Icebound

Chapter 35

Tavra had swung himself onto Shesh's back, urging the reindeer to take several steps away from the enraged indweller before them. Sakari caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and narrowed her eyes at them. She raised a hand to shoot another icicle.

Tavra's eyes widened and he snapped Shesh's reigns as a spike of ice as large as a small tree shot towards them. Shesh ran peripheral to Sakari. Each of her attacks seemed to land at the spot where the two of them had been only a split second ago, and they only kept getting closer.

"Sakari!" Kano shouted above the crash of ice and the pounding of Shesh's footsteps. "Shouldn't you be attacking the one who humiliated you?"

Sakari's gaze whipped towards him, her eyes burning in fury. She raised a hand high in the air and brought it down in one swift motion. An icicle materialized out of this air and launched straight for him.

Kano grabbed a handful of his chains and ducked down into the snow, dodging the projectile at the last moment. It had come so close that he could feel the wind of its momentum rustle his hair.

Sakari let out a laugh, seeing him lying on the ground. "Have you finally had enough, Kano?" She taunted.

Her smile vanished when Kano stood back up again, dangling his broken chains for her to see.

He grinned, wrapping the end of the chain around his right hand and whipping it around to his left. "Not quite."

Anyu and Siku continued to fight viciously through the snow. Siku was masterful with her sword, and Anyu unaccustomed to using a knife one handed. The odds were against her.

Yet Siku wasn't having an easy time of it either. Her brow furrowed in consternation, and she put all of her force behind every blow. She was using all of her effort in this fight. It made Anyu wonder how the summer indwellers were faring on the mountaintop...

Anyu ducked a jab of Siku's sword and backed away, keeping a safe distance between them for a moment.

Siku twirled her sword around expertly, but then directed the point into the snow.

"Think carefully about who you're fighting for, Anyu," She said, a warning in her tone.

Anyu didn't deign to respond, only charged back at her with her knife. Siku dodged each of her strikes with ease and moved back once again.

"Your grandmother is still manipulating you Anyu," Siku continued, her voice growing harsher. "Just as she did to me. Break free of her!"

Anyu grunted and slashed down. Siku blocked the strike, their blades meeting between them. Anyu's eyes widened as Siku used her free hand to reach over and punch her sharply across the jaw. Anyu flew back, somehow managing to keep a grip on her knife as she tumbled through the snow. Perhaps it was her instinct for survival, which seemed to always be with her no matter what else changed. If she lost her weapon now, she was done for.

Anyu stood back up, panting hard.

"My grandmother isn't manipulating me," She said. "She loves me- that's what true family does."

Siku frowned, staring back at Anyu. Her expression filled with melancholy all of a sudden, and there was genuine pity behind her eyes. It took Anyu aback.

"Oh, Anyu," Siku said. "I loved her too. Yet she betrayed me." Siku took a slow step forward. Anyu kept her guard up, but didn't move away. The woman's now tattered and ripped fur skirts trailed in the snow behind her.

"Do you think it was an accident that you found your way to Adlivun?" she pressed. "Don't you think your ama gave you that tamga for a reason?" Siku looked positively affronted. "She sent you here to kill me, her own sister, knowing full well that you would most likely die before succeeding." Now a sly grin replaced the sorrowful expression on her face. "Now tell me Anyu, and think carefully before answering: do you remember how you got here?"