Icebound

Chapter 20

Wow. In just a couple weeks Icebound has gotten over 6,000 reads, put on the hot list, and ranked as high as 170 in fantasy. Thank you so, so much to all who read, voted, and commented! You have no idea how much it means to me. I hope you continue to enjoy the story, and please comment or message me with anything you want to ask. It took a while for me to update the last chapter because I had to deal with AP tests and school ending, but I hope to update more regularly now.

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When they stopped to sleep for the night, Anyu finally demanded that Kano draw a proper map of their path. Grumbling that he was too tired, he nonetheless took Anyu's offered sheaf of deerskin parchment and began to draw.

The bottom half of the map was mostly forest, split cleanly down the middle by the Amlei Pass. Their current location, marked by Kano with a lopsided X, was just beyond the Amlei's end, back into the wide open tundra. Anyu squinted at the northern half of the drawing. It took her a second to realize that the series of squiggly lines overlapping each other in the northwest corner were supposed to be mountains, and she couldn't even tell what the criss crossed lines to the east or the C-shaped curve in the center were meant to be. Kano's drawing skills were truly abysmal.

Tavra, who had been peering disinterestedly at the map over Anyu's shoulder, picked up on it as well.

"Is that supposed to be a tree?" He crowed. "It looks like an upside down harpoon!"

Kano grit his teeth. "It's a cave."

Anyu bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"What's that?" Anyu asked, pointing to the C. It looked relatively large in comparison to the forest and mountains, although that could probably be chalked up to Kano's drawing. Perhaps it was some kind of ridge or crest.

Still scowling at Tavra, Kano reached out and closed the C so it was now a circle. "It's a lake." He said. He glanced up to meet Tavra's gaze, his expression turning serious. "The Kesuk Lake."

Anyu watched as the smug look slowly deflated from his young face, leaving incredulity and fear in its place.

"Oh no," He said slowly. "No. We're going around Kesuk." Kano's gaze remained stoic, unwavering. Tavra whipped around to stare at Anyu with what could only be described as scared, desperate puppy dog eyes, silently begging her to take his side. It was such a marked difference from the feral, ruthless child of just a few seconds ago that Anyu was taken aback. He had been living all alone in that forest with only the wolves for company for gods knew how long. For the first time, it occurred to Anyu to wonder about his parents and why they weren't with him.

"It's too dangerous!" He insisted, his voice growing shrill, before Anyu could think of anything to say.

"Sakari is right on our tail," Kano shot back. "She'll catch up to us in less than a day if we don't do something." He carefully smoothed out the creases in the map before looking up at Tavra once more. "Who would you rather face, her or Sedna?"

"Sedna?" Anyu repeated, thoroughly surprised. For the first time since she'd arrived in Adlivun, it was a name that she actually recognized.

Tavra's bottom lip trembled and he clenched his fists at his side. Anyu wasn't sure whether he was about to burst into tears or take a swipe at Kano, but before he could do either he fled the tent, the entrance flap rippling lightly in his wake. After a moment, they heard the distinct sound of paws crunching against the ice and a long, lonely howl.

Anyu sighed and shifted into Tavra's vacated spot to have more space. "You have quite a knack for upsetting him," She commented.

Kano didn't look up from the extra details he was adding to the map, but his lips quirked up into a wry smile. "Some things never change, I suppose," He replied neutrally. "Kesuk Lake is half a day's walk from here. We should be able to make it."