Icebound

Chapter 7

It took a ridiculous amount of time to break each and every chain that bound Kano. The biggest difficulty was locating every single chain, as they were hanging around everywhere. Kano's patronizing encouragement only served to make Anyu more frustrated with every cut.

Finally, the job was done. Kano stood up and stretched his arms and legs. "Does it feel good to be free!" He exclaimed with a laugh, bouncing up and down on his feet in excitement.

Anyu's eyebrows furrowed. "How long have you been here anyway?"

"Too long," Kano replied. He was clearly evading the question, but Anyu reluctantly let the topic drop. Questioning her new guide wasn't the most pressing matter.

Without another word, she turned to walk back towards the place where she had left Shesh. Getting the message, Kano jogged to catch up and follow her. It had taken almost twenty minutes of walking to reach Kano. On the way the walk had been unsettling, the echoes reverberating off the cavern walls sending chills deep into her bones. With someone else beside her, Anyu could take her mind off her fear to appreciate the tranquility of it. The darkness hugged them like a mother's arms, peaceful and forgiving.

"Haha!" Kano shouted joyfully. He did a cartwheel in the dark, almost knocking into Anyu. He did a couple more flips before he seemed to bore of them, and turned to Anyu. "So how'd you get here anyway?" He asked.

Anyu grimaced. So much for peace and tranquility. "I told you," She said flatly. "I was out with Shesh and a sudden blizzard blew us off course."

Kano's response was laced with skepticism. "I somehow doubt it. I'm not calling you a liar!" He added quickly, as Anyu's fists clenched and her lips pursed in indignant anger. "Only, you don't arrive here by simply getting lost in a blizzard."

Those words seemed to hold an explanation, an implied meaning that Anyu didn't understand. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"I mean that it's strange that you don't know how you came here."

"Of course I remember," Anyu muttered, but her voice sounded uncertain. She was already distracted by her memories, searching through her mind to recall when the blizzard had started, when exactly she found herself in unfamiliar territory. But there was nothing there. It was as if a part of her memory had been hacked away, and someone had tried to weld them back together. If that was the case, the welder had done a very poor job. The result was a blurry, dizzying vision that didn't make any sense.

Anyu had left to go hunting with Shesh. She saw herself readying her equipment, sharpening her spear. The sky had been clear blue, the Sun Woman smiling down benevolently on the frozen earth. And then... Anyu furrowed her brow, struggling to recall. She had caught the trail of an animal, she remembered water, and then she was in the middle of a blizzard, freezing and getting tricked by the Ijiraq. No dark clouds on the horizon, no start to the soft flakes of snow. The blizzard had simply appeared all at once, without a beginning. Anyu knew how quick the onslaught of snow and ice could overtake the sky, but even she thought it strange.

Kano was mercifully quiet the rest of the way back, contenting himself to run and jump aimlessly around. Anyu wasn't paying attention to him, too engrossed in her own thoughts. But her head snapped up when she heard a yell accompanied shortly thereafter by an indignant neigh.

Kano backed away slowly as a furious Shesh rose from his haunches, showing his full height including the beautiful, twisting antlers sprouting from his forehead. He was a reindeer who valued his beauty sleep. Anyu smiled indulgently, picturing Shesh charging Kano and frightening him into silence. But she sighed and quickly ran to stand in front of Shesh.

"Shhh, it's alright, shhh." She murmured to him and patted his flank until he calmed down. Registering that she was back, he gave her cheek an enthusiastic lick.

"You are... acquainted with this beast?" Kano asked, eyeing Shesh distastefully. Shesh was looking back with an equally hostile expression.

"Shesh is a reindeer, not a beast," Anyu replied. "And yes, I am."

Shesh's initial excitement at seeing her had ebbed, and he made an impatient noise. He clearly still wanted to sleep, and Anyu couldn't agree more. She suddenly felt all of her exhaustion come onto her like an avalanche, realizing that she hadn't slept at all since yesterday.

"We'll sleep here for tonight and leave in the morning," Anyu announced, looking pointedly at Kano. "You might want to sleep over there; Shesh kicks in his sleep."