Chapter 4
SEREH
The path along the top of the exposed icy ridge was treacherously uneven. The snow was so deep in places after the fresh snowfall that to begin with, she kept having to pull Arrow out from snow holes that opened up beneath the weight of her paws, while she precariously balanced on her snowshoes.
‘Sorry, girl,’ she offered, aware her movements were less than gentle, as she yanked on the thick skin behind her wolf-dog’s neck to pull her free for the third time.
Arrow huffed in response, but finally became more careful in choosing the path they followed. Sereh didn’t blame her.
But, the snow lay so thick, any landmarks were obscured.
‘Is this the right way?’ she asked Arrow. She paused and tented her hand over her eyes to look at where they were going. Their prints of yesterday would have been obliterated by the blizzard last night, so she didn’t know if they were retracing their steps or not.
‘If we go this way to Olafsfjord, we won’t have to cross Vatna Jokull, but it’ll take longer.
Should we go by the quickest route or the safest?
’ Again, she didn’t expect an answer but she liked to speak aloud, it went some way to combatting the all-encompassing silence.
She considered their predicament carefully.
‘At the height of the Long Day, the journey to Estrith’s should only take about two days, so long as we are where I think we are.
But given we barely have half a day of real daylight right now, it’ll probably take twice as long if we continue on this safer path.
And if the wind keeps up, or if there’s another blizzard… ’
They trudged on, Arrow’s breath pluming in front of her.
‘Of course, if we go the long way, we might also be able to put a few snares down and catch a hare or something once they start to wake up.’ Her stomach rumbled at the thought of the cook’s roasted hare, charring sweetly on the spit in Rankil’s kitchen.
She had a flint. If she found some fuel, she could build a fire large enough to cook some small creature.
‘Not that we’ve seen any sign of any hares.
They’re being sensible and staying in their burrows. ’
Ahead of her Arrow disappeared into yet another snow hole with a yip.
‘I don’t think we should go this way,’ Sereh huffed, pulling the wolf-dog free once more. ‘This route is no safer than crossing Vatna Jokull with its hidden crevasses and weak areas of ice,’ she panted with exertion. Arrow was far from slight, and Sereh hadn’t eaten much for the last two days.
Everyone was warned from a very young age of the dangers of Vatna Jokull, the huge glacier that covered so much of the Eastern Quarter.
‘Come on, we’ll go towards the glacier and take our chances there.
It’ll be quicker, if nothing else. I know there are caves we can shelter in, once we get closer to the glacier. ’
Vatna Jokull was enclosed by huge mountains.
She’d been told the water had been unable to drain away to the sea and had been locked there, but she could hardly believe it.
But, whatever the nature of the glacier, she was sure that if they stayed close to the edge, they’d be able to shelter from the wind when full darkness fell once more.
Quickly, they descended from the peak of the ridge bordering Vatna Jokull, which only yesterday they’d laboured to reach from Rankil’s steading, and Vatna Jokull spread out before her.
Up close, it lost its jewel-like majesty, which the sunlight only served to accentuate.
It seemed to loom over the landscape, icy and dispassionate, silent, unmoving, although some said the ice did move, slowly, laboriously, a little each rotation.
Here, there was no sound aside from her panted breaths, and the dangers of the landscape washed over her.
What was she thinking? Trekking over the glacier, with its icy blue and grey facade, seemed the height of foolishness, if not entirely reckless.
They’d been very lucky to survive last night.
Sereh suddenly felt woefully unprepared for tonight, outside, away from the cavern, or from Rankil’s steading.
Hate it she might, but living there had ensured she’d stayed alive whatever the weather.
Food was starting to become a problem. She already felt light-headed as her snowshoes stepped onto the frozen surface, her feet slapping on the ice, now there was no longer the cushioning from the snow, sending painful reverberations up her chilled legs.
A few peat cakes wouldn’t be enough to keep her moving when she’d recently endured the hardships and shortages of the Long Night.
Now she’d set her path, she needed to keep moving.
Some spoke of the terrors of Vatna Jokull as though they were creatures from her worst nightmares.
Others said it was simply the ice groaning and the undulations where each Long Night had forced more and more ice to form.
She knew that this was her last chance to turn back.
But the exhilaration of being free from Rankil countered her worries and fears, as did Arrow’s seeming obliviousness to those dangers.
Today, she was officially free. There was nothing anyone could do about it.
Provided she survived her trek onto Vatna Jokull.
She was resolved to her path, even as she felt the deep, penetrating chill of the glacier work its way higher and higher up her body.
Already, her feet were almost so cold, it was painful to misstep.
Heads down, Sereh and Arrow made good progress across the glacier.
The path was far from smooth, especially close to the edge.
Time and time again, Sereh was forced to lift her feet high to step from one layer of the glacier to another.
Her chest felt tight, and if it hadn’t been so cold, she’d be coated in sweat. Not that Arrow seemed very concerned.
Only as the sun began to set in a cascade of deep ambers overlaid with rich magentas, and shadowy fingers snaked across the glacier, did Arrow dart into another small cave, more sheltered than the one of last night, and one that was far more obvious in the jagged rock face of the mountains surrounding the glacier.
With a sigh of relief, Sereh hurried to follow her.
It would be fully dark soon. She needed to set up some sort of camp before the light was completely cut off.
In the gloom, Sereh arranged her meagre belongings.
Arrow loped off and came back some moments later with a small weasel-looking creature clamped between her teeth.
‘What you got there?’ Sereh was amused by the wolfy grin on Arrow’s face. ‘I doubt you’ll mind that it’s uncooked and frozen, unlike me.’
Arrow came to Sereh, but then twirled at least four times before lying down and contentedly starting on her meal, holding the dead creature delicately between her front paws.
Sereh settled on the hard, stone ground, beside Arrow.
When they slept, she wanted the wolf-dog to be close to keep her warm.
With a shrug of her shoulders, she pulled her backpack loose and riffled hopefully in it. Would there be more food? She hoped so.
‘What’s this?’ she exclaimed. She pulled out a bundle of peat cakes.
‘I didn’t pack so many. Maybe Mult added some extras.
’ It wasn’t unlike the other woman to show her such kindness.
Now, as Sereh happily pulled the peat cakes from her backpack, she felt remorseful that she’d shared angry words with Mult before leaving.
Mult had been far too complacent about Rankil’s plans for the baby.
But then, Sereh realised mournfully, Mult wasn’t the one who had to carry them out.
Sereh sorrowed for the lost, innocent child.
If only she’d known of last night’s blizzard, and her and Arrow’s survival, she’d have kept the baby with her.
They could all have escaped from Rankil and made their way to Estrith’s.
Admittedly, feeding the small baby would have been a problem until she’d reached Estrith.
She knew her friend, however, would have found a solution.
Estrith had married well and had many small children.
Perhaps she’d even had a child recently and could feed the baby herself.
Briefly, Sereh thought about their childhood together.
They’d once been close, very close, but all that ended when Sereh’s parents had died.
For a moment, she mourned her parents afresh, as well as the lost child, but she couldn’t have returned for him today.
He must have died during the night, as she would have done if not for Arrow finding the cavern. Last night’s storm had been bitter.
Wiping tears from her eyes, exhausted from her day’s travel, Sereh ate her way through another two peat cakes, wincing as a bone cracked between Arrow’s jaws.
Overcome with fatigue, Sereh curled herself into Arrow’s warm fur.
She fell into a dreamless sleep, balled upon the hard black surface of the cave, while outside, full darkness fell and the spiteful wind once more howled through the isolated vastness of Vatna Jokull.