Chapter 19
The solemn gray simmering along the weather beaten peaks glared a blinding ray down the mountain side. Andy squinted under his hand as he stared at the rolling flocks of black clouds in the sky. The arctic bite in the air stung his lungs with its crisp scent, sweeping away at three months worth of smog. The boy drooped his shoulders with a sigh and dug around in his pocket. As soon as his fingers tapped against metal, he wrapped them around the watch. Andy felt his muscles relax ever so slightly as a quiet sigh shook him out of his reverie.
"Why do you look so tense?" Evil asked. "I'm the one who has to lead us up death."
Andy frowned at the man until he saw the crinkle of a smirk lingering at the corner of Egil's mouth.
"Sorry." Andy huffed through his teeth. He glanced at the thick satchel tied around Egil's waist and black knapsack flung over his back. Andy felt the makeshift cloth and fur thrown over his shoulders burn and dropped his gaze to the ground. "It's just…I'm not…" Egil arched an eyebrow at him as Andy threw his hands in the air with a groan and pointed to the knapsack. "Let me carry that."
Egil glanced at the knapsack and back at Andy. The urgent gleam in his aqua, blue eyes snipped any retorts on the man's tongue as he shrugged it off his shoulders. He slung the knapsack on his arm and gestured it to Andy. Andy grasped the knapsack with a choked yelp, falling forward slightly at the weight anchoring him to the ground. He gritted his teeth and carefully wrapped the string of the knapsack in front of his chest. His muscles, though straining under the newfound weight, rippled with relief down his limbs.
Andy straightened his back, jutting his chin up at Egil. "So, where do we start?"
Egil nodded his head up at the snowy ledges above them. Andy followed his gaze, his jaw slowly falling slack at the stark white creases and felt his limbs tremble.
"You're joking."
Egil shrugged, juggling a pair of ice picks in one hand and rope in the other. He sauntered over to an ogling Andy, tying the rope around his waist until it was settled firmly around him. Egil tied the other end of the rope around his own when Andy snapped his jaw back into place.
"How high?" Andy asked, glancing back at the empty cavern they were in.
Egil shot him a lopsided grin, tugging the rope. Andy begrudgingly trekked after him, the icy wind finally sinking through his skin as he watched Egil slam his ice picks into the frozen rock. The picks' metal cracked through the ice, snugly grinding against the rock while Egil hoisted his self up.
"Be careful where you step on your way up," Egil lifted his pick and slammed it over his head.
Andy ignored the churning in his stomach as he quickly tugged on his gloves. He gripped the dips the ice picks had broken into and heaved his self up. He followed after Egil's imprints in the snow, creeping ever so slowly up the mountain until the cavern they rested in was no more than a dot.
They climbed onward, the air growing thin around them with each lunge upward. The wind bellowed down the mountain's back, sweeping airy flakes of snow into its arms. As snow tapered off the thick mounds of frost, a flurry of it smashed into Andy's face. The boy spluttered the snow out of his mouth, his hands straining around the jagged rocks around him despite the burn pricking his cheeks. He squinted through the frenzied ballet of snowflakes at the daunting peak of the mountain. His heart shriveled at the minuscule dot while he fought against the urge to look down.
God, he thought wearily, hiking his foot up into a crevice. His boot slid out from the icy rock, sending the boy's left leg flailing frantically until he shoved it onto a mound of snow. What did I ever do to you?
"You look a little pale." Andy's brow twitched at the smirk laced tone. He spared a glance at twinkling eyes staring down at him and bit back a groan. Egil tilted his head to the side, a lone black lock brushing over his eye from beneath his white hood, and wriggled his fingers around the picks buried into the rock.
"Wonder why." Andy mumbled. A shiver wracked down Andy's spine as he pressed against the snow, hissing at the wind that whipped by him. The flakes that whipped by him quickly stung his cheeks like glass. Andy winced, gripping harder in the dips Egil made until Egil froze. The boy swerved his head to the side, the heel of the man's boot barely scraping his forehead.
Egil squinted past Andy's shoulder, sucking in his bottom lip with a frown. "Look down."
Andy glanced down and felt his stomach drop from his being. A shadowing mist of snow and frost whirled beneath them that stretched deep into an abyss. Andy pressed his self flat against the side of the mountain, clinging onto the dips of the snow and rock with a renewed need.
"Where did that come from?" Andy squeaked as Egil carefully slid down to Andy's view.
Egil nudged the boy's shoulder grunting, "I think we should be more concerned with that."
