Chapter 71 - Extreme mountaineering
Scarlett held the thick wool shawl close as she looked out across the water. She stood at the bow of a ship, traveling northeast, down a steady stream that stretched out miles before her.
The Three Streams river was wide. Wider than any river she’d seen. They were close to the western bank, and the other shore was far in the distance, outlined by rocky outcroppings and the low, hilly area north of Kilsfell. It made for a rather dull scenery for any listless maritime passengers.
This was the first time she’d traveled on a body of water like this for any longer than a few minutes, and although it was a somewhat novel experience, she couldn’t say she was especially fond of it. Seasickness hadn’t proven to be an issue, fortunately, but it was much colder than she thought it would have been. Even though the sun stood high in the sky the temperatures were still declining as autumn began settling on the land. They had also been subjected to chilly winds for a while, which might have something to do with the large mountain range immediately to their west. Maybe. She wasn’t a meteorologist, so she couldn’t say.
The ship they were on wasn’t particularly large, lacking all but a tiny sail at its center that felt far too small, even for this vessel. A group of rowers had been working hard for the few last hours to maintain their speed, though Scarlett imagined the river’s flow helped a bit as well. Still, they weren’t moving fast. She had long since stopped counting the larger ships she’d seen travel past them.
Unfortunately, this vessel had been their best option under their current circumstances.
They had taken the Kilnstone to Angersong Post earlier this morning, after her staff had somehow managed to arrange passage for their group. It had actually gone much faster than what she feared. But six days had still passed since Fynn’s awakening, and they were probably skirting on the edge of what time they had left by now.
Scarlett had considered whether it wouldn’t be quicker to charter a ship in Freybrook, making the journey all the way from there, but Fynn had been unconscious up till two days prior, and there also didn’t seem to be many ships willing to stop near their destination.
So instead, after they’d arrived in Angersong Post earlier today—which turned out to be one of the few places that was no larger here than it had been in the game, not being much more than a village on a thin piece of arid land, with a small forest nearby—they had instead gathered up a bunch of the local men and convinced them to bring Scarlett’s party up north with one of their ships. It had cost a few thousand solars to get things moving on such short notice, but she didn’t really have the privilege to care about things like budgeting at the moment.
With Fynn having been unconscious for far longer than she had expected—possibly a consequence of them interrupting him when he was first awakening—the stress had built up. At one point, Scarlett had been afraid he wouldn’t wake up in time at all, which would have spelled disaster. Then, when he did wake up, he’d appeared somewhat out of it. Scarlett had tried to roughly explain the situation, but he hadn’t seemed to care much. Not even the fact that she had shared some of his past with the others had brought much reaction. Instead, he’d been entirely focused on leaving to deal with his awakening.
It had taken some real persuading on her part for him to wait until they could take the Kilnstone and the rest could join him. And he had been antsy ever since then.
Currently, he was sitting at the back of the ship, absorbed in his own little world. Scarlett assumed that was another consequence of the awakening itself, though she wasn’t sure about the particulars. She just knew that the longer he went without performing the first trial in the Howling Gale’s Haunt, the more it’d affect him. Eventually, he would lose control completely.
“We’re pulling in near that cliff!” a gruff voice called out from the center of the vessel. Scarlett turned to look as a burly man pointed towards an outcropping to their left, shouting further orders at the men manning the ship.