The Argive Ch. 061-065

"Probably," muttered Praxis. "I suppose you're right."

"Do you still love her?"

That question took him by surprise. Praxis wasn't even sure how to react. He stumbled backward and crossed his arms. "I still have feelings for her, yes."

"I'm not mad," replied Lysandra. "I just wanted to know. I think it's sad what happened between the two of you."

"You do?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course. From what you've told me, you had a great connection with her. I don't want to see you hurting if I can help it."

"But that connection could have prevented us from being together. This probably wouldn't have happened without Astara and I breaking up."

Lysandra smiled at him. "Maybe, maybe not. Who knows?"

"What are you getting at?"

"You're a strong man, Praxis. Women want to be with a strong man. It's not surprising that you've gotten so much attention. And I don't expect that there's not always going to be another woman vying for your attention. That kind of thing is going to happen with a man like you. That doesn't bother me."

"So what you're saying is that you don't mind if I start taking other lovers?" he teased.

To his surprise, Lysandra shrugged. "I can't say for certain. All I can say is this—don't hold it from me. You might be surprised how I react when the time comes."

Praxis wasn't sure how to respond to that. Lysandra continued to give him an impish grin before she moved on, finding the path that led up to the rest of the summit. Finally, she turned around to face him.

"Are you coming?"

"I suppose I am."

Lysandra's comments gave him much to think about as they started the last ascent to the top. Though he still had questions about whether she was really serious about what she said, it was quickly pushed out of his mind as the path became dangerous again. From their current vantage point, they could see the ragged peak of the summit, where it was too steep to even set foot on it.

"How are we going to spend our time at the peak?" asked Lysandra. "I doubt we'll be able to stand up there let alone lay down!"

"We're just going to have to find the closest place that we can use for shelter," he replied. "Something that might get us out of the elements."

"I'll keep my eyes open."

They continued to move forward until something spooked them about halfway up to the top. A small bear had been sniffing around not far from their current position. Praxis halted in his footsteps and absentmindedly grabbed for his sword, forgetting that it wasn't there. He cursed his luck and waited to see what the bear did.

Though it looked at both of them and seemed to sniff the wind, the bear must have decided not to go after them. Praxis wondered if it just ate something, which might have been their only saving grace. Soon enough, the bear started to gallop down one of the steeper sides of the mountain until he eventually disappeared from sight.

"That was so close," whispered Lysandra. "I thought our trial was about to be over before it began."

"Luckily for us, it must have already eaten today," said Praxis. "Let's hope that's the last one we see for the next two days."

It was shortly after seeing the bear that they made it to the last clearing before the summit. There was a flat portion here, large enough for them to lay down if they wanted to, but there was no escaping the elements in this position. Praxis wondered about moving down lower to find some wood that they could fasten into an impromptu covering but then he remembered he'd have nothing to cut the wood with.

"Praxis, there's a small cave over here!"

The words couldn't have come at a better time. Praxis followed Lysandra over to what was a small opening, barely large enough for two people. Calling it a cave might have been a stretch. It was more like a shallow hole in the side of the mountain but finding it actually gave Praxis hope for survival, especially now that they had shelter.

"We're going to sleep here for the night," he announced. "At least this will keep us out of the rain."

Lysandra shivered. "I'll be happy not to be wet for once in my life."

As it turned out, making themselves at home was easy, especially without having to worry about clothing or provisions. They found a spot that both of them could sleep on without too much discomfort and that kept them out of the rain.

However, as soon as they stopped moving, they were both struck by the chilliness of the air. It was here that Chilon's advice came most in handy as they pushed their bodies together to keep heat.

"I've never wanted your body so close to mine before," admitted Lysandra as her teeth clattered. "This seems to go beyond sex. I just want to be warm and you're the closest thing to fire."

"Are you saying you don't want to have sex right now?" he joked.

Lysandra poked him. "I'm too cold to be angry right now. Stop joking around."

"Sorry, I thought the movement of laughter might keep us warmer."

"If only, Praxis."

Lysandra was quiet for a moment before she started speaking again.

"Do you really think we can survive the night like this?"

"We're going to do the best we can," he promised.

Lysandra nodded. "I certainly hope so."

