“I didn’t risk my life only to give up now,” Allyra said heatedly. “As much as he annoyed me, I think I prefer the old Jason. He was willing to do anything to win. Do you think you could find him for me?”
Jason took a deep breath as if to calm himself. “You’re hurt…”
“And so is Xolani. We’re still in this thing.”
“Is he dead?”
“I don’t know,” Allyra said softly. “I could still feel him breathing when we ran. And François…”
She hesitated and Jason took up her line of thought. “He wasn’t just François anymore, he’s let a Revenant take hold of him. And not just any Revenant, that was an Ancient.”
Jason shook his head. “I know you want to win this, but if they have the power of an Ancient…”
“That might be true if we were just facing François, but they both have to finish to win. And there was no Revenant in Xolani, and I dealt him a serious wound. It’s going to take some time to recover from it, and this storm is going to affect them as much as it’s affecting us.”
“They’re Tethered, Allyra. Whatever monster is in François is in Xolani too.”
“I’m not ready to give up,” Allyra said stubbornly.
“Is this about Alex Cairns?” Jason said, his voice raised. “Are you really willing to die just for a chance to get back to him?”
Allyra stiffened at the sudden change in subject.
“This has nothing to do with Alex Cairns,” she replied shortly, aware as the words rolled off her tongue that it was a lie.
Jason watched her silently, disbelief clear in his dark eyes. “Fine,” he said eventually. “But it still doesn’t change the fact that you’re bleeding from a wound you received more than six months ago. Are we really going to debate this?”
“Yes! Because I can do this! If your leg is too sore to continue…”
“This isn’t about me!” Jason shouted back.
“Well, it sure isn’t about me, so what the hell are we arguing about?”
Jason stared at her, his eyes unblinking, and shook his head slowly. “You’re the most unreasonable, stubborn, irrational person I’ve ever met.”
Knowing she’d won, a smile spread across her lips. “So, are we going or what?”
He rolled his eyes. “When we make it to the end. If we make it to the end, and you’ve lost toes to frostbite and my ear has fallen off, and it’s all for nothing because François and Xolani have gotten there before us, I’m going to say I told you so.”
“First, we are going to make it to the end. Both of us are way too stubborn not to. Second, it’s not going to be for nothing because we’re going to win. And finally, most importantly, losing an ear might teach you true humility. You’re way too pretty for your own good. And if that’s all this trek through the snow achieves, it’ll be enough for me,” Allyra said with a smile before fighting back another painful cough.
“You think I’m pretty…”
“That’s all you got from that speech?”
Chapter 32 – Allyra
The trek through the snow was brutal. It was the ultimate test of endurance, one which neither Allyra nor Jason was particularly well equipped for in their present state of health. Allyra could see he was trying to hide it, but Jason was definitely walking with a distinct limp. She might’ve drawn the Revenant poison from his body, but not enough time had passed for the deep wound to his leg to heal properly.
They fought through the newly deposited carpet of snow, backtracking to find their equipment. Once they did, Jason insisted on putting up the tent and getting a full night’s rest before starting their trek once more toward the Oceanic Great College. He rummaged through their supplies until he found their basic medical kit. Extracting a clean roll of linen bandages, he bound it around her ribs, over her old scar.
After the night’s rest, they equipped themselves once more and restarted their painful progress. Despite all her previous protests, the fact was, she was fading. The Revenant poison was still coursing through her veins, and it had made her old scar less a scar and more a barely healed wound. With every breath she took, more blood seeped from it, slowly soaking through the bandage. But it was the unseen damage that really slowed her down—the blood not seeping out of her but rather into her. With every kilometer they covered, her breathing became more labored, and soon she stopped trying to hide the blood she coughed up. It was, after all, next to impossible trying to mask crimson blood on a carpet of pure white snow.
Three days passed in a haze of pain. The landscape seemed unchanging, and no matter how much time passed, and how much effort she put in, the endless white snow made it seem as if they’d covered no distance at all. The thick snow was like quicksand, sucking her slowly into its cold embrace. It seemed to get deeper with every step, demanding more and more effort, deliberately bleeding away her energy.
It was only a matter of time before one of them fell. Allyra was pulling up her leg for yet another step, working desperately against the draw of the wet snow, when her energy finally failed her and she literally tripped over herself. It was only as she fell that she realized how heavily she’d been leaning on Jason, pulling him down with her as they collapsed in a messy tangle of limbs.
For a minute, Allyra lay in the snow with her eyes closed, enjoying the sensation of perfect stillness. The thick carpet of snow felt like the perfect place to rest her exhausted body.
It was only when she felt the surge of Jason’s Gift that Allyra
