The Lands and all their bounty were given to men through the generosity of the Gods. But the Chaos poisoned lands beyond the eastern mountains were forbidden.

- The Canon

[Cyril]

The closer we came to the Piso Dráckos Mountains, the more impenetrable they seemed. Illuminated by the sun at our backs, sharp points of hard rock and snow speared the clouds above, standing side by side like an armored phalanx. The hairs on my bare arms stood up, as much from the chilled breeze that descended from the heights as the apprehension of what lied before us.

Since the bandits, our journey had thankfully gone without incident. Grasslands gradually ceded to forest, first hardwoods and then pine. We passed through scattered villages. Eyes turned our way as they would for all strangers, but sometime they would dart away when I returned the gaze, and I could not escape the feeling that we were purposefully watched.

I took guarded moments to study Ophelia along the way. With long flowing dark hair, gentle face, and lithe figure, she was truly beautiful. And she had a smile like morning sunshine that chased the night chill away. In moments of delirious thought, I imagined us together. But with she being a Moirai and me of Chaos, how could that ever come to be?

Kit seemed to like Ophelia, and they became friends, sometimes ganging up against me in playful jest. I taught Ophelia some of the sign language so she and Kit might converse on a basic level.

After coming to the mouth of a red-rock canyon that cut through the foothills, I spread the map on a flat rock. The promise of safe passage through the mountains to the Forbidden Lands was as faint as the dotted line drawn on parchment, but it was all we had. Ophelia dismounted and came to my side, the worry that prickled my gut did not show on her face.

"Let us make camp here," I said, pointing to a circ of boulders that would provide some shelter. "Best we cross the mountains starting early in the morning, rested and well fed."

Game was plentiful here, and I managed to claim two grouse and a rabbit with my bow. Roasted over the fire, combined with berries that Kit found and flatbread from our supplies, we had a fine meal.

As dusk painted the western sky in reds, oranges, and indigos, we reclined on our bedrolls, Ophelia near me. Dash curled up beside Kit. Heat from the flickering fire reflected off the surrounding boulders, providing a pleasant warmth, but the night cold was yet to come. The purchase of warmer clothes and furs in the last village seemed a wise investment.

Ophelia turned toward me. "If I may ask, how did you obtain that map?"

"Father gave it to me the eve of my expulsion from Kelde. My mother sent it to him years earlier." I took a deep breath. "She left us when I was a young boy. I have only a few vague memories of her, but those are warm with love."

"Why would she leave you?"

Logically, as a Moirai pledged in service to the Gods, I should be guarded with Ophelia, but, inexplicably, I was not. "Father told me she is of the Chaos and eventually the Gods would have found her. She fled to protect us. I hope the map leads me to her."

There was that Gods' cursed word again: hope. I clung to it, but it seemed so fragile a thing to lead my destiny.

"Sure are you to follow me, Ophelia?" I said. "I fear danger may accompany us."

She laid a hand on my arm. "I am with you, Cyril."

There was a trust in Ophelia's deep honey eyes. But the doubts creeping into my mind made me shiver, and I felt unworthy of her confidence. What if I led her and my little sister to doom? I shook away those dark thoughts, for what good were they?

"I think you know this, but I must confess," she said, turning her eyes down. "Goddess Athena sent me to kill you, the crystal knife I carry was to be the instrument of your death."

Grinning, I replied, "It seems you have failed."

That warming smile came back to her face. "So I have. Though, not so much a failure as an awakening." The smile faded. "My true failure was a life wasted in devotion to the Gods. There is no going back, the bridges long since burned. The map charts my fate as much as yours."

I took her hand in mine and stared into the abyss of her eyes. "Then together, let us see where it leads."

*****

We started early in the morning, well before the sun crested the high ridge. Climbing through the canyon seemed a perilous path through the mountains, but this was the way shown on the map. High walls of rock guided a winding creek that tumbled among boulders and stacked rocks. Twisted saplings and clumps of grass clung to what footing they could find. The canyon narrowed and soon we were only able to ride single file. The smoothed scoured rock above our heads warned that, on occasion, this stream became a deadly monster.

