Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li - Brian Pratt [55]
Miko has removed his jacket, the tunic giving him enough warmth in the midday sun. “Does anyone know where we’re going?” he asks while eating some fruit.
“North,” James tells him. “I doubt if anyone will be able to find us up here in the mountains.”
“Let’s hope not,” Jiron says. “If we follow the mountains, and stay away from the roads, we may be able to make it a fair ways before trouble finds us again.”
Finishing their meal, they resume following the stream. Miko’s arms get tired from carrying the crossbow but he just grits his teeth and continues on. No matter how tired he gets from carrying it, he’s not about to lose it. If trouble happens, he wants to be more help than he was last time.
The sword at his waist, though, that’s another matter. It isn’t long before he unhooks the belt and lets it fall to the ground. As he walks away from it, Jiron says, “You sure you want to do that?”
“I’m no good with it anyway,” he explains. “If I use it in a fight, I probably would end up killing myself.” He hefts the crossbow and continues, “I’ll stick with this for now.”
Jiron nods and turns his attention back to trying to find the best path along the stream. The trees here have grown closer together and the way through is not readily evident. Even though he’s not a woodsman, he seems to be able to make due and find the way.
They continue on for the rest of the day, the stream they’ve been following slowly dwindling down to nothing. When the sun begins its descent toward the horizon, they make camp and spend some time accumulating enough wood to last through the night. It’s going to be getting really cold when it gets dark and they need to be prepared.
James brings down a large animal, something like a deer, and they slice it up. They cook most of it in order to be able to carry some of it with them the next day. This going on roots and fruit is fine for a while, but a man needs meat to keep up his strength.
The following morning, they can see the mountains still continuing to rise to the north. Miko dreads more of the climbing and the cold but does his best to keep his mood up. He doesn’t want to become a burden for the others. If the truth be known, he feels he’s actually doing better than James who seems to be really struggling with it, what with his leg and all.
This day is more of the same as yesterday, trying to find a way through the mountains while still maintaining a northerly direction. Once they had to backtrack almost two hours when Jiron had steered them into a box canyon. They debated whether to attempt to scale the walls of the canyon or backtrack, but soon realized they were ill equipped for such a feat and wouldn’t be unable to make it without serious injury.
Their mood was somber as they had to retrace land they’d thought was already behind them. Once out of the box canyon, they pick up what James calls a game trail and the going becomes somewhat easier for a mile or so before the trail disappears again.
That night, they’re fortunate to find a cave they can use for shelter. Building a roaring fire to keep the cold at bay, they rest and relax while the carcass of a small animal roasts on the fire. Miko gets credit for this one. He spotted it while out collecting firewood and brought it down with the crossbow. To everyone’s surprise, as well as his own, he hit it. He was forced chase it down since it hadn’t been killed outright.
He definitely felt part of the group when he brought it back to camp and got the congratulations from everyone.
Once dinner is over, they set up a schedule for watches and Miko takes the first one while the other two sleep. The night passes quietly.
After another two days of trudging through the mountains, everyone has toughened up and the arduous trek is no longer so bad. Even Miko has stopped complaining as his muscles toughen up and James’ leg is no longer hurting as badly, just the occasional throbbing.
When darkness begins to fall on the fifth day since leaving the lake area, they crest a ridge and look down on a small valley nestled between two peaks. It levels out for