Outside the cave, the rain started to fall harder.

Chapter 65: The Second Day

The rain continued for the rest of the evening and into the night, causing both of them to shiver. It got worse once they lost what little warmth the sun provided and despite being out of the rain, the cave proved to be one chilly place to spend the night.

"I never want to be this cold again," chattered Lysandra well after dark.

She didn't need to speak very loud for Praxis to hear her. She was practically on top of him, and they had their arms and legs wrapped around each other to preserve warmth.

"We're never going into the mountains again after this," joked Praxis. "We're going to leave this village and make a beeline for some beach in Cyrene or Sicily where it's always warm."

"I wish I could feel the sand between my toes already," said Lysandra. "But my toes went numb hours ago."

Praxis knew the feeling since he was having the same problem. At least it didn't seem to be getting any colder. Though sleep was nearly impossible, they weathered the bulk of the night without too many issues or uninvited creatures. When the sun came out in the morning, it was the greatest relief they had yet.

"One night down, one to go," said Praxis as he stretched.

"Maybe it will stay warm today," said Lysandra. "Maybe we won't need to shiver together like we did all night."

"And maybe the gods will come down and give us nice, warm blankets and all the food we can eat," joked Praxis.

Lysandra rubbed her stomach. "Don't remind me of food right now. I'm still too hungry to function."

They both were. Not having eaten anything in a full day wasn't a great way to start off this one. There were some moments when his stomach growled loud enough to echo off the mountain. Praxis surmised that maybe some of them were loud enough to scare the local wildlife but then again, that could have been down to his mind playing tricks on him.

While the second day got off to a better start than the first, it managed to quickly go downhill right around midday. The sun, which had been out all morning, started to disappear behind thick clouds that found their way to the mountain. Once the cloud cover was complete, something new happened that they didn't expect.

Snow.

Both Praxis and Lysandra gazed up at the sky as small flakes started to descend on the mountain, quickly scattering over the ground.

"The beach," said Lysandra as she shook her head in frustration. "Never going to leave the beach after today. Never again."

Praxis could only nod his head. The snow continued to fall in small increments, relegating them to the cave in order to stay out of it. With the snow came falling temperatures as well, so that at one point, Praxis could even see his own breath in the air around him.

At least they didn't lack water. Lysandra came up with a smart way to use the heat of their hands to melt small pockets of snow, holding it over their mouths to quench their thirst.

"It's not wine, but it'll do," said Praxis. "I've never been so happy to taste water right now."

"It might have been wine if you hadn't forsaken Apollo," joked Lysandra. "Are you sure you don't want to get his protection again? Wine might make this a little more bearable."

"Apollo doesn't strike me as the kind of god who will just take me back," said Praxis. "So I think you're out of luck there."

Lysandra grunted. "It was worth a thought."

With the worst of the weather seemingly upon them, the decision was made to generate what warmth they could by moving around. Since there wasn't that much space by their small cave, they moved down the path of the mountain to reach the next small plain, where they had caught the views of the village the day before. The air wasn't as chilly at this altitude and it was barely snowing, allowing them to build up some of their reserves of strength.

"Do you think we could get away with staying here for the night?" asked Lysandra. "It's not so bad here on the plain. I don't think the villagers would ever know that we weren't technically on the summit."

"I want to say yes very much," answered Praxis. "But we don't know if this area is being patrolled at nightfall. If Evios is guarding our exit, they could very well send someone up here to make sure we're not cheating. And that might mean an automatic failure of the trials."

Lysandra used her foot to kick a small rock down the side of the mountain. "Nothing is ever easy, is it?"

"I am," said Praxis, joking with her. "At least I was easy for you."

She snorted. "If I remember right, I was the one that asked you to come home with me that first night. I think I was the easy one."

"Well, I still accepted. Maybe we're both easy."

"I think this is the first time anyone's called me easy that I didn't smack them."

"See? We're already developing better character from these trials. They must be having an effect after all."

Lysandra smacked him, which only caused him to laugh harder.

"And look, even your fighting is getting better!"

She nearly chased him all the way back up the mountain.

*****

Just below them, a short distance from the village, Orcus stood watching the mountain in the distance. It was too far away to see the Argives but Orcus stared anyway. In his mind, he pictured them being eaten by a wild animal, maybe even a vengeful wolf after what happened during the second trial.

