Iron Seas 03 - Riveted

he studied the column of ash again, the direction of the wind: south-southwest. “We probably won’t see much more ash here, but it’s being carried right over Vik. Källa might not be able to come for us in that balloon until it eases up.”
    “I know.” She moved in against his side. He wrapped his arm around her waist, brought her in tight against him. “Do we try to walk out, or do we stay?”
    The question that had tormented him all morning. “I don’t know. What do you think?”
    “My instinct is always to find a safe place and wait. I know she will come. The question is if she can . The ash might disrupt the balloon engine.”
    “If we left, would it be harder for her to find us later?”
    “No. There’s only one way to go: through the pass. After she searched this end of the glacier, she’d turn that way. But it might take days. She only has a balloon, and she’d have to come alone or she wouldn’t be able to take both of us back.”
    He’d send Annika off first, anyway. “Dooley might have the clockwork dogs out of Phatéon ’s cargo hold by now.”
    “And he’d come, too?”
    “Yes, if he can. The steam is still rising—that means the ice is still melting. We’re on high ground here, but there’s still a chance the pass could flood. And the rivers might be running at springtime levels or higher.”
    She nodded. “We don’t even try to come this way in the spring. Even in a troll.”
    “We could avoid them, go back up on the glacier and around the river heads, but I hate to risk the ice.”
    It would be a rough hike in the summer. Add the uncertainty of deep snow and the eruption, and the glacier could be as dangerous as the rivers.
    No doubt, they’d be safer here…until they ran out of food. Hoping to discern her thoughts, he studied her profile as she stared out over the glacier. He couldn’t see any fear, though she had to be feeling it. She wasn’t giving in.
    Neither would he. “How far can you walk every day?”
    She glanced up at him. “During the daylight hours only?”
    Which didn’t last long—from mid-morning to mid-afternoon—but they probably shouldn’t risk traveling after the sun set, no matter that he could see. And even David would be exhausted after a day of trudging through deep snow. “Yes.”
    “Perhaps ten miles…over flat terrain.”
    Six days to Vik, at best. If they never had to backtrack, never had to slow. He looked to the clouds overhead. “We’ll need to be out of the first snow. It’ll be all ice and ash.”
    “Poisonous?”
    “Like the fissure eruptions? Possibly. Probably acidic. When we melt snow to drink, we need to dig deep.”
    “But at least the snow will dampen this.” She kicked at the layer of ash, sending up a fine cloud. “So we won’t be walking through it.”
    “Yes.” The masks could prevent them from breathing it, but the dust would penetrate every layer of clothing. “So what do you think?”
    She looked to the sky, then out over the glacier again. “Let’s wait one or two days—until after the first snow. Maybe by then the eruption will stop and floods won’t be such a danger. In themeantime, we’ll see if there’s anything to eat here. If not, we’ll need to go, anyway.”
    Because they’d have no other choice, except waiting to die.
    No choice. David stared out over the barren expanse of ash and snow, fighting the helplessness sweeping over him.
    “There’s another option,” she said.
    Hope surged. “What option?”
    “You can travel much faster than I can. You go to Vik for help and food, then come back for me here.”
    That wasn’t an option. Even he would be slowed by the snow and the rivers, and would have to avoid that first snowfall. Two days traveling there, at the very least, and two days back. He wouldn’t leave her alone for a day. Four was out of the question.
    “No,” he said.
    “I could survive. It’s warm in the snow house.”
    “Not warm enough. Not if you’re alone.” And if anything went wrong, anything at all, she’d have no way of knowing that he wasn’t coming for her—and by then, she might not be strong enough to strike out on her own. “I wouldn’t be able to leave you, anyway.”
    She sighed and nodded. “I wouldn’t be able to leave you, either.”
    But she’d apparently hoped he would, knowing that she might not make it. His arm tightened around her. “We’ll be all right.”
    They couldn’t have left, anyway. It snowed that night and through the