The Ghaldo Mountain 1

He woke up early and dragged himself out of the tent. It was a grey dawn with mist hanging over the trees around their camp. Millions of tiny droplets covered every surface, including the dark green tents. He drew his green cloak closer around himself to stave off the morning chill and counted his blessings that it wasn’t raining today. It had been yesterday and the day before after all. After a quick visit behind some evergreen bushes, he walked over to a small stream and splashed some cold water in his face. It felt strange to actually feel cold during Melan, but this far up into the Galdo mountain’s they had to count the summer nights as a blessing, even though the eternal light ruined sleep for a lot of them. The evening before he had been so tired that sleep had not been a problem. As he made his way back to the camp he passed by Joel.   "Good morning Joel!" he called out.   "Gnnnnnh" Joel grunted back, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.   Joel was nice enough, so long as he got enough sleep, the only problem was he didn’t get enough lately. He had been complaining of strange dreams. Del had also experienced strange dreams lately, and he was always exhausted when he woke up, like he hadn’t really slept at all. As he reached the camp a few more had dragged themselves out of the tents. Chief Veriel was the only one looking well-rested as he brought life back into the campfire.   "Good morning Chief!" he called out, trying his best not to look tired.   "Morning Del" Veriel replied, "Help out with breakfast."   "Sure" hereplied with a smile. Veriel just shook his head and walked off, kicking tents to wake the rest of the group.   They had been having more of these strange dreams since they entered the mountains Del thought to himself as he worked on the contents of the cook pot. He didn’t remember much of them, but somehow they felt a lot more real than regular dreams. It was hard to decide, the memories soon faded as with any other dream, though each time they felt a bit more tangible after he woke up. It was like trying to remember something you had experienced a long time ago, like a childhood memory, or like what he had done the evening after the initiation to the feytier training, the memory of the hangover was clear enough at least. He shuddered at the thought.   “Food,” the voice of Rylan brought him out of his train of thoughts.   “You know, you could ask nicely for once.”   “Food,” Rylan repeated and dunked his empty wooden bowl on his shoulder.   “Fine… here is some nice stew for mister grumpy” he said as he filled his bowl with yesterday’s leftover from dinner mixed with stale bread and water from the stream.   “Food!” a cheery voice commanded from behind him. He was embraced in a hug from behind that included a wooden bowl being thrust in front of him.   “Morning Russle” he said while trying to dislodge the half-orc.   “Food, now, or I will eat you” Russle said while still hugging him from behind, and still holding his bowl out in front of Del. He filled the bowl and the hug was released. Russle came around to sit down beside him while looking depraved into his bowl. Looked up at Del, Russle went on: “On second thought I think I will rather eat you, you look a lot more appetizing than this grey with grey, oh look a…, nope more grey bits.”   He leaned over and pointed into his bowl “I think that grey bit is raddjt”.   “If you say so sunshine, speaking of which, do you think we will get some today? I never thought I would wish for more sun during the nevernigths but there you go.”   “So did you dream again tonight?” Del asked.   “I… eh I think so, man it’s hard to be sure once you wake up” Russle said and ate some more grey stew. “Felt so real” he whispered.   “What did” Del asked. He didn’t get a reply though. Even always cheerful Russle had been changing in the week since they entered the base of the mountain. As they ate the burning evernight sun of Melan finally burned through the fog, revealing a world sparkling in the millions of tiny droplets that had collected during the night. It was a wonderful sight. And above them, the mountain tops rose. They were in the Galdho mountains in the west of the Marnese province, a place few people ever ventured into. Rumors would have it the mountain was haunted and that Faelings roamed under the dark canopy of gnarly trees. And they were here to become feytier!   They walked throughout the day, deeper into the Ghaldo mountain. The air was crisp and chill, while behind them the land stretched out to a hazy horizon. As hours passed, the land became wilder. Near-vertical cliffs rose to the west and the trees digging their roots into thin soil and cracks took on twisted and stunted wind-bent forms. In shady ravines the night mist never seemed to clear even in the sharp sunlight. At close to midday they head a haunting cry from high above, Del's neck hairs stood on end, sending a chill down his spine. They all looked up but nothing could be seen. Murmurs erupted along the line of marching men, and several seemed genuinely unsettled. He forced a shudder through his body to shake the uneasiness and looked to chief Veriel. The man seemed as stoic as before, apparently wholly unaffected. He heard several of the others whisper of monsters. Could it have been a griffin, or something even ghastlier? Wyvern? Who knew what monsters lived in such a remote place. They never heard it again and continued to march on, up ever steeper terrain. At noon they halted by a steep cliff face. An old fire-pit and a sheltering crag welcomed them. It was truly a welcoming sight. In this wilderness the sign of human presence felt like an oddity and a relief. Looking back all he could see was large jagged boulders and old gnarled trees. They were in a depression in the terrain, and the grand view of Marnece was gone. By sunset the campfire was sending sparkles up into the overhanging rock, which partially obscured a stunningly purple sky. Sunset during the nevernights was usually simply irritating, the sun hanging in an eternal dusk and never really giving way to night. In the valley where he had grown up they had never paid that much mind to it, but here high up in the mountain he had heard that you could forever. Here the warm orange glow clashed with a purple hue.   "Hey Del!" Russle called out, "Rylan and me thought we could try to find a high place to see the triple moons, want to join us?"   "Sure thing" he called back and smiled, "I was thinking the same thing."   "Common then, before we lose dinner" Rylan shot in and walked off towards some tall boulders that lay up against the cliff face. They made their way as best they could up the steep rocks on unsteady footing. When they reached the cliff face they found a ledge where they could get higher. Looking down he felt dizzy. It was at least a hundred feet down to the foot of the cliff, maybe more. He had never imagined himself unnerved by heights, but then again he had never been someplace this high before. The edge felt like it was drawing at his guts. He felt a hand on his shoulder and with shudder down the spine he took a step back and turned his head to see Rylan.   "Are you alright there Del? We should be high enough soon to see it." He swallowed and cursed himself. He hated showing any kind of weakness in front of Rylan. They were from the same village and they had made it all the way here together. He had hated Rylan in the beginning, but now he counted him as his closest friend along with Russle. While Russle was the always happy clown Rylan was calm and stoic like an Qeini tree.   "Hey come up here" Russle called form above them, "I can see it, the triplets, you should hurry, Aviel is about to set!"   "Ugh, I'm fine, if that oaf can do it so can I" he sad and jumped over the small gap to the ledge. No amount of bravado could quell the way the long way down felt like death, but he made it. After a short climb where he absolutely refused to look down he reached the plateau Russle stood on along with Rylan. The sight that appeared before him left him simply awed. At his right Aviel was setting, and on his left green Kerbin was rising. Seeing as far as the horizon and the large green moon rising in a haze of gold and eternal shades from the sunset across the land was hauntingly beautiful light left him breathless. There was something magical about it all, the way the land was divided by lines of light and shade, and the way the colors were warped. Risking a quick peek down he saw the small speck of light that was the campfire, they would have to get down again as well. But right now, it was totally worth it.   On the way back down the got a strange feeling that he was being watched, but when he turned he saw nothing. Jumping back from the ledge to the boulder almost made him change his mind regarding whether the climb had been with it, especially now in the dim light, but he made it across, and the rest of the way back to the camp with careful effort. What awaited them were amused looks and leftovers from dinner. As he scooped the last scrapes out of the cook pot the same eerie cry from earlier that day filled the air. Spinning around he registered it had come from the same place they had been just a while ago, up on the ledge, but as last time no one saw anything. The trio exchanged glances but said nothing. None would admit anything but that night they drew their sleeping mats a little closer to one another.