I Will Be the Greatest Knight

Just as they were about to escape the winds of the plateau, the night humbled the two knights again. It seemed they would have two sleepless nights in a row.

With the wind, the top layer of snow began to shift once more. While it wasn’t as bad as the prior night, it still burnt out their fire and tossed around their tent. Since it was a requirement to have a fire or they could freeze to death, they were forced to get up and do something to preserve the bit of warmth they had.

While Henry repinned the tent posts as deep as he could into the earth he could feel through the shallower snow, Irene built up the fire again. Henry angled the tent’s flap so that it protected the fire from the direction the wind was coming from.

As they both hunkered down again, they faced one another despite the inconvenience of lying that way with armor protecting their shoulders and upper bodies. Henry’s arms wrapped around Irene, but he kept his hands in fists so his fingertips wouldn’t freeze, and she nestled closer into him.

"I feel a bit bad having brought you here," Irene muttered.

"You didn’t force me to go anywhere," he insisted. "I must see to it that my people are safe, particularly my dear wife, who possibly has such a connection to this magical beast."

Irene pulled her hood tighter over her head, but she angled it upward so she could smile at her husband. It wasn’t fully dark to begin with. He could see her faintly in the fire’s tiny glow.

"We will press on together then," she responded.

Since it was impossible to sleep on her side comfortably, Irene rolled onto her back and let out a yawn before pulling her scarf over her face.

"Goodnight, Henry," she whispered, her voice tired. "I love you."

"I love you more than words can say," he responded, equally lacking energy.

While there wasn’t much sleep to be had since the tent kept tossing and Irene was nervous enough to check on the horses at one point, both knights faced the following day, when the weather was much calmer much later than they would have liked, but at least things were calm, and they could see further than before.

They took to their usual routine of taking the tent down together and then Irene cooking while Henry put away the tent.

Both of their eyes didn’t stray from the Sunstoian lands ahead for very long.

It wasn’t lost on either of them that the pristine snow in their field of view was undisturbed by anything. There was no doubt the deep markings from a wyrm could be seen from the plateau. Since this region was at a higher elevation than the valley in Chemois, there wasn’t that much of a drop-off from the plateau before they would get to the Sunstoian region.

"Henry," Irene called once the food was ready.

That day, they both stood while they ate from the same pot. If they settled for long, their exhaustion would be noticeable.

"Down from here, isn’t it?" Henry asked, his eyes straying north again.

"I mean..." Irene trailed off. Her eyes followed his. It was seemingly empty down there, but she would be horrified with herself if she put the most important person to her in danger because they overlooked something. "If it’s safe to go forth, we should."

"I don’t see anything ahead that should put us in harm’s way," Henry admitted. "Well, except for the steep incline of the path ahead. I suppose it’s no worse than what we faced on the way up."

"We will have to be careful," Irene instructed. "The last time Sammy and I were here, he nearly slid down the rock face since the snow was heavy and melting."

"It seems cold enough to stay frozen. The lack of clouds, and it still feels impossibly cold."

"I agree," Irene responded. "Then, shall we?"

"Horses first?" Henry asked.

"Yes," she confirmed. "We don’t want them to slide on top of us."

From the first step, it felt precarious. It seemed every ten steps they would slide. If their eyes ever lifted from the dangerous path ahead, there was evidence of avalanches further east and plenty of rockslides closer. At least with the snow not sticking to this area of the rocky path, they could see where to step a bit easier.

There wasn’t much to say while they focused on their surroundings. It made the heavy feeling of exhaustion feel much heavier as they went lower and lower on the rocky path. Irene found herself so tired it felt like her face was numb.

Occasionally she would shake her head or remove her hood so that the freezing cold would wake her up. Even if there was no way she would fall asleep while walking, she still hated the unbelievably tired feeling that lingered behind her eyes.

Until they took a break at a flatter area, Irene felt like she was holding her breath each time she thought someone was about to slip or a rock fell above or below them. She had to crouch as she ate some jerky, and her eyes scanned the valley still a bit below them.

"Still nothing," she explained.

Henry nodded as he chewed the hard jerky. He was lost in his own thoughts.

"Could Sylaron have been wrong?" he wondered. "Or does the landscape merely change that much in the winter that the marks could be covered up quickly?"

"You saw how much the snow moved during windstorms," Irene reminded him.

Henry could only respond with a sigh. It was concerning.

They pressed onward into what felt like the unknown. Despite Irene having been there before, the added layer of a wyrm was concerning. At least wyrms didn’t fly, unlike their dragon counterparts, so if it had to travel through the mountains to get to Chemois, it would take the path of least resistance, which was the one Irene and Henry had just taken to.

Before they knew it, the path evened out. Irene realized as she stepped into fresher snow off of a few rocks...

"The foothills!" she exclaimed, her tiredness suddenly melting away. "We can hunt today!"

She had been dying for something fresher to eat, and perhaps there would be fresh food for the horses as well. Even though their grain supply for their loyal steeds was plenty full, it was still best not to burn through their supplies as much as they possibly could.

Without explaining herself further, Irene rushed to Sammy and mounted the large horse. Henry followed his wife’s lead.

They took off to the west.

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