The fire died.
Woooh!
Ash curled faintly where the torch had been....but no warmth remained.
Riven's gaze drifted to the faint black smears that clung to the walls.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Char; brittle and thin, half-buried beneath frost.
The kidnappers had burned a fire here once.
His mind drifted to the sounds of crackles, heard through the walls in which he stole his first life.
Even those ashes were cold.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Untouched by time, as though the storm itself had preserved them.
His grey eyes narrowed, a futile gaze, as breath fogged the abyss.
Woohh!
Saphira's breath joined his in tandem.
She tried lifting her hand.
Tried summoning more sparks....but they flared.
Weak.
Then vanished as if crushed beneath unseen weight.
Her darkened lips parted.
"I- I."
Riven shifted, turning his vague eyes to her hollow expression:
"...Don't waste yourself."
His voice came, low and uneven.
"...I'll need you later." he didn't mean the words as comfort, but the way her eyes flickered said she took them that way.
A slight shake of her torso revealed that all to well...
Woooh!
His eyes slowly returned to the fading ash.
The hollow dark.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
They were proof.
Fires could be made, but never held long.
Here, warmth was borrowed time.
Nothing more.
That statement was truer the further ones travelled....
Further into the maw.
Woooh!
Sharp whistles of gale all around.
Drip. Drip.
Faint spilling of water onto stone.
"...haaa"
"haa..."
Slowly...
But surely.
It was eating at them.
Those phantom images of shadows prior?
They had slowly transformed to phantom sounds.
Or were they real?
crunch.
Riven's jaw clenched as his fingers slightly twitched...
A slow action, hampered due to the frost; an ache that burrowed deeper each time.
Wooohh!!
The phantom crunch lingered, gnawing at his ears.
Saphira heard it too.
She was sure of that.
'...What was--'
Crimson eyes lightly shuddered under the cave light, cold ripping through even blankets worn atop the girl.
They wouldn't come to know, as the sound disappeared, lost in howls.
Wooohh!!
Drip. Drip.
This storm.
'...It's tricking me.'
Riven forced his breath steady, but the air in the cave....felt heavier.
Was it because of the rising smoke and wisps?
It felt like even that rhythm would be stolen next.
"...haaa"
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The rest of the carcass waited where he had left it.
Wooooh!
More strips of meat still clung to bone, stubbornly clinging against the cold air.
Bones protruded out, as fur scattered around in pieces.
Whilst Saphira stared into the abyss; a slight haze in expression, as golden strands faintly turned whiter under the cave light.
Riven stepped towards the remainder of the carcass.
"Haaaa....."
Drip. Drip. Drip.
He crouched low, blade steady as he continued to finish what he'd started.
CHK!
The strain of cutting meat, had slowly been adopted....
But it wasn't any less easy.
In fact, it may have been harder....
Wooooh!
CHK! CHK!
Each slice was slow, as his breath was harsh against the silence.
"...Haa"
CHK! CHK!
He couldn't wait for the storm to swallow them whole.
CHK! CHK!
Preparation.
He bundled the cuts in a strip of torn cloth, typing it tight with numb fingers.
"Haa..."
Extra pieces of food.
A chance to last longer.
He stripped the carcass further, pulling free bones.
CHK! Chak!
A musky smell wafted through the cold air....at this point Saphira didn't notice.
She was off to the side, blankets atop, staring into space.
"haa..."
Wooooh!
Further pieces of hide came last.
It tore ragged under Mael's Fang, clumps stiff with freeze.
It wasn't much at all left.
But it was something....something to deter.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Splashes ran near as he tied the bundles with quiet precision.
Those glazed eyes spoke loud of his jerky movements.
Wooooh!
Food.
Bone.
Fur.
The storm would take eventually....it always does.
But those hazed eyes spoke loud...
It wouldn't be today.
'...Endure'
"...Haaa"
The tying got slower...
Fingers raw and stiff.
When it was done, his gaze lifted.
Pale.
Saphira sat silent, her lap still and hands clutched against themselves, bare against the frost.
Her expression was distant, as breaths clouded the air.
It was as if she was lost in the storm's murmurs...
Wooooh!
Maybe she was.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Riven rose without a word.
"Haaa..."
He crossed the space between, kneeling briefly before her.
From the bundle, he tore pieces of fur. Rough.
Uneven.
"Here."
He pressed it into her hands.
The words came flat, but the act was far from it.
He slowly wrapped the fur around her fingers himself, knotting it with clumsy precision.
"Haaa...."
"..Hk-" her breath caught, a faint sound.
Wooooh!
Surprise? Maybe gratitude.
She didn't speak.
Although it wasn't much, it was still warmth.
"Haaa...."
Drip. Drip. Drip.
It was then Riven lowered himself beside her.
His back slid against the frozen wall, catching his weight.
"Haaa..." his body ached, as the breaths dragged.
For now, they'd done everything.
Saphira had yet to speak.
She was still lost in the sounds....
In her memories...
'...Mother'
Anything to hide away from this hell.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The quiet was fuller than words could describe.
Wooohh!
Those beastly roars outside.
Those ember slits somewhere in the frost....
He let himself stop for once.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
"haa..."
Her shoulder brushed faintly against his arm.
Not warmth.
Not safety.
Just... enough.
Enough for her body to slightly ease under the numb.
Their eyes grew heavy, lids shuddering.
It was dangerous.
Fragile.
Fleeting.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Yet it called all the same.
She slumped against his body, as he let go.
Because this might be the last time.
Woooooh!
Crunch. Crunch.
A pale horizon was coming.