Private Tales Upriver

[Rayth Keirn]

"Let's not bring up that nightmare I avoided this early in the morning!" Rayth declared.

He remained oblivious to her observations given the time of the morning, though they would not have gone without comment.

As he mounted his horse several flecks landed atop its neck. He held out his hand to catch one, letting it melt in his palm.

"Did it snow often where you lived?" he asked. "It was very rare back home, but I suppose it all fell around the mountains."

 

[Eislyn Gray]

"All the time," she replied quietly, gently leading her horse on. The white lay in stark contrast to its black color. She shivered. "There was a time when I thought the cold would never bother me. It's like my body has forgotten how to deal with it after being away from it for so long. I hope we don't run into anyone from my father's kingdom on this trip."

Head turned, blonde hair shifting along the shoulders of her thick coat. She looked briefly in the direction of where the Iron Fortress was. Just beyond two mountain ranges.

She had to wonder if the Duke had successfully seized the fortress. If her father was still alive. If he'd given up on finding his daughter alive. She had to wonder if the Captain of the Paragon was facing his wrath.

All things she'd have to rest with perhaps never knowing.

Eyes found Rayth's face and she knew with him by her side? She'd be okay with a great deal many things.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"We make it to the gates and we'll be safe. The dwarves maintain law and order there. The Duke didn't have any allies in the dwarven clans so even if someone did recognise you - which I doubt - they wouldn't have any power there."

They rode on towards the darker clouds. It always fascinated him to look upwards at a snowstorm. Dark clouds and white snowflakes. When you looked up it was dark spots swirling against a light background.

He had never thought that he would define himself against someone else. Where he and Eislyn thought alike and where their views differed now mattered so much when it came to making decisions. His whole life had been turned upsidedown and yet he regretted nothing.

"How tall do you think the gates really are?"

 

[Eislyn Gray]

"What?!" She yelled above the howling winds and swirling snowy-masses. They hadn't made it to the gates before the blizzard struck. She could barely see Rayth's riding from just ahead of her. In fact, she was worried they'd lose the road.

Head bent low, eyes, open slits. Her hair had long since frozen over with snow and ice. If one caught a glimpse of her riding, it looked like she was a veritable ice and snow Queen. It was no use trying to keep it off - she was covered from head to toe in those tiny, frozen granules.

Knowing her voice might be snatched by the wind and not reach Rayth's ears, she took a chance and spoke anyway.

"We should stop - I'm worried we'll lose each other. Or the road!" Raising a gloved hand to shield her eyes, she squinted ahead and blanched. She already lost him.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"What?" he called over his shoulder. Rayth turned to repeat himself and realised that he had lost sight of Eislyn.

He felt a sudden flare of panic. A fear that turned his veins to ice to match his skin. He had heard the word stop. He pulled on the reigns and drew his horse to a halt.

He looked down sharply. He was still on the road. He could see it in the horse's shoe prints beneath.

He took in a deep breath, his lungs burning from the cold air.

"Eislyn!" he shouted at the top of his voice. She couldn't be far behind.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

She shivered, head quirking upward when she thought she heard his voice. What worried her most was that he sounded off to the left. Had she fallen that far behind or was the storm getting worse? The horse reared suddenly and her frozen fingers couldn't get a purchase on the reigns. Her form slipped easily off and she landed with a near silent thump in the fresh snow.

"RAYTH!" She yelled, voice fighting with the wind as she sat up, trying to stand in the snowdrift she'd fallen in. Pushing gloves against her face she peered into the near darkness of day that the storm was creating. A very un-lady like word left her lips as she realized her horse was gone.

"I'm here!" Arms hugged tightly around her body as she stumbled forward, knowing she couldn't stop to rest. She needed to keep moving even if her feet only shuffled forward. How had she lost the road?

Head bent downward, trying to track the horse's prints backward before they disappeared. Or was she following the tracks to where the horse ran off to? The princess of the base of the spine wasn't sure. She knew many men had died one winter when there'd been a blizzard just as bad. Now she could understand how they'd perished so easily.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

He heard the horse before he saw it. Its shape emerged from the storm and he felt a wave of relief. It barely lasted a second before he realised that Eislyn's silhouette wasn't there too.

Rayth slipped from the saddle quickly, holding the reigns tight. He leaned into the wind, following the tracks. She had to be this way. Had to. He couldn't lose her. Not after everything to just fail to the fucking weather.

"Eislyn!" he screamed. His voice broke in the scream, pure desperation taking over. There were trees to his left, they would provide shelter. He wouldn't take it until he found her. Or he fell.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

She was teetering between being more worried about him or herself. She'd grown up at the base of mountains like these. She should know better. How to survive.

