Ice-Bound Promise [Wattys 2023 Shortlister]

1

Now Barsa's barks became more insistent, louder. Every so often, his big head turned towards her, a little skip of the feet as though he wanted her to follow him. She left the crate, heading up past the tide line, past the other crate she had hauled from the water, and stood beside Barsa, staring towards the direction he barked.

The wind dropped, of a sudden, the snow clearing, and as the sound of creaking and cracking reached her ears, Únik threw herself to the snow covered shingles.

The prow of a ship slammed into the crate she had only a second before abandoned, sending shards of wood flying, oranges bursting from the cracks, floating away, landing on the beach. Únik stared up at the great wooden hull of the ship and thanked the Patrons she had stopped ignoring her faithful hound.

-+-

Únik knew little about ships or sailing, but, as she lifted herself from ground, she knew battle damage when she saw it. The masts and rigging had collapsed, blackened by fire. Several large arrow-like objects peppered the hull along the length of the ship and a large, gaping hole, about half-way down the side, allowed sea water to slop in as waves crashed against it.

How the thing had stayed afloat, she couldn't even begin to understand. Few ships came this far south, at the best of times, so, she surmised, this ship had managed to travel along the tides for a great distance. The Patrons themselves must have kept the vessel afloat.

With Barsa at her side, she gripped her whale hook and began to move up towards the hole in the hull. The wind had almost disappeared by now and only the creak of the tortured wood of the ship filled the silence. The creaks and Barsa's intermittent growls. The dog didn't like this and neither did Únik.

The prospect of plundering the wreck held too great a pull on her, however, and she began to wonder what treasures the ship could still hold. The wood alone could keep her warm for years, though she doubted she would have the time to strip the ship of everything she would want. Even now the waters of Tracis' Midden pulled and tugged at the ship, threatening to drag it back out into the frigid sea. Yet, if she could take anything moveable, today could see her greatest scavenge of her entire time out here in the wastes.

Reaching the hole, she noticed scorched and blackened planking, broken and splintered. She'd seen its like before, where lightning struck trees, back in her homeland of Uriok. It seemed possible that the ship had suffered attack from a mage, or mages. Lightning, normal lightning, would not have caused such damage. Her mittened hand reached out, touching the nearest blackened strip of hull, only for it to snap away at her touch, falling with a splash into the water at her feet.

"Stay." Raising her hand, she caught Barsa's twitching, wary eyes. "Guard."

If she had any hopes of salvaging anything from the ship, she had to act fast before the tide turned and the ship pulled away from the shore line. Thrusting the butt of her whale hook into the shale beside Barsa, Únik waded to the lowest point of the hole in the ship, glancing inside. Nothing moved, that she could see, and she hefted herself up, falling over the edge into the ship itself.

She found the area knee deep with sea water and continued to marvel as to how it remained afloat. First things first, she had to find the galley and the food stores. If she could find food, that, at least, would make entering this damaged ship worth the trouble. Precious metals and jewels would mean nothing to her. She would find food and wood and lanterns of more value.

The ship rocked as waves crashed against the other side and Únik decided to hurry, rather than take her time. In this part of the ship, she found rows of hammocks taking up much of the space. Personal belongings littered the surface of the water she waded through, but she saw nothing of value.