she would. A dead body, frozen and preserved, his face was stuck in a moment of pain for the rest of eternity. If she slipped up, she could find herself tumbling back down the mountain and death. She needed to keep going. She had to stay alive and get to the top, even if she only made a hundred steps sometimes. She couldn’t end up like the other dead Andinna.
This spot has ended several journeys. Well, it’s not going to end mine.
“Fuck,” she muttered, her scarf tight around her mouth, not wanting to make this cliffside climb. She hoped that her own breath would warm her face. It didn’t. It added moisture, freezing inside the scarf instead.
She had to climb this cliffside. Flying was impossible due to the wind, not that she would try if it was only cold. Her wings were vital to trapping her body heat.
Taking one last deep breath, she went to the rocky wall and grabbed her first handhold. Then the second. She lifted her legs, and her cold body was against her. Her fingers hurt, and she was losing more sensation in her toes by the day. She had to take care of her body. Frostbite wasn’t normally a problem for Andinna, but most never came here and did this in the middle of winter. Having spent most of her life in the warm climate of Elliar, it had never been a worry for her. She was getting a lesson in the dangers of the cold in real time, and the stakes were too high for her to be ignorant.
She moved slowly, although wanting to go faster. The faster she scaled the cliff, the sooner she was on the next leg of her journey. This was just an obstacle.
She tried to force herself to pick up the speed. She climbed nearly twenty-five feet when her speed made one of her feet slip, and she felt a rush of adrenaline as her wings opened instinctively to stop her from falling to her potential death. That led to the wind catching them, forcing her to pull them in. In was better, anyway, because she didn’t want to freeze to death.
She placed her foot again and continued, now more cautious.
Twenty-five feet became thirty, thirty-five, then forty.
Mave’s arms shook, and her legs cried out, wanting to give way. Her back agonized, and her wings were useless. She tightened her grip as the winds picked up and tried to pull her off the wall. If she allowed the wind to take her, it would send her off the mountain or into it, didn’t matter which—both would kill her.
You wonder why I hate you dragons? This. Your people need you, and here I am, fucking doing this to get your attention.
The trip was beginning to make her bitter and sharpening her rage to a deadly point.
When I fucking get to you, you’ll fucking learn exactly what happens when you gods piss off your people, Skies damn it.
Still clinging to the cliffside, hoping she was strong enough to hold, she stayed there for a long time, practically freezing.
Finally, the wind slowed, and she fought her own body to get moving again.
At nearly fifty-five feet, she grabbed the top and cried out in relief, pulling herself to safety. She sobbed as she saw how her fingers and palms were covered in frozen blood. She had destroyed them, but it had been so cold, she hadn’t even felt it. She began holding her hands close to her chest, hoping to warm them so they healed properly. Scooting away from the edge, she hit a rock behind her and curled up to try to warm herself. She had a hard time using frozen blood for blood magic. Everything was frozen, and that was the first problem she had to solve.
It didn’t take her long to realize that sitting and rubbing her hands together wouldn’t work, so she got to her feet and started jogging down the path again, looking out for any places she could fall. As her blood flowed, Mave pulled power out of her spilled blood, red smeared on her hands, then pushed that power into healing her fingers. Before her eyes, the abrasions began to close, and Mave sighed in relief.
At least that works. I can’t be out here losing fingers.
She found a better place to sit and rest farther down the path in the first cavern she had seen. She quickly went inside, hoping for a moment of respite—just one moment.