Everything happened so quickly.  Suki rolled to her right just as the Ryugin slammed into her.  The sharp teeth lining what was left of the Ryugin’s mouth scraped the air sac but did not perforate it.

          Enraged that its attack had not succeeded, the Ryugin struck out with its claws and tore a long gash in one of Suki’s wings.  For a moment, all was shrouded in the inky blood that floated out from the deep wound.  And then the ocean floor fell away and they were bathed in a bright orange light that blazed from below.

          They had reached fissure Matsuo had told them about, the deep rent in the ocean floor where a thick thermal current pushed up in the cold waters around them.  Dense clouds of krilla filled the waters below them feeding on the phytoplankton that lived in the warm, sulphuric water rising up from the molten rock at the base of the fissure.

          Suki folded her wings against her body and plunged headlong into the rift.  The Ryugin was momentarily surprised by the manoeuvre but wasted little time in following the trail of blood that spewed from the leviatha’s side.

          Suki’s fluke was carving the water like a scythe through long grass.  Down, down, down they sped and still the Ryugin kept coming.  Each sweep off Suki’s tail provided a glimpse at the closing monster through the thickets of tiny crustaceans that swarmed about the rift.            The intensity of the red glow from the undersea vent grew the deeper they went.  Even in the vacuum of the air sac, Lara and Sumi could feel the pressure of the water build up as Suki pushed deeper and deeper into the rift.

          On all sides orange walls flew past.  The rift was not particularly wide and a growing feeling of claustrophobia weighed down upon Lara as they continued to dive.  She cradled Tagtug in her coils, as if he were asleep.

          Sumi could see that the Ryugin, relentless in its pursuit, was only yards away from Suki’s fluke.            Fortunately, it was struggling to get any closer where its savage claws could rip into Suki’s hide.  It seemed to be having difficulty swimming.  For the briefest moment, a tiny hope was kindled in Sumi’s heart but this delicate ember was snuffed out by the realisation that Suki was also struggling.  She was slowing down.

          The depth of the water was exerting incredible pressure upon the two great beasts.  The heat pouring out of the fissure had also grown exponentially.  Lara placed a hand upon the walls of the air sac and recoiled when she felt how hot the thin membrane had become.  Oblivious to the heat due to her thermanaesthesia, Sumi pressed against the air sac, absorbed in the Ryugin’s attempts to kill them.  Blood continued to pour from the rent in Suki’s wing.  She was losing strength.  The question was which of the two behemoths of the deep would falter first.

          The Ryugin drew closer.  Sumi stared into the eye she hadn’t blinded and saw that it had lost the piercing malice that had been there since she first saw the beast back off the shores of Kompira.  Instead the eye seemed unfocussed and blurred.  It began to bulge.  Veins billowed across its surface and then the entire orb twisted back into the creature’s skull.

          The pressure of the deep was crushing the Ryugin and as great a beast as it was, it was not equipped to deal with the tremendous force around it.  Its body shuddered and in the red glow of the fissure, Sumi witnessed the most shocking and gratifying death she had would ever see.  The Ryugin’s body broke into frenetic spasms.  Its right eye clouded over as blood vessels burst.  Its internal organs were crushed and liquefied under the weight of the waters surrounding them.  The convulsions that had wracked its body were so violent that it broke its own spine as it twisted around uncontrollably.

          And then it stopped.  

          Suki swivelled around in the tight space and pushed past the dead beast and made her way out the rift.

 

 

After what seemed like hours, they broke the surface of the Oshalla Ocean.  The storm that had been raging had passed and a ghostly light surrounded them as the morning sun tried vainly to break the low clouds to the east.  In this bleak seascape they said good-bye to their dear companion Tagtug whose body they gave to the cold bosom of the ocean.

 

 

Two days later, they stepped out of the air sac and stood on a floe of ice that extended all the way to a snow-covered shore to the north.  This was as far as Suki could take them.  Although her wing had stopped bleeding, she was weak.  Sumi was doubtful that Suki would make it back to the cavern under Toshi Station where the Keelii would tend to her wounds.

