27 of them, 190 waves deep

Chapters

The road runs in chapters. Each one keeps its own ground, its own pack and one boss on its last wave. The first 10 are the story; everything past them is the road the story opens onto.

• 

  VILLAGE YARD

  Waves 1–6

  It started in the yard behind the houses.

• 

  PINE HOLLOW

  Waves 7–13

  They fell back into the pines. You followed them in.

• 

  FROZEN POND

  Waves 14–19

  The tracks went straight out across the ice.

• 

  BOULDER FIELD

  Waves 20–26

  Up through the old quarry, where the big ones live.

• 

  AURORA FLATS

  Waves 27–34

  Out past the last house, under the lights. Nothing after this.

• 

  GLASS CAVES

  Waves 35–40

  Down through the ice: the lights came from under it.

• 

  BURIED RIVER

  Waves 41–47

  A drowned wood in the river ice. It ran into the mountain.

• 

  STONE STAIRS

  Waves 48–54

  The mountain was hollow inside, and the stairs went up.

• 

  HIGH SLOPES

  Waves 55–62

  Out on the face, in the storm that came off the top.

• 

  WINTER WELL

  Waves 63–68

  The top of the mountain was open. The snow came from here.

• 

  RAIL SIDING

  Waves 69–76

  Past the well the snow ran on rails, and the rails had a keeper.

• 

  FROST PASTURE

  Waves 77–84

  The fog here does not lift. It grazes.

• 

  DROWNED ORCHARD

  Waves 85–92

  Last year rose this high, and never went down.

• 

  MASK PASS

  Waves 93–100

  Nobody herds up here. Somebody still rings the bells.

• 

  LANTERN MARSH

  Waves 101–107

  Somebody lit the fence. The house was not where we left it.

• 

  SINTER TERRACES

  Waves 108–115

  The snow had to come from somewhere. It came from here, warm.

• 

  ROTTEN ACRE

  Waves 116–121

  The year broke early and the field rotted under it.

• 

  LONG DRIFT

  Waves 122–129

  The road goes on under all this. Somebody counted the stones.

• 

  ICEBOUND FAIR

  Waves 130–137

  The fair never closed. It only stopped turning.

• 

  PACK ICE

  Waves 138–145

  The land ran out. The cold kept going, so the road did.

• 

  FROZEN MILLRACE

  Waves 146–152

  The wheel froze mid-turn. The race still remembers the water.

• 

  ICE BEACON

  Waves 153–160

  Somebody kept the light burning for the ships. The sea froze anyway.

• 

  SNOWBOUND CITY

  Waves 161–166

  The streets circled back to warm squares.

• 

  RUIN FORTRESS

  Waves 167–172

  Above the caves, a sword waited beneath the broken walls.

• 

  FROZEN HARBOR

  Waves 173–178

  The docks led between stranded ships and open ice.

• 

  STAR OBSERVATORY

  Waves 179–184

  Crystal corridors joined the silent domes.

• 

  ABANDONED GLASSHOUSE

  Waves 185–190

  Snow grew through the glass, between the sleeping beds.