*
Tasha could feel the fluttering of her stomach as a definite sense of queasiness. This wasn't supposed to happen, she told herself feeling the urge to cry and having a difficult time getting rid of it. She watched as three wemic clerics surrounded Hal's prone form and began to work on him, trying to get blood flowing through his limbs.
Realizing that she was in the way, Tasha left the hut and reentered the frozen wasteland. She pressed one hand against her stomach to keep the fluttering down and the other to her lips in a vain attempt to keep her teeth from chattering. No one was supposed to get hurt. We were just supposed to go on a trip and see if this vision was more than some... bizarre dream. She shook her head, now biting on her lip.
No one was supposed to get hurt.
A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders from behind. Instinctively she stepped forward and pivoted away, breaking the hold on her and giving herself enough room to fight. To her relief it was only Ambori, although he seemed perturbed by her reaction.
"Sorry," he began nervously, both hands held out before him for her to see. "I was just wondering … Is there was anything I can do to help you out?"
Tasha gazed at him through her watery eyes. "What do you mean?"
The bard looked from side to side cautiously, shrugging his shoulders with a tiny grin. "I mean, you look upset. Is there anything that I can do to help that feeling go away?"
Really?
Tasha shook her head, too weary to be disgusted.
Skarlett came padding over from the medical huts. Eager for news Tasha trotted over and met him halfway. Ambori looked after her in confusion for a moment then followed along.
"How are they?" Tasha asked breathlessly.
Skarlett's face was never a terribly cheerful sight to begin with, so even if he was trying to look reassuring it wasn't exactly working. "They're as stable as they can be for right now."
Ambori frowned. "That's pretty vague.”
The wemic sighed heavily, the first sign of weariness he'd shown over the entire journey. "Hal should be all right." Tasha felt an immense weight lift off her heart.
"That's not too surprising," Skarlett went on. "Especially seeing how much of his life he had spent in the out of doors combined with his superb physical condition." He held up one hand and stalled Tasha's question. "What happened to Hal was the same thing that had happened to Ceorn. Exhaustion. Pneumonia in the kelt's case, but primarily exhaustion."
"I don't understand."
“As near as we can figure, the only thing keeping Hal and Ceorn moving at all was their own man-fool stubbornness. They needed to reach this place at all costs, therefore nothing else mattered. But once they'd arrived and knew they were no longer needed to complete the journey, their bodies shut down.
"Fortunately we were able to keep Hal awake until we could get him into a warm environment. Give him few days rest and good eating and he'll be as healthy as a horse in no time."
"What about the others," Tasha asked.
Skarlett shook his head and ran thick fingers through his mane. "Pneumonia in both cases. With proper care and treatment, which they will receive here I assure you, they should be up and running in at least two weeks."
Tasha was astonished. "Two weeks?" And as much as she hated herself for the cold and calculating way in which she was forced to do this, she asked: "I don't think we can afford to wait that long. If we get permission to ascend the mountain, we'll have to take it with whomever is ready at the time."
"Yeah," Ambori cut in. "But first we gotta get past the Council of Seven."
Skarlett nodded. "Agreed. That will not be as easy as you are hoping. There has not been a mortal since Korum who's been given permission to ascend the mountain. The task ahead of you will not be getting easier any time soon."
"Skarlett?" Tasha began, voicing the question that had been burning in her mind for the last two weeks of travel. "Do you really think that the council will give us permission to ascend the Dragon's Tooth?"
The wemic said nothing for long moments. When he did speak, it was with a fair amount of reluctance. "That really isn't the issue, is it? They have to let us ascend, or the world is in even greater peril than it is right now."
Ambori looked at the cleric wryly. "You have such a cheerful way of looking at things Skarlett. Have you ever thought of leaving your cleric-ness behind and becoming a bard?"
He shook his head. "Not recently, my friend."
"Good."
