Deciding to use magic once more so that they could check on Tark more quickly, Galena used another gale of air to deliver Elenio and herself safely to the shelf where Tark was lying. They landed gently on either side of him. Much to Galena’s relief, Tark was sitting up and holding his bleeding shoulder. Stooping down, she looked at it and found that it was bruising nicely already, but the scrapes were shallow. She found some of the bandages that Morgo had gotten for them and after cleaning the cuts with water, wound them tightly around Tark’s arm. After that was taken care of, she gave him a drink of her water, which quickly took care of the ache that was causing him the most grief. Once she saw the pain fading from his face, she reached her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He returned the hug, but refrained himself from squeezing as hard as she was.
“He knows,” Tark whispered into her ear.
“I know, but I couldn’t let you fall. You’re the only blood family that I have left. We’ll just have to go a bit faster now.” She pulled back and looked at her brother once more, before smiling at him.
It was worth it, she thought.
Elenio reached down and giving him a hand, helped Tark to his feet. All three turned to survey the next climb up and saw to their dismay, that the next ledge lay a good forty feet above them. Sensing that this was going to be a very long day, Galena reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt. She rubbed it onto her hands, dropping the remaining bits.
Here goes nothing, she thought wryly to herself.
Their progress up the mountain took a great deal longer than Galena would have liked, but it couldn’t be helped. They had to stop every chance they got to rest a bit before continuing up. Galena felt that her arms would fall off at any moment, but still she continued. By nightfall, she could go no further. They found a shelf, about two hundred feet higher than when they set out that morning, to stop at for the night. Elenio got some food and they shared water from Elenio’s flask as the other two had drunk theirs. Galena swished the remaining water around, knowing that it would be too hard to go without it, caused the flask to refill. She poured some of that water into hers and Tark’s flask before causing them to refill as well. They said nothing for they knew that this day had been inevitable. They gratefully took the water without a word.
Sitting next to one another in silence, they polished off the remains of the whole food they had left, knowing that tomorrow, Galena would once again have to use her magic to make the pieces that Morgo had provided, into more.
“Well, that’ll be less that we have to carry around,” Elenio commented, looking at the remaining crumbs.
Galena nodded, rolling her shoulders to relieve some of the tiredness from carry such a heavy pack. “One less thing to worry about.”
They decided they would all sleep that night, as it was unlikely that the torlics would be upon them so quickly, but that they should leave at first light in order to keep their head start. If worse came to worse, Galena could help their progress up the mountain with the wind. But this thought made Galena nervous, because she knew she would only be able to do that for so long.
They continued their race up for three days. On the fourth day, they took a much needed break on a small shelf. The strain of using magic and climbing was taking its toll on Galena. She laid back and took a deep breath, but was stopped from truly unwinding by the persistent dancing of Twoit.
“What’s wrong with you?” Galena asked a little irritably. Twoit walked over to the edge and looked down at something below. Curious, Galena followed the ferret’s gaze and felt her heart stop. The torlics had realized that they were there at last. She looked up and to her dismay, realized just how much further they had to go, and they weren’t even sure if this was the right mountain peak. Galena wanted to scream, but instead, pointed out the torlics to Elenio and Tark. Elenio clenched his jaw as Tark looked down with a determined look on his face.
“Time to fly, little sister.”
Galena nodded and stood. They quickly packed up and then grabbing a hand with each of her own, she thought of a giant gale of wind sweeping them up and into the air. No sooner had she thought this than she felt herself and the other two rise into the air. She looked up and found a small clearing for which the wind could carry them to. The instant their feet touched the ground, Galena had another gale lift them further up the mountain. She was able to do this a couple more times, before she felt the burning in her hand. Landing once more on the mountainside, she let go of their hands before grabbing her own. She gasped as the pain ran up her arm, making it feel as if her whole arm was on fire.
“This is as far as I can take us today,” she gasped. Tark looked down and seeing the distance she had bought them, nodded in satisfaction.