Andy jerked his head to the side, his muscles gripping his bones, and looked down again. Just a few feet below them lied a cavern jutting deep into the mountain. Andy's eyes widened slightly as he murmured, "Isn't that…the cave we camped out in?"
"That's what I was afraid of." Egil grunted. He looked up at the thickening, black clouds knitting together as the wind howled with a bitter vengeance. The sharp prick of ice against his cheeks made his frown deepen. "We're in a labyrinth."
The words tugged at the back of his mind, wracking at the memories locked in the crevices of his brain to no avail. He shook his head, calling over the wind, "What does that mean?"
Egil didn't answer, flicking his gaze back to the rumbling storm creeping towards them. The icy shards battered weakly past his cheeks as the cold slithered beneath layers of fur and wool-fueling a frozen fire that roiled through his veins. A long line of white hissed under the grueling, black clouds as they strode closer to the mountain, the crown of its mass ready to devour the tip of the mountain.
"We have to jump."
Andy whipped his gaze onto Egil, his eyes silently grateful to avoid the deepening abyss beneath it. "Are you insane?" Andy gawked at the man, nearly losing his grip at his words. A flurry of incoherent gasps jumbled into a thick mesh within Andy's throat. "The cave's right there!"
Egil set his jaw firmly and shook his head, "That's not the cave."
Andy opened his mouth to retort, only to have the wind whip the back of his hood over his head. He curled his tongue deep into his mouth as his teeth chattered uncontrollably; each violent clack making his tongue wince further into his mouth. He squinted through thick snowflakes at Egil loosening his grip from the ice picks. Andy's heart clamored wildly against his chest until a low snap managed to prick his ears. He glanced down at the rope tied tightly around his waist as the thick, tethered hairs twisted against each other mercilessly and instantly fell apart.
The boy grappled for the edge of the rock, feeling the icy ground beneath him fall from under him. His body slid down the side of the mountain as if he were no more than a feather. A shrill silence plugged Andy's ears, his throat tightening into a permanent knot as Egil shot out a hand for him. The boy watched the world tumble inside out, the folded, gray peaks of mountains pecking into the freezing darkness as his back slammed against solid ice. His head snapped back, grinding against broken ridges of rock, when he felt the tip of a rock graze his forehead.
A faint, rotten scent brushed past Andy's nose as he blinked away inky tendrils of darkness. His breath caught in his throat ever so carefully as the tip of a stalagmite reared its bony, sharp canines to the boy. Andy swallowed thickly, the silence plugging his ears weighing thickly in his eardrums until he was torn from the bottom of the abyss and spitting fractals of snowflakes from his mouth.
He blinked at the storm clouds practically hovering over the mountain and strained his neck to stare up at Egil. Egil's mouth moved, yet no sound met Andy's ears; the silence growing thicker than ever before until Egil's hand, the one not clenching around Andy's pants leg, loosened its grip around the handle of the ice pick. Andy's eyes widened as the faint cry of, "No. No. No!" grew into a loud shrill in the silence plaguing him when he recognized the voice as his own.
Andy's heart cracked as Egil released the ice pick and gravity claimed them as its own. Yet as the two plummeted into the dark abyss, Andy blinked at the warm light glowing around them. He blinked twice. Then thrice more until his hands roamed against solid rock.
The boy fell onto his back with a thud with Egil falling after on his feet. Andy's eyes hesitantly glanced around the cavern where thin slivers of rock, pointed like icicles, stretched down from the rocky ceiling while a slight, burnt orange hue glowed from the slabs of rocks around them. The boy watched Egil's shoulders slump with a sigh as he flipped his hood from his eyes. A mess of uncombed, black hair ruffled around the man's head while a lopsided grin cracked at his lips.
"You sure do scream a lot." He said pointedly.
Andy stared at the rocky cavern over their heads as his heart crept back down from his mouth into his chest. Then Egil's words penetrated his conscious with the shock of a bolt. Andy slapped his hands down against the ground, exclaiming breathlessly, "What the hell?"
Egil snorted as Andy shakily rose up on his elbows. He stepped over Andy, jerking his head down the cavern that stretched deeper into a lit darkness. Andy groaned, wincing at the raw barrenness burning down of his throat, and rolled onto his side. He staggered to his feet as he followed close behind Egil. Andy's brows knitted together as he softly glared at up at Egil.
"What now?" Egil asked, running his fingers along the side of the cavern without looking back.
Andy's puckered brow deepened in its frown as he murmured, "What was that?"
