Shirisha was shaken awake by Sang's steady hand, and as she turned to him he gestured with his head to arise. The beginnings of a dim and uninviting sunlight broke through the trees, and the smoky remains of their fire drifted up into the bitter air. As they walked into the open air with their pelts wrapped and draping over their shoulders, Shirisha saw the snowing had ceased for the time being, though it still clung to the hills and weighed down the leaves.

They crossed several hills covered in more splatterings of forestry, when Shirisha noticed far to the west there moved a broiling procession of dark clouds. They seemed far and small now, but Shirisha promised herself she would check them periodically to see where they went.

The erratic clusters of trees gradually merged into a wide forest, but this one was different than the one blanketing the valley. The trees were taller, more heavily branched and covered with thinner leaves. They stood farther apart, appearing more as a sporadic array of individual units than a vast, interconnected entity akin to what stood alongside the river.

Before these trees began to obscure the western sky, Shirisha took one last glance to ensure if the clouds had encroached. In those moments though, she could not tell for sure if the clouds were indeed advancing or just dispersing apart.

This uncertainty began to eat away at her as she checked again and again to no avail, as if the trees were towering guards shielding it from her eyes. Two hours passed. She regretted asking Sang to stop, as he was clear on a trail and moving with such a driven speed and diligence, but eventually the unknown became too much.

"Sang, wait. There wa-"

"What?" he snapped, whipping around.

She was caught slightly off guard, but she understood his irritance as she collected herself and continued. "I do not know if you saw them before, but there were storm clouds in the west sky, and they looked... powerful. I want to climb one of these trees and see where it has gone, just to be certain."

Sang stared down their course with intent, still irked that their momentum had been killed, but begrudgingly agreed. He threw her the coils of lash, so that she could rappel back down once she reached the top to save time. He then walked to the base of the tree, squatting down and firming a firm cradle with his hands.

"I'll get you as high as I can." he said.

Shirisha stepped onto his hands, tensing it in preparation. She was expecting a quick, strong, lift from which she could smoothly transition into her climb, but suddenly found herself launched into the air like she had erupted from a volcano. She frantically grappled, catching one of the strong limbs midway up the tree and pulled herself up. Shirisha climbed upward as efficiently as she could, and as the branches thinned the sight she feared was slowly revealed.

The clouds were on a path that lead straight over them, thundering over each other like a stampede of dark, raging horses. Her hands trembled a little as she tied the lash as best she could around the trunk, and the other end around her waist. Her hands became slightly raw with the grip she held to control her descent, anxious to tell Sang. She touched down to the earth, still plenty of lash in her arms when Sangs makeshift spear swung next to her side, causing her to jump back in alarm. It cleanly severed the lash hanging from the tree, leaving only the slightest scratch in the bark. In the same motion he turned around and started walking.

"Well?" he asked, not looking behind him.

She followed, struggling to untie the knot around her waist and pick up the lash. Sang made no effort to take it back so she wrapped it over her shoulder, and then answered his question. "They are close, too close, and coming for us. It would be good idea to find shelter soon, and wai-"

"No. We have faced snow. We have faced wind. We have faced all the terrible weapons of winter. Regardless of what it is or how much of it is coming, we will push through, and be held back no longer than we already have."

Even as he said this, the far edges of the storm appeared over the trees, tainting the color of the sky. Shirisha tried to defend herself.

"I know Sang, but I fear these may be different, and it might be best no-"

He interrupted again, raising his voice with certainty. "We do not have time for fear, Shirisha. Do you forget where we are, or why we are here? We have a goal, and we cannot let it slip away by being muddled with uncertainty."

Shirisha was silent, but still fearful. Remembering their conversation at the lake she did not want to rise in anger at him, but still felt his decisive stance was simply justifying a gamble.

The rain did not come all at once, but in fierce lashes thrown by the wind. The rain clouds themselves were still not over them but next to them, and the gusts whipped it through the leaves in an upwards wave, rhythmically splattering their bodies with freezing water. Shirisha wrapped her head in her pelt, because despite limiting her vision even more she could protect herself somewhat against the little balls of ice that formed within the rain. Though he was getting splattered all the same, Sang looked indifferent.

