Elder

  His boot crunched through the snow as Rais pressed forward into the clearing. Powdered wisps caught the wind, dancing in the light of the moon. With the absence of the pine trees, the snow rose above his knees. Rais shivered and glanced to the side. The clearing stretched for miles both ways. No way around it.

  With his woolen socks already soaked in his leather boots, Rais didn't relish the thought of trudging through the deep snow. Pulling his cloak tight about him, he took the first step. The cold bit at his leg. Rais shivered again.

  A curse at his left told him Jasper was having the same problem he was. Glancing over, Rais watched as the older man brought his foot up and over the snow, taking as long a stride as the white wall would allow. Wind whipped at the black hair he had tied up in a tail. Groaning, Rais felt the relentless wind beat at his own unguarded face, causing a longing for the protection of the trees to flood through his mind. He pulled his thin linen cloak tighter. He was unused to the cold, and this year the winter was unusually harsh. A second curse rose with the howling of the wind as Jasper tripped, falling face first into the snow. Even with the cold, being sent north wouldn't have been nearly as bad if his companion hadn't been Jasper. He hated the man, always had. The feeling was reciprocated as far as Rais knew. Why would the First pair them together?

  The howling of a wolf rent the air. Rais stared back at the trees behind them and shook his head. A pack of wolves had cornered them two days before, and the remainder of the pack had been tracking them since. Rais was no expert on the habits of wolves, but he was sure they were acting as abnormal as the winter. He fingered the hilt of the sword at his waist momentarily as he stared into the shadows of the forest.

  "Hey!" The call brought Rais back to himself, and he turned his head to see Jasper on the other side of the clearing. Sighing, Rais covered the rest of the distance to the trees, glad to leave the deep snows behind. Jasper came over to him, his muscled arms crossed with annoyance.

  "You're not still scared of those wolves, are you? They won't eat you, you're too bony," Jasper sneered. Rais shot a glare back at him, choosing not to comment. Next to Jasper's thick build Rais did indeed appear scrawny. A second howl pulled his eyes away from Jasper's smug face to look at the sky. The moon shone down brightly, having been full the day before. Intermingled with the moonlight were sparkling sheets of colour playing amidst the backdrop of stars. Rais stared in wonder. He had heard of the northern lights, but never had he imagined them so beautiful.

  Beside him Jasper grunted, "Let's go," and crashed into the wall of trees. Rais pried his eyes away from the beautiful sights above and followed the older man into the cover of the trees. Pine needles and branches covered the lightly packed snow of the forest floor, the dense canopy catching the majority of the snowfall. The white, wintry powder bent branches and even whole trees under its weight. Rais stepped lightly, careful not to knock a branch full of snow down his shirt.

  "How much farther do you reckon his cabin is?" Rais asked. Three weeks they had traveled from the Society through the aberrant winter cold. A week longer than had been predicted.

  "It should be in this patch of forest," Jasper replied. He pulled out the map that the First had given him before sending them off and unfolded it, stopping to study it momentarily. When he was satisfied, he replaced it in the pocket of his trousers and continued forward. Rais followed with a frown.

  It wasn't long before they burst through the trees to find themselves in a small clearing. Overhanging trees kept the snow from piling up in the same way as the previous strip. A sturdy house took up most of the clearing, the structure odd-looking to Rais' eyes. Back at the Society the majority of the city was carved out of the cliff face. This house however was made of wood, a slanted, tiled roof stretching outwards to cover a cellar door and a pile of chopped firewood as well as the four walls. A chimney rose from the top of the house. The windows were barred with planks of wood or woolen blankets to keep the cold out. Overall the house seemed cozy to Rais, if not a little lonely out in the middle of nowhere.

  "The Elder's house..." Jasper muttered to himself. The Elder. Three Elders outside and above the six Societies lived alone, their wisdom and knowledge unsurpassed and often sought. Now the Firsts of the Societies required their knowledge, sending out three teams of two to gather the Elders. War had broken out with an unknown species that had risen up in the past decade. Banding together for the first time in remembered history, the six Societies were prepared to defend their land from the Prezoans. But first they needed to know more about their enemy before they could launch a successful assault. That need set their hopes in the hands of the three Elders.

