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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Leesil burst from the shelter but tripped on the tarp's corner. He stumbled to one knee outside. Flakes pelted him at a slant in the hard wind, and snow began collecting on his coat and hair. A blizzard had built while he slept.
Sgaile flew out behind him, looking about with his face twisted in wary fright. Wy
Magiere was out in the storm wearing nothing but her hauberk and wool pullover.
Sgaile dashed farther out and peered toward the peaks.
"Can you see her?" Leesil shouted.
"No!"
Leesil turned to Wy
"Chap noticed first," she answered, looking toward the dog. Her expression went blank as if she were listening. "He says he lost her trail across a rocky slope above and came back to get us."
Leesil fastened his coat and took Magiere's from Osha. He ran upslope along the rock face of their cave, following Chap's tracks. He stopped where these faded to mere depressions in the deepening snow and looked down to the camp.
Leesil snarled under his breath. He should've had a grip on Magiere before he fell asleep. Her dreams had been worsening, coming more often the higher they climbed. He should've heard her or noticed when she stirred.
Sgaile came across the lower slope, back toward camp, and Leesil scrambled down as well. Wy
"Did you see anything?" Sgaile demanded.
"The tracks fade," Leesil answered, knowing Sgaile would count this as another failure of his guardianship. "I don't know if she has a path in mind or if she's wandering half-asleep, but either way, it's not the easiest path."
"We must find her quickly," Sgaile said and spun around, looking in every direction.
Leesil didn't see many choices. Trudging blindly about in the dark was dangerous enough, but doing so in a blizzard was madness.
"Upward," Wy
Leesil stepped farther out, surveying all upward paths, as Chap bounded upslope around stone outcrops rising through the snow. The dog came in and out of sight several times, and Leesil felt a small hand close on his arm.
Wy
"The path above our shelter leads to a rocky passage farther on," she said, "where Chap lost her trail. But the way beyond it splits in several directions. He ca
Osha peered curiously at Wy
Leesil had no time to explain how the sage knew what the dog had found. He studied the rock-face slope above, still uncertain if Magiere would take such a difficult route. He sca
The terrain broke and twisted everywhere in white paths between jagged stone crags and ridges rising in the dark. Chap came hopping back downslope, chunks of snow tumbling along in his path. He whined once, as if he, too, had no answer.
Leesil turned to Sgaile. "Take Osha up above our camp. Chap and I will try the open slope. Hopefully he can track her. We can cover more ground if we split up."
"I am coming with you," Wy
"No!" Leesil snapped too harshly, and then calmed himself. "Someone has to stay in camp… in case Magiere comes to her senses and makes it back on her own."
This mountainside's maze of small ravines and gullies would slow him enough, and he had to move fast. Without waiting for Wy
"Chap!" Wy
She stood where they left her, watching them fade in the thickening snowfall. When she looked back toward the cave, Osha and Sgaile had already headed up along the rock face above it.
"Go back inside the shelter," Sgaile called.
His voice barely reached her above the blizzard, but she squinted into the storm after Leesil and Chap.
"No!" she shouted back, and headed upslope. "I am going with Leesil."
"Wy
She ignored him, pushing on, though she sank knee-deep with each step. She finally glanced over her shoulder.
Osha was bounding toward her. Sgaile passed him with a growl.
"Valhachkasej'a!"
Wy
She turned, trying to run as Osha shouted after her.
Wy
The slope sharpened, and the pain in Wy
"Chap!" she shouted. "Wait!"
The crystal glowed dully in her cold fingers, so she put it in her mouth as she trudged on. The incline decreased over a knoll's crest, and she parted her lips. A glimmer of light leaked out through her teeth. Wy
It glowed at half-strength, and its light turned the falling snow into a white gauze curtain shifting all around her. But it was enough to navigate by, and she thought she glimpsed movement higher up to her right.
"Leesil?"
No answer, and the ache in Wy
Wy
Between black crags and snow turned pale gray in the dark, she saw at least three separate ways. But which one was correct? Even her own tracks were quickly filling with snowfall. Anger crept in, pushing back Wy
She was always the one to fall behind. But it was safer to go on than get lost on the way back to camp. Leesil and Chap could not be far ahead, and she was more likely to meet someone if she pressed on.
"Leesil!" she called out, but the wind drowned his name.
Wy
She clambered through a saddle between two massive outcrops, jutting high like miniature peaks. When she looked back, only her last six steps showed clearly through the blizzard.
"Chap!" she shouted,
Only the moans and half-whistles of wind over stone answered her. Fear crept back in, eating away resolute anger.
She was alone-as lost as Magiere.
But if Magiere indeed wandered in some half-conscious state, she would travel upward, as she had done for so long. Leesil would continue his climb until he found her. And everyone else would be searching the heights.
The ache in Wy
Or did she?
One night in the elven forest, Chap had bolted off after a pack of majay-hi. Wy