 

 

For a short time, Lara and Sumi just stared out across the ocean they had just crossed.  Somewhere out there floated the body of the Mabbit who had saved their lives.  He would never return to his homeland in the Briar Patch.  No-one would ever take back news of his heroic deeds to his family and friends.  The tragedy of his death hung in the air like a thunderstorm.  Tagtug had hardly understood the darksome events in which he had been embroiled and the senselessness of his passing was overwhelming.

          ‘He played a larger part that any would have expected,’ Sumi said as she picked up her rucksack and slung it across her back.  ‘I’m sorry he had to die.’

          Lara nodded.  ‘We had to leave the station.  I don’t blame you for Tagtug’s death.’

          ‘Thank-you.’

          ‘That doesn’t make it any easier to accept.’

          ‘I won’t accept it,’ Sumi said with sudden bitterness.  ‘I will add it to the vessel of hate that has replaced my heart.’

          Lara did not know how to respond so she just said nothing, reached down and picked up her own supplies.  She also shouldered the tattered hempen bag that Tagtug had carried every step of his journey.  It was a sentimental gesture but Lara had decided she would take the bag all the way to the Endless.

          They turned around and began their march across the icy wastes of Sessymir.

 

 

Although the desolate, white landscape around them had led Sumi and Lara to believe that they were all alone, the sound of marroks’ howling and hissing quickly made them feel otherwise.  The presence of the marroks was enough to make Lara redouble her efforts to cross the frozen wastes quickly, but the sheer enormity of the undertaking was beginning to impact upon her.  Physically she was exhausted.  The pair had spent five days travelling inland with little to guide them other than Tagtug’s compass which still pointed towards the Briar Patch.

         Days were spent slogging up and down the endless sastrugi, parallel ridges of snow that ran east to west.  Their route north made their crossing of the white hills all the more taxing.  Each time they reached the top of one of the dunes of snow, they would be buffeted by chilling winds that would not leave them alone until they were deep in the valley between the two ridges.

         Nights were spent in snow caves that Sumi built with such skill that Lara wondered whether the Susanese princess actually had some Sessymirian blood running through her veins.  Although Sumi was also finding the journey difficult, she was not suffering at all from the brutal cold and Lara envied her thermanaesthesia terribly. 

          Sumi seemed to be well aware of Lara’s hardships and in the darkness of the snow caves, despite being exhausted she would do her best to keep her companion’s spirits up.  She was surprisingly talkative, and often told tales from her youth that intrigued the witch.

          On the sixth day across the snow, the sound of distant marroks had become constant.  Their presence unsettled Lara and in the confines of their snow caves, she asked Sumi to tell her a story to take her mind from the malevolent carnivores that slithered somewhere out among the snowy hills.

‘I will tell you one that Trojanu had told me when we were first courting,’ she said.  ‘It is an old Kompiran tale about a young boy who wanted to impress his aging father who was a loving parent but a hard man to please.’

          Lara smiled and snuggled into her coils, hoping the story would be long enough to lull her into a sleep free from the barking and hissing of marroks.  

          ‘One day, the boy asked his father to send him on a quest.  The old man thought long and hard about the request and the next day came in with five scrolls.  “I have agreed to send you on a quest,” he said.  “You are to fetch me the Sword of the Night from the hidden Citadel of Mandicos deep in the jungles of Ankara.  I have five scrolls all containing valuable advice to help you in this task.  You may choose four of the five scrolls now.  The fifth one you may read upon your return.”

          ‘The boy was pleased with the challenge and he stared at the five scrolls for a long time before he selected the four he would use to assist him.  The first scroll was a map, a choice that was met with much praise as his father believed it would be of tremendous benefit on the difficult quest.  The boy chose a second scroll and listed upon it were the names of three people who would help him on his quest.  The father nodded pleased with this choice as well.  The third scroll was selected and contained within was a promissory note to the effect of five hundred gold coins.  “Again you have chosen well,” his father said.  “You will need this money to finance your journey.”  The boy’s face beamed, not because he had chosen well, but because his choices had been met with such approval.

