No More Frozen Bones

Chapter Three

I slept for days, my mind a fuzzy haze between consciousness and unconsciousness. When I woke, I only had enough energy to process the splintered wood digging into my back and the rough jostling of my body. I was being dragged over rocks and piles of snow.

One day, when I gained consciousness again. I was able to take in the thick greenery of trees towering above me. The wind bristled the thing pine and the smell blanketed me. There were no leaves on the trees where I came from, only death. Death of the trees and the plants, along with the death of the less hardy animals. I heard the loud voices of the three men who captured me. They let out howls of laughter. After a harsh bump strained my aching shoulder, I let out a cry. Their slurred banter silenced. I lifted my head, taking in their sideways glances.

"Lynn," the shortest one I hadn't heard speak before, chortles from in front of me. "Your kid is awake." Then, they all continued laughing like I was their newfound entertainment.

My eyebrows furrowed. I let my head fall back on the hard plank. I tapped my fingers to the rhythm of a song. But, I couldn't remember its lyrics. My limbs still felt too weak to run. So, I stared at the cloudless sky, my body jittering with anxiety.

"I've never seen a fire-blood come that close to failing a Cold Shed," the blonde man mused, tone flat and unbothered.

The woman called Lynn grunted from behind me. "She's not—"

"She hasn't been properly trained," Baker cut her off. Raising an eyebrow in her direction. "Nothing a little tough love can't fix."

Love. The way he said it gave me chills.

A gloved hand rested on my forehead, and I struggled to hold in my flinch. Lynn was walking beside where I lay. She had to bend forward in an awkward way to brush the hair out of my face. Murky eyes met mine, her intentions for the calming act not clear.

She noticed my confusion and dropped her arm. "You were going to die." Her voice was low. The wind almost completely drowned it out. She turned to face forward, but I could tell she was still paying attention to me.

I swallowed, mouth feeling dry. "I thought I did." The squeak of my voice made me squint my eyes with disdain. Weak, father would call it.

"Almost." She repeated.

My fingers flexed on the wooden board I laid on. I processed that I was being dragged on a sled. One like my father would use to carry wood from the forest. Before he realized I was so weak, he used to let me ride there with him. I'd watch the branches rustle in the wind and be content, too young to wander or play. The cold didn't bother me so much back when my heart was always warm.

My eyes snapped open when I felt my body lifted into the air. I had fallen asleep without even noticing. The lids of my eyes still ached from exhaustion. I yawned and saw the many small shelters around the clearing. I turned to look up at Lynn, whose thin arms carried me with ease, but she didn't make an attempt to acknowledge me. The tent she brought me into was larger than the rest. Instead of a pallet, I was set on a wobbly table.

"Don't get any wrong ideas. I am to look out for you, but I cannot protect you." Lynn dug through the room with a purpose, leaving things in her wake unkept. When she found what she was looking for, it was a small metal contraption. I watched in awe as she effortlessly lit a small fire in the middle of the room. It was like a fire-blood would after hundreds of years of training. Not even my father could create a fire so effortlessly.

"Don't look at me like that," Lynn drawled. "It's not magic."

There was an emptiness in my chest. It was so hollowing that I wanted to keel over and never get up. I shivered, still feeling phantom cold, even with the fire warming my entire front. For a second, I worried that maybe I'd lost my heart back in the lake. I worried that I'd never get the feeling of being alive back.