The Great Hearts II: A Game of Gods by David Oliver

Author:David Oliver [Oliver, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-02-28T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Winter

In the end I think the troll had more sense than me, though it pains me to say it. I re-joined the others and we checked that the pass was fully blocked before joyfully heading off back in the direction of Jadira’s fort. Lives saved and mission done.

How woefully, utterly unprepared we were for the deep of winter. We thought we had seen the worst it had to offer on the trip in, but the deep snows had taken their time in coming and made the trip back at best miserable and at worst murderous. Luckily we had the clothes and equipment that we had scavenged from the Hrudan and so comparatively we were much warmer, but even thick clad leathers and furs were no match for wading through waist deep snow day in and day out. After the second day of the journey we were exhausted and our clothes were soaked. By day three we were desperately searching for firewood to dry out our layers and save our extremities. By day ten we were on quarter rations. On day twenty-two we came across a half-eaten frozen deer carcass. We ate it half raw, barely waiting for the ice to melt before the might of our pitiful fire before ravenously tucking in. From day thirty-eight to forty-one we were stalked by wolves that were so hungry as to no longer be afraid of fire. We killed two, leaving one for the pack and one for us. I don’t know if the pack ate their own but they didn’t bother us again.

It was day fifty-two when we finally stumbled into the shelter of the fort. Each of us painfully lean, scarred, grizzled and sunburned. One of us - I’ll let you guess who - was missing two toes and another the bottom of an ear lobe. Jadira didn’t recognise who we were at first and awe was on the faces of the Meredothians as we piled into the first proper warmth we had experienced in nearly two months. It wasn’t awe at our bravery in facing such a wintery onslaught, but awe at our complete and utter stupidity...and as I sat there nursing a hacking cough and frostbitten hands with warm mead I could not blame them in the slightest for such a reaction.

I think Jadira felt responsible for our sorry state as we did not want for anything for the remainder of our stay at the fort. She took our report on the pass, dispatched men to organise forces and fortify the Meredothian side of the canyon as soon as the snows lessened and then spent the rest of the time mothering us like only a hard-nosed Meredothian warrior queen could. Which primarily meant mead.

Lots of mead.

The rest of winter at the fort passed in a haze of food, alcohol, and most importantly, warmth. The team rarely left the blaze of the hearth fires, content to lay on the floor rushes in mead assisted stupor. Slowly but surely we

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