Ice Blink

54: Spirit of Water

What killed first? The cold, hypothermia, the water? Cold shock had them in its grip instantly, locking their muscles, filling their bodies with the treacherous reflex to breathe in. Bubbles streamed past, Nuna's hair floated above her, and her hands were frozen in Aniu's and Amarok's. They had entered a strange grey world of which there would be no escape, and the cold attacked every pore of her body with knives. Her nerves were alight with pain she had never felt before. Her eyes ached, her head was gripped in a vice, she couldn't feel her arms or legs.

Niju. She hadn't even managed to kill him before the end.

Aniu had survived all this time only for Nuna to lead her to death like this. It wasn't fair.

A shaft of sunlight penetrated the water, murky but still beautiful. Despite the sea's gurgling laughter filling her head, Nuna could hear the glacier crashing into it, could see spots of white sailing past. Pressure constricted her chest in a crushing, killing embrace.

Seals began to sail past her, effortlessly graceful as they propelled themselves along. They considered her, curious. But they couldn't help. Were they Sedna's followers, here to take them into the Sila?

Something sparked through Nuna's souls at the sight of them. Why did she feel a strange connection, almost kinship? And why was dying taking so long?

A seal turned slowly on its side, looking directly at her.

Seized by a feeling she didn't understand, Nuna twisted with all her might, arms outstretched, spinning in the water.

The water spun with her.

Her lungs were flattened by the pressure, crying out for air, and surely she was about to breathe in, but she spun again, hampered by Amarok and Aniu. The water whirled around her, turning into a vortex, a whirlpool. Clenching her jaw so hard she heard something crack, she dragged her friends into the vortex.

Up. She wanted to go up. She kicked out violently.

Water burst from under her feet and she shot towards light, the whirlpool rising with her. Nuna's head broke the surface and she and the others shot out like breaching seals, the water beneath her mukluks projecting them all into the sky.

She gulped air, letting it fill her with life, but it didn't stop the dizziness, or the black dragging at the edges of her vision.

Darkness consumed everything.

*

Nuna's face was sore and twice its size, the metallic taste of blood was thick in her mouth and nose, and her hands throbbed violently. Her muscles felt pummelled within an inch of their lives – her life.

"Nuna. Nuna." Someone shook her.

Nuna convulsed, vomited water and bile, tried to sit up, and collapsed as her muscles refused to respond.

Aniu was leaning over her, hair plastered to her face. "Thank the spirits."

"What happened? Where are we?" Nuna's throat was as raw as if she'd been eating rocks.

"I have no idea what happened," Amarok said, "but somehow you saved us. We're on a beach – on dry land."

Nuna shakily tried to push herself up. They were sprawled on a beach of pebbles while the waves lapped calmly several feet away. In the distance, the glacier was still crumbling.

She lifted a trembling hand to her swollen face. "What? How did I...?"

"What do you remember?" Maliq asked.

"I was dying. We were all dying." Amazed, she flexed her fingers. How hadn't the cold claimed them? Lumi handed her an extra pair of mittens and she pulled them on. "Then the water... it listened to me."