The fire hissed, spitting embers into the air.
A silence hung after their mutters, the kind that held endlessly.
One of the men adjusted the girl's cloak, not out of care....but to keep her breathing steady.
Beyond the broken walls, the wind howled.
WOOH!
And in the howls, someone was trailing....
Riven's legs burned.
Each step sank into the snow, wanted to drag him under.
The lights he had seen in the distance were gone now, swallowed by the storm.
WOOOH!
The echo of them still held firm in his eyes.
He tried adjusting his uniform to find some kind of warmth....something that wasn't possible with its loose design.
A faint trail was present in the white mass below, proof people were out here.
"Haa....haaa"
The faint trail wound further ahead, vanishing into the haze.
Riven dragged himself higher, breath sharp and ragged.
Then-
Through the curtain of snow, jagged towers rose ahead.
A crown of stone, half-swallowed by ice, rising up towards the ash-grey sky.
The building loomed silent, its gates collapsed inwards, windows cracked and sides buried.
"Haaa..."
The trail flowed there.
His steps faltered.
Not from awe--
From knowing that what waited inside, was not shelter.
His chest rose and fell with a shaky rhythm, face colouring rosy due to the cold.
WOOOH!!
A faint glow pulsed within the looming ruin.
Lantern light.
Flickering faintly.
His eyes narrowed, focusing on distorted shadows traversing through the light.
His grip on Mael's Fang tightened.
WOOOH!!!
----------
CRACKLE!
"When's their rep coming?" a stocky man muttered. "We've been here long enough."
"Soon," another replied, tone clipped. "Till then, she stays put. We're not to touch her." his gaze falling to the individual wrapped near the fireplace.
Get a grip. We haven't even been here for two whole hours." the man named Rile said, his sharp tone focused on the first gentleman.
"Tch."
The flames hissed louder, almost mocking him.
Crunch-
A sound outside.
Wind? Or something?
None of them moved, each man's gaze flicked to the door....
WOOOOOH!!
The storm howled again, covering the noise under sounds of streaks.
A few heartbeats lingered....
Then shoulders eased as tension bled away.
Silence.
"Huh...Must have been the wind..." one muttered.
Rile shook his head, eyes narrowing at the door.
"We're too close. Move her."
Tap tap tap
The girl stirred faintly as rough hands hauled her up.
Lanterns bobbed, casting more warped shadows against the cracked walls.
A few filed into a narrower corridor.....deeper within.
Creak
Their boots creaked the old wood below, as they traversed.
The deeper they went, the more they cautiously approached corners and rooms.
The silence....was too loud.
Outside, a pair of grey eyes stalked through the cracks of the walls.
Eyes tracking every flicker of light.
--------
Riven circled the side of the decrepit fortress, boots sinking into snow as the wind assaulted him.
His gaze scanned the stone walls.
'...There'
A caved hole near the upper level, wood splintered long ago by some forgotten skirmish.
He pressed his hand to the stone, breath steaming.
"Haaa...."
'Up'.
WOOOH!
His fingers clawed at the frozen edge, boots slipping before he found solace.
"Haaa!"
His muscles burned, as ice flaked, crumbling down.
He was dragging himself upwards, the storm lashing him from all sides in the process, as his brown hair ruffled.
WOOOOHHH!!
But still....he kept going.
He slipped through the breach.
It was dark here.
The air inside reeked of damp rot, cluttered items long forgotten, but the ever presence of faint warmth carrying from cracks below.
A hole in the floorboards gave him view.
Shadows.
They were moving.
"....representative...."
The murmurs of voices.
Firelight cracking.
His breath had slowed, controlling it to a measure of bearability.
tap
He crouched, moving low through the dark, grip never leaving his trusty companion.
It wasn't time to act yet.
He had to wait.
And wait he would....
Voices carried low through the stone, blending with hiss of fire.
They had moved through sets of rooms, stopping in one of the bigger ones.
There was one door, a cracked bed and no windows, with the smell of rot ever present.
The only signs of opening was a medium sized hole in the ceiling.
"Clear enough. Storm's louder than our boots," one muttered, a slight chuckled as his body settled.
Another grunted," One of us still needs to watch the girl."
"I'll take it," Rile said quickly, sharper than he meant to.
His gaze lingered on the girl longer than his partners noticed.
The glow of his lantern carrying across, painting the girls silhouette onto the walls.
The others shifted, one of them cracking his neck:
crack
He trudged towards the door, "Fine. Don't get yourself killed staring," he muttered.
Another gave a low chuckle.
The door groaned shut behind them as they waltzed out, the latch falling into place.
They wandered back to the front room, grumbling about watch shifts while the rest settled down to sleep.
Crackle Crackle
The fire popped.
Silence.
Only the faint hiss of wind pressing through the cracks remained.
Rile exhaled slowly.
Lantern light trembling in his grip.
His gaze flicked to the girl, her chest rising faintly beneath threaded cloaks and royal dressings.
Too still.
Too quiet.
He stepped closer.
Two grey eyes stared from up above, narrowing.
The storm howled.
The castle creaked.
The air was waiting.
It was a cold stalk.