"Cooling of body parts may result in various cold injuries—nonfreezing injuries, freezing injuries—and hypothermia which is the most serious. Nonfreezing cold injuries include chilblain, immersion foot and trenchfoot. Frostnip and frostbite are freezing injuries. Toes, fingers, ears and nose are at greatest risk because these areas do not have major muscles to produce heat."

~ Cold Weather and the Body, Medical Journal 232 of the 3rd Year of Lord Gunsel Stêr's Time, The Season of the Lords

Erdil

Emeline should've been used to travelling in the dark by now.

    She held herself, one arm crossed over her chest for a minute or so. It was cold, just like every other night. The shadows scared her and her mount was nervous, whinnying and stomping with wide eyes at every sound. Calm down Abigail. Emeline patted the horse, pretending that she didn't feel just as nervous. Everyone knew that horses were likely to absorb the moods of their rider – they were sensitive beasts. Her aunt Beth had told her that when she was teaching Emeline about how to soothe a spooked horse. A sweet calm voice, a pat on the shoulder, 'and most important, calm your own nervous heart.' she reminded herself, desperate to believe that there were no demons in the shadows.

    Ketiya led the way, her knowing the trail better. Avétk took the rear, looking haggard and dangerous as usual. Emeline smiled a half smile as she watched him over her shoulder for a few seconds. He was slouched, his furs piled onto his shoulders, gripping the reigns with one hand, and looking hither and thither with half lidded eyes.

    She decided at that moment that she liked him. Sure, he seemed heartless, but she believed there was more. That innocent boy who had walked into the woods on the day that his eyes had changed. She believed he was still in there somewhere. She could believe there was more to Avétk, even though she didn't really have a reason to do so.

    Abigail whinnied again, looking around fearfully. Emeline assured herself that she was safe between Avétk and Ketiya, but the nervous feeling just wouldn't go away. They travelled deeper into the night, with an expanse of stars above them and one of snow before them. There were few trees and they were becoming even fewer as they travelled on. The moonlight made the snow look magical. She was sure shadows were moving around them, flickering closer and further, but she told herself it was her illogical fear.

    Abigail's steady hoof beats hit the snowy trail with muffled thuds, rhythmically. Emeline watched Maxim's burnt-umber tail sway slightly as he trailed through the snow. Ketiya stopped Maxim, turning in her saddle to look at Avétk and Emeline with a frown. 'Something's up.' she said.

    Avétk spat off the side of the horse, not moving his eyes. 'Could be.'

    He isn't afraid of anything. Suddenly Emeline's horse reared wildly and she groped the empty air, toppling backward into the snow. The world was spinning, full of stomping hooves, loud noises, swirling snow, and screams. She rolled onto her knees, crouching and covering her head until Abigail had run off.

    The screams did not stop. She dared not look up, but she heard Ketiya's foreign clicky kind of screams along with clashes and clangs. There were other sounds too. Strange voices yelling in strange languages perturbed her as she lay in the wet snow, curled up. A sudden blast of something warm emanated from her body and snow puffed up around her in a cloud. It scared her so much that she opened her eyes and lifted her head to see.

    Everything looked white from where she sat. She looked around quickly, spotting limbs and metal and blurred figures. It finally dawned on her shocked brain – they were being attacked! She hoped that the attackers hadn't spotted her and it seemed they hadn't, as she stayed seated in the white cloud, undisturbed.

    A loud grunt made her flinch down, covering her head with her arms. It was Ketiya testing her sword against a dark man-like thing. Its skin was pitch black and it had yellow, slanted eyes. It hissed and cursed wildly, swinging its limbs around boldly. Emeline was surprised every time Ketiya was able to parry a strike with her nimble swordsmanship.

    She peeked through a gap in her arms, seeing red hair, then black skin, a sword, a slash through the white air. Suddenly the thing was right before her, falling backwards. She screamed and held her arms tight over her face. Another blast of...of something, burst from her and the thing went flying away into the air, disappearing from her sight.

    Ketiya glanced her way, one eyebrow raised in intrigue. The moment was gone and she looked around as the powdery snow settled. Emeline joined her. Where is Avétk? Emeline saw the bodies of the manlike creatures that had attacked them on the snow under the moonlight. They were black, like shadows, but with flesh. Their red blood stained the snow, making her bite her lip, hands shaking. She hated blood and snow.

    There were six strewn about, and Avétk sitting on his haunches, just beyond the bodies, with that same nonchalant look in his eyes. Axe in hand, red and dripping, he gazed at the creatures, looking almost bored. Emeline felt traumatized, but oddly the scene was not as concerning as the feeling that she'd seen it before.

    Ketiya and Emeline stood there for a short while, trying to process what had just happened. Why had they been attacked? What were those things? What had that blast from Emeline been? Avétk seemed least perturbed, cleaning his hands on his trousers as he stood.

    'Stay here. I'll find the horse.' he tapped his nose, 'good tracker.' His footsteps slipped away into the distance and they watched his form become indistinguishable from the landscape.

