The large skeleton was picked clean by birds or other scavengers, but well preserved in the cold. The legs and arms were curled up, as if from the cold. The skull, which appeared to be human, was large enough that both girls could fit inside it if need be.
It was a shocking sight, and both women were struck silent by it for several long moments.
"It... it must have been a giant." Finn said at last. "The book said they all died out."
"Who knows how long this skeleton has been here? Maybe they died before the book was written," Offered Mayra, for it was her hope that nothing that large stalked these peaks.
"I wonder why they were here," Finn said absently, "There's no great food source or anything, and nothing I can think of important enough that they would climb so high."
"Maybe it's the same reason we're here," Mayra thought aloud.
"You think a giant wanted to find the Fae?" Finn blinked at her.
"Why not? Aren't the Fae magical? Maybe the giant wanted help." Mayra shrugged.
As they spoke, the wind picked up wickedly, and clouds swirled around them. There were no trees for firewood, and as the snow started, the girls saw no other shelter on the wide, flat plateau.
Though it felt rather morbid and uncomfortable, the skull offered the best shelter. It was entirely intact, and the girls were able to use the large canvas covering to enclose the space against the coming blizzard.
Huddling close, they ate a meal of dried meat and fruit. There were many days they wished they could make a fire, both for warmth and for some hot cooked food. Still, as long as they found decent shelter and huddled together for the night, they hadn't been in any extreme danger just yet.
Finn wondered briefly how much longer that could last, as summer was slowly but surely fading away. How long could they search before heading back? When would the snow become so great that the passes would be blocked and that wouldn't be an option at all?
Contemplating the tragedy of possibly freezing to death with her best friend in the high mountains, Finn failed to notice when Mayra fell asleep. They tried to take turns sleeping in case something happened, but that rarely worked for too long. They were both just so exhausted.
Thankfully, or unfortunately, barely anything at all lived at these altitudes. Every day there was less life. No birds, no trees, less grass trying to peek through the rocky terrain to reach the sun.
Everything seemed lifeless and barren.
Could the Fae survive in such a place? Would they prefer it? Maybe it was all made up, just a myth, and the two girls were wasting their time and risking their lives on a fool's errand. Maybe, ironically, they would freeze to death inside an ancient skeleton.
Finn decided that instead of letting the pessimism take over, she would count her blessings.
She was thankful for this unnerving skull, which thoroughly protected them from the howling wind and mounting snow. For the waterproof canvas which protected them from the other side. Most of all, Finn was thankful that she wasn't alone. Scooting closer to Mayra and taking her sleeping friend in her arms, she wrapped the bedrolls around them both and snuggled down for another night of freezing sleep.
When the morning came, they would get their bearings and make the decision to press onward or turn back... if they weren't completely buried in snowdrifts by the blizzard before then.
The storm raged around their little shelter. There were even cracks of thunder, which Finn had never heard associated with snow. It was a strange blend of thunderstorm and blizzard, and added to the eerie feeling of the place. She sighed and pulled the bedroll up a little higher around her face, at last giving into the exhaustion and sleeping.
_______________________
There was no light to signal the morning's arrival. Finn guessed the time based on both her and Mayra waking. The howling wind had stopped, and it was still utterly dark in their shelter of the skull.
Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Finn huddled into her heavy coat and blew into her cold hands. The thick mittens she had on kept her fingers from frostbite, but only just. They were stiff from the icy night and she wiggled them tentatively. She hated to leave behind what warmth they had gathered in their little cave, but fresh air was needed, and soon.
Finn prepared to push against the canvas enclosing their shelter. She had no doubt a snowdrift had built up against it, blocking out the sunlight she was sure was either already shining or soon would be.
Pulling roughly at the edge, she predictably encountered a wall of frozen flakes. The only question was, how thick and solid was it, and could they dig themselves out?
Suddenly feeling claustrophobic, Finn began pushing and digging at the wall. Thankfully it was soft and gave way to her pulling hands fairly easily instead of being frozen solidly together. Mayra wordlessly joined her efforts, and the two dug a hole out to the fresh air.
Though it was very cold, or perhaps in part because it was very cold, the air revived the two and chased away their sleepiness. Finn pushed her way out into the open first, and Mayra passed their burdens and bedrolls up through the short tunnel. Finally, she peeled the canvas away from its icy place with some trouble, folded it, and passed it through as well. Finally, the younger girl followed, fully vacating their temporary shelter. Finn held her hand out to help pull Mayra out into the early dawn.
The landscape, now covered in fresh snow, looked vastly different than the barren land of the night before. The skeleton, instead of an ominous silhouette of death on the black rocky ground, was now sparkling bumps giving depth and interest to the terrain. The whole world seemed bright as the sun glinted off of every surface.
Finn breathed deeply of the clean, thin air. Though the sun was not fully up yet, she squinted out to see what their next destination might be. This empty plateau had been the most promising place they had spotted yet, and was that much more a disappointment for the hope they'd put into it.
She was hoping for some sort of obvious city or town on a peak, or some flat place where one might be located but temporarily invisible. After all, the Fae were magic, weren't they?
The nearby peaks and valleys didn't seem to hold any new mysteries that warranted special attention. Finn sighed, feeling a little hopeless. Maybe turning back would be best. There would doubtless be more and stronger blizzards as winter neared.
At least in jail in Klain they would be warmer. Pressing onward at this point would certainly mean freezing to death if they didn't by some chance happen upon the elusive Fae. Who they weren't even sure still existed. And might not help them even if the girls did manage to locate the strange race of beings.
Finn rubbed her mittened hand down her face in frustration that they'd ever begun this journey.
"Mayra, do you think--" She turned to her friend, but the other was not beside her like she thought. "Mayra? Did you need to relieve yourself? Can't you tell me when you're going somewhere?" She raised her voice.
There was no answer, and nobody in sight. That wasn't right. The girls had agreed to always stay within earshot of each other. Finn glanced in all directions without clue and started to become irritated with Mayra.
Looking down, Finn saw two clear sets of footprints in the snow. Her eyes widened in sudden worry, and she ran to follow them. Or tried to run. The snow was deep and difficult to traverse. One set of tracks had begun next to Finn, and obviously belonged to Mayra's dainty feet, but whose were the other footprints? They weren't animal tracks. Where had they come from in the blizzard?
Nearing panic, though she didn't know why, she continued harder in the path of the tracks. The snow had piled high during the night, and she quickly found herself hip-deep following the path of the others. She tripped on a hidden stone and landed face-first in a drift of snow, causing a flurry of flakes to settle in on her.
Laughter met her ears, muffled by the pile she found herself under. Who was laughing at her? Who had enough breath to laugh like that on top of this mountain?
Struggling out of her snowy quagmire, Finn did her best to hurriedly brush the snow out of her blurred eyes. She blinked through thick frost-covered eyelashes to see Mayra perched up on a rock, sitting very contentedly next to an old woman as if it were the most natural thing in the world.