The Northfell Curse

4. Treading on Thin Ice (and Other Clichés)

Chapter 4 Treading on Thin Ice (and Other Clichés)

Autumnus smiled at Fisher. "Thank you for the Wulf-B-Gon. I'm sure it will prove useful. Now, we should get moving to Svlandir." The Aamonwelp crouched in an attempt to speak face-to-face with their diminutive host. "You..two should join us, after all, there is safety in numbers," he added, nodding to Kilgore as he extended the invitation.

Fisher nodded but did not reply.

Meanwhile, Hafoc washed the pelt in the strait water by the ice's edge and fleshed the hide with the handle of his blade. Laid out, he stretched it, then coated it in wolf brains before smoking the pelts by the fire. Zawn, who was especially cold in light armor and chainmail, was the first to use one as a wrap. Tine, already having fur, demurred. I'm the last one who needs a pelt, she thought. Plus, it felt a little weird to wear someone else's fur. Wrong, even. Even if we were their prey...

Fisher had a pot, so they were able to make a stew using wolf flesh and melted ice.

Hafoc paused his work to offer another ingredient. "Who's up for wolf brain soup?"

Everyone scowled at him, except Fisher and Nemophily. She looked somewhat interested in that idea. "It's probably better than the meat," she offered. "But that's not saying much." Indeed, the stew was gamey and, despite using meat from a fresh kill, had a faint, rotten taste.

Rhalie clunked her metal mug down and wiped her mouth with her arm. "Ugh. What I wouldn't give for a beer with this. Or mead. Yeah, mead."

Hafoc joined them. "Yer, that fixes most cooking alright."

After finishing the stew in her mug, Kylia slid next to Fisher and half-whispered to him. "So, are you going to come with us to land?"

Autumnus jumped in and sat on Fisher's other side. "Yes, please, come with us."

Fisher patted his bag of fish, obviously hesitant.

"Ahem, yes, well..." Autumnus continued. "I can see it would be a lot to give up," he glanced around at the icy wasteland, "but we would love your company."

Fisher conferred with this little trout friend and listened intently to Kilgore's reply. Then, he nodded to Kilgore and removed his pack to take out one of the other fish tied to it. He also grabbed a twig from his bundle of sticks and tied the second small trout to it with a string. Fisher brought the two fish face to fishy face, seemingly so they could talk. He bumped them together. It was almost like they shared a little kiss.

He then offered the new fish to Autumnus to take, saying, "Kilgore says he can'ts go, but his sister trout cans." He waved the outstretched fish stick in earnest. "This is Kilgette. She wills go."

Kilgette's appearance caught the rest of the group's attention, and they waited to hear what he might say for himself. Fisher seemed undecided. He looked down at the ice. Perhaps he's lived alone with the fish too long? Tine considered.

After a long pause, Fisher added, "We'll walks with you along the ice for awhile."

Autumnus looked at Fisher and at the new 'fish on a stick' friend he now held. Smiling, he said, "Thank you for traveling with us! We will make sure Kilgette here is well taken care of." With that, he stuffed the fish loosely into the inside breast pocket of his long jacket. (Thankfully, the twig she was tied to was short enough to fit.)

Autumnus started to pat his chest where the pocket was for good measure but thought better of it. Tine noticed he moved a bit more carefully after that, perhaps to protect his newly adopted piscine friend. Is this guy for real? How can he be so...nice?