Page 29 of Earthbound

‘I knew a diviner in Gural. That was many decades ago now.’

‘You were from Waning?’ Lettle asked.

‘I was. Once.’ Three words had never sounded so brittle.

Lettle noted that Mortah’s ears did not have the cut that indicated she had been dismissed from the army. She must have left Waning by choice.

Lettle had so many more questions but Mortah clearly did not want to discuss it.

‘The snowstorm is getting worse,’ Mortah said. ‘We should pick up the pace. Lettle, you stay in the middle of the group so we can keep an eye on you. Do you have a bandage for that graze? Good. Then let’s keep going.’

They moved more slowly after that. Even though they knew Lettle’s next fall was inevitable, she wanted to minimise any pain.

As Mortah predicted, the blizzard worsened as time wore on. The snowflakes became as fat and plump as cotton flowers, the wind blustering around them until Lettle could barely see in front of her face.

‘The visibility is too poor, we need to find shelter,’ Mortah shouted back at the group.

Lettle pointed towards a copse of conifers by the cliff’s edge, their leaves laden with snow. The little group began to move towards them. Inch by inch they shuffled until they were beneath the trees’ boughs.

Lettle released a breath of relief. ‘No fall yet…’

But even standing still Lettle couldn’t prevent the inevitable.

One of the drooping branches snapped beneath the weight of the snow, dumping ice straight onto Lettle’s head. She cursed as snow fell down the back of her scarf and instinctively stepped back–onto nothing.

The cliff’s edge was far closer than she had anticipated and down she fell.

Despite acknowledging somewhere in her mind that this was likely the third fall, she was still utterly convinced she was going to die.

Rocks tore at her clothing, and branches scratched at her skin. She tried to grab hold of a tree root, but her hands were slow from the cold. Eventually, when she no longer believed she would ever stop falling, her head struck a tree and she was able to cling onto its trunk.

‘Lettle!’ Alder’s voice sounded distant over the ringing in her ears.

‘Lettle, are you all right?’ he shouted down to her.

She touched a hand to her head and drew it away. No blood at least.

But that didn’t mean there wasn’t any damage. She’d seen enough impact injuries creep up on soldiers on the Bleeding Field. One second they were fine, only a headache to complain about. Then they’d go to sleep and never wake up again.

She groaned as she stood.

‘This is the worst prophecy I’ve ever foretold,’ she muttered. But she knew that was a lie…

You will grant them their death—

‘I’m all right!’ she called to the group above her. ‘I’ll need some help back up though.’

She silently thanked Mortah’s foresight for giving her the rope as she tied one end to her wrist. Shera picked her way down the cliff to retrieve the other end of it.

‘Thank you, Shera,’ Lettle said as the obeah began to drag her back up the steep slope. Though the blizzard had begun to ease, the amount of fresh snow it had left made the rescue more difficult and despite Shera’s claws, she struggled to find purchase, slipping downwards and causing Lettle to fall further.

For a frightful moment Lettle thought she was going to tumble halfway down the mountain, but then something soft pressed against her back, nudging her forwards.

Shera regained her balance with the help of Farhan, who had sent a thread of magic to pull Shera up. As soon as he was also able to see Lettle, he manipulated his thread to wind around her waist too. It took both of their strength to haul Lettle back onto the trail, Farhan pulling on his magic and Shera dragging up the rope.

When Lettle crested the edge, she collapsed to the side, panting along with the others.

‘That was not fun,’ she said. She rubbed at her wrist where the rope had left friction burns.