CHAPTER 2: THE ASCENT TO MISTVEIL
Midnight arrived with a howling tempest that swept through the pine forest. The world was stripped of color, turned into a chaotic canvas of white snow and jet-black shadows.
Outside the barn, twenty-four men stood in two parallel lines along the thick hemp ropes attached to the carriage of Old Bertha. They wore thick canvas coats, wool scarves wrapped high over their faces, and thick leather gloves. In the pale moonlight, they looked less like soldiers and more like ancient Titans preparing to drag a mountain.
"Taketh the strain!" Silas’s command echoed over the howling wind.
Twenty-four pairs of boots dug into the frozen mud and ice. Knees bent, backs arched, and hands gripped the rough rope until the fibers bit deep through their gloves.
Slowly, with an agonizing groan of metal and wood, Old Bertha rolled forward out of the barn shelter. Her heavy steel-rimmed wheels bit into the snow, leaving two deep trenches in the white ground.
The trail up to Mistveil Pass was nothing more than a goat path carved into the side of the cliff. To their left was a sheer wall of black slate; to their right, a yawning abyss that dropped hundreds of feet into the darkness of the gorge. Every step was a battle against gravity and friction.
"One! Two! Pull!" Silas shouted at the front of the line, his voice cutting through the storm like a hammer on an anvil. "One! Two! Pull!"
Beside Silas, Julian groaned, his face red with exertion, teeth grit so tight his jaw ached. Sweat poured down the young man's forehead, freezing instantly as it hit the rim of his wool cap.
"I... I can't feel my legs, Silas!" Julian gasped, his footsteps slipping on a patch of black ice beneath the powder snow.
"Don't look at your legs, Julian!" Silas yelled back, not breaking his rhythm. "Look at the man in front of you! Keep the rope tight! If the rope goes slack, the mountain wins!"
Halfway up the first incline, the path steepened dramatically at a bend known as the Devil's Elbow. The icy wind hit them directly in the face, blinding the lead rope pullers with sharp ice crystals.
Suddenly, a sickening crunch reverberated through the iron frame. Bertha's left rear wheel slipped off the packed trail, sinking knee-deep into a soft pocket of snow over the cliff edge. The heavy carriage tilted violently to the right, its multi-ton weight threatening to drag the entire squad over the precipice.
"HOLD THE LINE!" Vance screamed from the rear. "WOODEN CHOCKS! GET THE CHOCKS UNDER THE AXLE!"
Panic rippled through the men. Several soldiers lost their footing, sliding backward across the slick ice. The rope surged, tearing through hands and throwing men to their knees.
Silas didn't hesitate. He dropped his section of the rope, sprinted back toward the leaning carriage, and grabbed a four-foot oak timber block from his shoulder pack. Sliding on his knees right beside the spinning, sinking wheel, he wedged the heavy timber beneath the steel axle with a desperate, powerful shove.
CLANG!
The frame slammed down onto the timber block, shivering violently but holding firm. The slide stopped just three inches from total disaster.
Silas leaned his forehead against the freezing cold iron of the wheel hub, his chest heaving, steam pouring from his mouth. He looked up at the men who were still holding the ropes, their knuckles white, their bodies trembling from the sheer strain.
"She holds!" Silas shouted, wiping mud and ice from his eyes. He stood up, turning to face the exhausted squad. "We give her ten seconds to rest, then we lift her back onto the rock! No man lets go!"
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Julian looked at Silas from the front of the line, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Seeing Silas standing firm against the storm, unflinching in front of the multi-ton iron beast, something shifted inside the young soldier. The terror that had gripped his throat began to give way to a fierce, stubborn pride.
They were not just dragging a gun. They were moving a wall of iron that would protect their homes. And as long as Silas was lead man on the line, the mountain would not take them tonight.
