The Rise of the Titans - Book 3: A Slave on the Run

Chapter 7: Meeting the mountaineers (and what happened next)

A deep loud voice.

- Hey! Hello! Are you down there?

- Yes! Folco answered. We're here!

- Hold on! We're sending a rope down.

The rope appeared and reached the bottom of the hole.

- You're ready? the deep set voice asked. Wrap yourself and we'll haul you up.

- We can climb, Baragor retorted.

He went first, sliding on the ice walls but managing his way up. Folco held the rope tense from below. As Baragor reached the surface, huffing and puffing, he was welcome by four men, aged twenty-five to forty.

So the woman must have been old indeed.

The mountaineers looked so much like one another it was almost disturbing. They shared facial features, green eyes, chestnut hair with forlorn locks and square jaws covered in curly beards. They had the same frame as well, short and stout, as far as Baragor could tell with all the clothes they wore. The oldest was tallest and the young one was smoother, his beard not as coarse and of a lighter shade of brown. The two middle brothers were twins actually, as identical as two flakes of snow. Baragor had just the time to take a quick look before he stumbled and fell into the arms of the young one.

- Careful here.

Indeed, the warrior was exhausted from lack of food, sleep, warmth and the fact that he had just been fucking for a whole crazy night. The young mountaineer held him while one twin handed him a strong cordial and the other one wrapped a woolen blanket around his shoulder. When Baragor felt better, he sat on a stone. The young man patted his shoulder and went back to the rope line.

The mountaineers hauled Folco up and also gave him a gulp of alcohol and a blanket. The older brother looked at them. He was the one with the deepest set voice.

- How long have you been down there? Two days? You're lucky to be alive.

- You saved us, Folco replied. We owe you our lives.

- You're not safe yet, he said. You must come to our house before the night catches up with us.

They started to walk in the snow, now knee-deep. They made little progress as the rescues were tired and unused to the ways of the mountains. Seeing this, the older man said to the youngest:

- Pip, go home and heat up our bath.

- Yes, said Pip and he ran.

On the way to the house, Baragor and Folco learned more about their rescuers. Their names were – by order of age – Conor, Gear, Gunn and Pip. They lived in the mountains and worked as lumberjacks and trappers.

- Your mother found us, Folco said.

- The mountain is Mother's kingdom, Conor said.

- So you're brothers, Baragor added.

Gunn and Gear had a laughed, as if this was the funniest joke they'd heard. Baragor and Folco shared a look but were too tired to insist. Twice on the way, they needed a pause. As they sat and drank more alcohol, the brothers kept them warm by rubbing their legs and chest and shoulders.

- Do you ever go down? Folco asked during a pause.

- Rarely. Only to sell hides, furs and wood.

Aside from their lumberjack activities, the four men also hunt shadow cats and riddlings and oxen and saber-tooth warrowirs. In truth, they looked the part.