  Rais started forward, but a strong grip enveloped his shoulder, holding him in place. His hand instinctively shot for his sword, but stopped when he saw Jasper standing over him, his expression burdened. "What is it?" Rais asked worriedly, his animosity for the man temporarily forgotten.

  "The chimney. There's no smoke. In this weather there would be a fire going at all times." Without any further explanation Jasper shot forward, his own sword suddenly in his hands as he disappeared around the front of the house. Rais trailed after him, approaching the house more cautiously than his companion. Gripping his sword tightly he came around the corner. Jasper was gone, but what was there made Rais' throat clench. The front door stood ajar, hanging at an angle on its hinges. Blood stained the snow outside as well as the door and wall, the moonlight shedding an ominous glow on the scene. Sword first he slowly approached the door and, with a nervous gulp, entered. Courage had never been his most valued attribute.

  The first thing Rais noticed as he entered the dark cabin was the stench. Clapping a hand over his nose, he doubled over as his stomach forced itself empty. Once he could stand again, using a nearby chair to steady himself, he moved further into the house, quietly calling Jasper's name.

  Jasper's sudden reappearance startled Rais, causing him to jump back. Rather than the usual smirk Jasper would have given him for his cowardice, he motioned Rais to follow. The inside of the cabin was almost pitch black and Rais found himself bumping into numerous objects as they made their way through to the back of the cabin. The stench grew as they moved, and upon entering one of the rooms, Rais' stomach heaved again. He forced composure, but it was lost the moment he saw what was before him.

  The blanket that had been covering the window had been torn down, allowing moonlight to stream into the room. Furniture was upturned and scattered, broken pottery covered the floor and windowsill. The doors to the wardrobe were split in a jagged, diagonal line, clothes strewn over the remaining splintered wood and the floor around. However it was the center of the room that caught Rais' attention. Lying in a large puddle of dried blood was a mutilated corpse. Mangled to the point where Rais was uncertain if it had even been human, it churned his stomach beyond control. He leaned over and heaved behind a broken desk. Not that there was much left in his stomach to empty.

  When he turned back Jasper had pulled a lantern from his pouch and lit it, providing enough light for him to examine the scene. He knelt down beside the corpse. "It doesn't look fresh..." He ran his finger through the blood. "Perhaps a week dead at most."

  "Is it..." Rais had to swallow his hesitation. "Is it the Elder?"

  "I think so," Jasper agreed. He stood and circled the corpse, bending down to examine parts here and there.

  The question on Rais' mind sent a shiver down his spine that had nothing to do with the cold, but he asked it anyway. "Who... What did this?" He prepared himself for the answer.

  Jasper seemed to ignore the question as he examined, using his boot to shift the corpse this way and that. Then he got down and began running his hands over it. Rais had to look away as the man did his work. Despite Jasper's outward appearance as a man with all brawn and no brain, he had deep medical training and knew how to preform an autopsy. Rais, on the other hand, got sick at the sight of blood. Jasper had always made fun of him for it ever since they had been children studying medicine under one of the Society's top professors.

  Finally Rais heard Jasper rise and wipe his hands on his trousers. "Prezoans," he announced. Rais gave a grunt and readied his sword, eying the door to the room suspiciously. From the corner of his eye he caught the shake of Jasper's head. "They'll be long gone by now. Like I said, he's been dead for at least a couple days."

  Feeling kind of foolish Rais lowered his sword. "What do we do now?" he questioned. He knew the answer, though.

  "Return to the First and report the news," Jasper replied, shaking his head again. "God, let's hope the other escort teams didn't find the same thing."

  Rais nodded agreement. If the Prezoans had a motive to kill the Elders, it meant the Elders had known something important. Something decidedly detrimental to the war. Something that Rais didn't want to think about.