The Darkness Beyond the Stars

Chapter Seventeen: I almost murder Raon

When I woke up, the first thing I thought was, Ohhhhh. This is lovely. My feet were warm, my hands were warm, my back was warm... Then I had a minor heart attack.

WHO WAS RIGHT BEHIND ME?

I twisted around, feeling my elbow smack into the person's face.

"Oww." The person groaned.

I twisted some more, only succeeding in tangling myself in the fur cloak that was wrapped around me. But I finally caught sight of the person's face, dim in the morning light.

"Raön?" I said incredulously.

He scrunched up his face and rubbed his jaw. "That was my face."

"Raön??"

"Yes, I'm right here." He grimaced, but it turned into a smile after a moment.

"But, WHY are you right here?" I sat up, but laid back down as a burst of icy air hit my face.

"Preventing you from freezing to death."

He looked like he was enjoying this conversation.

I twisted my face into a scowl, then suddenly remembered why I had chased him here in the first place. I sat up, forgetting the wind. "They're going to kill you!"

He frowned. "Who?"

"The Twisted." I shivered, but it wasn't the cold, then looked around for my bag. It was sitting next to me, and I grabbed it, rooting around for the piece of parchment. Once I found it, I shoved it at him. "I left as soon as I found it."

His eyes scanned the parchment, and every part of him tensed. "We have to leave." He tossed the fur cloak away, and leaped to his feet. "Morok!"

A masked figure appeared from the mist, a bow in one hand, fletching of arrows jutting over his shoulder. I rather ungracefully made my way to my feet, missing the warmth instantly.

Raön handed him the parchment, and he glanced at it, then sprinted off and disappeared on the other side of the rock. Raön bent and gathered a blanket and a saddlebag off the ground, then handed the fur cloak to me.

"They are after both of us now, and if all seven of them find us here, I'll be honest, I doubt we will survive. I can't send you back. They might have followed you at a distance. Morok is getting our horses."

I felt my heart beat faster and faster. His eyes flashed back to me.

"Are you alright?"

I choked. Uhm. No. We all might be dead in an hour. Right there, on the freezing cold ground. Not that it would matter, because we wouldn't be able to feel-

"Raön!" a voice rang out from behind the rock. Raön stooped, handed me my bag, then raced around the rock.

I followed, fumbling at the clasp of the fur cloak.

I reached the other side of the rock, and saw Raön and the other elf staring into the distance. The hills rolled up and down, grey in the light. If I squinted hard, I could see the edge of the forest, dark on the horizon. I tried to figure out how far I had traveled. Then something caught my eye. Tiny dark things, as large as flies from this far away, were cresting a hill a few miles away.

Raön turned. "They're tracking us." He held out the reins of my horse. "Here."

I took the reins, and swung up, a little awkwardly from the cloak. Raön and the other elf (Morok?) mounted their horses, and turned south. "If we get farther ahead of them, we might reach the mountain pass by tonight. There are guards there."

"Wait, we haven't posted guards there for at least ten years." I adjusted in the saddle.

Raön met my gaze. "Not your guards."

My eyes widened. "There are Wild Elf guards posted at our mountain pass?"

"Not your pass."

I shook my head. "There is only one pass through the mountains."

"And we want them to keep believing that." the other elf cut in.

My jaw dropped. "What?"

Raön reached over, and grabbed my hand. I jumped, but he didn't let go. "The pass is on the left of Mount Frija. It doesn't look like a pass, but it's there. No High Elf knows about this pass, except for you now." His eyes were dead serious. "And you can never tell anyone. Even most Wild Elves don't know about it. They only reason we're telling you is because if they catch us, I want you to ride to the pass, and don't look back. Here." He let go of my hand, unbuttoned his collar and drew out a long chain with a pendant. It swung as he held it out to me. "Show the guards this. Tell them the Seventh Heir sent you."

"No!" I glared at him. "I'm not leaving you, idiot."

His eyebrows shot up.

I bit my lip, and took the pendant. I put it around my neck, and tucked it into my shirt. It fell against my chest, still warm. "I'm still not leaving you."

"I need to know you're safe if they reach us. You don't know how to fight, so you'll have to flee instead." He kicked, and his horse exploded forward.

I shook my head, squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, then spurred Fey after him. The sky above lightened slowly, growing pink in the east, then orange, then red as the sun burst over the hills. The wind whipped at my face, chilling my nose and ears until I couldn't feel them anymore. Fey's muscles bunched beneath me, his long legs stretched out, hooves throwing up dirt and grass.

With every stride, the pendant struck against my chest like a heartbeat. Whenever I tried to see if they were following us, I could see nothing but grey rocks and my hair whipping across my eyes. I looked ahead, Raön's white hair like a beacon in the sun. He sat up some and reined in until he was beside me. I looked over, and he jerked his arm over his shoulder. I glanced back, just in time to see a dark figure disappear in the space between two hills, maybe half a mile away. I breathed out slowly, and looked back at Raön. He raised his eyebrows. I gritted my teeth, and resisted the urge to shake my head. Instead, I looked ahead. The hills flattened ahead of us, shrouded with mist. 

Then, suddenly, there were mountains again. I gasped, and almost lost my balance. They shot up out of the ground, soaring higher than anything I'd ever seen, marching on to the right and left, as far as my eyes could see. The roots of the mammoths were covered in green, trees and bushes clinging to every rock, until it grew too cold for even the hardiest trees. Then the mountains were black, darker than night, rising up to pure white at the very top, white gleaming with gold and silver and pink in the sun.

"Lilya!"

I looked back at Raön. He pointed behind. Three riders had just crested the hill close behind us.

"Go!" He mouthed at me, and leaned back, then did a sharp turn to the left.

"No!" I screamed.

He disappeared, and I turned around in the saddle. He was galloping back towards the pursuers.

"No!" I screamed again, and reined in, turning Fey towards Raön.

"Go!" The other elf pointed to the mountains. "The tallest peak you see! Go, and don't look back!" He galloped after Raön, his black clothes streaming behind him.

I looked back at the mountains. The tallest was directly ahead, taller by far than any around it. A wild battle cry ripped across the wind, then an inhuman scream that froze the blood in my veins. I looked to the hills, then the mountains.

I sobbed, then kicked Fey into a gallop.

Heading to the mountains.