A/N: I decided that Circum will include the POVs of other characters in Mozenrath's life, not just of Mozenrath himself. And I wanted to write a snow-themed drabble (almost) in time for Christmas.
Code
The brisk, icy air was invigorating, a shot of cold ale to his system. For a brief moment the young prince closed his eyes to the magnificent view of his kingdom below, the towers of the palace and the wide streets of the city dwarfed by the surrounding mountains. A sad smile tugged at his lips as he felt the familiar strain in his muscles from the climb, the burn in his lungs from the high altitude. The ice and snow caking his boots, the biting wind against his face, the understanding silence between him and his father – soon, they would be mere memories, encapsulated in his mind as a scene frozen in a snow globe.
He heard his father step forward, moving closer to the edge of the mountaintop, and the weight of a gloved hand came to rest on his shoulder. Xerxes opened his eyes and gazed wordlessly down the snow-streaked slope, tracing the jagged rocks and gaping crevices. His father's hand did not lift as he spoke.
"If the Code of the Mountains is written on your heart, you will not falter as you walk through valleys and deserts, no matter how deep or dark they may be." The king's voice was soft and commanding, an offer of courage.
Xerxes nodded, not turning his eyes from the kingdom beneath the clouds, engraving this moment and his father's words in his memory. He felt an invisible door closing at his back, sealing off the days of carefree childhood and leaving him with nowhere to walk but forward. Before him a black desert waited, vast and uncompromising, caving downward into a valley of shadows. He could not see its bottom.
His throat was dry as he swallowed, silently reciting the words of the Code that had sustained his kingdom since the day of its founding.
Son of the mountains, stand strong against the wind, as a tree rooted in a mountain ridge.
Though your branches be weighted with snow and your crown ringed with ice, remember that the mountain bears the brunt of each storm.
Son of the mountains, stand strong.