Baeron slowly sat up after a half an hour, his gaze slowly drifting around the inner mountain's open structure. "I see we made it. How's your mother?"
"She's breathing but she hasn't woken up yet." She frowned, nudging the plain water over to him. "Have a drink."
He didn't bother with mannerisms, he took the plain water that was offered and gulped it down without taking a single breath. "Where'd you get this?"
"It fell in through the same crack we did." Her shoulders rose in a shrug and she didn't offer much more explanation than that. "Are you okay now? Do you feel better?"
"The healin' potion you gave me. Not the regular water." Baeron said while lifting his shirt a little to show that the wound was completely healed, though still smeared with crusted blood.
Strelitzia wasn't sure how to answer his question. There was no name for the creature she knew of. "It was a gift from a grumpy being who would like us to stop invading its space."
"You mean Naldak?" Baeron lowered his shirt and groaned. Although he was all healed up there was still a tender soreness that radiated through his abdomen. "Also known as Madclaw."
"Probably unless there's other giant flying scaley finned magick beasts around. Which I certainly hope there aren't." She looked up towards where the moonlight cast its rays down on them from high above, marveling at the distance. "He kept me company and healed both you and mother."
"I wish he could've stayed a lil longer ta help me start a fire. But your hands will do. Come on, we'll walk down the other entrance way and gather some wood. It's too cold ta sit around waitin' to freeze ta death." He pushed himself up and started the opposite way where the beast had gone, gesturing for her to follow along. "There aren't any others."
The girl stood, brushing dirt from her gown out of habit. The garment was beyond filthy at this point. Each step against the cold stone caused her to shiver, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth. He was right. None of them would last without a fire so high up. They probably wouldn't even make it down the mountain. There's been no time to prepare for their impromptu trip or the events that lead up to it. She pushed her hair back from her face and sighed. "Honestly, him helping at all was a miracle. Better cold than dead, right?" Strelitzia jokes, laughing a bit to herself.
"You'd be surprised how many people die from the cold. Slo' and a wee bit painful. I'd rather be dead." Laughed Baeron before he started whistling as they walked through the tunnels. It was hard to see the further they walked away from the area in which they came. The only thing that guided them to its end was the distant sound of rushing water, and the drip-drop of the endless storm outside the mountain.
Her bare feet stumbled in the dark behind the man. The only reason she didn't go stumbling to the ground was because the mage walked ahead. He was sturdy enough that her tripping up here and there and using him to steady herself didn't seem to slow him any. "Won't you tell me of how you got here? I may not be well traveled but that's an Ogosian accent if I've heard one."
Occasionally Strelitzia would overhear her father's business deals from the second floor through one of the vents. Sometimes he entertained foreign dignitaries for a matter of time. Of course he never invited her to learn the trade with her being a woman and all but she still liked to get pieces of gossip or hear of other's travels. Now he was gone though. No more stern looks whenever she'd gone too far or reprimands for mother spoiling her too much. Her heart clenched in hurt so she took a big breath of the fresh thin air before letting it out, easing the hurt along with it.
"I don't think this would be this bad if only I knew why anyone would want to target my family. Where were you escaping from, sir?" Her head would have tilted curiously but everything was impossible to see. Not even her own hand which she waved in front of her face just to check.
"The capital of D'treroh, from the castle. I wasn't born here, but Ogos used ta be a strong place 'till they came upon the shores with steel greater than our own. I was taken during the first wave eight or nine years ago. The third I heard they came back strong, but I wasn't there ta see it, so you I wanted ta take my wife back one day. See my homeland." He stuffed his large hands in his pocket and retrieved the two axes he always carried around with him. "I dun suppose anyone's taught you how to cut wood lass?"
Her mind wandered to the land across the seas imagining the blood and chaos of battle. From living free to being shackled, forced into service by Ragnar, to have the love of your life snatched from your arms. Baeron's story was saddening but at least he was free now. Once they parted ways then he would be able to go rescue his wife and her and her mother could..well they'd figure that out. "No. My parents would never let me even if I wanted to." She opened her hands in expectation of the axe. "Occasionally I'll do something new but my body seems to remember. Maybe this'll be one of them."
"Well today ya work ya ass off for survival for the first time. Ay?" Baeron didn't even give her a chance to respond before he was shoving the heavy axe into her hand, lifting her off the ground by holding her beneath her arms. The snow was thick and flurries gusted down the mountain side, but there were bare, unhealthy trees scattered around the base. He walked on up to one that was already leaning against another that bent toward the ground, plows of white crashing down to meet the covered earth. Lowering her, he stood back.
"Go on, take ya a swing." Laughter spilled past his lips.
Strelitzia couldn't believe how heavy the axe was when he'd held two of them so easily. Her fingers wrapped around the handle and her brows dipped in determination. If only her arms would cooperate the way she wanted. Instead of the full swing she pictured in her mind that impressed him, she managed to dangle the axe until the momentum carried it into the tree bouncing off the frozen bark and nearly toppling her over. "This seemed much easier when others did it." She huffed into the cold air.
