An untrained eye might have thought the mountain had been emptied of every soul. Travellers advanced in small groups so as to remain mobile and be able to hide quickly. Each clan progressed in tiny hops, avoiding at all costs the slightest encounter and even more so any confrontation. Open ground was a veritable throat-cutting zone where one risked one's life at every moment.
That was not going to stop Helios from leaping a hundred times higher than a young goat, strengthened by his new magical abilities. Hichy, who could no longer bear dragging himself along the ground like a miserable larva, was equally delighted to be able once more to launch himself into the sky in long soaring arcs.
"Our progress is no doubt faster than walking," Hichy said between two jumps.
"On the contrary, I think there is no doubt about it," his sister replied.
"That's exactly what I said."
"No, you said no doubt."
"Yes. If there is no doubt, then we're sure."
"Rubbish! 'No doubt' means you're not certain."
"If it's not certain, then there is doubt. I said no doubt. So that means there isn't any."
"All right, but that isn't the usual use of the language. You should have said with no doubt at all."
"I don't see why I should add that extra phrase. If everyone speaks badly, that's not my fault."
The three animals, to whom the subtleties of the French language still largely escaped, watched their masters with wide eyes. Those sterile debates mattered little as long as their stomachs were full. And for the time being, they were.
They could feel the gazes cast upon them with envy. Magic remained absolutely forbidden, which was no problem for lack of Celestial guards to enforce the law. As for the brigands of every sort, they did not yet dare attack them.
And yet, despite their powers, the summits of the mountain barrier still loomed just as high before them at the end of the day. The effects of perspective made it difficult to judge their dimensions. What was certain was that the barrier was absolutely gigantic.
The little troop was therefore forced to stop for the night, and for the first time in a very long while Hichy and Inata were able to give free rein to their imagination in building a nightly shelter that had far more in common with a palace than a hut. The construction of the bridge had been a useful experience for raising arcades of stone. Everyone got their own room and a comfortable bed, even Helios, whom they did not force to sleep all alone outside.
Night was also the time when they were most vulnerable, at the mercy of surprise attacks. That was why the twins paid particular attention to devising a system of protection against intrusions. They raised an enclosure and dug a moat all around it in record time. Then they returned to the common room for a writing session with their four-legged companions.
Hichy laid out the letters of the alphabet on the ground, taking care to add the principal punctuation marks so that Melio would have no material for formulating acerbic remarks.
"With my claws, I could have gouged out the eyes of the men who attacked us," he traced on the earthen floor with his paws.
"No, absolutely not!" Inata cried. "That would be very wrong."
"Can I bite them too?" the animal asked.
"You may bite them, but only if you intend to eat them," Darok traced on the ground. "Otherwise it's pointless."
"No, no, and no!" the young woman lamented. "We do not eat humans, and we do not bite them either."
"Why?" Helios asked with his hooves. "They made sausage out of my brother."
"Because nature is cruel and unfair," Hichy explained. "Melio eats field mice and birds. Darok too feeds on little rodents that asked for nothing more than to live quietly. The strong devour the weak and refuse to let others devour them. No one is going to make sausage out of anyone here, and you're beginning to get on my nerves with your existential questions. If a wolf stops eating meat, it dies, and that's that. It's neither good nor bad. It's life."
Inata had nothing to add after her brother's long tirade. She could choose to become vegetarian, vegan, or anything else, but she could not force Darok to live on dandelions. It was too reminiscent of the story of Marlaguette that Golock used to read to them when they were little, the little girl who had healed a wolf and forbidden him to attack the other animals.
Each one went off to bed with those words still in mind, aware of the immense privilege they enjoyed while the other travellers were dying of cold, hunger, and fear beneath a torn tarpaulin or directly on the ground. The animals and their human masters fell asleep without delay, worn out by that first day of ascent.