He'd been at sea for how long?

"And yet here I am, the one off the road and without a horse," she spoke to herself, warm breath snatched almost instantly by that wicked wind. She paused, wondering if she'd heard him again. Was it just a trick of the wind through the trees and branches?

Without the horse beneath her it suddenly felt a whole lot colder than it had. The drifts were up near her knees now and she was sweating.

Not good.

Trying to catch her breath, she paused.

Maybe with her magic, she could. Setting her quivering lips she tugged on her power and raised a gloved hand, trying to shoot up a flare of light. It was more like a flicker. And then a fizzle.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth was close to panic now. His hands shool and his heart trembled. The horse wasn't content being out in the storm and he was afraid it would buck and bolt.

The flare caught his attention. It was on the periphery of his vision. That had to be Eislyn, but how had he deviated so far from their simple route.

"Yah!" he yanked on the reigns and turned towards it, the horse breaking into a trot.

"Eislyn!" he called. With each shout the cold air stole the power from his lungs.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Rayth.

She shuffled forward. She was shivering as bad as when she fell into the waters of the cave. And walking against the wind felt as though she were walking against a wall. She pushed another flicker of magic forward. She couldn't worry about it sapping her already dwindling strength now. It was either this or soon freeze to death.

She'd gone up against a wendingo, cave monsters, pirates, greedy kings and dukes. She'd be damned if she'd be done in by the weather.

"RAYTH!" She yelled, pushing strength she didn't quite have into her voice. Squinting ahead, she saw a swirl that didn't seem natural in the snow. An outline of a man and horse.

"Rayth?" Voice was ragged.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

That was her. It was Eislyn or he was starting to lose his own mind. He almost didn't see her, the snow was caked to her robes.

"Eislyn!" he shouted, voice still muffled by the snow. "Eislyn."

His worse was being less than cooperative but he drew up alongside her and held out a hand.

He didn't know quite where he found the strength but he clasped his fingers around her forearm and yanked her upwards. His lips quivered too much to explain his plan, but he rode back towards the road, hoping to find the trees on the other side.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

"We shh-sh-ould be cl-l-ose," she murmured against him. If it wasn't for his arms on either side of her, she wouldn't have stayed on the horse. Head drooped forward, long frozen hair drooping over her face. The gates. Shouldn't they be close?

It was hard to think. To concentrate. Perhaps Rayth wasn't even real and she was falling asleep in a drift somewhere. Maybe if she could...

Reaching with the last reserves of her strength, she tried something with her magic she'd never done before. Instead of the brightness of light or using it as a weapon, she reached for its warmth, trying to radiate some heat outward. At least for Rayth.

She didn't want to lose him. She couldn't.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

He shook his head behind her. The warmth she conjured spread through his chest, melting the snow there.

"Don't know...which...way..." he chattered. The gates were a distance ahead and he didn't know how far. Instead as soon as he though they might have been on the road he continued across it.

Dark shapes rose against the white sky. He rode for them. An old pal tree was white, its branches laden with snow. Yet the ground beneath it was only speckled with snow. They had to duck under the first branches but he slipped from the horse as soon as they reached the great trunk and helped her down. He released the saddle bags from the horse, who immediately sat down on the ground to make himself small.

"Get...as much snow...off..." he said, brushing as much from his clothes as he could.

Rayth yanked the blankets out from the bags. He pulled Eislyn after him into a hollow between roots. He sat down with his back to the trunk of the tree, pulling her tight to his lap and wrapping the blankets around them.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

"I'm...cross with you," teeth chattered as she tucked against him. Head resting on his shoulder. There was no real anger in her words. No real oomph. No energy. She continued to push to radiate warmth between them but her magic was faltering. Dimming.

Eyes closed, unable to remain open.

"You should've kept riding," ragged voice continued on.

"If we both die now, I'll never forgive you."

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"That's true, you won't," he agreed. They would never get to decide what he should have done if they never woke up.

If this was to be his final resting place, it would be a very peaceful one. The snow extinguished sound. The tree's branches were fully laden, shielding them from the storm. They had a small island of calm beneath the tree. A blanket of snow fell around them in a wide circle.

It was like being a bauble, hidden from the rain torrent beyond. Rayth pulled her arms even tighter around him, driving her still gloved hands under his layers. They were cold against him, but he would be warm to her extremeties.

"We will...be fine..."

 

[Eislyn Gray]

She shivered against him.

"Liar," she whispered, wanting to smile but not finding the strength to do so. "Such a...," voice trailed off as she lost her strength to stay awake. Gloves sagged against him.

