Icebound

Chapter 18

Anyu awoke at the sound of a booming crash that seem to vibrate through the very ground. In a split second she was outside of the tent and squinting in the direction that the sound had come from: the forest.

Her eyes rested on Tavra's glacier just in time to see it collapse in on itself. Fear slowly replaced Anyu's drowsiness as she watched. First a large sheet of ice detached from the top of the structure, falling to the earth with a resounding crash that echoed in Anyu's ears even from the considerable distance between them. The rest was hard to make out through the thicket of the trees, but a huge puff of ice and snow exploded into the air as the rest of the giant chunks of ice came crashing down.

The noise was incredible. Anyu could only compare it to the sound of two gods clashing with each other in battle. She could only remember hearing anything like it once before in her life: the avalanche that had killed her mother. It wasn't a memory she liked to think about often.

At this point, the noise was far too loud for anyone to possibly sleep through. There was a muffled commotion in the tent as Kano burst outside, his eyes panicked and hair disheveled, to witness the last seconds of the destruction.

"We need to move," Kano announced needlessly; Anyu was already packing up all of their last minute supplies, tearing down the tent as fast as possible, and making sure a very disgruntled Shesh was awake.

"What happened?" Anyu asked in a frenzy. Kano helped her to tighten Shesh's saddle and secure all of their equipment. He kept shooting nervous glances towards the forest, making him fumble the straps.

"Siku's caught up to us," He muttered.

"What?" Anyu swung onto Shesh's back and grabbed ahold of the reins. "You mean she's here? Right on our trail?" She spared a glance back towards the forest, expecting a giant woman with crazy eyes to come running out at any second.

"No," Kano grunted as he climbed onto Shesh as well. As soon as he was seated, Shesh tore ahead with a burst of speed, almost knocking Kano off the saddle until he grabbed onto Anyu. "She wouldn't deign to come deal with us herself." He turned to look at the spot where a glacier had once stood not two minutes ago, where now there was nothing but a fine dusting of snow slowly dissipating into the air. "But if she sent who I think she did, then I don't much like our odds."

Anyu gripped tightly to Shesh's reins as he sped up. The wind rushed past her ears and stung her eyes, and she leaned forward in her seat to minimize the friction. Shesh had always been the fastest colt in his herd. It was something that Anyu had always been proud of, had bragged of to the other village children since they were little, and never did she felt more grateful for it than when they were outrunning death. She would have returned to the river of souls many times over if it hadn't been for her trusty reindeer's fast feet.

"Damn," Kano swore under his breath. "Can't he go any faster?"

Anyu grit her teeth in annoyance. Didn't he understand that Shesh was carrying two people and all of their equipment? She turned her head to the side to tell Kano just that when she saw what had prompted his comment. Far behind, racing out from the edge of the forest, someone was following them. And they were gaining.

She spurred Shesh to go faster despite knowing that he was already close to his limit. Anyu offered up a silent prayer that he could keep it up until they figured out a way to lose their chaser.

Anyu kept glancing over her shoulder to peek at their pursuer. They were too far away to make out anything except for the fact that they were riding a sleigh pulled by six dogs. It was to their advantage, allowing them to glide smoothly over the icy terrain and pick up speed. Anyu judged that they had maybe thirty minutes until Shesh started to slow down, and after that it would only be a matter of time until the sleigh caught up.