"A labyrinth." Egil shrugged. He ducked under rocky crystals inching down from the roof of the cavern. "It's an enchant meant to trap its targets in a reality slightly…cracked from what they're used to." Andy silently scoffed at, "slightly," feeling the tip of rock graze his forehead once more as Egil went on. "I didn't expect them to put one on this mountain though. Especially one so powerful."
Andy folded his arms across his chest, burying his chin into his chest. "How'd you know it was there in the first place?"
Egil stuttered in his step and came to a halt. Andy bumped into his back, stumbling back, and blinked up at the man. The boy felt every hair on his body stand up at the stark, blue gaze burning into him. Egil's bottom lip slipped under his teeth, biting down on it for a moment before easing his self back into his muscles.
"I just do." He said softly. Andy arched an eyebrow at him before he nodded up towards the top of the cavern. Andy followed his gaze to find thin, iridescent strings of silver and gold strung above their heads in small mosaic tendrils of glass. Andy ogled the dangling mosaic web as Egil said, "If you go up through that again, you'll be somewhere completely different on the mountain."
Andy, eyes locked on the mosaic, murmured, "So you knew when we jumped, we'd fall in here." Egil blinked once, scratching the back of his head with a forced cough. Andy snapped his head down at him with a weary gaze. "You knew…right?"
Egil turned on his heel, briskly trailing down the cavern with a mild sprint. Andy's eyes widened. "You didn't know?"
"I caught you didn't I?"
"That's besides the point!" Andy groaned, trekking after him.
The cavern stretched on as they walked; the thick webs spouting illusion after illusion of different parts of the mountain slowly faded to films creeping along the ashen rock. Andy wrapped his arms around his self, slivers of iciness slipping along the back of his neck. His fingers scrunched around the thick fabric until he crashed into Egil's back. His brows furrowed as he glared up at the man.
"If this is another joke," Andy huffed tiredly, "I'm not in the mood."
Egil pressed the boy back against the cavern walls, shaking his head firmly as he held a finger to his mouth. Andy blinked curiously as Egil jerked his head to the side. A film of gold and white swirled around the wall at the end of the cavern, locked into place with dark blue insignias of birds pulled about with a series of bones spouting from their wings and opal bodies. Andy's brows rose, his heart skipping a beat until his nails bit into the flesh of his palm. Egil turned to look at the boy only to feel his arm be shrugged away. Andy twisted under the man's grasp until he wrung his self away from the wall and stared down the film of webbing on the wall.
"What are you doing?" Egil hissed, grappling for the boy's arm.
Egil's hisses fell on mute ears as Andy glared down at the bones growing from the insignias and stretched along the rock. He squared his shoulders and charged through the webbing. Andy bit back a yelp as ripples of shocks clawed beneath his cloak and clothes, leaving his skin humming with a numb, yet sensitive burn. He stumbled through the web until the strands of gold and white broke apart around him. With one final stomp, Andy's knees buckled as the burn of the webs wore at his muscles. He scrambled along the ground, gasping once his head broke the surface of the web.
Ash flooded his lungs as he gulped in the air; yet the air around him filled his being with warmth-a foreign fire that mingled in his belly. He swiped the remaining strings of the web from his face and arched his brows with a slacked jaw. Hundreds of golden flames lingered within the rocks of the mountain that stretched out before him. The flames shifting along and below the rocks until they spilled out in tow with people milling behind them. Andy watched, anchored to the spot, as the cavern unfolded with the light into an endless terrain of rocky shelves and tunnels filled with people shifting through them. Andy felt his mouth run dry at the lights floating about like fireflies within the mountain-and at the sharp flints of rock pointed straight at his neck.
Andy felt the tip of a flint gently graze over his Adam's apple as several pairs of smoky eyes glowered down at him. The boy felt his back burn, inching over the rest of his frame, where even the familiar icy chill fanning over his neck didn't sway the burn.
"Don't move." Andy tried to gulp, holding his breath as the point of the flint snagged against his skin. The men hovering over them exchanged quick glances before whispering in an alien wisp of tongue. Andy sucked in a breath, the language failing to fall into his memories, as the men moved their weapons aside and dragged across the ground. Egil shot him a quick shake of his head as they were hauled along the edge of the rocky shelf.
Andy caught Egil's eye through the hoard of men and mouthed to him, "Where are they taking us?"
Egil stared back at him, blue eyes glazed in an icy film as he mouthed back, "To hell."
A/N: Finally updated! Thank you for reading and please review. :)