By the time the sunbeams pierced the canyon depth, sparkling the cascading water and illuminating swirling layers of red, yellow, and gray on the walls, the path had become a steep narrow climb. Because of this, we had to free the horses, who refused to scramble over the boulders and squeeze through the slots. Only Dash was sure footed enough to follow, strangely not his usual stubborn self, as if he realized the importance of our journey. I was grateful we still had him to carry some of our supplies.

By noon, the dwindling canyon deposited us along a wooded ridge. The otherwise majestic view of the towering Piso Dráckos summits brought only despair. We still had a long way to go. Ophelia groaned, expressing what I felt inside.

The map had us follow the ridge as it climbed toward the peaks. The trees became shorter, twisted, and gnarled; toughened by severe conditions, but I took a measure of encouragement at their tenacity. Soon the trees disappeared altogether, going no higher. But we did. Above the trees, nothing held back the cold howling winds, so we stopped to wrap ourselves in furs.

We scrambled over boulders and slabs of broken rock as the ridge narrowed. Patches of ice and slush made the footing that much more treacherous. Kit bound along as if she had not a care in the world, sometimes holding on to the surefooted Dash. Ophelia was not nearly so sure, the color draining from her face as she wavered on the rocks. She clasped on tightly to my offered hand.

Ophelia paused as the path narrowed further to a serrated knife edge of gray granite, with deadly jagged drop-offs on both sides. It led straight to a shear wall that contained the icy peaks. "Be you sure this is the way?" she yelled over the winds.

I tried to sound more confident than I felt inside. "Yes, according to the map."

With Ophelia's next step, she yelped as a rock gave way underfoot. Her hand slipped from mine. Time seemed to slow as she fell backwards toward the sheer drop, her eyes full wide and face painted with terror. I collapsed on to my belly and lashed my arm out in a desperate attempt to halt her fall, but I only grasped air.

"Ophelia! No!" I screamed as she disappeared from view over the steep side. My heart fell with her.

A denial seized me. This cannot have happened, it must not be her fate!

I crawled to the precipice edge, strength failing my trembling limbs and my heart pounding. I was afraid of what I might see.

But what my eyes took in was a condensed form of light and white smoke floating above the jagged rocks far below. As she rose, flowing up the steep slope like a ghost, so did my heart. Ophelia had, in her moment of panic, changed to Moirai!

I stood up and cast a smile to Kit. She nodded and return the smile. Even Dash pushed his ears back and brayed an affirmation. The Moirai myst, seemingly unaffected by the stiff winds, enveloped me like a cloud and warmed my heart from within. A deep part of me stirred, and the Chaos awakened. Tendrils of black smoke poured out from my body, twirling around the white myst that was Ophelia, not in anyway malevolent, but like a tender hug. Trembling, the myst swirled for but a moment, then calmed, returning the spiritual embrace. For those moments, Chaos and Order existed together in harmony.

Ophelia transformed back to human form and the black tendrils returned to me, leaving us in each other's arms. I whispered in her ear. "I feared I had lost you."

Hugging me tighter and nestling her head under my chin, she replied, "Not today, Cyril. My destiny yet remains with you."

Kit tugged at my arm, pointing ahead to where the thin ridge met the wall. There, illuminated by a beam of sunlight laid a narrow slot in the gray rock, a keyhole to new lands and our way through the Piso Dráckos.

With Kit holding one of my hands and Ophelia the other, we squeezed through the slot. Dash's stubborn streak reappeared and we almost had to drag him through. The vista revealed a high desert landscape beyond the forested foothills, with a meandering strip of deeper green along a river. I breathed a sigh of relief, the path forward did not seem nearly as perilous as the one behind.

Still high along a ridge, we made camp under a pink granite overhang. The night was cold, made more so by a passing storm of sleet and chilling rain. The rock above protected us from the wetness, but not the fire. We huddled together under the furs for warmth, Ophelia in front of me, and Kit behind. Dash curled up beside Kit, dreaming whatever dreams a burro did.

Ophelia laid on her side, facing away from me. Without thinking, I looped an arm around her waist and drew her in. I half expected her to throw my arm off, but instead, she snuggled closer and a sound like a purr came from her lips. A different kind of warmth radiated out from my heart. It felt... good.

Eventually a peaceful sleep claimed me, and for at least one night, I had no concerns about my destiny.