Ilene watched as her sister climbed above, her fingers clinging to the crevices in the cliff. A few times she'd accidentally pull out grass, or a few rocks would come loose instead. After venturing for a while through the woods, they'd come to a place that ended in a cliff, another side too far away to jump to. Instead, they climbed down one side after finding a simple path, and where now climbing up the other side. They searched virtually the whole cliff face, but there were no simple paths to be seen. They had to climb.
And yet, Ilene still stood at the bottom, watching as Lina slowly made progress.
"What're ya waiting for?" Lina called down, almost slipping; again.
"Um, I, ah…" Was about all Ilene could get out before she heard howling. "Very funny, Lina."
"That wasn't me, Ily." Her sister returned, her voice shaking slightly. Ilene turned around, step by step, to see the sky had grown darker. When did this happen? Wolves –or at least what she thought were wolves, since she'd only ever read about them in books- crept around the edges of the small canyon they were in, while a few were climbing down the paths on the other side.
"Ilene!" She heard her sister call, breaking through the fear that'd kept her frozen in place. Immediately, she turned around, trying to claw her way up the cliff. Going fast, her movements were quite sloppy, but she kept pressing on. She felt hot breath on her heels at first, and could hear their teeth clashing as they tried to get her. Though she'd never seen a real wolf, she knew this couldn't possibly be one.
Soon she was close to the top, Lina scrambling over the edge. Her hand was curling around the top when a piece of the rock broke off, leaving her holding on with only one hand.
"Lina!" She screamed, watching with terror as her fingers started to fall. She reached up her other hand, struggling to grab a hold of the rocks when her fingers were met by another hand. Using her feet to boost her way up, Ilene was met at the top by her sister, trying her best to drag her up. Gasping for breath, they both collapsed in the grass, staring at the sky where stars were already poking their way through.
"You know, those stars look a lot like those wolves' teeth, ripping through the sky." Ilene stated after a moment of silence, the howls of wolves fading away.
"You're so weird." Was the simple reply of Lina as she rolled over to get up. After a moment more of silence, Lina finally broke it. "Why are we here?"
"To go on an adventure, and slay an evil ice witch who's inhabited that mountain." Ilene replied, standing up as well.
"No, Ilene. Why did you really bring me here? I know it's not just to fight a witch."
Ilene kept walking, quiet as she pushed forward.
"Ilene, stop!" Lina grabbed her sister's hand, pulling her back to face her. "Why are we here?" She asked in a whisper.
"To run away, Lina. Is that what you wanted to hear? We're running away." Ilene replied quietly at first, only to get loud enough her choked-up voice echoed as tears formed, one running down her cheek. Ilene brushed it away, looking somewhere else, anywhere else, besides Lina's face.
"We can't run away from our problems, Ily." Lina replied gently.
"Well it looks like we just have. Besides, we're not even aloud outside of those stupid gates. Why don't we deserve a little adventure? Like they would even care."
"You and I both know that isn't true. Besides, we have each other, why do we need to leave?"
"I don't even know anymore. I was so sure of it when we left, but now I don't know." Ilene replied, sitting down again. "I mean, there's no beds out here. That seems like a good enough reason in itself to go back." Ilene smiled a little as Lina laughed at her comment.
"Yeah, well I miss my bed too. And the food." Lina sat down next to her, until they both ended up talking as they watched the sky, eventually asleep on the hard ground.
…
Lina blinked her eyes open slowly, the bright sky hurting after the dark. As her eyes adjusted, she soon noticed another pair hovering above hers. With some sort of sound between a yelp, scream, and a sneeze, Lina sat upright, her head nocking into the other creature's. Of course, she was sure it hurt her a lot more than it hurt them; it was made of rock, after all.
"Oh goody, you're awake!" Lina rubbed her head as the creature responded, its round form clothed in grass and flowers. She let out another scream, only to wake up her sister. As Ilene sat up, she let out a scream as well before covering her mouth, muttering something about trolls.
"Oh, what's with all your screamin? You two need to learn yourselves some manners." The creature scolded them.
"Um, I'm sorry, who are you?" Lina asked after a moment, still sitting in the grass.
"The name's Bulda. And you two are?"
"Um, I'm Ilene, and this is my sister, Lina." Ilene spoke up, getting to her feet. "I'm sorry if this seems rude, but are you, ah, a troll?"
"And you act as if you've never seen one before. Uh, villagers. Always thinkin we're extinct. Well I tell them, we are as real as anyone else around here. " Bulda rambled off. She seemed young enough, though it was hard to tell considering she resembled a boulder. "Anyays, how'd you two get all the way out here?"
"Well, we were going to go fight a snow witch-" Lina started.
"But now we think we're just running away." Ilene finished.
"Snow witch? Oh, that's a bunch of fairy tales." Bulda replied with a wave of her hand. This caused the two sisters to look at each other before turning back to the troll, quite amused by the fact that a troll was telling them a snow witch was rubbish. "But why are you two running away?"
"Because we want an adventure. We'll go back later." Lina replied as if she was stating that she was simply going out for eggs or milk, which she of course would never do.
"Yeah, well if it's adventure you want, follow me girls." With that, Bulda waddled off down the grassy hill and into the woods, motioning for the two to follow. With one last look at each other, Ilene and Lina ran to catch up with the troll, following her into the forest.