The axe had barely sunk into the wood when she swung. Baeron laughed so hard tears nearly rose in his eyes. "Got damn lass, ya taken ya arms off before you takin' this here tree down." He took his own axe by the handle and swung once. The entire tree snapped in half, falling the other way. "I'll handle the trunks and you the branches."
"Branches! I can do that." She nodded in agreement. Strelitzia crunched in the snow letting the strain in her arms distract her from the frigid cold. Instead of swinging to break them apart, she used the weight of the axe to let the honed edge crack through the joints while snapping off the smaller twigs with her hands.
"By the time we're done I be ya mom will be awake and complainin'. Ya seem ta be the sheltered type." Baeron gave another hearty laughter. He gathered the logs he chopped down into sizes they could care up into the cave.
Strelitzia followed his lead, gathering all that she could carry within her arms–in comparison it hadn't been much–holding the branches and small logs closer to her chest rather proud of her work. "I don't think it's always been that way but I can't recall when things changed. Somehow it's only made my wanderlust stronger." Laughing to herself while they carried the firewood back. Hopefully her mother wouldn't be too worked up when she awoke in the dark without Strelitzia by her side.
"Wanderin' in this world ya first have to know how to defend yourself. If you don't, then you stay away from that." In no time they were back inside the cave, in the crimson moon had just broke through dust, brightening up the sky as much as its red ray's would allow. "Do you at least know how to start a fire so I can get us some-"
Crack. A large branch snapped across the top of his head but he didn't move, only blinked once and twice before his gaze roamed over to Charlotte. She held what was left of it outward like a weapon, slowly easing closer, free hand making grabby gestures at Strelitzia. "Ge, Get over here Strel." Her mother said snippily. First she'd seen a creature, and now the same man that had struck her upside the head.
Baeron rubbed the back of his neck. "Guess I did deserve that one. But you two can't roam around outside by yourself and think you ain't going to be found by those people who wanted your blood. Ask ya daughter. She escaped with me. Should be thankin' the man who saved your daughter."
"You hit me." Charlotte snapped.
"And you aren't the type that would've listened, now are ya?" quipped Baeron.
Strelitzia stepped between the two before her mother could take another swing at the man. "Mother, please put that down. Baeron is a mage and he helped us both escape. People attacked our house. They were going to kill all of us." She dropped the branches, moving in to hug Charlotte. "Sit. There is something important I need to tell you, okay? We're here together and that's what matters."
"And he could've killed me too." Charlotte managed to grab Strelitzia when she came in for a hug, dragging her further away from Baeron. "We're leaving. It isn't safe and there's a beast in here somewhere that can eat us."
"If he wanted to eat us then he could have while both you and Baeron were unconscious. We won't make it out there with just us. Where are we going to go?" Strelitzia pulled away, slowing her mother down. "And father...they killed him." Her fingers gently wrapped around Charlotte's hand in comfort. "There's nowhere to go that's safe right now. At least Baeron has magick to help protect us until we decide what to do or where to go."
Charlotte's eyes started watering when she'd heard what Strelitzia had said about her husband. She didn't know how or when but the branch had slipped from her grasp and clattered on the rocky ground, sending loud echoes through the tunnels. "Your father's dead?" The sound of disbelief rose in her voice.
Baeron smacked a hand on his forehead. "Too soon lass, too soon." He waved a hand in the air, a wall shattered but the destruction of one thing brought forth a sleeping aid that knocked Charlotte out once more. He caught her, lifting her into his arms so he could lay her down in a place that wasn't too harsh. "There's a time and a place and this wasn't one ya know. Can't afford her to be shoutin' at the top of her lungs. I can feel it."
Strelitzia ran both hands through her hair, biting on the inside of her cheek. "There's no one up here besides Naldak. If there were ever a time to grieve why not where only the heavens can hear?" Maybe the moment hadn't been the best but her mother hadn't listened to anything else. Charlotte would have drug them both through the snow until they froze together. "You shouldn't put her to sleep like this. It's better we deal with it now. I don't imagine you want to spend the rest of your days guarding us when you have a pregnant wife out there." Her mouth pressed into a thin line.
"They are still searchin' for ya, if she starts screamin' and yellin' and they hear, that's it. They're not stoopid. They're elites, they know we'll go to places like the mountains and caves to stay out of sight. We dun need no wailing banshee queuing them this way when Naldak decided to already go for a dive. Sorry lass, but she's stayin' sleep." Baeron shook his head and grabbed his axe he'd dropped earlier when Charlotte had cracked him across the head. "I'm going to hunt for some food."
The girl sighed and plopped down next to her mother, taking her hand in her own. "I'm sorry," She said, unsure if the words would reach her mother through the magick induced sleep. Again she tucked the jacket Baeron around the sleeping woman to keep her warm while the man left for food. "I didn't realize that would be poor tact on my part. I am scared if I'm to be honest. Everything seems so unsure. You and father and Mallowmoor are all I've ever known." Strelitzia leaned down to place a kiss on Charlotte's forehead.
Baeron frowned and walked off into the darkness, back down the slope towards the dead forest that surrounded the base of the mountain.