Chapter 9

The Serpent that now wears his Crown

Now...
December 20th, 2120

"I hate the snow." one of the children said as the Redwing tribe continued its trek.

Redwing-lives-forever smiled sadly, "We aren't used to snow anymore. It was more common when I was your age. I remember when Cooper and Pike decided to test themselves in the mountains against the winter. That was a moment that would change everything."

Ten years earlier...
February 1st, 2110

Pike and Coop crouched like stones as the snow fell around them. Snow still fell in the high mountains and the boys were wrapped in furs to guard against the uncommon cold. Snow Snow rarely fell elsewhere and so the high mountains were a test of endurance that most young warriors sought at least once. Pike was seventeen now and Cooper was ten. Pike was  warrior and only puberty stood in Cooper's way of being a warrior as well.

The brothers were hunting a white-tailed deer, an ancient buck with a massive sweeping rack of antlers that many young warriors had tried to bring down over the years.  The old buck was called the Old Man by the Redwing tribe and nobody had brought it down for nearly ten years. Each year the Old Man reappeared during the rut season in the autumn. And every autumn young warriors would head out to try and bring in the Old Man. Tribe members argued over whether the Old Man should be hunted any more. The argument was that the Old Man had lived so long and so well that he should left alone. Other members argued that hunting the Old Man did a service to the deer population, because if a hunter could kill the Old Man then young bucks would be able to breed and strengthen the genetic diversity of the local deer population.

Cooper and Pike were interested in the challenge of hunting such an old and clever quarry as the Old Man. So the brothers crouched, high in the coast mountains as the snow fell around them and the cold crept into their joints, watching as several does fed in the clearing ahead of them.

Cooper looked at Pike and quickly signed to his brother. He kept his hands behind their deer blind so the movement wouldn't spook the deer.

I haven't seen anything to indicate that bucks are around right now.

Pike signed back him.

Not today, but you've seen the tracks. you know he grazes here.

Cooper gave a slow subtle nod so as not to stand out from the landscape.

The snow is getting to me.

Pike nodded slowly.

The elders say we used to get snow at lower elevations every winter.

Cooper was about to answer when something caught his attention. He froze and moved his eyes without moving his head- scanning everything in front of him and only then slowly turning his head to scan the surrounding area.

It was the does, both does had their tails up in alarm and were looking to north.

Cooper was no longer looking at Pike. So Pike whispered to Cooper instead of signing.

“Can you see what they're looking at Coop?”

“No. and I don't hear anything that sounds like a predator. That doesn't mean there isn't one, of course.”

“They aren't acting like there's a predator.”

Cooper studied the does, they had begun to trot to the south, tails up. They weren't bounding away, as they would if they thought there were wolves or a mountain lion. Something had the does worried, but they didn't need to out run whatever it was that was worrying them. At least they didn't need to outrun it yet.

“It's got to be a change in the weather,” Cooper said carefully, “No reason to run away from any weather short of a avalanche or a tornado, but best to seek shelter if bad weather is coming.”

Pike nodded, “Any idea what kind of weather?”

Cooper listened, eyes closed and paid attention to the colors the sound made. The mountains were very quiet. He could here the dark indigo crunch of the does trotting away, and a light almost invisible green whistling from high altitude winds, but little else.

“Nothing immediate, but if the animals are moving its probably big,” Cooper said.

“A snow storm you think?” Pike asked.

“Maybe, I've never seen one. What do you think it will be like?” Cooper answered.

"Probably colder than this. Probably a lot a wind. Probably really loud," Pike said.

Cooper winced at the thought, if things got too loud he would have trouble seeing. That could be a problem in dangerous weather like a snow storm.

"We should try and find shelter, maybe try to get off the mountain," Cooper said after a moment's silence.

Pike considered and then nodded, "The Old Man is too smart to be out and about if a big storm is coming."

***

Twenty minutes later the brothers were heading down the mountain, when Cooper stopped walking and cocked his head from the left to the right. 

Pike looked at his half brother, "What is it?"

"I can see waves of really dark orange coming from the ground."

"Your synesthesia? What do orange waves mean?"