    'Well dearie,' Ketiya piped up after a while, 'seems there's more to you than meets the eye.' No kidding.

    'Yeah. I...I don't really know what that was.' Emeline turned her face away and sat in the wet snow sullenly. 'That's never happened before.'

    Ketiya walked over and sat next to the pale child. 'Well, have you ever been attacked before?' She crossed her arms and legs simultaneously, distracting Emeline for a second.

    'Ummm?' Emeline stammered a bit, 'No? Not that I can remember.'

    Have I? How can I even be wondering? The red field from her dream flitted through her mind like a hummingbird in a snowstorm, fleeting and out of place. She shook her head, refusing even that tiny glimpse.

    The sun had risen behind them as they approached the Ysberg River. The rushing of its waters could be heard from a distance away, long before dawn had even come. Emeline had watched the giant black snake that coiled over the landscape transform into icy blue waters as the night fled. She stood stupefied near its edge now, as it roared away. The sunlight made the water seem all kinds of magical colours, contrasting the white of the snowy landscape with beauty such as she had never seen before.

    Abigail seemed more at peace since Avétk had returned with her, a few hours back. Emeline felt soothed as she stood holding the horse's reins on the river's edge, dazzled by the moving colours and whispering waters.

    She was relieved to be in the light once more. The night scared her now more than ever. She did not like the creatures she could not see, the mysteries the night seemed to expose, or the shadows and uncertainty. The morning air made her feel alive. Emeline breathed it in deeply and sighed with contentment as her fears abated.

    Maxim whinnied beside Abigail. The sound was so familiar to Emeline that she could not help it when the corners of her mouth twitched with a timid smile. Avétk sat mounted on his horse to Emeline's other side. His fur cape thrown off, stringy hair dancing in the morning breeze, and he stared out over the huge expanse of river.

    'What d'ya reckon?' he asked.

    Emeline assumed he was speaking to Ketiya and did not respond.

    'Let's head for the Ysbrug. It's the nearest crossing.' Ketiya nodded to herself and watched the river as she spoke.

    Avétk grunted and turned his horse north, upriver. It clopped over the pebbly riverside and onto a snowy roadway.

    'Better get up then Emeline dearie.' Ketiya looked at Emeline affectionately, like an older sister or aunt. 'We've gotta keep moving. Can't cross the river at night.'

    Emeline nodded, smiling, and got up onto Abigail's back. She gave Abigail a friendly pat, and they struck off up the pathway a ways behind Avétk. Ketiya shared some hard bread and cheese with Emeline as they rode.

    'How far is it?' Emeline asked around a bite of bread.

    Ketiya gave her the look her mother had always given her, when she spoke with her mouth full, and Emeline blushed a bit. 'We should be there in a coople of hours. Not far.'

    'That's wonderful,' Emeline said, 'because I'm actually quite tired. Will we stop once we've crossed?'

    'I'm not sure.' Ketiya mused.

#

    There it was. It looked as it had when last Ketiya'd been here. Old. The bridge's crumbling stones sat precariously on the supports past which the great river's waters flowed. Here and there, crumbling stones shed pebbles into the water. The river was very wide, and the bridge stood on ten huge supports. The supports were said to have been forged by a great Mage many years ago. Ketiya could not recall which Mage particularly, but she didn't care so that was okay by her. They looked like giant logs made of a solid, glistening material. From a distance it seemed that the bridge floated in the air. The pillars would reflect the sky and were almost indistinguishable.

    They would reach it within the hour, and then the perilous crossing would commence. Everyone who crossed here knew the risks. It was the most dangerous crossing of the three available because it was the oldest. It must be thousands of years old.

    'How does it stay up?' Emeline asked her.

    'Well dearie, it's actually held up by massive pillars.' Ketiya smiled mischievously at Emeline when the girl gave her a look of confusion.

    'They are there.' Ketiya reaffirmed.

    'Where?' Emeline asked frustratedly, 'I don't see them.'

    'They are made of a strange reflective material, so they are hard to spot.' Ketiya rode up beside Emeline, and drew as close as she could. She pointed up, 'See there? There's a slight vertical line in the sky just there. Do you see it dearie?'

    Emeline narrowed her eyes, squinting into the distance. She took a few moments, and finally nodded. 'Oh, yes. Is that one of the pillars?'

    'Yes,' Ketiya replied, 'Can you see the others? There are ten.'

    The young girl kept squinting into the distance, and after at least five minutes, admitted that she could only see four. Ketiya laughed a good hearted laugh and they rode on. She liked the girl even though she thought her an incredibly strange child. If it wasn't for that moment the night before, she would have been comfortable calling her a friend, but normal trustworthy people do not blast energies from their bodies or command elements. There was something the girl was hiding and Ketiya didn't like it. She determined to find out what it was—who this child was—before they reached the snowy peaks of the Ysberg range.

© Joy Cronjé 2015