Eventually the rain was upon them, drenching them completely and cascading them with the little ice balls that bounced off their skin.

However, through the constant roar of the deluge, Shirisha picked up a different sound. Running water. The river appeared alongside them, appearing to flow in the same direction as they were despite its contorted, chaotic surface, which lapped up onto the shores with overflow dragging sticks and rocks into its depths.

Shirisha also saw a shadow rise from the treeline to the west, growing to an impressive height as a rocky rise overlooking the river. Covering its entirety were large patches of earth and mud held together by the tangled grip of tree roots.

She acknowledged this and instinctively started to make her way towards the rise, to travel along the top or even the opposite side. However, it did not take her long to notice Sang's unyielding figure going straight for the wet, sloping path alongside the wild river.

She planted her feet, and yelled for him over the rain.

"WAIT! THERE IS ANOTHER PATH! THE RIVER IS TOO DANGEROUS, SANG!"

"WE WILL LOSE TIME THAT WAY!" he bellowed back.

Shirisha was struck still. Surely, right here, right now, he does not believe that. The way above does seem longer, but only just. Does he not see the river surging, stripping the land by the minute?!

Sang noticed her standing still, and turned to her, an imposing, almost deathly figure against the pouring sleet. He yelled with vigor, and a deep guttural tone.

"DO YOU CARE FOR THEM, SHIRISHA? DO YOU CARE FOR OUR PEOPLE FACING THEIR END ON THE MOUNTAIN? THIS, ALL AROUND US, IS PITIFUL IN THE FACE OF GREATER STRENGTH! COME, LET US REACH THEM, LET US SAVE OUR PEOPLE!"

It was at this moment that Shirisha realized Sang was insane.

She saw in him then an inhuman madness devoid of logic, an unbending and primal will. The same madness that was likely wrought out of him when he slaughtered the nilgai, and murdered Abhinatha. She hesitated as she saw him advance into the muddy terrain, climbing over wet stone and around shaking trees. She looked back to the winding trail up the slope, then back to the river. She saw a safe path to one side, and on the other a madman. But this madman was of her tribe, of her people. Grimacing, she held tight to the lash and flapping pelt, and followed after him.

The relentless sleet began to harden and enlarge into more painful hail, bruising her skin. She clambered up onto a slick rock, and then dug her fingers into the grooves of tree bark as her leg slipped in the mud from under her. She saw Sang charging ahead, several scrapes across his body where he had been careless in the name of speed, but it was clear to see that they did not exist to him.

She took her next steps, placing her feet as best she could on the now exposed roots of the tree. She leapt down into more mud, her feet sinking, feeling her pelt soaked through as a dead weight around her shoulders. It was when she ripped her feet forward and clung around the side of the next tree did she feel it: The stone shifted beneath her feet, and the tree bent towards the river. She held onto it for a moment more, but could even feel the stability breaking under its own weight. She leapt a short gap to another craggy wet stone, creating a large scrape along her forearm before pulling herself up. Shirisha stood with her legs wide, taking a strong stance to avoid being toppled by the wind.

Everything was breaking. What was once steady earth had been turned into a loosening sludge that obeyed the will of gravity, and was going to take all things with it. She desperately called out for Sang, but whether he could not hear or he chose not to hear her, she did not know.

Then, among the cacophony of snapping roots, a massive shattering crack resounded through them all. Up towards the top of the rise, a tight cluster of about five trees with one standing especially large in the center, had hardly moved at all while the other trees bent towards their watery grave. They broke free all at once, tumbling and embedded with sludge that dragged more and more mass along its path.

Sang was directly in that path.

The sight triggered a flash of familiarity within Shirisha. A being bent on a will moving away, oblivious to what surrounded it, with doom barreling towards it from above.

