Page 33 of The Arcane God

They’d made it to the foothills on the other side of the Chasm Mountains.

Ena looked to Turner beside her, their eyes connecting through the falling snow. She smiled sadly at him, and he returned it.

Because after everything, at least they had finally made it.

Kaya and the man led them into the forest, which began to get denser as the elevation dropped. The ground was still covered in snow, but there was more plant life—scrubby, hardy things that even the horses seemed confused about whether or not to eat.

After another hour, Ena noticed something ahead of them. At first, she thought they were just mounds of snow, but as they approached, she realized they were actually a small gathering of pyramidal shelters, tucked within a dense copse of trees.

There were about a dozen of them, and, like witches’ houses, they blended into the landscape. But unlike witches’ houses, they looked incredibly fragile. They were put together with sticks and branches, packed around with snow on the bottom, and covered with stitched-together animal hides which were so snow-covered, it made sense why Ena had almost mistaken them for natural mounds.

Everything about the camp looked so…temporary. Like the wind could blow and they would disappear. Where was their permanent village?

After leading their horses to a shallow cave nearby to wait out the storm, Kaya brought them back towards one of the larger shelters, which was roughly twice the size of the tent she and Turner had been sleeping in.

“This way,” Kaya said, lifting the flap of hide that covered the doorway, then she ducked inside, Ena, Turner, and her male companion following.

The first thing Ena noticed was that it was surprisingly warm. There was a good-sized fire in the middle of the floor, the smoke from which rose through a small hole at the center of the top of the shelter.

The second thing she noticed was that there was a young woman inside. She sat at the fire, stitching hides together, her skin as pale as the man’s, and her eyes just as dark. She looked up in surprise as they entered, dropping her work to the ground, which had blessedly been cleared of snow, and instead consisted of packed, flattened earth.

“What—” she said, her mouth going wide.

“It’s okay, Xoe,” Kaya said. “They’re…friendly.”

Ena did her best to look the part, smiling kindly at the young woman, who stared at them like they had horns coming out of their heads.

“Will you fetch us some pine tea, please, Xoe?” the man asked gently as he followed them in and began removing his coat. “We have much to discuss with these newcomers as we wait out the storm.”

The young woman stood and nodded, bumbling around with her hide coat before taking a large bowl carved from stone and venturing out of the shelter.

“Please, sit,” Kaya said, gesturing towards the area around the fire. This was clearly the communally used space, which had been dug out, and elevated along the edge of the shelter were cozy-looking beds made of layered hides.

Ena and Turner exchanged a glance before coming before the fire, the warmth of it already taking off the chill that had seemed to perpetually sit in Ena’s bones the last few weeks.

Feeling like it would be rude not to, Ena began removing her snow-drenched cloak, and placed it to the side. “So is this your…temporary camp? Where is your village located?” Ena asked conversationally.

“We have no village,” Kaya explained. “What you see is how the stryx live—we are hunters. We move with the game, and our shelters move with us.”

“Stryx?” Turner asked, his mouth moving slowly around the strange word.

“That is our name for our people,” the man said. Now that he’d removed his hood and coats all the way, Ena could tell that he was broad, and quite handsome, despite the strangeness of his pale skin and dark eyes.

Gaia, Ena had so many questions for these people. She’d never met a group like this before, one who permanently hunted. Did they have no agriculture? How did they survive constantly on the move? She kept her questions to herself for now, though, not wanting to be rude.

The four of them stared at each other, none of them quite sure where to begin.

“So…” Kaya began cautiously as she, too, removed her fur coverings. Her hair was dark blonde—a shade or two lighter than Ty’s—and her face obviously older and more delicate. But her eyes…all at once, Ena wanted to look away from them, because it hurt so much. And yet, at the same time, she found herself wanting to look at them forever and ever, if only to hold on tightly to one of the last remnants of Ty she had left. It was a confusing feeling, to say the least.

“You said you came here because it was Gaia’s will, and for protection? Protection from what exactly?” Kaya continued, her tone still somewhat suspicious.

Ena took a deep breath, trying to get her head in a better space for this conversation. She knew their story would be a lot to explain, no matter where she began.

“Protection from those who are unhappy with what I did—what we did,” Ena answered vaguely.

“And what is it that you did?” Kaya asked skeptically.

“Broke the spell binding daemons to Iblis,” Ena answered bluntly. Kaya was from Occidens, which meant she already knew about the bond, as all Occidens witches did, so there was no need to beat around the bush.