          ‘The boy found the choice between the remaining two scrolls a most difficult one.  They looked the same but they could mean the difference between success and failure.  “Do not trust the riverboat captain,” read the scroll he finally chose.  The boy couldn’t help but feel disappointed in this choice.  He never liked the riverboat captain and would not have trusted him anyway.  His father could see his son’s disappointment.  “Sometimes it’s not what we choose that’s important; it’s what we leave behind.”

          ‘This comment was too cryptic for his son to decipher.  As it turned out, the riverboat captain tried to rob him but he was ready for him and dispatched the man to an early grave.  His quest took many years and he faced innumerable dangers, some too ghastly to mention.  Many times his life hung by a thread but he persevered and eventually succeeded in retrieving the Sword of the Night from the kingdom of Ankara.

          ‘Upon his return to Kompira, he proudly presented the sword to his father and was received with great warmth.  A close bond had formed between the two men – for the boy was indeed now a man – and they lived together for many happy years before the old man fell sick.  Upon his death bed, the father looked at his son and said, “You never asked what was on the fifth scroll.  Would you like me to tell you?”

          ‘The son nodded.  The old man reached under his pillow and pulled out the scroll in question.  He gave it to his son who opened it and read it to himself.  After a moment, he started laughing and he took his father in his arms and held him lovingly to his chest.  He placed the scroll on the old man’s bedside table.  It read: “You cannot succeed.  The quest is impossible.”

          Sumi looked down at Lara who had fallen asleep.  The Moraen had nuzzled her head against Sumi’s shoulder, like a child who had dozed off during a bedtime story.  Sumi smiled as she stroked Lara’s head.  ‘It’s probably best that you don’t know either.  Our quest is impossible.’

 

 

Lara looked to the north.  The sastrugi was behind them, which would have been a relief if what was ahead of them was not a long, steep slope that ended at the base of an even steeper cliff made of ice.  ‘Well done, Sumi,’ Lara moaned.  ‘After a week of making us climb and down hills you’ve finally managed to find a hill that only goes up!’

          Sumi smirked.  ‘I’m sorry.  There are no more hills that also go down around here.  Unless you turn around and head south.’  Despite her weariness, she smiled.  Although Lara’s speech over the past week had been heavily laced with complaints, sarcasm or both, she had grown incredibly fond of the Moraen.  In light of all that had happened to them, Sumi could think of no better companion than Lara Brand.

          Suddenly the growling sounds that had accompanied them across the snows became much clearer.  Both women swung around to see the shaggy figures of a pack of snow marroks slithering up the slope towards them.  The marroks’ slathering jowls declared the beasts’ intention – they were hungry and a rare meal of Myrran meat had made its way onto their table.

          Sumi’s arm shot out and the closest marrok dropped with a throwing star wedged in its head.

          Lara turned to her companion and said, ‘Where did you get that?’

          ‘Matsuo gave me the keys to the armoury back at Toshi Station.’  Sumi opened her tunic to reveal a dozen other stars tucked into a satchel on her belt, alongside some knives, a bola and pair of sai.

          ‘I can see you didn’t waste the opportunity!’ Lara said dryly.

          ‘Head up the hill,’ Sumi said with a flick of her head to the vast ice wall they had been heading towards.  ‘I’ll join you shortly.’

          ‘This is no time for last stands,’ Lara scolded.

          ‘I’m not planning to die here.  I can run faster than you can slither.  I’ll take down as many as I can and meet you at the base of the cliff.’

          Lara decided not to argue the point.  She hugged Tagtug’s bag to her chest and slithered up the snow-laden slope, leaving her companion to deal with the marroks.

 

 

It wasn’t long before thirteen marroks lay dead on the hill.  Their rich red blood seeped out of the deep wounds in their skulls and formed intricate patterns on the snow.  When she had thrown her last star, Sumi turned and sprinted up the hill.  

          Lara was coiled at the base of the sheer ice wall, shaking with the realisation that they had nowhere to go.  ‘When you said to head up the hill, did you think of where we would be going next?’ she asked Sumi who was looking up at the precipice with a look of consternation on her face.

