The chirping noise had proven to be some odd combination between a squirrel and a rabbit. It clung to the trees chittering out against the chilled winds and falling snow, springing from treetop to treetop with its powerful back legs. Jake wasn’t quite sure what to make of the beast, but whatever it was it had tasted like chicken. The longer he wandered around the more he started to realize how accurate the stereotype of everything tasting like chicken was.


    His knife had pierced the creature’s skull when it happened to leap near the forest’s edge, near where the pair were hastily gathering firewood. The gentle breeze of the snowstorm was quickly starting to grow into a full-blown blizzard and the two were quickly preparing to take shelter in one of the many caves scattering the surface of the cliff face behind them. Jake was shocked at how easily he hit his target, he’d moved nearly on instinct, and recovering the beast he found the blood of his prey barely matted the fur of the beast. Its pelt, now somewhat cleaned and dried beside him would hopefully fetch a decent enough price when they next found an opportunity to sell it.


    Jake was currently busy stripping the prison jumpsuits the two had been shackled with. At first, he’d considered saving them, you never knew when a spare outfit could come in handy. However, as the cold had worsened and the two threw more and more layers on while struggling to light their fire, they discovered much to their chagrin the outfit did little to insulate the pair.


    He supposed it made sense, it was a cheap prison uniform not a stylish bit of high fashion, but still, it was a disappointing discovery. Alice’s outfit was also in rough shape, with spots of blood staining in surface in blotched uneven patterns. All this, combined with the unpleasant memories tied to the outfits, led the two to decide there was little point in trying to save the outfits. Still, there was some use to be found in the now discarded uniforms.


    His outfit laid out in front of him, Jake had mutilated the garb cutting it into various bits of spare cloth and fabric. Some of this cloth now wrapped the few bits of leftover meat carved from the chirping creature''s corpse, cooked but uneaten. He hoped the cold would help prevent spoilage during the night, and keep it safe till they could scarf it down. It’s not like they could keep it forever. The meat would rot outside the cold that hounded them and besides that who knows what kind of new predators the food could attract. A shiver streaked down Jake’s spine as he imagined it.


    The other project he’d worked to craft throughout the night he now worked to secure across Alice’s frame, working against the slow rise of the sun. He’d found some sleep in the night but found himself awake long before Alice was. He’d heard her vaguely in the night, stirring and wincing in pain unable to fall asleep. Despite her assurances to the contrary, he could tell her arm was still hurting her.


    With little else to do and lacking a desire to try and sleep again, Jake felt a surge of inspiration at that thought. Stripping the already torn prison suit into strips and clumsily sewing them together he’d managed to construct something akin to a makeshift sling. How well it would work he had no idea. Working now with Alice’s rise to consciousness he adjusted her arm into place, apologizing as she winced in pain.


    Her arm secured now, Alice surrendered to gravity and gave up trying to hold her pained arm aloft. Her arm had felt better when she’d awoken, she could feel some of the severed strings within beginning the process of rewinding themselves as they slowly worked to repair whatever damage the intern had done to her, but still, the pain had been extreme. Every little movement she made seemed to send ripples of pain throughout her entire being. Now, though it had been excruciating positioning her arm into the sling, allowing it to rest comfortably slowly seemed to dial the extensive pain she felt down to a dual throbbing, a manageable annoyance.


    “Is that any better?” Jake asked, studying her quizzically. He’d already had to make a major alteration to the sling the first time he’d put it on her. The first variation of the sling was oversized, barely fitting her and hanging uselessly from her frame in a bundled heap of scrap cloth and string.


    “Loads. As long as I don’t move my arm too much, I think I should be ok…” She said, impressed he’d managed to whip this up while she slept. She remembered mocking the sewing supplies the first time he’d bought them. Stupid of her really, she thought shaking her head disappointed in herself.


    “Great. We should pack up. I can’t see the sky too well through the snow, but we should probably get ready to leave. I think the sun’s rising soon...” He didn’t sound particularly convinced about this as he glanced over his shoulder to gaze toward the entrance of their makeshift shelter. What little was seen was blotted by heaps of falling snow.


    Still, Alice didn’t need much convincing to pack and with some minor help from Jake, they soon found both their bags ready to go. They stood, hand in hand as the snow rained down from above, but after a while of nothing happening, they grew bored of waiting on pins and needles. Moving to sit on the uncomfortable stone of the surrounding cave their gazes turned out towards the snow-covered landscape beyond.


    “It really is beautiful, huh,” Jake said after a while of silence between the two. Alice had to agree, especially now she could see the reflection of the rising sun dancing amongst the falling snow. As the occasional gust of wind blew snow around the duo, they sat in silent appreciation, the morning sun fully rising to cast its majesty through the curtain of snow. The two had just enough time to admire the view before a familiar sensation took hold.


    It was not a clean landing. Lost in thought staring out into the snow beyond them, neither was prepared for the pull of the fall to a new world. Thankfully, they’d still been holding hands else Alice would have been left behind. Flat on her back now her view was filled with the sights of lush green trees and a clear blue sky. The lush chill of the snow was gone, and she felt some remorse to see it go. She felt she barely got to see the snow''s majesty before she was yanked away. Still though, maybe that was only fair.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Hoping up beside her, Jake turned to offer her a hand upward. Grateful, as Alice already imagined how annoyingly painful standing would be with her arm, the two studied their new surroundings. They seemed to have landed beside a gravel path carved through a lush pine forest. Rather close to them, they could see a mountain stretching towards the sky, its jagged cliffs topped with snow, the highest of its peaks above the clouds. Further away from them down the path, they saw what looked from a distance like a small wooden house built to the side of the gravel path.


