Chapter 9
SEREH
Sereh was starting to worry her memory wasn’t as good as she thought.
While she’d been to Erann’s steading before, it had been an incredibly long time ago, and she had been travelling from her own steading, not Estrith’s.
Sereh vaguely recalled the map of the quarters her father had once owned.
It had been a source of treasure in his wooden chest. She used to pore over it during the Long Night, tracing the lines with her finger, trying to memorise the shape of the glaciers and the precise location of every landmark. It had been a long time ago.
With her supplies nearly gone, and the thaw still not underway, she couldn’t afford to get lost or waste time. Her life and Arrow’s depended on them finding Erann’s steading. Quickly.
In her mind’s eye, Sereh could picture a small amalgamation of steadings not far from Estrith’s, towards the coastline of the Eastern Quarter. She shied away from them on purpose. The thought of finding another dead family was too much to contemplate.
However, in avoiding them, and not returning to Vatna Jokull’s icy surface, she was no longer sure of her bearings.
A stirring of panic grew in the pit of her stomach with every step she took, although Arrow remained loyal at her side.
Hunger gnawed at her. Both packs were now much lighter; that only served to remind her there was little left to eat.
She couldn’t rely on Arrow to lead the way, either.
Arrow had never been to Erann’s steading.
Somewhere in the distance, she heard the faint trickle of running water. It could mean she was close to Olafsfjord. If so, she was heading the right way.
If it were Sweinsfjord, then she was completely off course.
The low cloud cover made it difficult to determine where she was.
The constant presence of Snaefell, in the distance, was also little help.
It was such a huge landmark, it dominated the landscape.
Her hot breath plumed before her, as she gasped with fear and exertion.
She understood, if she wasn’t where she hoped to be, it would take at least another day to fix her mistake.
Another day when there was little food left to eat.
It felt as though she’d been walking uphill forever.
While Arrow seemed full of energy, enjoying it even, Sereh was less than pleased.
Arrow had eaten wolf flesh only the day before yesterday.
Sereh hadn’t. Her legs ached, her shins throbbed, and sweat ran down her back and into her eyes despite the cold.
Eventually, the path had to slope downward, she reasoned – but that didn’t make it any easier now.
Sereh felt surprisingly warm, but she knew it was just from the effort of walking – the cold was still there.
The moment she stopped or the slope became less severe, a chill would quickly set in.
She purposefully kept her heavy fur cloak on, even though it was sweltering.
It was better than freezing. Being too hot was better than being too cold.
She doubted her luck would hold, as Erann’s had.
No one would find her out here. She’d shiver, and then grow still, and finally, she’d take her last breath if she allowed snow disease to set in.
Her breath steamed in the air. Her throat ached from the cold. There were small signs the thaw was beginning in places, but on the lee side of Vatna Jokull, it remained as icy as ever.
The previous night had been cloudless. The stars and planets had shone, pristine in the velvet sky.
It was beautiful, or at least, it had been until she’d realised how cold the cave Arrow had discovered actually was.
She’d found nothing to feed the heatstone to build a proper fire.
All she could do was hold it tight to her body, with Arrow pressed against her other side.
It had made little difference. Eventually, she’d retreated as far back into the cave as she could, and huddled in a corner to escape the freezing draughts and worst of the wind.
Sereh had started to believe the rocks themselves were heated. She’d laid her wind-chapped cheek on the rocky floor, convinced it was warm. Arrow had settled against her back and somehow she’d slept the night through.
She awoke stiff and aching from the awkward position. She’d wanted to laugh at herself for thinking the rocks were warm. Her mind had been playing tricks on her, hunger and thirst making her delirious.
Still, she couldn’t quite shake a lingering conviction the rocky floor had still felt lukewarm to the touch as she’d pushed herself up from it, especially as her hair, and Arrow’s fur, had been free from ice.