          ‘I had hoped that the pack would flee if I killed enough of them,’ she replied.

          ‘Perhaps you should tell them,’ Lara said, indicating the serpentine forms making their way up the slope towards them.  There were now at least fifty marroks.  

          ‘Look – they’re coming from everywhere!’

          Further down the slope, more and more marroks were swarming across the snow.  They howled and hissed as they came and there seemed to be no end of them.  There were hundreds of them.  It seemed as if every marrok in Sessymir had found its way to the hill, all desirous of a piece of Myrran flesh.

          Sumi’s eyes flicked across the squirming landscape of fur and teeth.  The very hills seemed to be alive as the marroks crowded in around them, all smelling the stench of fear that emanated from the two women at the base of the ice cliff.

          ‘I’m sorry Lara,’ she said as she drew the two knives she had acquired from Matsuo’s armoury.  ‘I didn’t think it would end this way.’

          Lara couldn’t hear her.  She was too paralysed by fear.  Images of her mother being devoured by the albino marrok flashed across her terrified mind.  Her hands shook as the significance of the moment saturated her being.  She was about to die, killed by the very creatures that had torn apart her mother.  She would die on this lonely hill and no-one would ever know.  Birren would be left to live our her days in the Endless.  It was an entirely unacceptable situation.

          Her whole body was shaking.  The marroks edged closer, relishing the terror they had awakened.  Lara closed her eyes, unwilling to look upon the beasts’ leering faces.  Her hands juddered so uncontrollably it looked as if she were having a fit as a result of the fear that was consuming her.  A searing noise emanated from her body, high-pitched and pure.

          Sumi covered her ears, but it did little to stifle the dissonance that sliced into her brain like a knife.  She dropped to her knees, vaguely aware of the sounds of yelping around her.  Before long, even the harsh yelping was drowned out.  The sound was unlike anything Sumi could have imagined.  If the noise had been light, she would have been staring at the sun with her eyelids fixed open.  The world swirled about her and then, as suddenly as it had begun, the noise stopped.

          She slowly opened her eyes to find Lara slumped in a heap, panting heavily but unharmed by what had just transpired.  The same could not be said for the marroks.  As far as she could see, the bodies of dead marroks littered the land before them.  The hill that had been so white and pristine was now a vibrant red.  Every single marrok had exploded, sending blood and viscera over a landscape that had never known colour.  

          Sumi approached Lara slowly, unsure of what to make of the carnage surrounding them.  ‘Did you do that?’

          ‘Yes,’ Lara replied breathlessly.  She seemed even more amazed than Sumi.  ‘I think so.’

          ‘I didn’t know you could do that.’

          ‘I didn’t either.’

          They looked at each other, almost too stunned to speak.  Their bodies were coated in the warm blood of the marroks.  Though a sense of relief slowly ebbed across their stunned minds, the shock of what had just occurred did not fade quickly.

          ‘What was that spell called?’ Sumi asked as she dabbed the blood off Lara’s face with her cloak.

          ‘I don’t know.’

          ‘You don’t know.’

          ‘There are times when witches stumble across magick that has not been learnt.  It comes from within, but those occasions call for highly specific elements to fall into place.  They require an extremity of emotion almost impossible to reach.’

          ‘Really?  Which emotion did you use?  Anger?  Pride?  Or was it simply bloody-minded determination?’

          Lara shook her head.  ‘None of those.  It was fear.  Pure, unadulterated fear.’

          ‘You should get terrified more often!’ Sumi joked.  ‘Do you think you could repeat it… if you had to?’

          ‘I never want to be that scared again.’

 

 

Lara had to rest.  The spell had taken so much she was prepared to fall asleep amidst the bloody detritus that blanketed the slope.  Sumi quickly carved out a snow cave with her knives and made it as comfortable as she could for her exhausted companion.  Lara asked her to tell another story but fell asleep before Sumi had begun.