    Glancing at each other, the two shrugged and started walking towards the house. They had little else to go off besides following the path towards the mountain, the house, or venturing into the woods. Of the options, the house seemed the best option for the two. Perhaps they could worm their way into staying out of the wilderness for the night, and worse comes to worse they knew they were at least walking closer towards civilization of some kind.


    The house was not particularly far, only a few minutes or so on foot, and as they grew ever closer the larger the house''s construction became. The gravel path seemed to balloon towards the house, forming a circular section of path the house comfortably sat in.  They could see the house was two stories, the bottom story composed of rough cut stones sanded by wind and weather. Stables, small and nearly empty save for a rather elderly-looking horse and some bundles of hay sat to the side of the house.


    “You… you think anyone’s home?” Alice asked, pointing towards the many rows of unused stable stalls.


    “Well, at least one person’s here. Hope they''re friendly!” Jake said, trying to sound cheery while slipping his hand towards his pocket to grip hold of one of his knives. Moving towards the large wooden door that sat near the stables, the two raised their hands and pounded hard hoping they might be granted entry to the house.


    Entry came easily, however, as with the first knock the door swung open revealing it was unlocked and rather easily accessed. Glancing towards one another the two strolled through the threshold of the house only to find themselves in a rather dimly lit room, the only light coming from candles sitting atop tables or hung from chandeliers in the ceiling above.


    The two were surrounded by a collage of tables varying in all manner of sizes, shapes, and designs. A collection of stools, benches, or chairs were pushed seemingly randomly around said tables. Animal furs were randomly placed around the room, draped over tables or chairs, or simply hung on the wall. In the center of the room was a high-top bar, behind the counter of which stood a rather burly man clutching a metallic mug and a dirty-looking cloth. Behind him were various barrels overturned and tapped intermixed with glass bottles the contents of which were emptied to varying degrees.


    “It’s a pub!” Alice said, some excitement in her voice. Last time she’d been in one of these she’d had the best night’s sleep of her life, even if she accidentally stole the bed afterward.


    “Yeah…” Jake said, his feelings somewhat mixed about stepping into a bar again, especially one so isolated. The bartender, noticing their arrival, glanced over toward them before freezing in place, his face stiffening for a moment in a look of shock. Shaking his head, he grabbed two mugs from under the counter and began pouring directly from a tap behind him.


    “Not sure where you two came from, if you''re with the miners or what, but you two certainly look like you need a drink. Cold out there?”


    “What?” Jake asked, confused, before noticing snow was still piled in small clumps all across his and Alice’s body. Brushing it away hurriedly, and earning a confused glance from Alice, he replied “No, no, just wandered in from the road. What miners?”


    “What miners? You must’ve wandered in a LONG way from down the road boy!” The barkeep said with a smile before slamming the two now full pints of beer atop the counter, a smile stretching across his face, “Only miners around hollowing out that mountain up there. Missed em this morning, usually pass by early in the morning but they’ll stop by later. At least I hope they do or I’m going to starve.” He paused a minute to laugh at his own joke before asking, “Are you going to drink these or not?”


    “We can’t pay you; we don’t have any money,” Jake said, not moving an inch from the doorframe.


    “Already trying to pay me, I like it. Already better off than some of my usuals. Alright then seeing as you two are broke, got anything to trade for em?” The bartender asked, leaning his imposing frame on the counter in a friendly manner. Jake thought a moment before producing the skinned pelt of the chirping creature. He doubted he prepared the skin right, but it was all he had on him. Walking across the bar and laying the skin out toward the barkeep he waited as the man examined the fur.


    “Hmmm… not bad quality… interesting color never seen it before, not the worst job skinning I’ve seen… Definitely worth at least a beer or two. Sure that’s all you want for this kid?” The barkeep asked, glancing toward Jake as he slid the pints back forward across the counter. Jake, content with the trade was about to say yes when he found himself interrupted.


    “A place to sleep?” Alice asked hopefully, now strolling forward from the bar’s entrance to claim her drink. The barkeep laughs a little at that.


    “Sorry, even without the beers just one pelt this size isn’t worth a room, no matter how interesting a color it is. Tell you what though, I’ll throw in another round, and you can sleep in the stables if they’re still empty. Usually are though so you can probably rely on that for tonight.”


    “…Alright,” Alice said, unable to really hide her disappointment. She’d really been hoping to sleep in a proper bed tonight. Still, though, a stable was better than nothing. The hay couldn’t be too uncomfortable. Chuckling slightly at the obvious disappointment in her voice, the barkeep turned away with a shake of the head and strolled away from the two. Grabbing hold of his pint, Jake raised the glass up toward Alice.


    “Cheers… wait is this your first time drinking?”


    “Yep!” Alice said a note of obvious excitement in her voice. The last time the two had stopped in an inn, they hadn’t bothered using any cash on alcohol, so she’d been denied the chance to try any. Now though, raising her glass up to meet Jake''s she could feel excitement burn throughout her, distracting her thoughts from anything else. “Cheers!” She cried before raising the mug to her lips.


    Watching her with some worry in his eyes, Jake followed suit, downing a mouthful of the drink. It tasted strong, stronger than any beer he was familiar with. Sat beside Alice watching her greedily chug her glass, he couldn’t help but ask how well she could hold her booze.