The group of nine people stood at the base of the mountain, staring up at it’s peak, hidden by the clouds.
Sam looked at Chris. “You live up there?”
Chris nodded his head, smiling. “Yep. Way, way up.”
“And how do people get up there?”
“Through a lot of struggle and hardship, if they’re climbing. Most just use magic.”
“Damn,” Willow muttered. “You actually expect us to climb that thing?”
“Well, if any of you know any magic...” Chris began, letting his sentance hang in the air.
“Yea, Willow and I can both do magic,” Sam said. “And we’re the only ones. Since our magic combined isn’t strong enough to get all of us to the top-”
“Middle of the mountain,” Chris interrupted.
“-of the mountain,” Sam continued like she hadn’t heard Chris, “we’re going to have to walk.”
Justin, Joey, Josh, and Kaylyn all groaned. They had been complaining the most on the long trip from the dense forest in the middle of Augumentia to the towering mountains in the North. Due to the countires odd shape, they had to do a lot of backtracking and traveling on winding roads. It had taken them a fortnight* to get to the foothills. And another week to travel over the foothills to reach Chris’ mountain.
“We’re going to have to walk up that mountain?” Justin asked.
“Yes,” Sam told him.
“That’ll be impossible with the horses.”
“Which is why we’re not taking the horses,” Sam told him.
“You can’t be serious.” Justin gapped at her. “What are we going to do with them?”
“Let them go.”
“Here? You want us to let nine horses free in the middle of an area that is probably crawling with bandits?”
“Yeah.” Sam looked at him, as she began unsaddling her horse. “Don’t worry, Justin, I can get them back. After all, I got us the horses in the first place.”
Justin scowled. He hated the fact that she had been the one to capture the horses they’d needed for the trip.
“They might starve, though,” Joey said.
“No, they won’t,” Willow said. “They know how to forge for food. It’s summer, so they can easily find enough food.”
“Can we take a break before starting?” Josh asked, pulling his saddlebags off the saddle.
“We’ll start in the morning, bright and early,” Sam said. She was the leader of the expedition, no questions asked. Chris told here where they needed to go, at times took the lead so he could direct them. But it was Sam who gave the orders, Sam who ran everything.
“Did you have any training in diplomacy or tatics or leading a military when you were younger?” Justin asked Sam, after they had unsaddled their horses. He had, at first, resented the fact that she was the one in charge. To take orders from a girl grated against his inborn heritiage. But as time pased, he gained more and more respect for her.
“Things like this, organization and leadership and tactis, come to me naturally.” Sam began emptying her saddlebags. “Get rid of as much weight as you can,” she instruced everyone. “We have to carry these, so we don’t need a lot of weight to hold us down.”
Nyx, who had been Sam’s shadow for the past week, ever since they had entered the hills, sat down next to Justin and stared at him intently, her green eyes following his every move.
“Uh, Sam,” Justing began, somewhat freaked out by the cat’s probing eyes. “Can you call her off?”
“Nyx,” Sam said, “leave him alone.”
The great cat ignored her mistress, but stopped watching him. Instead, she settled her head on Justin’s leg, her deep purring filling the air.
“She likes you,” Sam told Justin. “She doesn’t sleep on people or purr for them unless she likes them.”
“She won’t bite me or stratch me, right?”
“I told you once before,” Willow said. “She’s a pushover. Unless you mess with Sam.”
“Then she gets vicious.” Sam laughed, remembering all the times Nyx had helped her out.
“Shouldn’t she be out hunting?” Kaylyn asked. “Then we could have meat for dinner tonight.”
Nyx opened an eye, as though knowing she was being talked about, yawned, her mouth opening wide, revealing all of her teeth. She stretched out her body, standing up and disappearing down the hill.
“You just might get your wish,” Sam and Willow said at the same time, before breaking into laughter.
Nyx brought back three birds. Willow gathered some herbs and berries, and, along with Sam, they produced a bottle of rich red wine.
Sam had cast a spell on a hollowed tree, where they hide their equipment and things they had to leave behind.
Chris sang for them, most of his songs sending them into laughter. A few songs were racy, most about a tavern wench with a roving eye and her exploits. And the last song he sang was a love song.
“Since I didn’t sing one a month ago, when I first met all of you.” They had started on their journey a week after Chris had told them about the old woman in his village who could tell Josh where his sister was. The others had tagged along to see if she could tell them anything useful.
The song he sang was “The Greenwood Tree”**. It lulled everyone to sleep.
Nearing midnight, Sam and Justin were startled out of their sleep by a faraway sound.
Justin was up and had his sword in his hands before he even processed that he was awake. Sam staring into the distance, a dagger in her hands and another one tucked into her boot.
“What was that?” Sam whispered.
“I don’t know. Want to go explore?” Before Sam, he wouldn’t have asked anyone, let alone a woman, that question. But Sam had changed everything. He’d met his match in her.
“Let’s go.”
They slipped out of camp silently, moving as only trained people can move. No one knew they had left.
*a fortnight is two weeks
** “The Greenwood Tree” is by William Shakespeare