Ice-Bound Promise [Wattys 2023 Shortlister]

20

"Alright. I think we should consider finding shelter, too." She looked upwards into the thick black clouds, the heavy rain stinging her eyes. "I don't think this rain is going to end any time soon and we need to dry ourselves out."

She hated the idea. To set foot within any of these buildings, the mere thought of it roiled her stomach. It felt as though they trampled upon the privacy of the dead and her mind wondered which of those many, many piles of skeletons, in the field of bones, had owned which houses. Had they lived and loved as other people had? Torn from their homes and families to feed the lust for power of the Patrons.

The makeshift archway between the buildings seemed secure enough, though the gap forced them to pass through in single file. Barsa bounded from the waters onto the dryer cobbles and stood, whipping his head in each direction, as though warning away anything that may attack them. Even as Únik joined him, taking the passage through the archway last, the hound still held a low, rumbling growl in his chest.

Únik wished she could take that warning far more serious than she was able. She trusted Barsa's instincts. The hound had shown his worth time and time again where his grumbled warnings were ever concerned, but they had no other choice, now. They had to keep passing through the city. Happier, as Únik rubbed his rain sodden head, Barsa shook himself, sending droplets of water flying in all directions.

She heard Hatyara laugh at Barsa's attempt to dry himself and it felt so out of place within these abandoned wrecks of buildings, that seemed to deaden the Ice-Kin's laughter, turning it into something hollow and sinister. Únik couldn't even smile, her jaw ached from keeping her face set, ready for anything that may happen.

"I see a building. Patrons! It looks untouched! Roof and everything!" Shihiri set off before Únik could collect her thoughts, heading towards a large building a hundred feet, or so, up the smaller street. "We'd never have seen that from the main street."

"Shihiri! Don't get separated!" A flash of light lit up the skies above, followed a crack of thunder that almost shook the ground they walked upon. Únik grabbed Hatyara and followed Shihiri. "This storm is only getting worse. If we separate we might not even see each other through this Patrons damned rain!"

Shihiri had stopped outside the almost intact building, her head peeking inside as she waited for Únik and Hatyara to catch up. Únik didn't know if Fae had better eyesight than humans, in the dark, but she couldn't see anything beyond the open doorway of the building that loomed above them.

Taking up a good stretch of one side of the street, it appeared like some kind of business premises, or municipal building, with broken and weathered statues sitting upon plinths either side of ornate windows that would once have contained glass panes. The doorway stood almost eight feet high, double-width and would once have had large, heavy doors hanging from the now-rotted doorframe.

"I'm not sure." Again, Únik looked up to the skies. There seemed no end to the rain, as there seemed no end to the bulbous black clouds that stretched far in every direction. "I'd prefer something smaller. Something defendable."

"Defendable? The city is empty!" Hatyara began to step towards the doorway, the wet skirts of her dress dragging along the ground, stopped only by Únik's hand on her shoulder. "Let's just get out of this foul weather."

"Alright, but we go no further than the entrance." Únik released Hatyara's shoulder and the Ice-Kin became the first to pass through the doorway. "Shihiri, do you think you can find dry wood for a fire. Within sight of this building. I don't want any of us moving too far from each other."

"Chief, I think I can find dry wood in this building." Winking, Shihiri followed Hatyara into the large building.

With only Barsa left standing with her beneath the withering onslaught of the rain, Únik glanced down at her hound. He looked as forlorn and bedraggled as she felt. His dark eyes looking up towards her and not once did his tail wag. Únik couldn't help but think she had become too cautious, her natural Uriok superstitions taking hold again after she had spent so many years away, fearing nothing but what she could see.