She’d eaten a very sparse breakfast of curdled blood and a single peat cake, shared with Arrow, before returning outside to a blindingly bright day, crystalline with a thick frost, making the snow crunch as she walked over its shimmering surface.
Now the day was again drawing to a close, the sun setting in a profusion of deep magentas and bottomless pinks. It was a truly beautiful sight.
‘When I reach the top, I’m going to stop and admire it,’ she vowed to herself, panting as she pushed herself up the steep hillside.
If she was where she hoped to be, it would only be a short walk down into a more sheltered valley – hopefully one strewn with caves.
Somewhere that offered more comfort than the previous night.
If she was wrong… Well, she tried not to consider that.
Under her breath, she counted her steps, reaching a hundred and then starting again. Sometimes she didn’t even make it to a hundred, but would lose count and have to start again.
‘Eighty-seven… eighty-eight… eighty-nine… Almost there.’ With one final protest from her burning lungs and aching shins, she reached the peak. Arrow was already there, having a good sniff, scenting as she went. Sereh hoped she’d discover some small creature they could catch and eat.
She took a moment to catch her breath, hands on hips, then gazed out at the view.
Thank the Gods. She was in the right place after all. Her memory had been correct.
From where she stood, she could see much of the northern part of the Eastern Quarter arrayed before her. There were few landmarks, just a vast expanse of unbroken white, the snow darkening to a deep magenta in the light of the setting sun, and the hulking shadow cast by the far distant Snaefell.
She looked behind her and to the west. The sun was a dazzling ball of deepest orange, accompanied by a deep streak of blue and then a higher one in green.
The view was magnificent. Without realising it, her thoughts tumbled to Erann, the colour of the sky reminding her of his unusual, deep green eyes.
She felt herself flush. She was looking forward to seeing him again – more than she’d like to admit.
Not that her irritation towards him had dissipated, but she couldn’t deny he was her only hope for the future.
She hoped he’d help her. If he sheltered her in his steading, Rankil would never be able to touch her.
It had been so many rotations since she’d seen Erann Ramonsson, and yet somehow, she’d recognised him immediately. She’d been eager to help him.
She wondered why.
They’d never been especially close. Yes, he’d made an effort to include her in games when they were children at the Eastern Quarter Council held at his father’s steading, but that had been it.
So why did she feel drawn to him now? Why did she look to him for hope when there didn’t seem to be any left?
As she surveyed her surroundings, she came to the conclusion it was their similarities.
They’d both suffered at the hands of Rankil’s deviousness.
Her parents, gone. His father, sent into exile as the only means available of proving his innocence when Rankil had persuaded the other jarls that Ramon spoke lies, while others spoke the truth.
They were far from alone in suffering as Rankil quested for power in their society that abhorred one man ruling all, but the memory of Erann as a kind childhood ally somehow made the connection more obvious.
Carefully, muscles tensed, she clambered down from the hill’s crest, the slope hardly less steep, and still just as riddled with deep drifts that made it impossible for her to remove her snowshoes.
Her knees hurt just as much going down as they had going up, and slowly, the peak covered her in shadows.
No sooner had she reached the valley than a cave appeared before them.
She dropped her backpacks inside and moments later Arrow appeared with a small dead hare held tight in her jaw.
Sereh had seen no other signs of the small animals, but Arrow had her acute sense of smell to aid her.
Sereh hoped it was a good sign, even as her belly grumbled once more.
If the hares were starting to emerge, then the warmer weather was on its way.
‘Well done, girl. We’ll eat well tonight,’ she praised the wolf-dog cheerfully.
Sereh hooked the animal from Arrow’s sharp teeth and set to skinning the creature. It was far from the largest hare Sereh had ever seen, but it would stave off her ferocious hunger.
Later, feeling unusually full for such a small meal, Sereh lay down to sleep wrapped in her fur and with her wolf-dog at her feet, once more on hard, black rock. The outlook for tomorrow, she decided, was certainly an improvement on that of today. Or any other day recently, for that matter.