Swords and Staffs

23. Frostback mountains

Arlene:

After arriving at the stables, I waited outside whilst Dante claimed his horse. He then returned riding an elegant white Friesian horse.

"Meet Majesty!" Dante cried aloud, his chin raised from his neck and a wide and satisfactory smile stretched across his face. This horse had an endlessly long rippling mane and its tail was threaded into a perfectly formed braid. As Majesty glided gracefully along the course road, her weightless tail sailed in the humid breeze like a blissful cloud in the soft sky, free. As she walked, I noticed how articulate her legs were by the loose movements of her joints. Majesty seemed to be a very agile and enduring horse.

We loaded the rest of the supplies onto the cart that Onyx was latched onto. We made our way through the forest. Whilst trailing past the bare trees and snowy landscapes, I realised that this would be my last look of home. Travelling further and further, I began to feel a strange feeling in my stomach. I worried, was this the right choice? Should I leave home? Is this going to work? Whilst asking all of these questions in my head, we passed the exit of the forest.

"No turning back now," I mumbled, looking behind me, viewing the forest, until I could hardly see it anymore. Dante noticed what I was doing.

"Hey, are you ok?"

"Umm, yes, I've just never gone further than the forest before."

"What? You've literally never left past this point?"

"No..."

"You know, when I was in the army, we used to sail a lot. On battle ships across seas and we used to travel mile after mile. Yet you have never passed the forest. This trip is going to be interesting," he mused.

"Hey, don't make fun of me!" I played, "I had a difficult childhood."

"Ok, ok. I'll leave you alone," he said, grinning and turning his head back around to face the front.

The clip clop of Onyx and Majesty's hooves echoed from the ground as we clambered the rocky path of the snowy Frostback Mountains. A wave of spine-chilling blizzard consumed the atmosphere surrounding us and I felt Onyx tense up under my legs as he became uneasy.

Dante was riding ahead of me; however, I could barely see him as Majesty's pure white body camouflaged into the snow that coated the wall of the mountain beside us.

"Dante!" I yelled over the wind, "Is this safe?!"

No answer.

"Dante!"

I could still make out the silhouette of Dante and his horse, but it was very faint. Snow swarmed around us like hundreds of ravenous wasps, and I was losing track of where I was. I gripped tightly onto Onyx's reins. I could do nothing but carry on. I peered over to the right of me. A precipitous descent formed a void of spiralling snowflakes falling all the way down the mountain. I gulped and continued to follow the faded white figure of my leader. I heard Blue's whine inside the saddle bag and the rumbling wheels of the cart that I was pulling.

I panicked as Onyx reared and let out a nervous neigh. I was thrown backwards, being forced to grasp his bridle in panic. He stopped in his tracks and fluttered his lips in anxiety.

"Woah! It's alright boy!" I stopped to stroke his mane and calm him down. Once calmed, I helped Onyx continue in a small trot, but when I looked in front of me, I could no longer see Dante, nor the outline of his horse.

I was an inexperienced jockey, riding a nervy horse across a heavily snowy mountain, of which I've never been on before, going somewhere I had no idea where, without a qualified leader and on top of all of that, I had a small puppy cowering in my saddle bag.

What was the worst that could happen?

Dante:

Riding along the white powdered cliffs, I notice something odd. Wait a second! Where was Arlene?

I quickly peered behind me.

"Arlene!"

"Arlene!"

Brilliant, we'd only been out in the open for ten minutes and I had already lost my tutee. The snowflakes rapidly struck my face as I powered on forward, it was freezing, my face felt numb and so did my hands. I decided to keep going, for if I stayed in this storm, I would only freeze to death. But what if Arlene was stuck somewhere? What if she had to stop for some reason and had fallen behind?

I could barely see ahead of me for the whirling snow forbid my sight and I was only able to rely on Majesty for directions, hoping that she knew where she was going.

"Come on girl!" I urged; my voice merely noticeable for the strong winds dominated any sound that came from my mouth.

My hands stiffened around the reins and my feet seemed to be glued to the stirrups as they were covered with frost and solid ice.

Majesty was struggling to move and kept tripping on the rocks. I could see nothing but white and my lack of sight began to scare me. If I tipped off of the crumbling edge of the cliff, I was done for. What if that had happened to Arlene? And I was so scared I didn't go back for her? I couldn't live with myself if I had ruined my chances of bringing her back, and I definitely couldn't live with myself if I had left Arlene to die in the blizzard.

"Arlene!" I shouted again, even though I knew it wasn't worth it, for Arlene probably wasn't in range to hear my bellowing cries. My body grew colder and colder by the minute. I was worried that Arlene may not have made it out alive, and that I would follow her footsteps.

Suddenly, Majesty stopped and raised her front hooves in the air, she bucked, and I flew backwards. I barely landed on enough cliff to sustain me and slid as I attempted to stand.

"Easy!" I said as I eventually stood up and stumbled back towards the horse, shielding my eyes from the thick snow that poured from the sky.

A solid sheet of ice lay beside my horse, positioned at the cliff edge. I tried my hardest not to slip as I aimed to hoist myself back onto Majesty. I had just managed to get past the frost when the rocks at the edge of the ridge began to crumble beneath me.

I had not realised that I was so close to the edge of the cliff and I was about to pay for my mistake. The rocks crumbled one by one, falling down into the dark abyss below. I attempted to jump to safety, but I missed the solid ground. I clamped by hands tightly on whatever land I could grip. I hung on for dear life, dangling from the windy cliff side like a limp flag. My fingernails clawed the surface, but couldn't hang on for any longer.

I fell.

I tumbled down the rocky side of the mountain, plummeting down to my instant death. I screamed, then, everything went black...