Chapter eleven: ONwards

Amber hoisted her pack - significantly larger than those of Fernando and Tasha - with enviable ease, Ared holding her hand cheerfully. The entire village had turned out to see them leave, although whether or not that was because they wanted a chance to say goodbye or becasue they wanted to see the backs of the three children, and their newly acquired guide, was uncertain.

The four children climbed up to the higher passes of the mountain. Since it was still summertime, the ravines running between the tallest peaks were passable, even though above their heads, the crags were white with snow.

"We'll have to move through here quickly, since it'll be difficult to hunt up here, but we should have more than enoguh food to get down to the hills." AMber told the children as they climbed up towards one of the tallest peaks. 'Hills' however, turned out to be misleading, since, already high enough that there was snow on the ground nine months of the year, the three children found out that they were still in the 'hills'. The 'Mountains' were to normal mountains like normal mountains were to the scraggly pines on their slopes. but, with a claustrophobic six-year-old in the group, going through the tunnels under the mountain was unthinkable.

"I like it up here!" Ared said brightly, taking in deep breath as they trudged up the mountains, occasionally having to slog through a deep trenchh of summer snow. Even bundled up in the mortal remains of dozens of rabbits and similar creatures - like the rest of the group - his lips were still blue - like the rest of the group except Amber, who seemed above such petty things as cold. Tasha wasn't sure she liked their guide, and whenever Jekyl got a sniff of her, she felt her hackles... the hairs on the back of her neck... stand up. It was disconcerting enough that she'd refrained from assuming the form of her anima, even though the fur on her arms and shoulders would have made her warmer...

"Make sure you drink lots, and as soon as anyone starts to feel sick, tell me, because we'll probably have to go back down..." She had said as they reached the year-round snowline - the start of the real mountains. It was annoying how she kept assuming that everyone would listen to her and defer to her, just because she was a little bit older.

The air was like fine daggers of ice as they kept trudging up the mountains. it was getting... lighter all the time, and Tasha almost felt as it was trying to pull her out as they neared the ridge. Ared had tried flying in it a few times, but couldn't find enough 'hot-ups' to get him into the thin air. That had dampened his spirits slightly.

They had reached what Amber declared was the summit of the pass - fortunate, since Tasha was beginning to feel slightly faint from a lack of oxygen - when they stopped. The wind had been picking up a bit for the last hour or two, but as they reached the top of their ascent it screamed over them, bringing knives of snow with it.

"Everyone stick together!" Amber screamed, useless as the sudden blizzard obliterated all vision. "Get down the hill - into the wind!" Tasha's eyes narrowed to slits, as she began to walk into the gale, feeling her muscles scream in protest as she leant nearly forty-five degrees forward, trying to drve through the storm. She didn't know where Fernando or Ared, or even Amber was, instead just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, slogging down the hill, following the ravine that made up their pass as best she could.

She wasn't sure how long she had battled the elements before she came to the small, sheltered cave. The ravine narrowed, one side angling in sharply before returning to its paralel route, and set into the leeward wall from the blizzard was a small hollow in the rock - lthe opening was less than a metre high or wide, but extended about four metres into the rock, opening out into a space about the size of a large, low-ceilinged room. Exhausted, damp and cold, she crawled into the small hollow, shivering as she listened to the wind screaming past outside. Almost as soon as she fell asleep - so pretty much instantly after - she heard Amber's footsteps from inside the cave, as she emerged from behind a large boulder near the back with an armful of firewood.

"The storm should blow out in a few hours. Did you see either of the boys?" She asked brusquley, squatting down to build a fire out of the wind. "And don't go to sleep."

Tasha nodded, but her gut had tightened in fear as she realised that neither Fernando nor Ared had come in. Still shivering, she went to the entry of the cave, her sharp ears and nose straining for any sense of either of them over the howling snow.

"FERNANDO!!" She screamed into the whiteness, the sound echoing like a howl in the wind. "ARED!!" SHe waited at the entry for several more minutes, screaming into the wind, which was beginning to lessen slightly.

"The storms moving on - it'll be going down towards the village." AMber explained between Tasha's howls.

The younger girl ignored her, screaming once more into the snow before a dark figure appeared from it, staggering with exhaustion.

"Tasha? Are you okay? Safe? Thank god..." Fernando made his way into the small cave, collapsing into a hug against Tasha. "I nearly got turned around by the wind..." He murmured as Tasha helped him to the fire.

"I'm glad you made it." Amber said, running her eyes over the fourteen-year-old, whose olive skin was pasty from exhaustion. "You two should get some sleep, once you've warmed up and eaten something. I'm going out to look for Ared." With that she bundled her long, dark red hair under a furlined hood and made her way out into the blizzard, which had now died down to just a gale.

"Think she'll find him?" Tasha asked, leaning against Fernando for warmth.

"She has to - no-one else can." Fernando said, bulling out some frozen jerky and wamring it over the fire, spearing it on a stick so that he wouldn't burn her hands.

"I should help - I might be able to use my anima to track him..."

"You're exhausted. Neither of us have any hope of finding him. We need to do what Amber said, or else we might freeze to death." Fernando said, as brusque as Amber had been minutes ago, as he handed Tasha several warm strips of beef jerky. "I'm sorry, but there's nothign we can do right now." The two ate their food in silence. Tasha knew that he was right, and every survival instinct in Jekyl was howling to her that he was probably dead, and if she went out, she would be too, so, after finishing their meal, the two curled up together, Fenrando bankking the fire slightly, and fell asleep, huddled close for warmth.

*

Amber came back, a few hours later, dark circles and faint lines seemed to have formed since they'd last seen her. She woke the two sleeping shildren up as she thudded her boots on the floor to clear them of snow, nearly jolting Tasha into the fire as she startled awsake. Fernando had his arms around her though, holding her still, until they both were awake enough to realise the awkward position and disentangle themselves, not even needing to hear Ambers news in the now deadly quiet cave - the strom vanished from outside.

"I couldn't find him." She said, holding up a small, ripped glove.

*

Ah crap, I hated this chapter... It was so hard to start - once I got to the flow it was okay though... anyway If I'm taking too long though, just someone send in a review, and the pace'll pick right up again, hopefully. They really do make FF go round. And, for ANimeWritr, 'suspense baby, oh ya.' Hope you liked.