Ice-Bound Promise [Wattys 2023 Shortlister]

18

18

"Welcome back."

Únik found herself only in her underclothes as she tried to sit up. Her first thought fell to her clothing and she accepted her Shalbruk jacket from the silver birch skinned fingers. As her eyes came into focus, she held the jacket to her chest. Smacking her lips, she realised she needed water and Shihiri's hand reappeared holding a water skin.

She took a long, cool drink as she tried to regain her senses. The last thing she remembered was of Thesik holding onto her, but it couldn't have been her long dead daughter. Able to see more clear, she tried to gain an idea of where she was. She felt a throbbing pain at the back of her neck, reaching up and finding something stuck there.

"No. Leave it on. For a little while, anyway." Shihiri pulled her hand away from her neck. "Now you and her have matching scars. Well, almost matching."

"What happened?" Taking another drink, she put the water skin aside and wrapped the jacket around herself. "Was I hurt?"

"You were bitten, by a fly. Nasty." Turning, Shihiri picked up Únik's breaches, passing them across. "I had to lance the bite before it got infected. You've been running a fever for nearly two days."

She remembered, now. The almost incomprehensible heat that had ravaged her body, but also the cold. The weather must have turned at the right time. The luck of the Patrons falling her way, for once. She assumed the thing on the back of her neck was a poultice made by Shihiri. It felt tight and warm against her skin.

Looking around, she noted that a little camp had sprung up where she lay. Three makeshift lean-to's, created from thin tree branches, bushes and leaves surrounded a small, welcoming fire. Now that her fever had broken, Únik appreciated that warmth. That and the warmth of Barsa, laid at her side. His large paw lifted, dropping onto her hand as he cocked his head to the side, one ear upright, the other flopping against his head.

"You've been looking after me, eh, boy?" She rubbed Barsa's chest and tried to rise, Shihiri reaching out and supporting her. Barsa gave a couple of concerned, small howls, getting to his own feet. "Two days? And you've scarred me? Any sign of our pursuers?"

"Nothing. But the longer we stay in one place, the greater chance we'll be found." As Únik struggled to pull on her breaches, Shihiri pointed towards Hatyara, sleeping beneath one of the lean-to's. "She wouldn't let me move you somewhere better covered. Said you were too ill. I hate to admit it, but she was right. She stayed by your side almost the entire time. Hardly lifted her hand from you in the worst moments."

"Does that mean she's shown herself to you, now?" Her head still swimming, Únik crouched for the water skin. As she drank, she remembered something Shihiri had said. "'Matching scars'? So, you've seen hers?"

"I've seen it. The girl's been branded. Seven pointed star. The sign of Star Harbour. She's not going to be a consort, or whatever it was she said, she's going to become property. A slave in all but name." Looking over to the Ice-Kin, Shihiri shook her head. "But, no, I still don't trust her. I can't explain it. There's just ... something not right. Like she's not telling us something."

Únik understood that all too well. She had felt the same thing. She, however, had dismissed it as part of Hatyara's spiky personality. Her arrogant attitude not deeming them worthy of knowing everything. Now that Shihiri mentioned it, though, it did prod her curiosity a little.

"I take it you've scouted the area?" Únik looked at the sleeping Hatyara one more time before turning her attention back to Shihiri. "What can we expect?"

"Arthid was right about all the abandoned places. I've found two wrecks of villages within walking distance and what looks like a city, across the way, nearer the mountains." Moving to one of the lean-to's, Shihiri picked up her bow and quiver. "I say avoid them all, best we can. Right now, you need food. Wake her up while I go hunting. Oh, and don't get bitten again, eh? I almost had an emotional reaction to the thought of losing you."