Reaching for the edge, my hand slipped, but I hung on desperately. The towering pines were fading in and out. The darkness was near, cold and still as death. Finally, I lifted one leg after the other and heaved myself up over the ledge.
I tried to breathe, but it was like the air was frozen. For a moment, I was warm, but why did the warmth feel wrong? I should stay here and let it take me. That made the most sense.
I blinked, and crushing aches and pains tore through me as I lifted my head, looking into the dark cavern. I groaned and forced myself up onto my elbows. A deep splitting pain made it hard to see. Had I just blacked out? I couldn’t feel my handsanymore, and my lips wouldn’t move. Who knows how long I’d been lying there. I needed to get away from the cave’s entrance and that brutal wind.
A wave of heat rushed through my body, and I pushed through the pain and got to my feet, stumbling deeper into the cave. Inside, there was perfect darkness swallowing all light like a black hole. Still, the further in I went, the wind’s power waned. I tucked myself against the cavern wall and wrapped my arms around my knees.
It was dry. Cold, but dry. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I made out something across from me against the opposite wall. Crawling to it, I felt a thick cloth. Tears dampened my skin as I pulled the heavy cloak over me. The warmth was a bliss I’d never experienced before, and I cried out in elation as I wrapped myself in it.
I closed my eyes, my laughter calming as I wondered if the little white fox had found shelter too.
I awoketo a tremor coursing through my body. I was shaking from the deep cold that had taken hold of me. Ice had formed on my eyelashes. I thought of the fire burning and crackling in The Squelching Mink, wishing I were before or even in it. Either would work.
The slow rhythm of my heart beat on, and I willed it to keep going. Death wasn’t something I was afraid of, but this wasn’t how I wanted to go. I wasn’t sure how I’d survived the night, but whatever awoke me had given me a chance.
One I had to act on quickly.
I forced my eyes open; it was still dark—maybe an hour left before dawn. I rose to my feet, my blood flowing faster, which set off every nerve ending in my body.
I looked into the darkness of the cave, fear creeping in faster than the cold had. There was nothing but the certainty of a frozen end in the frosty forest behind me. Goosebumps prickled up my arms as I followed along the wall and deeper into the cave. The cavern wall was smooth and cold to the touch. The damp cold was quickly setting in, and I feared frostbite as my nerves screamed in pain. I wasn’t far from the numbness that preceded death.
I navigated through the dark for some time, wondering if coming into this cave had only delayed my demise. Time blurred and the black swam in and out like a wormhole. Hours must have passed when my heart slammed against my ribs.
I rushed forward, stumbled, and scrambled to my feet again.
There was light.
When I turned the corner, the cave opened out into a massive cavern.
Glowing flora was on every surface. A shallow pool of water glowed in the center. Purple ferns with an ethereal glow rose from the water like streetlights. Bioluminescent moss with a blue hue covered the cavern floor where flower-like plants with bulbs lit the center like a lamp.
Glowing mushrooms beneath the water’s surface lit the pool with an eerie green light. The ceiling was lit with fruit-bearing ivy that hung like décor, its little orange berries emitting faint light amidst the spade-shaped leaves.
Where light and dark may both be.
I wanted to stay here, but I knew I had to keep moving. Calming my mind, I listened. Touching my hands to the walls, I rested my ear against the stone. I stayed that way for several minutes, waiting for any sign of movement or voices. Finally, Ifelt it. A slight vibration. I kept pausing as I moved on, waiting for any sound to become louder.
Sure enough, it was getting louder. It was flowing water. I followed the sound of the water like a map, the light in the room getting dimmer and dimmer as the water got louder and louder.
I couldn’t catch my breath. My chest burned. I had to keep moving and follow the sound. I reached out before me, hope the only thing that was keeping me upright, and found a dead end.
Agony descended upon me like a downpour as I released a loud groan.
I had to get out of here. Instead of dying in an ice desert, I’d die slowly of starvation in a dark cave.
I leaned forward, waiting for the familiar cold sensation of the rock to press firmly against my skin, but it never came.
Instead, I crashed to the ground like a dead body, barely catching myself with one hand.
Was that dirt?
I stared at the ground, letting my fingers run across the earthen surface that wasn’t buried beneath several feet of snow. Then, a pair of thick, black-soled boots appeared, and the man they belonged to towered over me. He wore thick leather armor and a long cloak bound by a silver brooch at his neck, an elegant N embossed there. His brown eyes stared at me, his short, dark hair shaved closely and evenly around his tan skin.
“You took until the last minute, recruit,” he barked. “Get up. You’re late.”
My brow furrowed. He stood before me with such stern military precision that I sat up straight automatically. Still, it didn’t stop the relief that washed over me. He was an actual living being, which meant that I wasn’t going to die a cold, miserable death.
My focus shifted, taking in the valley and the towering mountains around us, which was definitely not the cave I’d justspent hours in the dark in. How did I get here? I glanced around, finding a large tent pitched nearby. Others dressed in warm, winter clothing, many standing near a large fire.
