The ice giant couldn’t see Mavis because she was hiding behind a large rock, and ice giants have no sense of smell.
He had slaughtered her parents by then, and so when I stumbled into the scene, he was already leaving the area. ”
“You’re lucky he didn’t see you,” Thornhold said.
“Very much so. I waited until he was gone and then rushed over to see if I could help her parents, but both were dead. It was then that I heard Mavis crying. I couldn’t see her at first, but I finally found her.
She was around five years old and terrified.
I coaxed her out, and she told me what had happened.
I gathered her up, and buried her parents as best as I could.
I could only cover them with snow, but I figured that was better than nothing.
I gathered up everything that was on them and loaded it up on my sled, then bundled Mavis onto the sled and headed home.
She fell asleep, and when she woke up, she never said another word. ”
“The moment Aisling told us what happened, we took her in,” Magdala said. “She’s a good girl, although we keep a close watch on her since she can’t scream or say a word. I believe shock cost her muteness. Unfortunately, nothing we’ve been able to do has managed to heal her.”
“How do you communicate?” Bran asked.
“Through a sign language of sorts. She bonded with Alina, and the two can communicate without words or symbols, for the most part. She’ll always be in my care,” Magdala said. “I wouldn’t trust any man in these parts to betroth her. There’s too much chance they’d abuse her because of her muteness.”
By now we were under the canopy of trees. Although they weren’t tall compared to the trees we will use to, they still towered over us. The path became smoother, easier to navigate, and now and then I could hear the rustle of some animal in the bushes.
I noticed I was breathing easier. The sense of dread I’d been carrying since the beginning of the trip seemed to slip away.
There was a calmness to the area, a silent peace that filled the air.
As the afternoon wore away, we began to see houses here and there among the trees.
The cheerful lights emanating from within warmed my heart, and I was grateful that we had accepted Magdala’s invitation.
As the afternoon drifted along, the scent of cooking began to fill the air as we passed close to some of the houses.
There was a magical comfort to the area, one that made me want to hide here and hope that Zaran never found me.
I played with the idea in my mind, though I knew it wasn’t logical.
I couldn’t just live here with the key around my neck.
Someday he’d find me. But the thought of settling down in one of the little houses in this mountain village made it almost worth the chance.
By around four PM, according to my watch, Magdala turned the wagon off the road, heading for a sizable cottage.
It was enchanting, two stories high, with smoke curling out of the chimney.
The walls were pale green, and I wondered what they used for paint.
Although given this was built off of the game, it could’ve been magic that painted the sides of the house.
The door opened, and a young woman ran out.
She looked to be about fifteen, and she had a broad smile on her face as she raced toward Magdala.
Her dark brown hair flowed down to her waist, and she had gathered it back beneath the bandana.
She was wearing a heavy skirt that nearly swept the ground, and a thick tunic beneath a pair of suspenders.
As she raced up to Magdala, she froze, staring at us.
Magdala turned around. “This is my daughter Mavis. Welcome to my home. Enter and be safe.”