The Emerald Legend (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty: Narrow

The moonlight was harsh and bright on Amalia's eyes. It took her several moments of blinking for her pupils to dilate against the rays. Once her eyes were able to take in the scenery, she saw Seian with a wide glare facing towards her.

Amalia smiled as she sat up and patted her snow rider with affection before looking at the landscape around her.

The mountain was still rather rocky and steep, but there was a small circular area enclosed by the sheer rock faces that had small pools of water running through it. On the far end, Amalia saw the narrow path that led up to the next step of the mountain, but she needed water and she needed to relax for a moment.

She stood up and walked over to the flowing pool of water with loyal Seian walking behind her. As she dipped her hands into it, instantly she felt the cool mountain water relax her. She brought the water up with the palms of her hands and splashed the coolness onto her face. She gently splashed it once more before taking the water into her mouth and drinking it down.

Seian knelt down and lapped up his fill with his spoon-like tongue, while Amalia turned and sat against the rocky wall and collected herself. What in the world is this place? She thought of what she had just experienced inside that dark abysmal cave. Exhaling hard, she leaned her head up against the rock and looked at the clouded sky. Even the dark, foreboding clouds that drift in front of the moon, offered no comparison to the hellish darkness of those tunnels. As she inhaled once more, she noticed the air became harder to intake, she then realized that she had traveled such a great deal to this point.

She watched the sky for a moment as the dense clouds slowly moved and changed shape while they drifted along in their weightless dance. Here she was again, smelling the roses and appreciating the simplest of things. But to Amalia, she knew it wasn't just simplicity. She understood that the clouds had an extreme process to go through to become what they were. She knew that despite popular belief, they don't just come into existence. They have a very specific way that they follow that creates them and changes them—just like everything.

Between her thoughts, somewhere without realizing it, her consciousness drifted slowly away, but she still felt the cold breeze against her pale skin. With the amount of grit on her face, the wind reminded her of just how dirty she was at that moment. Her eyes partially opened again and she smiled. "Oh, what a wondrous experience it is to be human," she said with a bout of sarcasm in her voice.

Seian's gaze trailed to her after he had his fill of cool water. He sat next to her and rested his head on her legs. Amalia looked down at her exhausted snow rider and laid a hand, delicately brushing it through his fur. He purred softly as she did and she could tell he was slowly regaining his strength, yet she knew they would most likely have to return to their journey at any moment. Amalia smiled and rubbed her fingers along his spotted face.

"Don't worry, Sy, we shall rest a bit."

Seian continued to purr and he slowly closed his eyes and got as much peace and comfort as he could. Amalia looked back to the cave's exit, and the small stream that ran against the mountain, and sighed heavily. A few months ago she would have never imagined she would be, not only facing something like this, but actually conquering it.

She looked down to the dagger that hung on her tan leather belt and smiled. How did I ever get to this point without using you once? She thought to herself with a bit of a chuckle. Her smile then dropped when the memory of Varus came back into her mind. She held onto his name with a heart of bitterness, trying to recollect all those memories, trying to find the place where maybe he slipped or revealed anything about her true parents.

There was nothing, though. He'd treated her like his own, throughout her whole life he was her father, no one else. A clenching feeling grabbed her throat. She held one arm up over her face, guarding her eyes from the sky as her strong expression began to crumble.