Children of Night and Snow

50. No Goodbyes

We packed in silence. Each of us filling our backpacks with extra clothes, daggers, food and basic medical necessities. I stared at the photos half tucked away in that black pouch. A few days ago I had a panic attack at the thought of losing them. Even now I couldn't bear the thought. Yet I chose to abandon them rather than face them. I couldn't let them go from my mind and my heart. I don't think I ever could. But I wasn't the daughter and friend they sent away all those months ago. And I could never be her again. While there was still a part of me who wanted nothing else but to go back, the other part knew that I didn't belong to that place anymore. No matter how much I'd beg for it. No matter how much I would've tried.

I zipped up the pouch and placed it in my backpack before I joined the others in the centre of the room, where Aaron placed a large map I've never seen before. A map of Winterlands. It took me a little to figure out where we were on this. Aaron was helpful by putting a large red cross over what was once the town of Duskfall. I could now see the southern part of the map covered in marking for ice of the Frozen Wastes. There were about five other settlements on this side. But really with how big the map was, it was nearly impossible to guess just how far they were from us. One of those settlements was marked with a triangle. A human settlement according to the guide. It lied far to the East of us and seemed about the same size as Duskfall was. I wondered if that's where Nolan's mate was from.

"Okay so we leave in wolf forms. It will be most convenient for our escape as well as the climb to the Silver Peaks," Aaron marked another spot which he connected to the Duskfall mark with a dotted line. There were high mountains between here and there. But by far not the highest the region could offer.

"You wanna use that route? This pass is really risky at this time of the year," Devan asked hesitantly.

"It's our best bet. We are too big of a group to risk going over the peaks," Aaron replied and Az nodded in agreement.

"We can make it. We'll rest just before that and then run all the way through," Connor suggested.

"It will add another day to our journey, but yeah, that's the plan. Once we cross, we will be out of reach for anyone until we reach the northern settlements. There are mostly lava fields and ruins there so we'll have to walk in human form for a few days. We won't be able to shift back until we scale the Obsidian Mountains," Aaron carried on connecting various points of interest on the maps for us.

"From there the journey should be easier. We will just need to stay off everyone's path until we reach Midnight City military outpost," he finished and showed us all the final plan. There were so many settlements on the other side of this map. And much much bigger than Duskfall, which I found large already. But the capitol, the Midnight City, it was by far the largest of them. Surrounded by mountains it was the second most northern city in the entire Winterlands.

"What's this?" I asked, pointing at greyed out areas of the map which surrounded the land from the East, West and North.

"There is nothing there. Just the ocean. The waters are freezing cold. Enough to kill you in minutes. There is a nice view of it from one spot in Midnight City though," Aaron said smiling at my curiosity and sudden excitement. I've never seen an ocean. It was my dream to go to the Southern Shores to see it. Body of water so endless you couldn't see on the other side. In the South there were cities lined up on the shore, with beautiful beaches and exotic markets. I doubted that would be the case here, but the thought of seeing an ocean still excited me a lot.

"Okay, let's all get some proper sleep. Gods know we won't get much of it in the next two weeks or so. We'll leave tomorrow right after breakfast," Demi said and we all agreed.

I double checked my bag and packed my now fixed leathers inside with the rest of stuff I already packed earlier. I only kept leggings and turtleneck on to sleep in since we were going to shift tomorrow and leave in wolf forms anyway. Then I went to join all the others except for Connor who agreed to be the first to keep the watch. I fell asleep shortly after in Nolan's arms. We haven't spoken since the fight earlier and I wasn't sure we would anytime soon. But his touch had a calming effect on me and without him, I'd likely not fall asleep at all which given the journey ahead I simply couldn't afford.

The next morning we all ate in silence, our ears focused on the outside, making sure we were all alone for our escape. Getting injured so early into our journey was something we couldn't afford. Especially since we needed to do the first leg of our journey in wolf form. After breakfast, Nolan checked the outside and declared the surroundings clear for us to leave. We all shifted on his command and he opened the seal of the top door, opening it for us to walk out before he himself shifted and followed us all out. And without any hesitation we all followed the twins towards the broken walls of the city and outside into the darkness and snow.

There were no goodbyes. No looking back. We simply bolted as fast and as silent as we could, leaving Duskfall behind the moment we crossed the ruins of the protective walls. There was no time to think about it. To weep over the loss. Not that my friends seemed to feel the need to do so. Still I couldn't help but wonder how they all felt. Were they really not going to miss this place at all?

We ran for what felt like hours. While my fur was so light I disappeared in the snow, the rest of my group took the utter darkness for cover with their dark coloring. We ran and ran until there were no signs of life anywhere around us. No lights from any distant settlements, no noises from the hidden wildlife, not even footsteps in the snow other than our own and those were disappearing quickly too, buried under the fresh snowfall. Only then did we finally stop, taking shelter in a nearby cave, where we all shifted in order to eat a little before going to sleep.

I sat by the fire and stared into flames while I ate, my mind elsewhere. I could tell everyone was anxious or otherwise lost in their thoughts. We were still quite far from the deadly pass which was supposed to take us past the Silver Peaks and until we did we were still in potentially enemy territory. But then again, everything was an enemy territory to us now. We were remnants of a fallen town, wanderers who didn't belong anywhere. Down South it wouldn't matter, but here we were unwanted and with nowhere to go. We may as well have been rogues ourselves. In fact right now we probably were. The thought alone almost made me chuckle for some reason.

"Storm is coming," Lucia said when she returned from her watch at the entrance.

"Good. That should erase any traces we left behind," Connor replied and took a sip of his water. I sighed and got up. It was my turn to watch out for us now. I shifted and walked almost all the way to the front of the cave, still hidden from outside view but close enough to hear, smell and see anything that may be coming for us. The sky was pitch black, hidden by the dark clouds from which poured endless snow. It was so dark I would be lost without my enhanced wolf vision. I sat there in silence, keeping watch, guarding the cave which hid what most precious to me in this World right now. And I wondered, with just how far North we were heading, if I would ever see the daylight again. With how rare it was here, on this side of Winterlands, was there even any where we were going? The Midnight City had its name for a reason after all.

*** 

Wow, I can't believe it's been 50 chapters already! I also noticed we are very close to 1k reads which is amazing and thank you so much to all of you who have given this story a chance. Because any new reads, votes and comments do help the story to ge noticed, I have a challenge for you. If we can get to 1k reads by Monday, I'll post a chapter on Monday to celebrate. If we can get there by Wednesday, I'll give you double chapter then. Can we do it? You'd make this writer very happy if we do. 

-Manon