Chapter 20
He spent his first night in front of a small fire, beneath a tapestry of cold stars, staring down from their dark, lofty perches. The cool mountain air had been set slightly into motion, raising Aiden's flesh to small bumps as his body shivered in protest against the night. He had been accustomed to the relative comfort of the monastery; the cot in his cell, a roof over his head and the advantage of a small amount of human contact. Wrapped in a blanket, Aiden wondered what might have become of him if the Abbot had succeeded in completing the spell intended to turn him away from God. How much harm would he have brought to unsuspecting, God-fearing people? But considering the damage he'd left behind, Aiden also realized that there was no going back and that creating a new beginning would be more difficult than he could ever imagine. He tried not to give too much thought to his circumstances, but deep down, Aiden felt the full weight of where he had taken his life. He supposed that things could be worse and tried to see his situation as the doorway to a new life.
The next morning, Aiden woke to the chill of a stiff morning breeze. During the night, he had cradled a warm rock against his body, but it had grown cold over time, as did the fire. Still wrapped in a blanket, Aiden crept to what had become a bed of ash and charred wood. He carefully laid an open hand on what remained of the previous night's fire and found it to be as cold as the morning's mountain air. He carried with him a piece of forged iron and a chunk of flint, and gathering some tinder, struck a cold black coal into life. Within minutes, Aiden was holding his open hands near a small fire. He ate sparingly, not knowing how long his food would last, or when he would find more.
Sufficiently warmed, he put the fire out, mounted his horse and continued into the Penines. As he traveled the river, Aiden considered many things he'd need to sustain himself. But, his priority was shelter, and it was unlikely he would find it in the mountains. However, the river supplied him with a generous abundance of life-giving water. Shelter or not, he would not survive without water and now that he realized how barren the mountains were, he found himself wanting to escape them. But the day progressed and the shadows grew long as the air, once again, became chilled and dark. Without a map, Aiden was simply wandering, but staying within the valley. He knew that any attempt to summit a mountain, even to get a better lay of the land, would be met with disaster. His journey was not one of adventure, but an attempt to live his life by the purpose God had revealed to him, to wage war against those who acted as agents of evil.