He also knew that it got quite cold and snowy at the summit of the mountain. Maybe they might freeze to deal? If that was the case, he looked forward to finding their bodies at the top, knowing that it would mean a certain death for Demetrios and Rastus as well.

And then that house would finally be his. Orcus couldn't wait.

"Orcus, why are you still staring at that mountain?"

Orcus snapped out of his daydream and turned to face his father, Medios. Medios was looking at him with some curiosity, which was only thinly disguised by disgust.

It had been that way his entire life. There wasn't much love lost between father and son. Though Medios was a hard man to please, he'd always found his son lacking in many areas, such as integrity and strength of character. Though he would never say it aloud, part of him despised what his son had become, something that Orcus had started to pick up over the years.

It was why he wanted out of his father's house so badly. That was why Demetrios had to die.

That plus the fact that he hated Demetrios with every fiber of his being. The old healer looked down his nose at Orcus and always assumed he knew better than everyone. Orcus hated that feeling of inferiority every time Demetrios looked at him. One way or another, it was going to end soon.

"Orcus, must I repeat myself with you again? You never listen to a word I say."

"Sorry, father," said Orcus finally. "I'm merely counting down the hours until the trials are over and those two Argives are dead."

"You really think they're not going to come down tomorrow? They've survived everything else so far."

"They will die," said Orcus firmly. "I'm sure of this."

The only reason that Orcus was so sure about it was that he intended to make sure they died. If the elements didn't kill them, then Orcus was going to be on hand tomorrow to make sure they never came down off that mountain.

Orcus started to grin to himself as he turned to face Mt. Oligyrtos again.

That house was as good as his.

*****

The weather on the mountain that evening took another turn for the worse. Large gales of wind propelled the snow to make huge drifts that made travel very uneasy. Walking in the snow for that long made their feet numb to the cold, so much that they didn't dare venture any further from the cave once they settled down for the evening.

Being inside was hardly any help either as it wasn't a break from the cold temperatures. Praxis and Lysandra huddled together, freezing silently as they did everything possible to stay alive.

"I w-w-want you to know s-something," said an icy Lysandra, her body completely wrapped around his. "Just in case we don't m-make it tonight."

"We're going to make it," said Praxis. "We can't give into the pain."

"I know b-but just in case something happens, I want you to know that I love you," said Lysandra. "I know these last few weeks haven't b-been easy but I really do believe that meeting you was the best thing that happened to me. You showed me a life that I didn't know existed."

Praxis managed a smile. "Even if I'm the one that got you killed?"

"I think we did that to ourselves," chattered Lysandra. "Either way, I don't care. I just w-want you to know that in case this is the end of us. The end for me. Okay?"

"You're talking crazy right now," said Praxis, hugging her tight. "But I could say the same for you. I love you, Lysandra. Stay with me."

"I'm trying and I'm f-failing," she said. "I'm just too c-cold. So cold."

Praxis understood completely. He'd never been this cold before, not even when he was a boy and he'd fallen into a spring that was high in the mountains near Argos. That water had chilled him to the bone but at least the pain was temporary.

This was an icy pain that never went away. It felt like his entire body was being punctuated by icy needles of death. Maybe Lysandra was right? Maybe death was preferable to this?

Praxis shook his head slightly. He didn't want to think that way. Life was always preferable but he just needed that extra strength to see it through. To help Lysandra see it through too.

Athena, I could sure use your strength right now. I could use your warmth. We don't want to die but we just need a little help.

Praxis wasn't sure what to expect from the goddess or whether she would even answer him.

Please do it for Lysandra's sake if not for my own. She needs you more than I do.

At this point, Lysandra's lips had turned completely blue. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was incredibly shallow.

And yet, he started to feel warmth. An almost unnatural warmth that took him by surprise. Where did it come from? Was it Athena?

"Lysandra, do you feel that?" he whispered. "Do you feel that warmth?"

Lysandra didn't answer him. He started to shake her gently, trying to get her conscious again.

"Lysandra, can you hear me? Lysandra, wake up. Wake up please. Wake up please?"

Praxis feared it was too late. What if she was already gone?