Ice Blink

45: Sea-Coloured Eyes

The Vanir pushed them on into the night. Nuna, Iki and Toklo walked with their heads bowed against the bitter wind and their backs bent with the gear their captors forced them to drag. She noticed they shivered violently and wondered why they didn't just make parkas like the tribes'. Obviously it was warmer in the south. They should have stayed where they were comfortable. Nuna viciously hoped they would get frostbite.

As the darkness deepened, she wondered bitterly whether they expected them to go on all night.

They were trudging through a copse of trees when she noticed the distant roar of waves. The sea. They were near the sea. How had they come so far east? Her head was spinning, but there was no mistaking the tang of salt in the air.

A knife prodded her back and she picked up her pace, curling and uncurling her hands to keep the blood flowing.

The bear attacked like bears do, with no warning at all.

With astonishing speed, it lumbered into their midst, a huge beast with white fur tinged yellow, and small black eyes. Powerful muscles rippled through its body.

Nanuq.

"No! Get away!" Nuna screamed, terrified for him. Had he come to help her?

Bears hunted seals – common sense told her he was following his nose, heading for the coast. But the Vanir didn't know that.

Shouting, they scattered, forming a wide circle.

"Leita á!"

"Ganga at!"

"Nei!"

Toklo pressed against Nuna's side. "We can go – now! We can run for it."

Nuna watched Nanuq dodge spears, her heart in her mouth.

He swung his head from side to side, snorting. Surrounded.

Then, to her horror, one of the Vanir ran at him with his sword unsheathed. The bear swiped and the man went flying into a tree, gashes ripped in his torso. Uttering war cries, the others advanced.

They didn't stand a chance. Nanuq sent them staggering backwards or jumping out of his way as he lunged with the speed of a harpoon. Then he turned and locked eyes with Nuna.

The rest of the world fell away as she held the animal's gaze. She was being drawn into his world, into his very soul.

Please don't die.

"Fara frá! Get back!" Lumi's hair flashed in the moonlight as Toklo barrelled into Nuna, breaking the spell. They hit snow hard.

Nanuq released an earth-shattering roar, a roar which went on and on, filling the night, threatening to crack her skull, pounding through her eardrums...

Then it stopped, and Nuna realised she'd curled into a ball. She looked up.

The bear loped towards the sea, abandoning them in the hope of easier pickings.

"Þar eptir!" a Vanir called hoarsely.

"Wait – Lumi!" Sigrid cried.

"Honum varð eptir!" someone snarled.

"Skyldi eigi láta verða."

"Láta af, Sigrid."

The Vanir snatched up weapons and raced off in pursuit.

And suddenly, everything was silent.

"No," Nuna whispered as tears burned her eyes. Nanuq had sacrificed himself... for her.