         The daylight outside the cave faded.  Sumi watched the stars wheel about in the sky whilst Lara slept.  She thought of all they had gone through, all they had suffered and wondered how much more they could endure.  They had thwarted death by the narrowest of margins, sometimes through the courage of some of the noblest individuals she had ever known, but mainly on luck.  She realised how tenuous her existence was.  The difference between living and dying seemed so slight that whether they survived the mission depended less upon tenacity and willpower and more on random factors such as whether the sun was shining, which had saved them in Providence, and the ebullition of emotion that had led Lara to invent a spell.

          She wondered whether Caliban Grayson, the architect of their miseries, gave any thought to the men, women and children that had died so that he may quell his desire for revenge.  She thought of all the people who had died on The Princess Orani that day when she had lost her husband.  Their killer, the Ryugin, was now dead, and whilst Sumi did enjoy seeing the beast crushed by the pressures of the Oshalla Ocean, the feeling was fleeting and now all that remained was the hollowness of the knowledge that nothing would bring her husband back.  Nothing would bring back her sister Mai.  Nothing would bring back Stoops, Edgar or Tagtug.  The only thing that would give any of it any meaning was completing the mission.  Suddenly the thought of failure became a lot more significant.  She was not afraid to die, but if she did, all the lives that had been lost on the way to the Endless would count for nothing and that was not something she could permit to happen.

 

 

When Lara finally awoke, she found Sumi standing over her with a cup of hot javo in her hand.  At the mouth of the snow cave roared a blazing fire upon which roasted one of the marroks Lara had killed.  The thick smell of the cooked meat filled the snow cave and made Lara feel dizzy.

         ‘Drink up,’ Sumi said.  ‘You’ll need your strength for what I have planned for today.’

         Lara stretched and smiled.  Normally, the thought of eating roast marrok for breakfast would have made her nauseous, but her growling stomach bullied the rest of her senses into consensus and when Sumi passed her a chunk of steaming meat dripping with fat, she almost ripped it out of her hands.  The piece of meat disappeared within seconds and Lara stuck out her hands for more.

When she had eaten her fill, she looked at the fire with a puzzled expression.  ‘How can you light a fire without wood?’

          ‘Knowing we would be travelling through ice and snow, I took the liberty of taking some oil from Matsuo’s storehouse.’  She held up the small vial she had procured.  ‘Just a few drops of this can burn anything, and you left me with ample dead marroks to set alight.’

          ‘Well don’t plan on me doing it again,’ Lara warned.  She slithered out of the snow cave to find the morning had brought a fresh layer of snow which returned the landscape to its previous state.  There were mounds scattered around the slope which she knew to be the bodies of marroks, but all the blood had disappeared under the veil of snow.  The sun blazed down upon the white land and Lara had to squint to look around.

          They had camped at the base of a cliff which reached up so high above them, Lara almost fell over when she craned her head to see the top of the precipice.  ‘So how do we get to the top of that?’

          Sumi stepped out of the snow cave and followed her gaze to the summit of the cliffs.  ‘We climb.’

          Lara gave her a look of ridicule.  ‘No.  We don’t.  I can’t climb that.’

          ‘Of course you can.  If it’s just the height of it that's worrying you, remember, it’s all in your mind.’

          ‘Actually, it’s not,’ Lara retorted.  ‘You may have noticed, I don’t have legs.  Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t climb that.’

          ‘You’ll have to use your arms.’

          Sumi pulled out her knives and slammed them into the ice face and pulled herself up the wall in a demonstration that did little to give Lara any confidence that she could use the same technique to follow her athletic companion.

          ‘You are joking aren’t you?’

          ‘No.  We have no choice and I know what you are capable of.’

          ‘Sorry Sumi,’ Lara sulked, ‘but that sort of insincere flattery will not get me up the cliff.  Besides, I don’t have a pair of knives handy.’

          Sumi reached under her tunic and drew a pair of sai.  She handed these to Lara who reluctantly accepted them.  

          ‘You’re a walking arsenal aren’t you,’ Lara huffed.

          Sumi shouldered her rucksack and handed Lara her own sack and Tagtug’s hempen bag.  ‘I wasn’t being insincere.  I know you can do this.’