She ran, using whatever she could to avoid being grabbed by the diverging landslide, and made it only several paces before her pelt was snagged by the branch of a falling tree. She let it rip away. The hail hit her hard, feeling like dozens of children throwing a fit on her exposed skin.

She had just slid her fingers out of the pelt when she saw a broken piece of a boulder crashing towards her. She dodged away, making it by a breath. The rock smashed the tree that had snagged her into splinters before landing in the river with a tremendous splash. She whipped back around right away, just in time to see Sang impacted with the full force of the landslide.

"SANG!"

She ran at full speed now, constantly tripping and picking herself back up. She took the lash from her bruising shoulder, and began frantically uncoiling it in her soaked palms.

She caught sight of him again. He was chest deep in the mud, fighting fruitlessly against the flow that dragged the rest of his body towards the blackened chaos of the river. She saw the primal instinct in his eyes, like a cornered animal faced with arrowheads on all sides. He crushed things in his grip as he grabbed them, trying to tear his own body against the tide, even lifting part of a tree over his head as it rolled toward him to do so.

Shirisha was on the edge of the landslide, but now had to cross it. Some of the unyielding mud flowed over, just barely coating the tips of her shoes. The gap was too wide to jump, and standing there, while one of her own was about to meet his death, the terror crept in.

Surely if she failed, they would have no hope from the grave of saving their village, and the faith that had been placed in the two would die with them.

However if she did not give her all in this moment, that same hope would die, but she would have to live to bear it.

She steeled herself. There was a small piece of rock coming down the mud flow, no bigger than the width of a log. She bent down, tensing, waiting.

Now.

She launched forward with her right foot, precisely stabilized her left on the rock as it passed by, and letting the momentum carry her to the other side. She let the lash loosen in her grip, and threw it as far as she could down the landslide. Sang grabbed hold, and she immediately felt the strain that wanted to pull her body down with his.

She caught one last glimpse, one of his legs submerged in the river water and both of his arms in tense angles, before turning around. With her back now to him she braced one leg far back against the rough edge of a root, leaning her body forward with the lash digging a groove between her neck and shoulder. She felt the rawness in her hands as she strained her wrists forward, but dared not loosen them for a second.

Her body was in a frozen state of pain from all directions amidst the unceasing hail, and she winced her eyes shut. She stayed in it for what felt like a hundred times longer than it really was, not allowing the slightest release in strength despite this. Then, she felt movement on the other end. He was climbing. Her head was stooped so low it was nearly touching the ground, but she held her tension.

Several more moments passed, and she felt the tension slacken, making her stumble forward a bit. She looked back for the first time, and saw that Sang had one fist clenched around the very end of the root, the other still holding the lash. He inched further up, but was still halfway submerged.

Shirisha slid down towards him, covering her side in grime but still holding on with one hand. Kneeling over, she reached out with both arms, gripping one of his mud covered ones, and pulled. With both of their efforts, he came sliding out, falling onto the erratic roots which held the stone together.

"COME!" she yelled, "WE MUST CROSS THE RISE, GET TO THE OTHER SIDE!"

Sang followed as best he could, but his eyes had become like glass, like they were almost dead. With much effort they crossed up and over, descending down the other side among several minor mudslides. The land here shielded them more from the wind, and stumbling around Shirisha spotted a small den created by the upturned roots of a partially fallen tree. They climbed in and sat, Shirisha catching her breath in steady waves.

Sang's breath came in small inhales at first, his eyes fixated on the ground while his arms hung limp at his sides. His breaths gradually became larger, faster, his fingers curling into fists. Shirisha watched in fear as his breathing grew into swelling heaves, and he lifted his head to the sky and screamed. It was a long scream, one full of anguish, a lifetimes' worth, which then collapsed into soft weeps. He wept for a while, before words finally broke through.

"Why... even now... am I still too weak to save even myself?"

Shirisha still said nothing, eyes locked in shock. The greatest hunter ever to have graced their tribe lay collapsed and crying in front of her. He wept for several more moments before speaking faintly. "Shirisha, you have asked me many times about that night, like everyone. But unlike everyone, I will tell you what really happened."