Lisa said her final farewells before leaving Los Verion to head west with her long-time travelling companion, Riser Trent. He was quiet for once and she kept her head down, lost in her own thoughts.
They spent the early part of the morning travelling across undulating green hills, working their way between small clusters of short, leafy trees. After a while the hills gave way to a rocky landscape, scattered with patches of thick, spiky undergrowth that caught against her trousers. The ground felt hard beneath her soft boots, as though the world had suddenly become more real. The sun shone between puffy white clouds as a gentle breeze ruffled her hair behind her.
The time she had spent with Preya and the others had been an enjoyable one, but she realised now that her happiness had been an illusion in many ways. The people lived in limbo among their ruined tower blocks, hiding from a world that had forsaken them long ago.
Eleanor had protected the city for many years but she had suffered greatly during her time there. Lord Hades had all but abducted her from the Orange Zone, forcing her to leave her family and loved ones behind so she could help the struggling people of Los Verion. They had been strangers to her when she arrived, but she had come to love them over the months and years that followed, considering them to be her second family.
She had found a new partner in Kalin, the leader of Los Verion, and she had worked long and hard by his side to make the forgotten city a safe place for people and sky lords alike.
She had given birth to his daughter, Zella, but Lord Dracken had slit her daughter's throat before she had spent her first full day in this world. Lisa could barely imagine the pain and torment her grandmother must have been through. She had given everything and lost so much. In the end, she had suffered the ultimate betrayal, being thrown from a tower by Lord Ibex while sleeping. It was a tragic tale - one that Lisa would never forget.
Lisa had found Eleanor's journal at Los Verion, and had shared in the sadness of its secrets ever since. She had learnt so much about her grandmother but she couldn't help wanting to know more. So many questions remained unanswered. She hadn't had much time to read the journal so far. She wasn't sure whether she should be reading it at all. She hoped her grandmother would understand her dire need to understand its contents.
It mentioned Lord Appelastus and Lord Breeves. They had come to help Eleanor after she had been attacked by Lord Dracken. Did her grandmother trust them? It wasn't clear from her words, but the fact that they had come to help her must count for something? Lisa hoped she was right about them. She needed to find someone she could trust if she was going to make any real progress.
The journal talked about a place called the Ice Cathedral, where Appelastus had been known to stay sometimes, but it offered little in the way of how to find it. Lisa spent more than half an hour going over Preya's maps, managing to come up with an approximate location, but she was starting to realise that she would have to teleport back and forth across large areas of wilderness if she was ever going to narrow its location down.
'Are you sure you know where it is?' Riser said, scratching at his thick, brown beard.
'I can find it,' Lisa said, staring out across the barren landscape around her.
A few trees dotted the horizon with the occasional stream running between them, but the ground was dry and the few shrubs they had come across on their journey were brown and twisted, devoid of any signs of life.
She had teleported twice so far, travelling west to the horizon each time. It was getting colder on the exposed plains. She was thankful that she had the thick bearskin coat that Oliver had given to her. She hadn't really needed it at Los Verion with its warm, pleasant climate but it would be invaluable in the days and weeks ahead.
They climbed a slow incline, making their way between scattered rocks and rough patches of undergrowth. She considered teleporting again but if she missed it by accident it would be difficult to know whether the Ice Cathedral was in front or behind them.
It didn't help that they didn't know what they were looking for. Was it a grand structure that would be visible from many kilometres away? Or was it something more subtle that they might be hard to recognise even if they were standing right next to it? She wished her grandmother were still around to help her understand.
'We should stop for a while,' she said, staring at the barren, rocky landscape around them. It looked much the same as everything else they had passed in the last few hours.
'Are you hungry?' Riser said.
'Not really, but I can eat.'
Riser nodded and deactivated his newly refurbished exoskeleton, extricating himself to stand beside it in his thick woollen coat. The coat had been a gift from Preya - one that he still hadn't thanked her for. Without it he would freeze where they were going. He rummaged through the containers on the exoskeleton's back, searching for food while Lisa sat on the ground nearby. She pulled Eleanor's journal from a pocket in her bearskin coat, and flicked through the pages until she found what she was looking for.
'What does it say?' Riser said, handing Lisa a small tub of the supplies that Preya had packed for them.
Lisa popped the lid open, feeling suddenly hungry as the fresh aromas of tomatoes and an oily sauce reached her nose. Preya had packed the food into separate portions that could be individually sealed. There were a variety of textures and flavours on offer. She chewed on some kind of grain that had been mixed with tomato and herbs. There was something oily beneath it that was especially tasty.
'This is good,' she said, holding it up to show Riser. 'What did she say it was again?'
Riser offered a smug smile as his jaw moved up and down in a slow, regular rhythm. 'Mo inea. Im's muddy nud though.'
'What?'
Chewing some more, he finally swallowed and came up for air. 'I said I don't know but it's bloody good.'
Lisa nodded, enjoying another mouthful before returning to Eleanor's journal. She was careful not to stain the pages with her sticky fingers. 'Eleanor said Appelastus returned to the Ice Cathedral in the West.'
'That much we know, but where in the West? It's a big place.'
'That's what I'm trying to figure out. It's made of ice, right.'
'Ahuh.'
'So it must be a cold place.'
'Maybe we need to head for higher ground?'
'Why?'
'The air is thinner, less insulation. Any heat the sun provides will escape before it can warm your bones.'
Lisa didn't know what he was talking about but he was better with these things than she was. 'I'll take your word for it,' she said. 'You've been around a lot longer than I have.'
'Are you really only six years old?' Riser said, scowling from behind his riotous beard.
'I guess I am, but I don't feel that way.'
Riser let out a sigh.
'What?'
'You don't look like a six-year-old. You don't sound like one either.'
'What does a six-year-old sound like?'
Riser rubbed his beard with one hand, wiping off a few stray grains that had lodged themselves there. 'I don't know, but I don't think they read maps and get involved in wars.'
'Then I guess I'm not your average six-year-old.'
Riser nodded. 'Preya's a good cook,' he said. 'I wouldn't mind some more of this.'
'Preya didn't make it. She's too busy for that. It must have been one of the women from the kitchens.'
The sun rode high in the sky but it didn't provide much warmth. She could already feel the cold ground pressing against her butt through her thick bearskin coat. She tried to ignore the inhospitable landscape as she read Eleanor's journal, flicking from page to page in search of answers.
Riser finished his food and started throwing stones nearby.
'What are you doing?' she said.
'I'm learning to use my neural implants. This is all new to me. I didn't realise at first, but there's a targeting system that makes my throws more accurate.'
'Is that actually useful?'
'Of course it is. What if we need to catch rabbits?'
'We have Preya's food.'
'It won't last forever. What if we run into trouble again? Wouldn't it be useful if I could toss a stone and hit someone in the eye nine times out of ten?'
Lisa frowned. 'I don't think that'll work with the lords.'
'I'm not talking about the lords. I'm talking about people.'
'But the people are on our side.'
'Clerics then.'
Lisa shook her head, doubting that his efforts would ever be of much use to them.
'Watch this,' Riser said, tossing a stone into the air.
'What is it now?'
Riser raised a finger to his lips and tossed again. 'See how it landed in the same place?'
'So?'
Riser tossed another stone and it landed in the exact same place again. 'See?'
Lisa frowned, shaking her head. 'Let me concentrate. I need to read this or we'll never work out where we're going.'