Leading them into the heart of the Trisagonal, Tasha noted that Skarlett's initial description was very accurate. It resembled a ramshackle trading post, with huts and tents set up to distribute goods and the like. One hut off to the side showed a gray-skinned wemic packing away after a long and unproductive day trying to trade his silks. A tent on the other side obviously was some sort of dried meat shop where one could purchase or trade for travel. With the weather being so bad there had been little in the way of business for these entrepreneurs of late.
After several moments Tasha grew tired of the stares that she was garnering from the locals. In normal practice she was never terribly proud of the fact that she tended to draw stares from people in towns and cities. But this was different. Instead of being lewd or lascivious, the looks that she was being given were downright threatening. Curious mostly, but still threatening.
They really don't get humans here much.
Now Tasha was not one to be intimidated. Whether the person she was facing was human, elven or a dwarf. But this was a new experience. Every member occupying the Trisagonal at this time was a four legged man-lion. Needless to say, it felt rather odd to be garnering almost frightening looks from creatures that normally belonged in a dream.
At one point, it seemed as if one particularly large wemic with blue black fur was about to step in their way. But Skarlett leveled his countryman with a cool look and spoke softly in a strange, guttural language. It sounded much like what your typical lion's growl would expect to sound like. The aggressor grudgingly padded back out of the way and let them pass.
Reaching a small hut off near the fringes of the makeshift town, Skarlett motioned them towards it. "This is where you can stay and rest from the trip. There will be food packed in parcels beneath the bed which should still be good. There's some sod beneath the wrappings next to fireplace that you can use for fuel. And now, if you will excuse me... "
"Where are you going?" Tasha asked. "You need rest too."
The cleric nodded. "I know. And I will. But first I must speak to the Council and petition your plea to them as soon as possible. That way they will be prepared for our request as early as tomorrow. So I suggest that you sleep while you can. Tomorrow will be another long day." And with that, he padded off into the snow swirling night.
Looking at Ambori, Tasha shrugged her shoulders and entered the hut.
The hut was a small on the inside it appeared on the outside. But it was warm and it kept wind out. Two things that made up for all the rest. Without waiting to be told, Ambori dropped next to the makeshift fireplace and began busily unwrapping the sod from it's packaging with his numbed fingers. Within minutes he had a small fire going and the air began to circulate the warmth to the both of them.
Wordlessly, Tasha slid one of the food parcels out from beneath the hut's only bed and pried it open. Her nostrils were assailed with the scent of salted beef and dried fruit. Both she and the bard looked at the food for several seconds before ravenously digging in. All the food they'd taken with on the road had gone practically uneaten, their appetites as relatively non-existent as they slowly froze.
But now that everything was going to be all right...
Tasha broke off her eating. Will it? Will everything be all right? She looked at Ambori who was still chewing frantically on a large hunk of jerky. What if we're the only ones able to go on? What then?
Ambori's been slow on occasion, but after a while he was able to see that something was wrong. He looked up from his meal and saw
that Tasha was just sitting on the edge of the bed with her food forgotten in her hand and tears forming in her bloodshot eyes.
He swallowed the last morsel in his mouth and spoke. "Is something wrong, Tasha?" She nodded. The bard sighed and rose to his feet. "You're worried about the others, aren't you?" Again she nodded, her teeth biting into her chapped lower lip as a tear rolled painfully down her frostbitten face.
Gingerly, Ambori sat down next to her and laid a casual arm over her shoulders. He sat there quietly for several moments, making sure the words he wanted to say came out right. "You've got every right to be worried, Tasha," he began in a low, comforting tone. "But you've got to be strong. They'll be all right. All three of them are strong enough to pull through, even Garn. All we have to do now is wait and everything will be all right."
Tasha looked at him through her tear filled eyes. "How can you know that? No one can know that."
Ambori shrugged his shoulders. "I just know these things sometimes." Then he circled both of his arms around her and held her. "You can relax now, we're safe for the moment."
Tasha didn't want to do what she did next. In some ways it went against everything she was taught as she grew up by her father and brothers. But after the trials and tribulations of the last several weeks, she could hardly help herself.
Tasha wrapped her arms around Ambori as well and cried herself to a thankfully dreamless sleep.