Hichy was nevertheless awakened in the middle of the night. Though Melio's steps were as muffled as possible, they could not escape his sharpened hearing. The animal passed through the main room and discreetly returned to his own room. The boy was not especially surprised, cats liking to live by night, and immediately fell back asleep.
Only the next morning, after a long night of deliciously restorative sleep, did he notice the number that had gained six additional units before him.
HP = 2, AP = 8, XP = 4, GP = 0
Unless he was sleepwalking, the boy could not have gained those attack points in his sleep. That meant that the actions of all the members of their clan were linked and, above all, that Melio had taken advantage of his escapade to fight God knew whom. He preferred not to say anything to his sister so as not to alarm her, even if she could see the counter in her field of vision at any moment. With a bit of luck, she would not pay attention to it.
Everyone has secrets, sometimes unmentionable ones, and the little ginger cat was not one to confide in anyone. He was far too attached to his freedom to submit to the rules of the group, while paradoxically seeking the presence of his friends.
"I am happy, but I am hungry," Darok traced on the ground when he woke.
The donkey was the most advantaged of all, needing only to lower his head to gather something to eat. But if they had mixed their DNA...
"Hooray! I've found Helios's superpower!" Hichy shouted, shaking his sister awake.
"You could have let me sleep!" the young woman protested. "For once we're comfortably settled."
"I've found the solution to our problems. Our greatest challenge is finding enough to eat every day, do you agree?"
"Yes, but that's no reason to shout like that, you triple idiot."
"What does Helios eat?"
"Grass."
"Didn't you tell me I was a donkey?"
"That's true," she said, getting up.
Helios could not help twisting with laughter while the two children and the wolf bent forward to tear up a tuft of grass with their teeth. He brayed loudly, which was his way of mocking the twins, who looked like lambs barely weaned from their mothers' milk. Inata chewed the plant matter for a long time before swallowing and letting it slide down her oesophagus.
"It's not that bad," she observed with satisfaction.
"Yes, but it's not that good either," Hichy retorted.
"What matters is that we can digest it."
"Yuck! I'd rather eat greasy fries."
It was only because he was hungry again that Darok agreed to imitate his masters, and because he had grown fond of those two humans that he resigned himself to such a method. He thought of the few children he had devoured and missed their tender flesh. The three companions chewed many mouthfuls before stopping.
"I had never realised how long it can take to eat grass," Hichy said. "It's really tedious. I understand now why Helios stops all the time to graze. You have to swallow astronomical quantities to feel full."
"Stop complaining all the time. It's still better than starving to death."
"I think I'd rather go and hunt mice."
"Ah! You really are disgusting!"
Only the little ginger cat did not even deign to try ruminating. He looked with disdain at the children, who had dropped to all fours. No one suggested that he express his thoughts by means of the letters of the alphabet, for fear of making a fool of themselves before one of his sarcastic remarks. Their bellies bloated from being filled with plant matter, they resumed their ascent in leap after leap, carefree where others were dying of fear and where many convoys had already suffered heavy losses. They were flying over danger both literally and figuratively, insensitive to the pain of others.
It was growing colder and colder, and the sky had taken on a deep blue hue. Trees were becoming rarer and smaller with the altitude. The path wound in tight switchbacks above which they took shortcuts through the air. Above them, the glaciers were becoming more and more visible, with their threatening seracs and deep crevasses.
"This isn't right!" the young woman said, stopping.
"What isn't right?"
"Taking pleasure while innocent people are being massacred. We can't leave them like that."
"And yet they didn't ask us for anything."
"That doesn't matter. We have a duty to help."
"We don't even know them."
"You can be so selfish! Before meeting Darok and Helios, you didn't know them either."
"That's a truism. We are bound to choose our friends, and it isn't possible to help the whole world. You may not be selfish, but you are naive."
"It doesn't matter what I am. But I refuse to go on without at least trying to defend the weakest. It would be a good chance for you all to let off steam fighting thieves and brigands."
Melio had already unsheathed his claws. Inata certainly knew how to find convincing words.