Guardian of Calandria | ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Two

           Snow flurries surrounded them, impacting their climb. Kira didn't know when it began snowing. They started up the hill for Osarwin with rain drizzling around them, but soon they found themselves in knee-deep snow, struggling to finish their ascent. Both boots were now filled with snow, weighing her feet down. At first it melted, leaving behind wet feet, but as her body heat dropped, and the snow piled up, it collected inside her leather boots. She was certain she'd find her feet frostbitten when she could remove her boots. Behind her, she heard the grunts and whimpers of Sabina. Ry pushed ahead, cutting a trail for both, but it wasn't enough. Even Kira wasn't sure she could make it to the peak of the modest hill.

Her hands sunk into the white fluff, hoping to find something to grab—a root, a branch, anything to help her support. Flurries of snow blinded her, leaving only the faint trace of Ry in front of her. She tried to keep her head down; the hood to her cloak had long since blown back from the strong winds whipping around them. Ry grabbed her arm, pulling her forward.

"Please tell me this is the top." Her teeth chattered, as she looked to Ry.

"I'm not sure. Addrick and Demitra ran ahead, they seemed mystified." He leaned down to help lift Sabina.

Kira stepped forward. The wind howled around her, she pulled the hood over her head, keeping it in place with both hands. Though the snow continued to fall, it stopped sticking to the ground a few feet ahead. Kira glanced back to see Ry scoop Sabina into his arms. One edge of Kira's lip twitched, remembering when Ry used to do that for her. Often it ended with her screaming at him to let her manage herself. He never meant harm, it was simply this way to help her when he thought she needed it, but she was never one to give up easily. To let Ry carry her meant there was something she couldn't handle.

Though, she had to admit, she would've happily been carried after their climb. No longer could she feel the bottoms of her feet, there wasn't a dry spot left on her clothing, and she was sure her red hair had frozen in place. Ry nodded, encouraging her to move on. They followed where Addrick and Demitra had gone. Kira sighed when the snow gave way to damp ground, the flurries lessening. A bank of snow spread around the edge of a clearing, forming a near perfect ring. Trees, empty of leaves, scattered the opening but none blocked out the sky. She looked up, shielding her eyes from the snow.

Darkened clouds, with streaks of shattered light, loomed overhead. She laughed, opening her mouth to catch the flakes on her tongue. There was a time when she used to wonder what snow tasted like, imagining each flake was a sliver of candy. Ry's farther used to bring them candy from his travels, some of it fluffed like clouds on a stick in wondrous colors. She didn't know why her mind wandered back to those memories, but they made her smile. The sound of Ry moving beside her made her back to reality. He smiled.

"There's no snow on the ground," Sabina said, sliding out of Ry's arms. "But it's still falling."

"Must be a magic shield surrounding the area," Ry said.

Kira shook her head. "No, if there was a shield we wouldn't be getting snowed on. It's just not sticking." She peered at Addrick. He ran around the clearing, scratching the back of his head. Demitra was examining a cottage off to the side, smoke billowing from the chimney. Aside from the cottage, there were no other signs of life. "Come on, something's bothering Addrick.

"What else is new," Ry mumbled. "At least this time, I didn't do it."

She laughed, walking toward Addrick. He ignored her advances, running to each dead tree and pressing a hand to their trunk. Kira's foot kicked a tree stump. It was covered in bright green moss, curvy roots surrounded the stump before vanishing deep into the earth. A second stump sat a few feet away, that one was covered in vines with red leaves, the bark of the stump nearly invisible. She turned to look at a third stump surrounded by blue flowers growing at the base, some growing from within the stump itself. She knelt down to run her fingers over a crack in the earth. She couldn't see the other side, but she thought it spanned in a circle, trapping the tree stumps within. More cracks spiraled out from the moss-covered stump.