The Fear You Know

21. Order of Hypocrisy

 Neither of them slept well, rising as soon as the earliest dawn light leaked through the trees, and neither of them spoke until they were well on their way down the mountain. The snow had mostly thinned out by then becoming merely a light dusting over the rock and stone that crunched beneath their feet.

They hadn't spoken since the night before, afraid that their voices would attract the attention of those hunting them. Even just the thought of the stalkers, or the Revealed leader made Eli shiver.

By daybreak, the snow had morphed from sleet and then into thundering sheets of chill ice water soaking them thoroughly through, though the temperature continued to climb as they headed downwards. Eli didn't know all that much about weather, it was unpredictable when the dreads were involved and tended not to make sense according to the normal laws of nature, but even he knew that the sudden increase in temperature was probably not a product of nature.

He turned back, Wink peering from inside his jacket as he set up the spyglass.

Wink blinked once, and then twice.

"See anything."

"Not as far as I can tell." His voice was difficult to hear over the sound of the pounding rain. A trickle of water dripped around the side of his eyelid and into Eli's shirt making him shiver with the sudden chill.

He collapsed the spyglass and shoved it back in his bag. At this point he had almost gotten used to the feeling of Wink inside his jacket, as much as once could get used to having a blob of river mud shoved down their shirt.

Before him, Peter was looking down at the valley below.

From this height and through the rain, it was hard to make anything out in clear detail. Much of the ground below them was obscured by a thick bank of fog -- warm air from below meeting cold air from above mixed with the heavy condensation of the rain. Stone was wet below their feet as they made their way down.

Peter held back so Eli could catch up, "have we reached the edge of the Stalk?" He asked, forced to raise his voice over the pounding of the rain at their feet. Little rivulets of water trickled down around them forming small streams against the mountainside. Before spilling down over the stone and into great puddles which they were forced to skirt.

Eli nodded, "We would have exited her territory a mile or so back.

Peter pulled his hood up further around his face "Then where are we now?"

"I'm not sure, the valley is marked on the map, but it's small, and whoever the cartographer was, they didn't bother giving more detail. Keep a close eye on anything that could give us a clue. We don't want any nasty surprises. This is the domain between the twisted and the stalk, so it could be pretty much anything."

The thought of his mother's Atlas came to mind, and he found himself missing it more than ever, imagining it lying on the banks of Mirror lake exposed to all the fury of weathering and rain.

Peter looked out over the distant bank of fog, "No lights, so it can't be a particularly pleasant place to live."

"Your logic is a bit flawed. No lights doesn't necessarily mean anything."

Peter sighed deeply but didn't say anything.

Eli glanced at him not sure what that was supposed to mean. Peter had looked away and sped up to take the lead. He had been doing that more and more recently, which Eli found annoyed him more than it reasonably should. He knew he should be happy that Peter was taking that kind of initiative, but a part of him was under the impression that Peter hardly should be taking the lead as he didn't know half as much about surviving in the real world as Eli did.