Color began to return to Angus’s face, and slowly his breathing increased.
Jason stepped back, slipping the dragon pearl back into his pocket, and took a seat next to him. It didn’t take long for Angus to come back around.
Angus rolled his head from side to side, blinking moisture free from his face. Steam still drifted into the air, mixing with the wind, before disappearing completely.
“What happened?”
“You fell into the stream,” Jason said.
“How did I get out?”
“I grabbed you.”
Angus sat up, grabbing for his dragonskin before jerking his hands free. Given the steam radiating off it, it likely was still incredibly hot. Maybe Jason had pushed too much power into it, but he didn’t have any real control over his use of the dragon pearl. It worked for him, which was all that mattered.
“I’ve never seen dragonskin like that,” Jason said.
It was better to call attention to it rather than have Angus be the one to do so.
“It was my father’s,” Angus said.
“It must have taken all the heat coming out of you,” Jason said.
Angus took a deep breath.
“What happened?” Jason asked.
“We were exploring the stream. We came across a cave. Reltash claimed there was some animal in the cave, and so we were trying to explore it.”
“And you slipped in?”
Angus nodded. “There wasn’t much to work with.”
Jason got to his feet. He stretched a hand out, offering it to Angus, and Angus took it. He looked up the slope, his gaze following the contour of the mountain. From here, it would take the better part of half a day to hike back to the village. The slide had only taken him a moment, but it had carried him quite a ways from the village itself.
With the coming storm, returning would be even more difficult.
“Thanks,” Angus said.
“We still have to get back.”
Angus grunted and started up the slope.
Jason looked around. There wasn’t anything here, and even in the time that he’d grabbed Angus from the water, there was no evidence of his passing. The wind and the coming snow had already begun to drift, shifting so that it covered any sign of him. He supposed he should be thankful for that, but with snow being what it was, it was difficult to trudge through it. There were ways to glide above the snow using the dragon pearl, but even if he had the knowledge of how to do that, he wasn’t sure that attempting it around Angus was safe. Angus would notice what was happening, and that wasn’t the kind of thing Jason wanted. He already had enough attention in the village and didn’t need anyone else paying any mind to him.
“What were you doing out here?” Angus asked.
“Hunting,” he said.
“Hunting?” Angus glanced over, and his eyes widened.
Jason glanced down before cursing to himself. His jacket was unbuttoned, and he had barely felt any of the cold.
He should have thought of that before reviving Angus.
“Don’t you usually hunt with a bow?”
He checked his shoulder where he normally carried the bow, and realized he must have thrown it down when he had gone running after Angus.
What was he thinking?
Now if anyone would go into the cave, they would find the bow, maybe his quiver, and they would know he’d been there. Then again, reaching the bow would be difficult. Getting inside the cave was challenging enough, and he would have to go back for it.
“I must’ve dropped it when I went running after you.”
Angus’s face clouded. “I’m sorry about that.”
“You’re alive, aren’t you?”
Angus trudged through the snow for a few more steps before nodding slowly. “I’m alive.”
They worked their way up the side of the mountain, and Jason hurriedly buttoned his coat, staying behind Angus as he did. The wind swirled around them, picking up force, the cold biting. Jason searched for any sign of movement around them, anything that would suggest Reltash had come downstream to look for Angus, but there was no sign of him. By the time they reached the upper section of the stream, he doubted they would find him.
Which meant Reltash had abandoned Angus.
And why not? The stream moved rapidly enough, and if they weren’t able to race down the side of the mountain, the likelihood of being able to save Angus was slim. Their people were pragmatic, and Reltash would’ve understood there would’ve been nothing he could do to rescue Angus. Still, it troubled Jason that he would have abandoned his friend.
“I think we were near here,” Angus said, breaking the silence between them. Neither of them had spoken much in the time that they’d climbed.
Jason didn’t mind. He preferred the silence and tried to ignore the way Angus would glance over at him, avoiding the question that lingered in his gaze, the way he would let it hover on the buttons of his coat, a question remaining unasked on his lips.
“You said there was a cave?”
“Somewhere, but I don’t think anyone can reach it. Unless they want to swim like I did.” He smiled, and Jason smiled back.
“Who else were you with?”
“Other than Reltash and Hames?”
At least that explained who the other person was. In a village the size of theirs, everyone knew everyone, and yet, Jason didn’t know Hames well enough.
“I can’t believe they’d leave me,” Angus said.
“They probably tried to get you, but you know how fast the stream’s current is.”
He leaned down, grabbing a chunk of ice and throwing it into the stream. The current carried it quickly, though it melted as it flowed downstream.
“Still,” Angus said.
Angus jumped across the stream. There was a part of Jason that worried he would slip, but he cleared it with a single leap. Jason would have to try more carefully. Jumping the stream could be dangerous, and normally he would wander around it, staying on the edge of the stream itself, not wanting to risk it, but that meant a considerable walk out of their way.
“Can you make the jump?”
Jason nodded, staring at the water.
He’d done it before. When he had gone after Angus, he’d needed to jump the water, and so he knew he could do it, but it didn’t make it any easier now. When he’d run after Angus, he’d been in a panic, worried about someone else surviving. Now he was less unsettled, and it wasn’t quite as easy.
When he’d jumped it earlier today, he had been heading downslope. This was heading upslope. The difference was enough that it would make it difficult, and yet Jason was determined to prove himself.
He took a few steps back, and jumped.
He knew he wasn’t going to clear the distance.
Angus grabbed his arm, pulling him. His boot caught the water, splashing, but he was thrown into the snow.
He rolled over onto his back, looking up at the sky. Snowflakes swirled around overhead. The wind twisted them, sending some of them spiraling, while others came down with more force, tearing at his exposed skin.
“Thanks,” he said when Angus loomed over him.
Angus stared and Jason sat up, looking around. From here, they still had a few hours to go. He was getting tired and hungry, and yet, he also didn’t want to get stranded in the night. It was bad enough to get caught out in the dark like this, to risk the nature of the storm, but it was even worse to do so with someone else whom he didn’t know all that well.
Angus helped him to his feet and they started up the slope.
“I’m sorry we didn’t find your bow,” he said after they’d gone a little while.
“That’s not your fault.”
“Maybe the wind will reveal it for you.”
If Jason didn’t know where he’d dropped his bow, he would have been far more concerned. The wind would cover anything, and with the nature of the snow in this part of the world, it would disappear, getting lost to time. Eventually, the snow might swirl and uncover the weapon, though anticipating that and being present when it happened would be unlikely.