Ice-Bound Promise [Wattys 2023 Shortlister]

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With ice blue skin, white hair that fell, curling about her bare shoulders, the girl stared at Únik with the lightest blue eyes, almost white, as though expecting Únik to bow. Head held high, hands clasped at her waist, the girl looked the very picture of nobility. Her clothing, inappropriate for the snow bound wastes, had a delicate, almost transparent quality to them, showing almost every part of her small body.

Únik had heard of these people, Ice-Kin, but had never seen one before. Despite the urgency fostered by the ship breaking away from the coast line, Únik could only stare at the girl. Without a word, the girl tutted and began to move, gliding past Únik and through the open doorway, now free of the ice that had imprisoned her.

"We must leave the ship, at once." The girl stopped, outside the door, and seemed to take in her surroundings. She moved to the bulwark closest to the shore, looking over the side. "We'll have to jump and swim. You can swim, can't you?"

Grunting a reply, Únik joined the girl and looked towards the shore, the ship drifting further away as the currents of the Midden caught hold. Jumping and swimming wasn't the problem. The coast, here at Tracis' Midden had a gentle slope into the sea, they would find footing soon enough. The real problem was the cold.

Already, Únik could feel her legs weakening after wading out to the ship. Getting completely wet would bring death from the cold sooner rather than later. She could see Barsa pacing along the shore, staring at the ship and she considered that her home would prove too distant to reach in time before the intense cold wrought sleepiness and then death. The best option was to reach the rendering hut.

Before Únik could even begin to tell the girl her plan, the Ice-Kin had already leapt from the deck, landing into the rising waters with a splash and starting to kick her legs towards the shore. Hesitating for only a second, Únik followed the girl's lead, resting a foot on the bulwark and pushing against it, launching herself through the frigid air, to land in water even more cold than the icy winds.

By the time she reached the shore, Barsa bounding towards her, the Ice-Kin had already started walking up along the coast, as though she had not this second swam in waters so cold, it could freeze piss. The winds had picked up once more, wrapping Únik in a blanket of loose snow and she raced after the determined girl, grabbing her shoulder.

"No. This way." Those three words were the most she had said to another person in months and the girl snapped around, scowling as she battered Únik's hand from her shoulder. "I ... I have a hut. For warmth."

The girl stared at Únik before looking back up the coast line. As Únik caught a closer look through the blinding, whipping winds, she noticed the tell-tale shivering, the raised bumps on the girl's exposed skin. She may look like ice, may not feel the cold as much as Únik, but she was not immune.

"Very well. Lead the way, good sir." Lifting her chin, the girl jerked it, urging Únik on.

Únik didn't correct the girl. Smothered in her furs, Únik doubted she looked much like a woman. Even out of the furs, with her short, dark hair, pudgy features and heavy body she didn't look very female, at the best of times. She didn't mind, either. Out here, at the end of the world, there was no-one for her to appear attractive to, anyway.

Feeling the cold biting at her fingers and toes, now, she set off, back down the coast, collecting her whale hook and picking up a sack of carrots. If nothing else, she would return home with something to show for her efforts. Hoisting the sack over her shoulder, she took a second to find her bearings and set off towards the rendering hut.

As she expected, the submerging in the seas had started to affect her. She began to tire almost as soon as they set off and, after only a few minutes, she found herself struggling to move. They only had a little distance to go, but she may as well have tried to reach the Border Kingdoms. Looking back, every so often, she saw the girl faltering as she walked, arms hugging herself.