"A really deep bass sound, and its coming from the ground- beneath our feet, and all the way up the mountain."

Pike was silent for a second, "The ground is rumbling?"

"Yeah..."

"I remember reading about avalanches in Elder Wong's library. If snow builds up too much it can break loose and all coming rolling down and its like a tidal wave only made of snow."

"You think this rumbling is one of those avalanches?"

"I can't think what else it could be. Can you?"

Cooper focused on the orange waves rumbling around the edge of his vision. It was getting brighter- meaning louder- although he still couldn't consciously hear the sounds.

"Either way its getting louder, and probably closer, so we should move."

Pike's head snapped up, " I can hear it! And feel it! Run!"

Cooper could feel it too, the rumbling was now shaking his feet and the sound had quickly come out of nowhere to dominate the landscape. He looked up the mountain and saw a wall of snow hurtling down towards them.

"No time!" He yelled at Pike. Cooper cast around wildly and then spotted a large stand of trees directly behind Pike some thirty feet away. They were huge old trees, at least a century old and look well rooted.

"There! Run for the trees, they might shelter us!"

The brothers ran. The looming wall of snow continued to hurtle towards them at an unbelievable speed. Trees and boulders were caught by the avalanche and uprooted or launched ahead of the snow from its weight and momentum.

Pike reached into his backpack as they ran and drew out of length of hemp rope. The brothers hit the stand of trees moments ahead of the avalanche. They dove into the center of the stand and Pike looped the rope around a large tree and thrust the loose end at Cooper.

"Tie it off!" Pike yelled over the roar of the snow, as he tied the end he held around his waist and then gripped firmly with both hands.

Cooper could hardly see, the orange waves were now covering his entire field of vision and in addition Cooper could see overlaying spikes of green and indigo every time a tree cracked in half or a boulder split open against another stone. He worked by feel, wrapping the rope around his waist and had an overhand knot just finished as the wall of snow and ice thundered into the trees!

There was a rainbow of creaks and cracks from the trees and they bent and two smaller trees on the outside broke away. Freezing snow tore through the spaces in the stand of trees and ripped at the brothers. They couldn't see each other, couldn't feel their hands to tell if they were still holding on the rope, couldn't hear anything except the roar of the avalanche.

And then silence.

The mountain was still again. The stand of trees still stood, minus only two smaller trees who had given way. But the trees were now buried in hard packed snow almost fifteen feet deep.

Nothing moved on the mountain.

* * * 

Cooper came to consciousness slowly, drawn back by the bright green lines of somebody scraping at the ice.

"Can anyone hear me down there?" Cooper thought he recognized the voice, but wasn't certain.

"He opened his mouth and managed to croak a weak reply, "Here..."

"I saw two of you go under the avalanche, can you see the other one?"

Cooper tried to look around and found he couldn't even turn his head.

"Can't see anything..." He managed hoarsely.

"Well hang in there warrior. That was an impressive display, and I'm not letting anyone with that kind of mettle die without a fight."

The scraping continued above Cooper for several minutes until the ceiling of snow opened above him.  Cooper could see the man above him, and recognized him.

It was Maxwell Winters: leader of the Winter Wolves.

Maxwell smiled down at Cooper.

"Well young warrior let's get you out and start to work on your comrade. You're lucky my son and I were hunting the Old Man today, or you would have been finished."

Cooper was too numb to respond as Maxwell and the boy with him, who looked younger than Cooper, pulled Cooper up. About halfway out of the snow, Cooper abruptly caught on something.

Maxwell looked past Cooper and saw the rope wrapped around Cooper's waist.

"Is that hooked to your comrade?"

"Yes."

"Smart move." Maxwell cut the rope with a flick of his bowie knife and re sheathed it in an easy motion.

Then the older man heaved Cooper the rest of the way out and turned to his son, "Dolf, get in there and start digging. Pass the snow up to me and we'll tunnel to the other one."

Dolf nodded and jumped into the hole.

Cooper lay on the snow, he had begun to shiver violently, and the sound of his own shivering was obscuring his vision badly.

