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38. The Frost Clefts

Author: Martius Rayne
last update Last Updated: 2025-11-17 20:00:36

The wind became sharper as they climbed. Every sound echoed very far - the crack of boots on frost, the draw of breath through clenched teeth.

Cris led the way, eyes scanning for movement. He’d grown up hearing stories about the Frost Clefts - how travelers got lost in the fog, how voices called from the ice, sounding like loved ones. Now, walking through it, he understood why the stories existed. The place felt alive, ancient, waiting.

Leo followed close behind, slower, still favoring his right leg from the night’s escape. He said little, but his silence wasn’t calm. It was the kind that trembled with questions he couldn’t yet ask.

When they reached a small overhang that offered some cover, Cris stopped. “We’ll rest here,” he said. “The wind won’t carry sound as easily.”

Leo dropped onto a rock, pulling his gloves off to rub warmth back into his fingers. “Rest,” he repeated, glancing around. “You call this rest?”

“Better than dying on open ground,” Cris said, sitting beside him.

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  • Across Lifetimes, Still Yours    46. The Fall

    Snow-dust shook off from the branches like thrown flour. Leo pressed his shoulder into the stone, every muscle wound tight. Cris crouched beside him, jaw working, fingers white on the earth. Lori’s boot was barely visible in the gloom, toes hooked against a root to stop her from sliding further down the slope.Boots sounded above them – too many, too purposeful. Halden’s patrol, moving like a blade through the woods.“Spread out,” Halden’s voice ordered from somewhere on the ridge. “They couldn’t have gone far.”Leo felt the sound reverberate through his bones. He swallowed, trying to force his breath into a steady rhythm. The three of them curled narrower into the hollow, leaves scratching at their faces. If Halden saw even a flash of movement—A soldier’s boot scraped a branch a foot away. Leo could see the dried mud on its toe.Cris squeezed Leo’s hand until his fingers ached. “Don’t breathe,” Lori mouthed, though her eyes were wide as flint.The patrol passed like a tide. Orderly

  • Across Lifetimes, Still Yours    45. Caught In-Between

    They ran until the forest itself seemed to blur. Branches clawing at their coats, boots skidding across frost-slick ground, breath tearing from their throats. Halden’s hunting horn echoed behind them, closer every time, the kind of sound that didn’t fade but followed.Cris didn’t stop until the Borderlands swallowed them again - roots rising like ribs from the earth, fog thick as cloth. Only then did he pull Leo and Lori behind a twisted stone pillar, forcing them low.Lori braced a hand against a tree trunk, gasping in quick, painful bursts.Leo whispered, voice tight, “Is he still on us?”Cris listened.Branches snapped in the distance. Heavy, deliberate. A predator’s pace.“He’s finding our trail faster than before,” Cris murmured. “He’s not tracking us, he’s tracking me.”Lori swallowed hard. “Then we don’t slow down.”But she didn’t look at Cris or Leo. She stared out into the fog, jaw clenched with something heavier than fear.Cris’s stomach tightened. “Lori… what aren’t you say

  • Across Lifetimes, Still Yours    44. The Road Of Echoes

    Snow swirls around them as Cris and Leo sprint downhill from the monastery, their boots skidding on loosened gravel and frost. The morning light is thin, the kind that makes shadows seem longer and the world feel half-awake, half-haunted.Behind them, Halden’s roar tears through the sky again… closer, angrier, impossibly loud.Cris doesn’t look back. He doesn’t dare.Leo keeps pace beside him, breath harsh, but his grip is steady and anchored. “The ridge,” he pants. “If we reach the ridge, we can cut toward the river flats and disappear.”Cris nods, chest burning. “The temple is east. If we follow the river—”Another crash reverberates through the mountains. A flock of crows launches into the air, startled into ragged flight.Cris winces. “We don’t have long.”Leo glances sideways. “You’re bleeding again.”“Then I’ll stop later. When we’re not being hunted by a nightmare.”Leo huffs a breath that might’ve been a laugh if the situation weren’t spiraling. “Fair enough.”They keep runnin

  • Across Lifetimes, Still Yours    43. Where Dawn Breaks

    The first thing Cris registers is the cold.The second is the sound - boots crushing frost-stiff weeds, dozens of them, approaching in uneven rhythm.Leo’s arm tightens instinctively around his waist before either of them is fully awake. His breath, warm against Cris’s neck, hitches.“Do you hear that?” Cris whispers.“No,” Leo murmurs groggily. Then, a beat later, the tension snaps into him. “Yes.”They both sit up.The monastery around them is just as lifeless as before: stone arches cracked open like ribs, winter light seeping through empty windows, dust floating in the beams. Nothing has moved since they fell asleep, except the world outside.And the footsteps keep coming.Cris pushes himself to his feet, ignoring the sharp pull in his side where the wound has barely started to knit. Leo rises beside him, eyes narrowed at the doorway.The footsteps grow louder. Closer.A voice slices through the air.“Cris?”Lori.Relief hits and dread follows right behind it. Because Lori never t

  • Across Lifetimes, Still Yours    42. The Silent Borderlands

    Even from a distance, Halden’s posture was unmistakable: patient, methodical, a hunter waiting for prey to move.He hadn’t found the cave.Not yet.Cris exhaled slowly. “We need to move before dawn.”Leo nodded. “And if he corners us?”“Then we don’t let him take you,” Cris said. “No matter what it costs.”Leo touched Cris’s cheek briefly, grounding them both. “We’re not dying on this mountain.”Cris nodded once. Determined. Steady.Halden turned abruptly, heading down the ridge with the confidence of a man who believed the chase would end soon.Because to him, it would.Cris whispered, “Tomorrow, we run.”Leo squeezed his hand.“Tomorrow,” he echoed.The cave fell silent again - but the world outside had shifted.There was no forest now.No kingdom.No prophecy.Only the hunter.And the two men fate kept trying to separate.The forest changed the farther they moved south - thicker, darker, swollen with roots that curled like sleeping creatures. By dawn, Leo and Cris had crossed into

  • Across Lifetimes, Still Yours    41. The Heir Hunter

    The fire had died down to a faint orange glow by the time Leo opened his eyes.For a moment, he didn’t remember where he was. The warmth pressed against him, the scent of pine and smoke, Cris’s steady breathing close enough that Leo could feel each rise and fall. Then the memory of the night before settled in… slow, certain, and overwhelming.Cris’s hand rested lightly against Leo’s ribs, as if even in sleep he refused to let go. Leo didn’t move. Didn’t dare. Not because he feared waking him but because he didn’t want to break whatever fragile peace had settled over them.For one suspended moment, the world felt simple.Then a twig snapped somewhere beyond the ruin of the fire.Leo stiffened.Cris was awake instantly. He pushed himself up on one elbow, eyes sharp, all traces of softness gone. “You heard it too.”Leo nodded once.They rose silently, the familiarity of danger slipping over them like another layer of clothing. Cris grabbed his cloak. Leo reached for his belt knife. Neith

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