Cold Shoulder

The First Ice

Ice, it all started with the first ice. The village was calm and it was as if nothing could go wrong. Then the ice began to fall, the people began to worry as the ice covered our crops and water. We are the Apache, a tribe of warriors. My name is Hielo, my father, who is the chief, gave me my name. He believed me to be the reincarnation of a god. So did Makailo, she was my childhood friend. They believed I was a reincarnation of a god because no one in our tribe had blue eyes ever since our very first chief.  Chief Winter vanished suddenly one day when he climbed the South Mountain to its ice peak. I always felt different because of my eyes, eventually people would call me the Cold Shoulder.

The day it happened started like any other day. I awoke my normal time to sneak out to meet her. As son of the chief I was betrothed to marry the next medicine woman. Her name was Alexei, but I didn't want to marry her. Every morning I would sneak out to meet my true love in the forest. Her name was Makailo, she had long brown hair and hazel eyes. She was everything I ever asked for. I left my tent and made my way to our normal meeting spot. It was an old fallen Oak tree. I had carved our initials into it when we first met. As I walked up to the tree I saw her sitting on one of the branches swinging her legs. I smiled and yelled up to her. "So are you gonna stay up there all day?" I asked her. She shrugged, "I might it's nice up here." I smirked and climbed the tree to be with her. The branch was thick and long so it could hold both of us. I sat next to her and she grabbed my hand. "Hielo, will you do something for me?" She asked. "Of course love." I replied. She looked down and the tone in her voice changed. "Run away with me." She said. I looked at her in shock but gripped her hand. "It's because I'm supposed to be married huh?" I asked. She sighed and quickly threw herself into my arms. She held me tight and started to cry. "I can't watch you marry someone else." She said. I held her close and sighed. I was going to reply when I noticed the small flecks of white falling from the sky. She stopped crying and looked up at the sky with me. The snow began to fall heavier as we held each other. But this snow seemed different, it had a magical property to it. A nearby Lake froze over within minutes and I looked down at Liluye in my arms. She had a tear rolling down her face and I nodded. She smiled and pulled me into a tight hug.

After a few more minutes we both headed our own ways to get stuff packed. I went to my tent quickly and started to pack up the essentials. Clothes, food, materials, and weapons, I took them all and wrapped them in a sack. I threw the sack over my back and was about to leave when my father walked in. He looked at me and shook his head. "Where do you think you're going?" He asked. I didn't want to lie so I stood my ground. "I'm leaving with Liluye, we're gonna start our own tribe." I said. My father shook his head again but sighed. "I can't stop you son, go to her." He hugged me tightly and I started to tear up as he held me. "I'll come back father, we will see each other once again." He nodded and handed me a necklace. It had a black rock on it and he smiled. "To remember your father." I nodded and left the tent. I made my way to the oak tree and met Liluye. We smiled and held each other. "You ready Liluye?" I asked her. She nodded and held my hand as we began to walk towards the lake. We saw a field across the lake and pictured that as our new home. Together we began to walk across the lake. I sent her in front of me since she was lighter than me. As we walked slowly we heard the ice under us strain and make noises. We both pushed on until we came to the middle of the frozen lake. We looked at each other and took a deep breath before walking more. But as we walked the ice began to crack, I stopped dead in my tracks and so did Liluye. We both looked at each other as the ice cracked more. "Liluye run!" I shouted as the ice behind us began to give way and fall into the water. Liluye ran as fast as she could and made it to shore. I tried to follow behind but the ice began to fall from under me. I held my hand out to her as I fell under the ice and into the freezing water. I tried to swim up but the stuff I was carrying had a strap wrapped around my throat. I did my best to swim but the items dragged me down. All I remember seeing was the the ice come back together above me and the moon shining through it. 

When I woke I was above the ice, on the shore the water lapped at my face like a dog as I woke. My head was pounding and my body was cold. I held my body as I stood up, I could feel my legs strain at the movement. I looked around and saw nothing but snow around me. I tried to walk but as I took my first step I collapsed to my knees. I could see my breath in front of me as I felt the snow crunch under my knees. It became clear to me I wasn't alone when I heard a screech above me the screech of an eagle or hawk I was unsure. But my body was weak and I was too tired to fight I thought of it as a calling to death as the bird circled above me. I shivered and waited for the bird to attack, the flapping of its wings got closer and I closed my eyes. But I heard the bird land in front of me. I weakly looked up too see a pure white eagle looked at me. It's eyes were a blueish color and its each of its wings were the size of a grown man. The eagle stared at me and I at it until my body became to weak to hold itself up. I fell to my stomach and slowly my eyes closed again. I could hear the flapping of wings as I felt my body lift up. I was on my knees sitting on my feet. The eagle screeched as a white light formed around it and its body began to transform. The white light surrounded the eagle as its feathers subsided, the ones on his wings morphed into arms and fingers and the head slowly morphed into a humans. When the light disappeared I looked up to see a man. He had the skins of white animals around him and a necklace with the same rock as the one my father gave me but his was an ice blue. "You've come a long way without knowing of your true self Hielo." He said. I looked at him as he crouched beside me. He removed one of the animal skins and wrapped me in it and I gripped it as it warmed me up. The man put his arm around me and smiled, I could see his blue eyes just like mine. "Do you know who I am Hielo?" He asked me. "Y-You're Chief Winter, b-but everyone said you were d-dead." I replied. He chuckled as he shook his head. "No, I made it to the ice peak of the North Mountain. I was greeted by Chione (Khione), she offered me a deal." He said. Chief Winter snickered and stood up. "It's better if I show you, come, you have much to learn Hielo." Chief Winter held his hand out to me and I slowly took it. He pulled me up and smiled and as we walked into the forest.