First Snow of Winter

Part 10: Fragility
Shyobahn had crossed between several wagons, tending the elderly with the patience that she used in all jobs. She would never complain and in fact tending the elderly wasn't that bad a job, if that meant that someone would listen to her when she was older. But she wasn't blind. She could see the three others of the small Oval Center group who had seen the shadow of the dragon, along with one of the two guards assigned to their part of the caravan weren't very enthusiastic. 
Tryl and Maryse were talking to each other and in fact just keeping half an eye on the kids, which meant that only one full eye was directed toward them and that was too little. Luckily, the older guard, Ype she believed his name was, kept his two eyes occupied on the children while his partner rode out in front.
Dey, who was supposed to tend the elderly with her, was walking absentmindedly next to the cart and just seemed to be dreaming. That young man, look at her! calling a man 4 years younger than her young, wasn't very helpful. Shyobahn was just about to stir him from his daydream to entertain old Yverr who seemed to be in the mood to talk someone's ears from their head. But before she reached him, a high pitched scream echoed on the walls of the first pass they would take.
With dread in her heart, Shyobahn looked up. She knew that voice better than she knew her own, it was Koy! She dropped everything she was holding, which was only a blanket. She turned back when she felt it fell and picked it up. They might need it. She hoped that it was just a fall from the cart, something that wasn't serious. But when she came to the end of the caravan she saw Maryse and Tryl look very panicky. The two girls were running around, looking behind rocks and retracing their footsteps.
"What is wrong?" Dey asked, he had run behind her.
"Koy?" Shyobahn asked the two girls.
"He was gone within a minute. We were really watching them! I swear." Maryse said.
'I can second that," Ype told her, "They were playing a game and I just took my eyes of the kids in the back for a second. When I looked back he was gone. And then the scream.
"Vaughny?" Shyobahn asked again.
"She isn't here anymore too."
Ype and Dey could barely move fast enough to grab her when Shyobahn felt like the ground under her was opening. Dey was closest, but it was Ype who had started moving first. He helped her back up.
"I'll help look." he said.
"Me too, Shyobahn." Dey said, "Maybe if I had been a bit more helpful, you could have checked here." 
Shyobahn recognised a look of genuine guilt on his face. But she had to face the truth, "We can't all go." she said.
"Sure we can." Ype said, "Zreshyn, ride forth and meet us back here with one or two guards and women from an earlier caravan." He turned to Dey, "Mobilise the best of the elderly. They'll understand why we go out."
"I doubt they'd know what is going on anyway." Dey sighed, but he shut up after he saw the look of Ype and Zreshyn, though Zreshyn really wasn't looking any different than usual.
Five minutes later Zreshyn and Dey returned, followed by one able-bodied guard and two woman to take over the two small carts of their part of the caravan. Ype promised to be back by first light the next morning at the latest and most likely sooner if they found the children. Though the nights got darker, the snow and the ice reflected enough light still to travel at night. Even if they couldn't take horses with them if they went exploring over the ice-plains.
Yelling as loud as they dared, the search party went out in groups of two. Shyobahn and Tryl, Zreshyn and Dey and Ype and Maryse. They searched the ground in wide parallel strips, circles would just get them lost. Within half an hour Shyobahn's group heard a faint crying. They yelled for the others. Zreshyn and Dey were close by and came almost immediately. When they arrived they found Shyobahn hugging her daughter, Vaughny, as the girl was crying.
"What happened?" Dey asked.
"From what I understand from it," Tryl said, "Vaughny and Koy jumped from the cart and got here, running, trying to get back. Koy didn't see the chasm in time, he is wedged down there.
"Do we have any rope?" Zreshyn asked.
"Ype took some with him." Dey remembered, "But I can't see them."
"Dey, you stay here, I'll go find Ype, he can't be far." he turned to Shyobahn, "We'll try to get him out. Tell him to keep still."
"He is stuck." Vaughny wept, sniffing her nose, "He can't move his legs."
Zreshyn didn't want to think of possible consequences, he remembered his own leg all too well. But young bones and flesh healed better, that was a known fact. If the boy could be saved, Zreshyn knew they would get him out. 
"Ype!" he called out.
"What?" he heard an echo come back.
"We found him! We need the rope... Fast!"
Within minutes he saw his colleague, running as fast as he could over the ice. He was followed closely by the young woman Zreshyn only now remembered he fancied. He looked closer. She was very agile on the ice, but not agile enough.
"Watch out!" he screamed, but it was too late.
Maryse tripped over a crevice, a rock or another ripple in the surface. She fell hard on her leg and Zreshyn could almost feel the bone breaking. of course, he might just be reliving his own experience. 
Ype stopped and bent down beside her. "Broken leg!" he yelled back.
"Go on! in a straight line, behind a frozen waterfall. I'll get her there."
Ype stood up, though it pained him to leave her here. But he knew Zreshyn would not break his word. He ran as fast as he dared, which was more of a gliding pace than a run and reached the chasm where the others were waiting in 15 minutes. 
"The rope?" Dey asked.
"I've got it here. What was Zreshyn planning to do with it?" Ype asked.
"Go down, I suppose." Tryl said.
"He couldn't have. He's too large to get far. You would barely fit." Ype told the girl.
"Then apparently he wanted me to go." Tryl said.
"You've got to be kidding."
"I grew up with older brothers!" Tryl said determined, "I can climb."
"It's going down, that's different."
"I have to try, it was because of us that he got away." Tryl said.
Ype caved. "But if I see you get in trouble I'm hauling you back up."
"Sure."
The rope was securely attached around her, with a loose loop for Koy to catch. Ype and Dey, and even Shyobahn held the rope and slowly let her down. There were a few times Ype was sure Tryl stopped, not because she was afraid, but because she had to widen the chasm, a thing he had told her she shouldn't do.
"I've got him." a faint cry from below sounded, "Pull us up."
In the distance Ype heard Zreshyn approaching. He called out for him, to know that they were already pulling the boy back up. Maybe it would all work out.

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Lantessama Isle - Ryslen