Ice-Bound Promise [Wattys 2023 Shortlister]

1

Narrowing her eyes, the only part of her face uncovered, she glared out as far as she could see. Every so often, she saw the way ahead open up, revealing the waters of Tracis' Midden lapping up onto the shore. She couldn't see any snow bears, nor sign of anything that could have Barsa's hackles raised so.

Still, she couldn't dismiss the animal's senses. Thrusting the butt of the whale hook deep into the snow, she supported herself as she rose back to her feet. She knew the hook would have little use against a snow bear, the biggest, most vicious of bears on the continent, yet she held it before her as she edged forward, towards the rippling waters.

Above, the aurora continued its crackling dance, but Únik had no time to admire the swirling colours. Through the intermittent glimpses of the shore, she had seen several objects that she needed to scavenge. Barrels, crates, even a table. No doubt a ship had floundered somewhere along the coast. She only hoped that Tracis Kha, Patron of the Oceans had swallowed up any of the bodies.

As the swirling wind grew about her, making visibility become even more poor, she knew she had to reach the goods as fast as possible. High winds would send the items swirling back out into the bay, turning within the localised tidal whirlpools until released back out to the ocean, to the endless seas, or whatever land may be beyond the ice.

The wind began to howl as it started battering Únik, pushing her with strong blasts coming from the north, following the coastline. Too late to turn back now, she began to wade into the waters, thrusting out her whale hook to try and catch at least one thing before the waves began to build. The hook scraped over the side of a barrel, sending it spinning further out, away from shore.

Cursing herself, Únik waded a little further. She would suffer the cold, later, but for the moment, she only cared about gaining something, anything from her this trip through the frozen wastes. She launched the hook out once more, catching upon rope wrapped around one of the crates. With a whoop of joy, she began to haul the crate back to shore line. With much pulling and effort, she dragged it further up the shore, far from the tide line.

Satisfied her prize was secure, she headed back to the water. Another, even bigger crate bobbled towards her, rising and falling upon the growing waves, twisting in a lazy circle as the winds pricked and pushed at the water sodden wood. Únik's whale hook flashed out once more, again catching rope lashed about the crate.

Leaning back, she felt her mittened grip slide upon the shaft of her whale hook, but the crate began to turn towards shore. Behind her, she could hear Barsa continue to growl, but she couldn't turn away now. With luck, she could haul a good few of these crates to shore before the cold began to dig in towards her bones. Get the booty to the safety above the tide line and she could return after a few hours of warming up by her blazing fire.

The crate ground into the shale and pebbles of the shore and Únik cursed again, grabbing hold of the rope around the crate, digging her fur-lined boots into the gravel and pulling with every ounce of her considerable weight. She could feel herself tiring, but she would not give in. Not yet. Even through her thick scarf, she could smell what this crate held. Oranges! She hadn't had fruit in months!

Barsa began to bark, now, and that made Únik stop. Barsa never barked unless at the head of the sled dog team. Now she paid him attention, searching out through the whipping winds and curtain of snow snapping and cracking around them. The dog danced and bounced upon his heavy paws, teeth bared as he stared at something to the north, along the coast.

Try as she might, Únik could see nothing. The snow thrown up by the winds had become a wall. She hesitated, chewing her lip beneath her scarf. She couldn't leave this plunder, only for it to disappear, caught upon the whims of Tracis' Midden's undercurrents. Yet, if Barsa had seen snow bears, she could lose more than the plunder. Only a fool stayed where snow bears prowled.