Neither of us had any more incidents by the time we reached the foot of the mountain. But my ass doesn't feel like it's attached to me any longer, and my toes are a few hours away from falling off. The same goes for my fingers, my nose, and my forehead. My brain at this stage feels like a ball of ice bouncing inside my skull. I'm a few degrees away from turning into a human popsicle.
Graham leaps off a rock and reaches for a hand to help me up. I had been resting on a tree stump since we reached the foot of the mountain and I dreaded the thought of walking all the way to the nearest village. But we made it in one piece off the mountain and that must count for something.
" Can you walk?" Graham asks and that is a question I don't want to answer.
" We can rest for a bit longer. But it is a risky move since the temperature has already dropped," He looks up at the sky, " Storm clouds are beginning to gather. It will snow soon," Great. Just flipping great.
" I won't be very fast. I don't feel my limbs and I'm pretty sure my ass has fallen off at some point while we came down," He laughs, wholeheartedly.
" I'll carry you if can't walk anymore," I frown at him, and quickly relax because there was a risk of my face freezing in that posture, and didn't want to walk around for the rest of my life with a permanent frown.
Graham wasn't better off than I was. His cheeks were hollow, showing that he had lost considerable weight since Mason had dragged him up the mountain. He wore permanent dark circles under his eyes like a racoon and he had bony fingers. I hadn't seen the rest of him but I was pretty sure that he was just as malnourished as I was.
" No, I'll be fine," I say after a prolonged silence, while he busied himself looking through the woods.
" We should make it into the next village by morning if we keep at it all night," That made me feel faint. Walk an entire night? I had barely managed to make it off the damn mountain.
" Lets go Shay," Graham calls and Shay appears from behind a tree with the feet of a bird sticking out of his mouth. I hadn't seen him eat in months. I guess that explained the sleeping marathon. He was preserving energy.
Graham sets off at a steady pace, and Shay trails behind him like two lost children. I relied on him to take us to the village because I had no idea where we were supposed to go and zero navigational skills.
Needless to say, considering the circumstances, I didn't feel very good about myself in those moments.
" So, " I rub my hands together to get the blood flowing, but at this point, I knew it was slowly starting to curdle.
Graham looks over his shoulder with an expectant gaze, waiting for me to follow through with my thoughts.
" Do you have a girlfriend ?" It was the first question that popped into my head and I wished in the very next moment I hadn't opened my mouth to begin with.
Graham laughs, rubbing the back of his head," Why do you ask? Interested ?" He falls into step with me, " If we make it into the civilised world, alive. I promise to give you a chance, " He smirks at me and winks.
" That's not why I asked, " I didn't want him to confuse my question as me being interested in him. Even though he was a shadow of his former self, I was sure that once he got on his feet he was handsome as a devil.
" I was wondering if you have someone waiting for you at home," He laughs again and I feel stupidly embarrassed. At least that got my blood flowing a little faster.
Once his amusement faded, he sighed," No. Shay is my one and only. I tried but it is very hard to keep what Shay is a secret for very long. Don't get me wrong, the ladies love him to bits until he vanished in front of their eyes...," He sighs and clasps his hands behind his back," And soon enough they vanish as well. They think I'm doing witchcraft and I'll end up sacrificing them as an offering to my god," His shoulders slump, dejected. I can see why anyone would run screaming from the top of their lungs. I would have probably done the same, but I had no choice. I was bedbound.
" I see," I leave it at that because I kind of understand where he is coming from. Although I haven't visited the white plains in a while, I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. I was happy with the reprieve the dream world had given me.
We settled into a steady pace and comfortable silence. Shay had glued himself to Graham's legs and shook his fur once in a while as if shivering.
Since Graham told me that he'd found Shay in the desert, I assumed that the bitter cold of the mountains wasn't exactly giving him a homely feel.
Slowly, dusk had settled over the forest and we found it increasingly difficult to navigate the thick of the forest. The snow helped but we were walking blind. The clouded sky didn't help either since that meant we wouldn't be getting any help from the moon for the remainder of our journey.
We both looked up when a few stray snowflakes floated in front of us and then looked at each other.
" Snow is fine. We will be fine. As long as there is no blizzard. We will be fine," He kept reassuring me but I think after the first reassurance, the rest was more to himself than for me.