What killed first? The cold, hypothermia, the water? Cold shock had them in its grip instantly, locking their muscles, filling their bodies with the treacherous reflex to breathe in. Bubbles streamed past, Nuna's hair floated above her, and her hands were frozen in Aniu's and Amarok's. They had entered a strange grey world of which there would be no escape, and the cold attacked every pore of her body with knives. Her nerves were alight with pain she had never felt before. Her eyes ached, her head was gripped in a vice, she couldn't feel her arms or legs.
Niju. She hadn't even managed to kill him before the end.
Aniu had survived all this time only for Nuna to lead her to death like this. It wasn't fair.
A shaft of sunlight penetrated the water, murky but still beautiful. Despite the sea's gurgling laughter filling her head, Nuna could hear the glacier crashing into it, could see spots of white sailing past. Pressure constricted her chest in a crushing, killing embrace.
Seals began to sail past her, effortlessly graceful as they propelled themselves along. They considered her, curious. But they couldn't help. Were they Sedna's followers, here to take them into the Sila?
Something sparked through Nuna's souls at the sight of them. Why did she feel a strange connection, almost kinship? And why was dying taking so long?
A seal turned slowly on its side, looking directly at her.
Seized by a feeling she didn't understand, Nuna twisted with all her might, arms outstretched, spinning in the water.
The water spun with her.
Her lungs were flattened by the pressure, crying out for air, and surely she was about to breathe in, but she spun again, hampered by Amarok and Aniu. The water whirled around her, turning into a vortex, a whirlpool. Clenching her jaw so hard she heard something crack, she dragged her friends into the vortex.
Up. She wanted to go up. She kicked out violently.
Water burst from under her feet and she shot towards light, the whirlpool rising with her. Nuna's head broke the surface and she and the others shot out like breaching seals, the water beneath her mukluks projecting them all into the sky.
She gulped air, letting it fill her with life, but it didn't stop the dizziness, or the black dragging at the edges of her vision.
Darkness consumed everything.
*
Nuna's face was sore and twice its size, the metallic taste of blood was thick in her mouth and nose, and her hands throbbed violently. Her muscles felt pummelled within an inch of their lives – her life.
"Nuna. Nuna." Someone shook her.
Nuna convulsed, vomited water and bile, tried to sit up, and collapsed as her muscles refused to respond.
Aniu was leaning over her, hair plastered to her face. "Thank the spirits."
"What happened? Where are we?" Nuna's throat was as raw as if she'd been eating rocks.
"I have no idea what happened," Amarok said, "but somehow you saved us. We're on a beach – on dry land."
Nuna shakily tried to push herself up. They were sprawled on a beach of pebbles while the waves lapped calmly several feet away. In the distance, the glacier was still crumbling.
She lifted a trembling hand to her swollen face. "What? How did I...?"
"What do you remember?" Maliq asked.
"I was dying. We were all dying." Amazed, she flexed her fingers. How hadn't the cold claimed them? Lumi handed her an extra pair of mittens and she pulled them on. "Then the water... it listened to me."
Comprehension dawned on Iki's face. "Nanuq."
"Who?" Aniu asked weakly.
"We were captured by the Vanir – it's a long story – and Nuna saved a bear that turned out to be a water spirit."
"Wait. A bear. You saved a white bear."
"She also makes a surprisingly good witch," Iki said, nudging Nuna's shoulder.
Nuna gazed at Aniu, drinking her in. Her face was wan, the skin stretched tight, giving her an almost-skeletal look. There was a dark emptiness in her eyes she had never seen before. But she mustered a weak smile and Nuna flung her arms around her. They clung to each other fiercely, and she gave a sob, muffled against Nuna's shoulder, that only she could hear.
"Ouch," Nuna croaked as her ribs protested. "That hurts."
"Sorry." As Aniu drew back, the world spun. Keeonah's white powder had worn off, and Nuna's skull was pounding as if someone was beating at it with an axe.
"Did you get the shard, Nuna? Do you have both now?" Lumi asked.
She pulled two shards from her pocket. One resembled flint, the other a piece of ice.
"We did it." Maliq sounded stunned.
"This doesn't mean we've won," Amarok said, twirling the sword he'd thrown her through his hands. Nuna still couldn't comprehend the way he'd sacrificed his life to save hers, leaving himself defenceless while surrounded by Ikkuma. Even now, he winced in pain as he spoke. "Not when Niju knows everything." His face was pale from blood loss.
Nuna curled into a ball, burying her head against her knees. "Niju..." It hurt more than she cared to admit. Part of her wished she'd killed him, but she had no idea if she'd have been strong enough to do it.
"What now?" Maliq asked. "We're alive but we have no supplies, nothing."
"I don't know if I can do much with my arm." Iki's hand was clamped over a shoulder.
"I'll take a look at everyone's wounds," Nuna promised, but a quick scan of the surrounding area confirmed her worst fear: nothing grew around here.
She tried to stand with the intention of searching for herbs, but her legs felt like water and soon gave way beneath her.
Amarok slumped to the ground in a dead faint.
"Amarok!" Nuna crawled towards him, lifted his armour, and recoiled at the blood that soaked his clothes. "He's been bleeding out all this time."
"He was fighting the Ikkuma on his own," Iki said, joining her. "Let me help."
"We need a shelter. We need fire. Amarok, you can't do this, you can't die on us now."
The world swam in and out of focus. Every time Nuna flexed her fingers pain shot through them, and Iki's eyes were glazed, but he worked through the pain of his shoulder.
After pulling Amarok's armour off, Nuna found a deep slash across his abdomen. Aniu hovered beside her, her hands pressed to her mouth.
"Can you save him?" Maliq asked.
"I'll do my best."
He gave Nuna a concerned look and she realised exhaustion was slurring her words.
Maliq and Lumi managed to coax a fire out of a pile of driftwood. They built snow walls around them, enclosing them in shelter, and she placed Amarok's sword in the flames.
"What are you...?" Aniu's voice trailed away.
"It's the only way to save him. I just hope he stays unconscious."
Aniu had seen Nuna treat enough patients to know what was coming. She placed a strip of leather between Amarok's teeth and braced his head between her hands, keeping it steady.
Nuna watched the blade grow hotter and hotter. With all eyes on her, she removed it from the fire and, steeling herself, pressed it against Amarok's wound.
They all cringed at the smell of burning flesh. Every instinct told Nuna to stop the pain, to take it off, to help him another way, but she made sure the wound had burned shut before removing the sword. She dropped it, gasping.
"We need to... make sure... it doesn't get infected," Nuna said.
"Nuna, you need to rest. Sleep," Aniu said.
"We're still in danger."
"I'll do what I can for everyone else. Do you have any bleeding wounds?"
"Just bruises. I think." She had lost track. She was too jittery to rest.
They were stranded, vulnerable, and still at the mercy of the sea and the cold.