It would be hours later that she stirred. Eyes cracked open against light filtering through the wide-branches that had saved their lives and offered a shelter in the storm. Fresh snow piled high in that wide-circle around them. Her head pounded. She must've used too much magic because she felt like she was hungover.

There was a soft wince against Rayth.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"Shh, don't try and keep up yet," he whispered. He had been awake for a little while now, cradling her close to the warmth of his chest and letting her rest.

He should have built more of a nest for them. Squeezed between two thick roots, covered in blankets with a light dusting of snow they were actually quite well insulated.

"Look how beautiful it is now," he said softly, turning his head to look up at the tree above them and the endless white landscape.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Eyes cracked further open and she turned her neck slowly. It was...beautiful. Untouched. Pristine. And oh so quiet. Teeth clenched, head feeling the opposite of the landscape.

Verdants closed then opened again, tracking toward Rayth's face.

"Your home," her voice sounded raw. Tired. "Before the Paragon. Did you get much snow? Like this?"

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"Never as sudden as this, never as deep," he replied. Given everything they had been through he should not have been smiling.

He watched her intently. He held her tight and smiled up at her.

"Out own private Palace of ice and snow," he mused, gaze flicking upwards at the levels of frosted branches overhead.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Her head lowered, snug against him. Turned to the side, she quietly observed the landscape surrounding them. So beautiful. And so deadly.

"I'd settle for our own private cottage in a place like this. Or maybe somewhere more temperate. Perhaps by the northern seas." Smiling at him, she tilted her head to plant a kiss on the stubbly beard of his cheek. Their horse shifted to its feet and pawed at the ground impatiently.

Eislyn smiled.

"Someone is ready to go."

 

[Rayth Keirn]

"I'm not," he said softly. "Not yet."

They were cocooned in their blankets, hidden from the world in their own private shelter. A world of silent purity. Just them.

"A cottage sounds nice. Maybe somewhere on the coast. Or perhaps we go to one of the cities on the coast and make our own way. It doesn't matter really just somewhere."

He turned towards her, leaning back so they were eye to eye. Perhaps this wasn't perfect. Perhaps he was supposed to make some grand gesture, but the storm had given him a very narrow and focused perspective on what was important.

"If you want that, in whatever form it takes, would you marry me?" he asked softly. There was genuine apprehension in his eyes, even if it was the cold that made his lips quiver. The promise rode on a cloud of steam occupying the space between them. Waiting in earnest for the answer.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

There was a refocus in pools of green. They found his. Slight widening of pupils.

"If I want that?" She murmured, repeating his question. For a moment, she thought she was passed out somewhere still in the snow and slowly dying. Was this a dream?

A shy smile. One that even a trained diplomat couldn't keep from betraying her spread on rosy lips. "I've wanted you since the day we broke atop the smuggler's den. Since you promised not to abandon me to the assassin even though I tried to push your stubborn behind away."

A hand lowered, fingers stroking lightly through his snow-chilled hair as her own curtain of golden locks fell on either side of his face as she hovered above him.

"Yes, Rayth Keirn. If you take me as I am. All my faults and shortcomings. All my strengths. If you promise you won't walk away if we disagree, if I speak my mind." Thoughts drifted briefly to the caves. She remembered their arguments all too clearly. But he'd refused to leave her be - even if it was his job to watch out for her at the time.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

Rayth's expression started to betray his concern as she repeated the question back. For such a carefree man he was suddenly entirely vested in the words that would follow.

He made no attempt to hide the effervescent joy at her reply. They had collided under very stalrsnge circumstances and they should not have ever ended up like this. But he loved her with a strength he could never deny.

"I think I know well enough what I am signing up to," he said softly. He placed a finger gently against her cheekbone. What he felt was overwhelming when he looked up at her and considered what had just happened. He still had no plan for how they would get married or even where they would be going after Belgrath.

The next adventure, he thought to himself. Rayth leaned forwards, lips still quivering from the cold and the fear, and he kissed her.

 

[Eislyn Gray]

Ready lips met his, together, she felt as though some warmth was returning to her extremities. And she couldn't stop smiling. Lips lingered against his for a moment longer.

"I can't believe you actually did it," she whispered against him.

"I was preparing myself to wait years for this moment." This time, a playful finger against his ribs. A nuzzle of her nose to his.

 

[Rayth Keirn]

His eyes went wide with mock affront. He had to admit he had been over thinking this. He had thought that perhaps the gates of the dwarven city would be such a romantic site for the question, but he hadn't known.

Instead he had been struck by the serenity of the moment, their mortality and everything he felt for her. The horse snorted steam, eager to be moving.

"Where do you actually want to get married?" he asked, expression serious. "I definitely haven't figured that bit out yet," he apologised.