Heart Over Sword
Chapter 222: Wintry Bliss

Chapter 222: Wintry Bliss

The following day nobody commented about how Evanna and Arawn sneaked back into the campsite an hour before first light. Some heard their silent return, such as Garrett, who seemed a little too tense t sleep deeply and Fiza, who had been on duty guarding the others while they slept. Now their little group walked through the first thin layers of snow covering the sloping countryside.

Evanna looked at everything wide-eyed while forcing herself to move quicker, dancing and skipping when the cold seeped into her bones too quickly. She was like a child, laughing and singing elven songs her mother taught her about wintry landscapes of snow. Arawn and Garrett exchanged knowing glances at the tale but did not comment on it. The princess was too much in a gleeful mood to pick and decipher this look. The men behind them huddled together while Fiza, in the most revealing clothing, seemed unfazed.

Evanna’s hood and mask covered her features, keeping some of the chill at bay, but besides the obvious threat of frostbite, the princess admired the frozen, treacherous beauty around her. Snowflakes, big and small, kissed her forehead, eyes and clothes, awakening her further and making her teeth chatter.

As though they marked their own journey, like a hand writing in a diary, their footprints wrote their story on a new, blank page. Everything was blanketed in snow, and although their footprints revealed the grass beneath, the white, frozen softness, Evanna knew by the evening they would be buried again, awaiting a new story to be told. Would it be as peaceful as theirs on this path or full of blood and gore?

The princess hoped this wintry landscape, quiet and still, would remain as it was. But if there was anything she had learned from this journey was that there were more stories, adventures, great and sad to be told, disrupting this tranquil yet deadly terrain.

At noon they stopped, faces slightly red from the cold and harsh weather. Their food of berries and bread and whiskey had been passed around, warming their throats and bellies. Evanna coughed from the bite of the fiery liquid, but she kept it down, enjoying the heat it instigated in her body. Not the taste, though.

Lunch had been quiet between the group, either saving their strength and energy or lost in their own thoughts. Evanna glanced at Ger a few times, wanting to converse with him, but anytime she tried to make eye contact with him, he ignored her. By the end of their small break, Axel had a small chat with her to give Ger some time.

Before they ventured further, though, Ronan picked Evanna’s spirits up by throwing a ball of snow at her. Evanna instantly created her own, and a snowball fight began between Ronan, Fiza, Garrett and Arawn. Though Arawn cheated by using his gift to create his own snow and released multiple snowballs in all directions. Evanna accidentally, not so accidentally, hit a ball of snow into Ger’s head.

Initially, he scowled and shook it off, releasing his bun, but his competitive side was urged forwards when Axel also threw a snowball at him. A mini snowball fight broke out between them all, filling the quiet picturesque snow fallen terrain to fill with laughter. Even Fiza and Garrett appeared closer, making Evanna share a glance with Arawn as the petite fae tackled the large elf to the ground stylishly and shoved snow into his face. Garrett, for the first time in the time Evanna had known him, burst into a mighty laugh, remaining on the ground.

Arawn then teased Garrett about his preference for feisty females over the ladies at court, earning a snowball to the face. Evanna eyed Fiza, who had already moved away from Garrett to do a sneak attack on Axel, scaring the giant into submission, holding his hands up and dropping his snowballs. Ronan, in the meantime, tried to sneak up on Evanna, but she turned at the last minute, aiming her snow at him.

Ronan surrendered but not before he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the ground. The princess could have easily moved out of the way, but she allowed herself to fall to the ground. "Alright, now move your arms and legs, beautiful. I want to see an angel." Ronan grinned at her before moving his arms and legs up and down rapidly.

Evanna frowned at him, wondering what he meant, until her friend hopped up and showed his masterpiece. "An angel?" Evanna couldn’t really see it, but she followed his instructions, eyes following each member of the group with a growing smile on her features. Everyone was beaming with light, enjoying each other’s company. Foes mere days before were becoming friends.

She hopped up and looked down at the two angels on the ground and watched as Ronan scribbled R + R with his finger in the snow above their angels’ heads. She shook her head, knowing well the telltale signs of their fun would be a blank sheet again.

"Let us leave. We should get to the border by nightfall and hopefully find lodgings for the night." Arawn’s voice stilled everyone from their play fighting and bringing them back to the cold blizzard surrounding them. It didn’t take the group long to shrug off the snow and return to the trail towards the mountain range.

Evanna could see the mountain range in the distance, the snow rising higher and higher until their walking slowed down, their gait elongated from the snow around their knees. It was strenuous and made her muscles ache more, and her mind turned to the luxuries of warm baths and new warm clothes. She couldn’t wait to get to this border, but she couldn’t show the others how much the snow was starting to affect her.

The princess trained a mask of indifference on her face, though the mask covered most of her features anyway. "It is not far," Garrett spoke up beside her, initially shocking her that he had started a conversation without a sarcastic or cynical comment. In fact, his words were more comforting.

Evanna had been walking by Garrett’s side after her trio of men walked together, Ger looking slightly dejected in the middle but was coerced by Axel to converse with the others. Arawn walked ahead with Fiza by his side, surprising Evanna even more. They had been discussing something in hushed whispers, making Evanna suspicious, but she was too tired and cold to comment. That left her and Garrett walking lunging through the snow in the middle.

"How do you know?" Evanna asked, blinking out some of the snowflakes caught by her long eyelashes.

Garrett pointed ahead with an exasperated look, like she should have been paying attention. Okay, maybe she should have been. Now, she understood why he’d returned to his snarky way. There was a rocky terrain before them, not the mountains, but it was wide and tall with a giant grike between the stone. "We just need to walk through there, and the border is the other side."

Evanna looked at it contemplatively. The closer they got to it, the larger and stranger it seemed. Somehow the snow never fell into the dark, rocky alley. Arawn and Fiza were the first to enter the grike. A light blue glow of her magic created small balls above each of their heads, providing enough light not to step on one another. There was enough space for two people to walk side by side, but unfortunately, Ronan was the one to trail behind the rest.

It was unfortunate because something was off about the place. Evanna was not feeling the usual shivers to alert her of danger, but she was relying on the slight decaying smell. The princess grabbed the little blue light above her, momentarily fascinated that she could touch it without being burnt. She clutched it in her hands and lowered it to hover by the side of her calves.

Nobody questioned her about it, each remaining quiet mirroring the eery stillness of this long cave. Evanna kept her gaze on the ground, watching her boots, and stopped when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She stepped closer to Garrett, her eyes trained on what looked like bones.

Evanna moved the light over it and pulled back with a gasp. It was a human skeleton. Nothing to fear, right? Wrong. Her sixth sense wasn’t telling her they were in danger, but it wasn’t adding up to their darkening reality.

"Garrett.. have you been through here before?" Evanna questioned, but the elf appeared confident. They must have travelled to Lyvaria at some point, but when was the last time they came here. The Flori elves wouldn’t take them through a route that could be deadly without warning the group first.

"Watch out!" Ronan yelled from behind them as the sound of metal clanging against the hard surface echoed in the cave. Evanna spun around and watched in horror as Ronan was dragged away on his front, scrambling for his sword or any weapon. But darkness swallowed him up.

The princess stepped in Ronan’s direction, swords drawn, only to pause at the sound of growling to the side of her and the sight of two large, razor-sharp teeth glinting out of the corner of her eyes.