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Sleigh Launch

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Featuring Éliot (age 9), mentioning Rue, Éilias and Eir
On the cusp of winter, Year 761 of the New Age
The Northern Pass of Ridgeback Range, Blackwood


Previously: [link]

Music: House of Cards - Losing Rachel (Jeff Beal)

Éliot did not know when he had crossed the border to Blackwood, or where exactly it had been. The forest was nothing but ups and downs of white, dotted with trees of the most peculiar sort, each of them bending below the weight of the snow resting on their limbs.
The pass was behind him now. Looking back, Eli was glad he’d crossed it just before the worst of winter had reached the forest – remembering the sharp descents and cliffs, the deep rifts he’d been so close to slipping into, he shivered involuntarily. He’d taken a road that had led him just over the main pass, yet as far away from the guarding routes as possible. For what felt like hours, he’d sat in the snow, watching the guards’ patrol routine until he’d mesmerised it well enough. Rue had always done this so well, he remembered – and again, a fond, but bittersweet memory made its way into his heart and spent a little warmth while it was there.
However, what he needed to keep in mind was the colour of his coat – the rich brown was well visible in the snow. Even though he was conveniently small (which he reluctantly admitted), he had to be careful not to be seen.

Finally having decided on the path that he would take, he measured the distances in his mind; and, feeling really smart about it all, he’d finally set out and started climbing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And a climbing it had been, that was for sure! The snow-covered pass was not an afternoon stroll in the summer sun – the layer of snow had made it difficult to walk for the Windborne, who really wasn’t used to a white bane like this holding fast to his feet each time he tried to pull them out of it. At the highest point of the pass, he’d escaped from a mild storm into a little cove and spent the night there. Of course he didn’t go much further into the mountain; not after what he’d experienced in the caverns of Oakfern! No, whatever hid below the earth was not his thing to explore. He belonged on the surface, where the wind was blowing and the air fresh!
Or, well, maybe not quite as fresh as the air on top of the Ridgeback Range. The Windborne air, however, had the perfect temperature… Adventuring surely had its charms, yet by now Eli was slowly missing his home, too - now that he remembered the people he’d left.

And Blackwood was certainly not very inviting. But it was beautiful, fascinating; the trees towered above him like monuments and the rocks had just the right sharpness that seemed fit for a place like this. The grounds spoke of how strong, how hardy you had to be to survive in a nether land like this…  
Apart from the few near-death experiences and the storms, nothing remarkable happened, though. It was surprisingly silent on the mountain; not a single predator had shown itself since he’d entered the foreign land. But Éliot was far from being worried! How could he – he was brimming with energy and feeling stronger than ever. The grass of Glenmore certainly had fed him well, Eli thought as he jogged down the slope with remarkable ease, sending little pieces of snow rolling down the hill along his way. He was glad of the thick winter coat he’d grown after the rich summer – of course he was never warm up here, but he also didn’t freeze to death; which was very convenient.

Reaching a small outcrop of ice-covered rocks, he stopped. The trees had thinned out and so the edge stood almost free, granting him a nice view of the landscape stretching out before him.

It was like a giant basin that he was about to dip into. Far away, he could see the indistinct shape of a mountain range that rose on the other side of the wide hollow that was Blackwood; the border to Silverthorne, if he was to believe Eir’s giving directions.

Éliot could feel his heart pounding in his chest. This was a surreal moment – an overwhelming one, too. Here he was, about to enter a kingdom that he’d only heard gruesome and awful things about, out of nothing but reckless curiosity -! He could almost hear the angry voice of his pa, ranting about the dangers and troubles he’d be maneuvering himself into again, the irresponsibility of his antics, yadda, yadda. Eli smiled as he thought about the liver chestnut.

Music: Rise of the Guardians - Sleigh Launch (Alexandre Desplat)

His thoughts were interrupted quite impolitely, though. A muffled growl sounded from a group of trees – when the Windborne whirled around, he saw a white beast just leaping out of a shady spot between two trees, aiming for the young stag.

The first instinct was to flee, of course – but leaping away from the beast meant jumping off the cliff and into a snowdrift of hardly estimable extent, from where escaping might be harder than it looked. Forward was an idea, to try and slip past it – but then the thing had already jumped onto the outcropping. Eli’s heart, light with joy and zest until now, was suddenly sinking as he felt the ground below him rattle. Blocked was the way now.
Lowering his head, he did the only thing that came to his mind: Attacking the enemy. Shooting up from the place he’d been standing, he drove his antlers in the beast’s face as it had just come to a halt. The white-pelted thing had not expected such resistance; growing more and more furious it swung its massive head to the side to free itself. Eli was thrown away. Crashing onto the rock he could catch a glance of red that stained the beast’s face; but then the ground below him gave way. Éliot hurried to scramble off it, but the bit of snow he jumped on turned out to be an equally instable rock that slowly started to slide down the slope. The young stag pressed his backside to its surface, hoping to be able to leap off it as soon as the ground was evening out --- But the rock only ever increased in speed.
“Hooooooooooooooooooooo---!” Eli howled as it was going down, and no escape was in reach. No end was in sight either; the hillside he was sliding down was nice and smooth, with only a few trees scattered along its edges. The piece of ice and rock that carried him slid down, unchecked and unstoppable, making clouds of white spray in every direction.

A thought crossed the stag’s mind --- at least he wouldn’t have to worry about that big beast back there anymore…? And the long and weary descent from the pass was now a problem of past times as well. --- How did these thoughts find a place in his mind in such a moment, anyway?
Eli whooped as trees swished past him, laughed out loud at the ticklish feeling in his stomach, screamed against the wind in his face. This was great! Faster, faster! Outrace the beast!
A joyful “Yoohoooo!” was cut short by a low-hanging branch that slapped the young stag’s face. The snow that had been on it exploded in a cloud of white; and then, finally, the strange race found its end through a stone that poked out of the ground and thus sent both platform and its passenger tumbling into the snow.

And like this Éliot found himself: stuck in a snowdrift of some sort, upside down and not really knowing which one of his limbs belonged to which part of his body. Finally the feeling in his feet was coming back - though it was quickly replaced with frost crawling up his legs.
Yet the grin wouldn’t leave his face.
“That. Was. THE TOTAL BREEZECRASHER!!” he whooped, wildly thrashing around with the few of his feet that were free. “AGAIN! AGAIN!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just well over a year later, Eli's story continues. :'D Do you still remember the lad? I do, rather often. 

This bit is definitely inspired by the song it was named after. XD
I just hope this piece of story makes sense to read. I'm a bit rusty, but it was kinda nice to write this? Also I needed something that flowed since I'm kind of stuck with the next WTS chapter. Soon tho xDD

This drawing has been a WIP since, like, May or so... I really want to keep his story going, but I just don't have the time to draw the detailed pictures that I WANT to draw... hgn! But at least I've decided to just pick the few stations that I wanted to tell anyway, draw and write them and then add all meetings with other players' characters afterwards, if there are peeps all over the Western Isles who want to meet a cheeky little storyteller.

But until then -
BRING ON THE BLACKWOOD ROLLS IM READY

1320 words / art: +3 stamina (walking and climbing for a long time, clinging to a rock for dear life)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art (c) by me, used inspiration for the background [link]
Eli is mine
Rue (c) Tattered-Dreams
Eir (c) DodgerMD
:iconfawnlings:
Image size
2472x3498px 17.16 MB
© 2017 - 2024 Shotechi
Comments27
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Helsinge's avatar
Awesome perspective, the trees looming in really give it that feeling of looking up from below. And awesome snow floomp <3