“Can you climb still?” he asked. Galena grimaced, but seeing how they really had no choice, nodded. They continued their way up, but slower than they had been. Galena constantly needed a push up or to be pulled up as her arm still burned angrily. Finally, she could go no further. They had reached a small cave of sorts in the side of the mountain and it was there that they decided to camp for the night.
Galena felt Elenio shaking her awake much sooner than she would have liked. She tried to roll over so she could go back to sleep. She was still so very tired, surely it couldn’t be morning yet. However, Elenio continued to shake her more earnestly.
“Come, my love, they are moving much quicker than we are. Already they have closed the distance by half.”
Galena sat up, panic taking hold of her. “How are they moving so quickly?” she asked, still a little groggy.
“My guess is that Rau is helping them along the way,” came Tark’s reply from somewhere near the mouth of the cave. “Do you feel up to some more wind?”
Galena tested her hand and frowned when she noticed that the burning was still there. She had not gotten enough rest or food to replenish her energy. Plus, with making more food and water, she had used up a great deal of energy before calling the wind to her aide.
“I could, but then you would have to carry me the rest of the way.”
“Let’s start climbing then before they’re on us.”
They began to climb, this time without stopping to break, for the torlics drew closer. Galena’s body grew weaker as the top grew closer. They were almost there. She couldn’t help, but pray out to Mira the whole time; begging the goddess to move her special place to this mountain even if this wasn’t the peak she normally looked from. Each pull and push caused her muscles to scream in agony, but still they climbed on. With every ten feet, the torlics seemed to gain twenty until they were close enough that Galena could see their ugly faces grinning at her.
She watched as Tark pulled himself over the last rise and then reached down to help her up. She felt Elenio push her from behind while she struggled over it herself. They had made it. They were at the top of the first mountain. She looked around her, even as Tark reached down to help Elenio. The view was amazing. Fall colors could be seen in every direction, but her stomach dropped as she realized there was no statue of Mira. No sign of a shallow pool. They had chosen the wrong mountain.
Galena looked Elenio and then Tark. She saw the same horror on their faces as she felt on her own. They had no choice, but to stand and fight.
“Bad news, no Mira’s View. Good news, we have the high grounds,” Elenio said, dropping his pack to the ground and reaching for his sword.
Tark chuckled darkly as he did the same.
Galena fought back a wave of sickness that threatened to overwhelm her. Grabbing her flask and filling it once more with water and her herbs, she drank the contents before throwing it to the ground and taking her own sword, preparing herself for what was to come.
She heard the first torlic start to rise before she actually saw him. Springing to action, she cut his hand off, causing him to scream in pain as he fell back and down, crashing into several others along the way. The second was almost up and standing before she could run her sword through his gut. Elenio cut the arm off one as another reached up to stab him, only to lose his head and be sent flying backwards instead. Tark was busy hacking and swinging as well. Galena began to sweat in the cold mountain air as she met each torlic in turn. More and more were coming until she had to start backing up. She looked back and realized that torlics were coming across the flat mountaintop toward them from the other direction, but still she fought on. She swung her sword, removing the heads from two at once. She blocked a blow before twisting around and pushing her sword through another. She felt the pierce of a sword cutting through her flesh and she cried out in pain. She hacked and swung, blocked and parried, but it wasn’t enough. They kept coming.
She heard Elenio cry out somewhere behind her. Putting her sword through the neck of an oncoming torlic, she paused and looked around her. There were fallen torlics everywhere, but there were still more than a hundred standing. Tark was in the middle of at least ten, doing his best to defend himself, but losing ground. One of Elenio’s arms was bleeding badly as he tried to defend himself against three others. They were losing. She had no choice.
Elenio looked at her as he cut the legs out from one of his attackers and she smiled at him before mouthing the words ‘I love you.’ Standing straight, Galena steeled herself against the remaining torlics charging her. She would not let them take her loved ones, not while she could still do something about it. She thought of fire. Blazing hot fire consuming their bodies. She heard Elenio scream, ‘No’ at her just before every torlic on that mountain burst into flames.