It was then, in his pitiable state, when Cothien stumbled onto the river. It was not a river he recognized, despite his familiarity with the area, but it was a sight for sore eyes despite this. Its banks were lined with huge drifts of snow, but its waters remained unfrozen, though it didn’t seem possible. Despite his misgivings about that, it was his best chance for survival. He could follow it to civilization, to some town or village built on its frozen shores. And he was so thirsty…
Getting down on his hands and knees in the snow, Cothien leaned towards the murky, torpid waters until his lips were near enough to touch. Much to his surprise and delight, the water of that first sip was not cold. In fact, it was pleasantly warm! He took another long draught, and another, and another, until he was simply gulping it down without breaks in between to breathe. It was sweet, sweeter than any water he’d ever drank before. He lost himself in that water for a moment, forgetting all else but that delicious drink.
“Do not drink the water!” a voice cried out to him urgently, suddenly, breaking his trance. “It is sweet, but it will not sustain you. Whatever you do, do not dive in!”
Cothien, though he did not want to, pulled himself away from the river to search for the source of this new voice. There was nothing, though, that he’d not seen before: snow, snow, and more snow. Was it possible that he had imagined it? “Who are you who warns me?” he shouted out into the distance. “Show yourself, if you are not a coward!”
“I am here,” the voice continued, but that was of no help. Try as he might, he could not possibly discern the direction from which it came, much to his frustration. First he’d gotten lost, and now he had been snuck up upon by someone. How his father would burn to see him now! He was pathetic and he knew it.
“I do not see you,” he admitted, though it pained him to say it. “Why can I not drink the water?”
“It is a poison, though it tastes sweet and warm on your tongue,” the voice told him. “It is deceptive, however; it is not sustaining, nor is it truly warm. Drink too much and you will fall to sleep, only to freeze out here. Swim in the water and you will die in seconds.”
There was no telling where the voice came from. It almost sounded like it was springing from inside his own head, but that was impossible. Could his mind be playing tricks on him? Maybe it was the water…
“How do you know all this?” he asked all the same. Though he wasn’t sure if whomever it was he was conversing with was real, he felt that it might be important to know more about this poisonous water. If indeed it was poisonous.
“I’ve seen far too many fall prey to its deadly waters,” the voice said, sorrow briefly touching its tone. “I try to help, but most just ignore me. I pray you will not do the same…?”
Cothien could not believe himself. He was making all this up in his mind, probably from his lack of sleep or his hunger. It was all just a delusion. The water was just too pleasant to be poisonous! “Show yourself to me, please,” he implored in a last ditch effort, though he was already almost decided that he would continue to drink the water. “Then I can know you speak the truth.”
“I would reveal myself, but I fear you would not like what you would see.”
“Anything is better than this damnable snow! Please, show me where you are so I can know you’re true, and you can show me the way out of this bloody wood,” Cothien begged, looking up at no one in particular. “Please!”
Then Cothien saw, standing on the banks of the deadly river, none other than the small, winged figure and round, wide-eyed face of an Elf. Of course it would be an Elf that saved him from the river! That explained why he could not place the voice, for it had truly been inside his head the whole time.
Hunting in the Snow
Start from the beginning
