Icebound

Chapter 13

Shesh had returned with Denigi. Anyu happily ran outside to him to make sure he was alright. He moved slowly and seemed fatigued, but he was otherwise healed. He gave her a reassuring lick, as if to say that he was doing fine. Feeling calmer now that she knew Shesh was safe, Anyu went back into the igloo to speak with Denigi and Kano. Shesh, disgruntled that he was too big to fit inside, satisfied himself with standing guard by the door.

Denigi had brewed a hot tea for them to drink while they talked. Anyu accepted her cup gratefully, savoring the feeling of the hot wood against her cold fingers. She took a sip and almost spit it back out. It tasted old and musty, like rotten lichen and dirt. She kept the cup in her hands for its warmth but did not sip it again.

"Now," Denigi said, seating herself on a cushion across from Anyu and Kano. Anyu marveled at how she could move with such grace and balance while carrying that tangle of antlers on her head. "Where were we?"

"My tamga," Anyu answered quickly.

"Ah, yes." Denigi reached into a pocket and brought out the weathered old bone, holding it out to Anyu. "My apologies," She said as Anyu snatched it up and held it lovingly in her hand. It felt like being reunited with an old friend. "You were unconscious, but it was a matter of great urgency that I determined the tamga's origin and power."

"Origin?" Anyu asked.

Denigi gave her a thin-lipped smile that made Anyu grit her teeth. It was the same as when Kano had been explaining things to her. They acted as if she was a child, completely unaware of the world. Although the more Anyu learned, the more she had to admit to herself that perhaps they were right.

"Do you know what a tamga is, my dear?"

Anyu thought back to what Kano had told her, which hadn't been much. "A bone," She hazarded.

"Yes," Denigi agreed. "But it is not the bone of any normal animal." She leaned forward as if to disclose a terrible secret, her large eyes twinkling. "It is the bone of an indweller."

Anyu cocked her head to the side. Was that word supposed to mean anything to her? She'd never heard it before. Before she could voice her thoughts, Denigi read her confused expression and continued on.

"Each tribe has their own name for us. Kelet, Tengri, Vairgit, Kamui- it is all the same. Some worship us, most taint our names, call us evil beings. Indwellers are what we call ourselves."

Anyu looked back and forth between Denigi and Kano. Kano sipped his tea calmly, seemingly oblivious to its disgusting taste. She looked back to Denigi, letting her gaze drift up to the woman's antlers.

"In simplest terms, we are spirits," Kano chimed in with a smug smile, noticing that Anyu still did not comprehend. "Forces of nature, gods, or what have you. We are not like you humans. We are more connected with the earth, different."

Anyu took this in silently. She believed them. Of course she believed them, after all she had seen. A woman with antlers, a man who could turn into a polar bear. She had always believed that spirits were real. She'd just never thought that she would ever see one herself. Yet here she was, sitting down to tea with two of them.

Anyu scrutinized Kano, examining him with renewed suspicion. He raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"What?"

Anyu paused in her examination to meet his eyes. "How are you... different?" She asked skeptically.

He laughed out loud at that. "Well I don't have any horns, as you can well see," He said. Anyu noticed Denigi's scowl at the comment. "Sorry, but it's a secret." He answered and gave an infuriating wink.

Anyu shook her head. "So I..." She said slowly. "I'm in the spirit world now?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Denigi replied casually. "To us, it is Adlivun." She poured herself another cup of the bitter tea.

Anyu gulped, suddenly terrified. She didn't want to ask her next question, but she needed to know. "Am I... Am I dead?" Everything would make painful sense if that was so. She had died in that blizzard, frozen to death without even realizing it. Everything since then had been a grand illusion, some final death vision. That, or this was all just a sick perversion of heaven.

"You are still very much alive," Denigi answered, and Anyu felt herself release a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. "But I'm afraid that you will be soon."

"What? Why?"

"Humans are forbidden here," Kano answered darkly. It was the first time Anyu had seen him express any type of anger. Clearly, he was riled up about something.

"Siku rules Adlivun, and she has forbidden it. Along with many other things. Just as in your world, it has been many, many seasons since Adlivun has seen summer." Her eyes took on a wistful tint. "That is her doing as well."

Anyu blinked at her. "Summer..." She repeated. "What's that?"

Kano suddenly stood up from his seat, his fists clenched in rage. "She doesn't even know!" Kano shouted. His voice was filled with mingled horror, anger, and sorrow. "The humans have already forgotten! How long will it be until we forget too?"

Anyu was taken aback by his outburst. They had had to explain many unfamiliar words to her already, but none had elicited this kind of reaction.

"Kano," Denigi said, her words cracking like a whip. "Please sit."

He hesitated for only a moment before obeying, looking mildly ashamed but mostly still roiling in anger.

"Summer is when there is no ice or snow," Denigi explained patiently. "Water flows freely, plants grow from every surface, and the air is so hot that people hide in the shadows just to escape it.

"It used to come every year. The ice would melt and freeze, melt and freeze, in a never-ending cycle of nature. That is the way it was meant to be, not a world forever frozen and cold.

"Siku is winter herself. The ice that covers the earth, the chills that seep into your bones. But she did not want only half of the power- she wanted it all. She captured all of the indwellers of heat and sun, any who thrived in the summer. They are her slaves now, and have long since lost their power.

"What indwellers are left here are a part of the winter- it is our natural state. But humans cannot survive without warmth. Many of us thought that they would soon perish in the eternal cold. Most of them did, or were driven far away, where even Siku's power cannot reach. We have heard of the few that remain. Only the strongest of men and women stayed, and continue to claw for life in the midst of death. But even the numbers of the strong are dwindling. Soon none will be left."

Anyu tried to wrap her mind around the concept. A time with no ice, no bitter cold, where plants can grow and people can live without worrying about starvation. It was a pure utopian fantasy. There was no way such a place could exist on this earth. That was simple fact. But the wistful quality of Denigi's voice, her pain for things lost, made Anyu want to believe that it was real.

"There's no way to get it back," Kano said sulkily. "They're all trapped beneath Yahal. I-I tried to free them but..." He drifted off, shaking his head from side to side. "It can't be done."

"It can," Denigi said, the ghost of a smile tugging at her lips. "This girl has brought us the key to their freedom." She gestured to Anyu and the tamga held between her fingers. "The bone of Siku."