HavenGuarde

Chapter 39 - Near

Chapter 39

Near

-For the way is shut to those who cannot find it-

"No more detours. Let us make haste, for the light is fading. Look, there. The mountains awaits", said Thonavar, pointing to the massive wall of ice that greeted them as they came around a bend. The barkboat slowed as it drew closer to the mountain. The stream was much narrower now and was increasingly becoming shallow in depth. The barkboat was steadily decreasing in speed, floating with dreadful lethargy.

"Look! There ends the stream", said Lyla. In the distance, the stream could be seen widening into a huge lake. "We best get off and travel by foot."

"Lyla is right", said Thonavar, gesturing for them to move toward the shoreline.

"Aye", echoed Chaeron, and following Thonavar's lead, he pushed his stick into water, turning the boat toward the bank.

Thonavar held the boat steady as Lyla and Chaeron stepped off and onto the shore. Then he too stepped off. The trio stood for a while, gazing at the long piece of wood that had served them so well, bobbing up and down by the side of the stream bank. They had been on the water for many hours and it felt good to be on land dry land again. Thonavar and Lyla proceeded do some stretching.

"Well, I must say, it served us well that little thing. Without it, we would not have covered ground at such speed", observed Chaeron. There was a discernable tinge of sadness in his voice. Thonavar smiled to himself. Lyla remained silent, watching the barkboat fondly. Finally, Thonavar kicked it away from the shore and they watched it move out into the open water.

"Onward to the mountain of ice", said Thonavar, turning to face the Cold Mountains, his voice betraying a hint of excitement. "We are almost there now."

The cold and snow, no matter they blow, shall not deter us as we go.

Slowly, emerging from the snow-covered forest, they made their way toward the mountainside. They were out in the open now and had to be careful. The trio kept themselves very alert to any visible signs of movement across the land.

Snow fell from the sky in gentle patches. However, though the snow was light and the wind whistled gently now, Thonavar had a feeling that the worst was still to come. He remembered that there was a time in HavenGuarde, when the weatherstorm machine, a giant energy reactor responsible for maintaining weather conducive to HavenGuarde's living standards and environment, had experienced an error in its programming, resulting in it being temporarily shut down. With no weatherstorm machine to control and regulate the temperature and to maintain the construct-sky, HavenGuarde was plunged into an icy winter. This was a natural consequence, for outside the four walls of the city and the Iron Curtain, a fierce elemental winter storm was raging across the land. Though the Iron Curtain could prevent life from entering or escaping HavenGuarde, it could not prevent the inner temperatures of the city dropping without the heat generated by the weatherstorm machine. Thonavar had seen snow falling in a blizzard and had seen the wind pick people off their feet with ease, and sweeping them away with uncaring violence.

At last, after trekking across the snow-covered landscape for about an hour, Thonavar, Chaeron and Layla came to the bottom of the mountainside. A sheer wall of ice greeted them and as they encircled the area, it became clear that the surrounding sides of the Mountain where unclimable. They were covered with giant ice structures which made any attempt to scale fatally dangerous. The only safe area seemed to be a towering wall of ice which itself seemed unscalable. Even on the ice wall itself, small spears of ice littered the face of the wall, protruding at grotesque angles. The three of them exchanged worried looks. The idea of climbing the mountain suddenly seemed absolutely impossible. They had no tools with which to climb. Perhaps, there was someone waiting for them or had further instructions for them. Yet, there was not a soul to be seen. Also, it seemed unlikely for the other pupils to have had arrived before them. It seemed that Gargan and the two boys with him were the fastest to arrive, ahead of all the others.