Book 9: Chapter 31
The snowy mountains were still some distance away from Socina City. We need to cross over the icy land in the north of Socina before we can arrive at the mountain paths. The snowy mountains looked as though they were right in front of us, yet it felt as if we never got closer. The sun was shining brightly overhead, but we couldn’t feel any warmth from it. The breeze from the direction of the snowy mountains was freezing. It felt as though the winds were blades cutting our skin. Although we had changed into completely new gear, it still felt cold. It was as though the cold wind and snow pierced through our every cell, to sting every inch on our skin.
As opposed to calling them mountain paths, I would argue that they’re better off described as the only place that you could walk on the mountains. We switched our horses out for Socina’s short and long-furred horses that were specialised in traversing the mountains. These horses were unafraid of the cold winds. However, I could tell that the temperature here in the mountains and the outside were drastically different. It was as though they were two different worlds. The temperature in the mountains was so low that I was shaking from head to toe. Ice quickly formed on the red scarf mom made me due to my breathing. We couldn’t speak to each other with the whistling cold winds and heavy snowfall. We had to tie ourselves together with ropes around our waists to avoid being separated.
Nightfall came even earlier in the mountains. I, however, was looking forward to night time already by noon. Despite being on horseback, the cold and fatigue wore me down, causing me to feel as if I ran out of energy. Had I not been on horseback, I probably would’ve had to take breaks after walking short distances.
At night, our guide led us to a small cave. There was quite a bit of residue from fires started.
‘It seems that a fair number of people have taken short breaks here.’
We left our horses outside and everybody entered the cave; but as I said, it was just a small cave. We were a group of about twenty people. When we squeezed into the cave, we virtually couldn’t budge.
“Shusia, come, I’ll hug you.”
Philes looked at Shusia. Shusia was a little embarrassed, but she ended up walking over to him and sitting in his lap, nevertheless. She leaned on him and looked at the fire. Philes looked at us and said, “If this is how it is, let us sit around the fire, then… Your Majesty… Could you squeeze in with Lord Karana? Nobody has the right to hug Lord Karana. after all, right…?”
“I don’t mind, but what about you, Karana?”