17. The Ice Mountains

17. The Ice Mountains

The journey that would have taken months on normal horses only took weeks on the holy thunder horse. Eryndor spent a considerable amount of that time sightseeing as they went past various landmarks, familiarising himself with the true scope of the world.

He found out how vast it was, like a magical world setting from one of those online multiplayer games he used to play. The only difference was that this was much more real than any virtual game he had played, the grass, the trees, the green, the smell, even the wind it all felt real. He could feel the magical power they all carried, during most of the travel the left eye kept unusually quiet much to his dismay.

Because Thalor was around him almost all of the time he did not try to ask the eye what the problem was, at times when he would talk to it he would barely get a reaction from the eyeball.

After many attempts Eryndor was able to come to the conclusion that the eye or the soul of his master within it could only be active for a specific amount of time each day before it needed to recover it's energy, in which state it would become inactive.

He had deduced that the eye could only be active for at most between two to three hours a day depending on how much the eye interacted with him. It would take a long while for the eye to recover, mostly the whole night.

There were times where he could feel the presence of his master looking through his left eye, the soul inside was silent. Perhaps not wanting to distract him or maybe for its own reason it liked to be silent. Sensing that the eye might me interested in the vastness of the world he would occasionally put his head to the window of the carriage and say.

"If you wanted to see the world you should have at least said something you cheeky master." He would say jokingly but the eye would not give a response. It just remained at it should have, a normal not possessed left eye.

Thalor had to adjust to the strange behaviour of his young lord, though he believed Eryndor still harboured some of his playfulness in him. At least he was not acting too irrational as he always did. Instead he found the boy to be unusually calm and quiet. Any one who saw Eryndor would say, "Oh what a beautiful young boy." Only those who had truly known him knew his true nature, and Eryndor was anything but quiet and peaceful.

They were just transversing the slopes of an ice mountain at a much slower pace due to the occasional shave of ice and snow on the mountain path. There were huge trees that usually overshadowed the mountain in their height. They looked to be pine trees with their dark brown barks and thick green leaves that arched over like canopies. Resting on them were huge heaps of snow that had settled on them over time.

Eryndor who was experiencing snow for the first time in his life, both the new and old. He yelped for joy and leaned out the window, since the horses were not speeding as usual it was much easier to take out his face and not worry about being hit by the rushing wind or falling off.

He wore a thick fur coat and mittens over his hands for warmth. And thick fur earmuffs over his ears also for warmth. As he leaned out the carriage window Thalor called out to him. "Young lord, I do not advice that." Though he sounded protective he did not want to deprive Eryndor of his first experience with snow.

Eryndor gazed out the window, the cold hair hitting his face bathing it in it's eerie chill. His huge blue eyes widened in amazement, his face beamed with a proud smile, his mouth was wide open as he tried to pick up some slowflakes that blew his way.

The feeling of the cold wind sending his beautiful white hair dancing in waves, the beauty sight. The white roofs on the trees, the frozen ice spikes hanging down some trees. It was a feast for his young eyes.

Occasionally he would see one or two snow animals, ranging from snow owls to white foxes, to even bears.

At a time he thought to himself.

"I wonder if Bigfoot is here too?" His childish mind was open to the possibilities.

Though the left eye was still as quiet as ever he could feel it's gaze on what it saw and he felt it was happy, or he guessed it was.

"This is snow cool!!" Eryndor screamed to the wind, not caring if those words actually went together.

The beautiful feeling of being in a snow haven was soon butchered by their third week on the journey as they ventured deeper into what had turned to a frostbitten world of ice. Even the trees looked frozen, to think even the trees froze out. The roads become much more harder to transverse, the roads getting frozen off entirely at times and the weather unforgiving.

Occasionally the captain of the guards would have to get down either to fend of the number of beasts that was attracted to their carriage or to melt off the frozen paths with his flame magic, which always looked beautiful to the young prince that had skipped over ninety percent of his classes.

It was close to being a month since he left and he was running out of things to keep him from remembering about the home he had been banished from— he was now referring to his special case as banishment because that was what it actually was. It was either that or suicide.

"When are we going to leave this frozen tundra?" He asked as he rubbed his mittens together and blew on them for more warmth. He currently had a thick blanket over his small frame as he curled on his seat, the curtains were drawn over the window and he shivered a little at the corner.

Thalor who had been outside for a while, inspecting the terrain ahead with the driver came in a moment later and sat opposite the young prince, he gave him a short glance before saying. "We are almost there, it won't take more that an hour or two."

Eryndor's eyes widened. "Thalor, don't tell me that my crazed uncle actually lives in this god-forsaken place." He doubted the very words that came from his own mouth.

The captain of the royal guards just shrugged and locked eyes with the young prince for a long time before nodding gently.

Eryndor pursed his lips together and thought to himself. "Shit! I'm a goner for sure."