Maxwell looked over and said, "Hang in there. I saw an old school still standing in a ghost town nearby. We can camp there and heat you up. You'll make it, you're a warrior. If not, well the winter proves who is worthy."

And with that Maxwell turned back to helping his son Dolf unearth Pike.

And then Cooper closed his eyes and passed out.

* * *

Cooper awoke indoors to a fire crackling. Pike was already awake and warming himself by the fire. The old school swayed in the wind and creaked as snow built up on the flat roof. The brothers stared across the fire at the Warlord of the Winter Wolves and his son. The boys took their gloves off to warm their hands against the heat of the fire. Maxwell Winters eyed the wrapping on Pike's hands.

“Why are your hands wrapped?”

“I'm a boxer.”

“No you aren't. I recognise you. You're Pike Vershevin. Your mother was Lana wasn't she?”

“No.”

“You're lying. I remember her face and you look just like her. Who is this?”

"My friend Coop. Why do you care?"

"Who are you bound to Pike?"

"Nobody." Pike said sharply.

"Does your friend know what's under those bandages?"

"Shut up!" Pike was yelling now.

Maxwell stood up and yelled back at the young man, carefully separating each word as he yelled, "I want to know who my eldest son is bound to!"

"You're not my father!"

With that Maxwell straightened up and stepped straight over the fire and grabbed Pike's wrist. In one fluid motion Maxwell slipped his bowie knife from its sheath and slid it under Pike's bandages. Pike struggled, but he was still too numb from the hypothermia to resist well. He did manage to cut himself on the knife a little, but Maxwell deftly sliced through the bandages on Pike's right hand, exposing the snowflake brand on Pike's palm.

Of course Cooper had seen the brand. He didn't know how Pike had got it, but he knew it happened on Pike's first vision quest. Everyone had secrets, and Cooper hadn't pressed his brother on it; but he knew that snowflakes on the palms were a Winter Wolf sign and it had always scared Cooper that his brother bore them.

"You are my son! Now who are you bound to?"

"You're not my father!"

"Nobody else took your mother that night boy! Your options for a father are limited!"

"You're not my father." Pike sounded deflated now, as though all the air had gone out of him.

"Then who raised you before your mother fled? I gave you food and hearth and care until you were seven winters old. You are my blood and my legacy, as are Dolf and Hawk, whatever your mother did with Hawk."

Maxwell turned then and looked at Cooper. He scanned the boy's face as though something had suddenly occurred to him.

"Who are you?"

Cooper could barely think to respond at this point, his mind whirling as it tried to process what he had heard, "Cooper."
"You were at the meeting of the Great Alliance a few years ago, weren't you? With Redwing-lives-forever, isn't that right."
Cooper nodded. Seeing no point in denying it.

"Who is your father, boy?"

Scared now, Cooper gathered his anger and focused before he answered, "My father is dead. Your people killed both my parents."

Maxwell looked at Pike and then back at Cooper and then shook his head.

"You're lying too."

"I can see the resemblance between you and Pike, and Dolf. So you're Cooper are you? Well you're my lost son Hawk as well- so I guess you're Cooper Hawk now."

Cooper tried to wrap his head around this and failed.

Maxwell chuckled, "Such a charming family reunion. My eldest son is bound to another of my clan and I don't know who. My second eldest doesn't even know his parents. And on top of that, you're both members of my most hated foe. What am I to do?"

Neither boy spoke, Pike was wrapping the shredded bandages around the cut on his arm, and Cooper was looking straight into the fire.

"Such cowardice does not become my sons. Face the truth you two. You are what you are! If you wish I will tell you what Redwing was obviously afraid to reveal. Do you want to know your childhood? Cooper, do you want to know your mother's name? Did you know she's still alive? She's mother to Dolf as well. Pike is your half brother, but Dolf is your full brother. Would you like to know the truth?"

In the silence, the fire crackled away. Finally Cooper looked up at Maxwell and nodded.

"If I am a monster I should at least know what kind of monster." He said quietly.

Maxwell smiled, "There is nothing wrong with being a monster, boy. Monsters tend to live longer. Now let's see. where to begin? Ahhh, I know..."