THE PASS
“Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy.”
– Pubilius Syrus
It was a formidable job, Jarrod realized the next morning, moving nine people, all their horses, and a cart through rain- and snow-swept passes and trying to do it at any sort of speed. The more people they added, the slower it went. He would have wagered that there was some sort of economy of force that would kick in at some point, but it had taken the better part of the morning just to strike camp. He basically had a small army to take care of. He was exhausted by the time they got packed up.
The skies were clearing, though, and that was something. However, with the sun came the cold, and it was awful, insidious, creeping into clothing through vents and nibbling at anything exposed. Ice still crusted the pu