          ‘I don’t have the strength.’

          ‘There will be places where we can rest.  By the looks of it the first hundred feet are the worst.  We can rest on the ledge up there when we get past that.’

          Lara gripped the sai like a hammer and thrust them into the cliff face.  The sting of icy splinters upon her face as the sharp blades drove into the ice wall made her yelp.  ‘Oh, this is going to be fun,’ she groaned.

 

 

Sumi was wrong about one thing. It wasn’t all in the mind. Lara had never felt such pain in her arms and shoulders.  The muscles in her forearms had cramped up and felt so tight they felt like rocks under her scaly skin.  She had lost all strength in her hands and was amazed she hadn’t dropped Sumi’s sai.  Fortunately, there were places where she could wedge her tail in the ice wall, and though this was never comfortable, it did afford her enough rest-time to drop her arms so that the blood could flow back into them.

          Sumi by contrast was having no trouble at all.  She would scamper up twenty or so feet and then stop to guide Lara up.  The ease with which she traversed the steep wall was staggering.

She looked over at Lara who was grunting and cursing as she slammed the sai into the ice and hauled herself up another foot.  ‘Try not to lean out so much,’ she advised.  ‘If you can, place more weight on your tail and try to keep your backside closer to the wall.’

          Lara thought of asking her to be quiet.  Climbing a wall of ice was difficult enough to do without a barrage of other things to remember.  She gritted her teeth and grunted as she edged another foot closer to the top.  

          ‘I think you’re thinking of the pain too much,’ Sumi commented.  ‘You’d do much better if you tried to ignore it.’

          Lara recalled a spell that could transmogrify someone’s voice into the sweet song of birds.  Arinna had shown Lara how to cast it but it was a difficult spell and she had never mastered it.  Perhaps that was a good thing.  It was unlikely Sumi would appreciate having her well-intentioned instructions replaced by bird noises.

          Halfway up the difficult first stage of the wall, Sumi could see Lara was faltering.  She lashed a thin length of rope around her companion and tied the other end around her waist, ‘just in case’.

          ‘But if I fall of the wall, won’t you fall off too?’

          Sumi gave a mischievous grin.  ‘You’d better not fall off the wall.’

 

 

The sun rose in a clear blue sky which was a blessing for them.  Sumi doubted Lara could have managed the climb in inclement conditions.  She edged closer to Lara so that the two of them climbed alongside one another.

          Lara thrust a sai into the wall as if she were stabbing at the heart of an enemy.  Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her companion had moved in beside her.  ‘Where’d you learn to climb like this?’ Lara asked begrudgingly.   

          ‘On the Skyfall,’ Sumi answered as she pointed to a good spot for Lara to place her sai.

          ‘The Skyfall?  You’ve actually climbed it?’

          ‘Yes.  Many times.  Not all the way to the top, mind you but –’

          ‘Now, wait a minute. You mean you voluntarily place yourself in this sort of precarious activity regularly?’ Lara asked pulling herself up to match Sumi’s movement up the ice.

          ‘Yes.  Every year I journey north to Skyfall Town and spend the autumn climbing.’

          ‘Every year?  Don’t you have a job or something?’  Lara swung high and rammed a sai into the ice as she spoke.  She was moving more confidently now and the grunting that accompanied her every move had ceased.  ‘I spend my days gathering food from the coven’s vegetable patch.  Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t head off to the Skyfall to go climbing for the autumn.’

          ‘It is not expected that I work as you do.’

          Lara was surprised by the comment but she didn’t stop climbing.  ‘And why is that Sumi?’

          ‘I am the Emperor’s daughter.’

          Lara swivelled her head around.  ‘I forgot.  You don’t talk about it much.’  

          ‘Well, I don’t see a need to.’

          ‘But it’s significant, don’t you think?  Why do you strive to keep such a thing secret?’

          ‘It’s not a secret.  I just don’t bring attention to the fact.  I… I don’t want anybody to think I’m pampered.’  She hammered her blades into the ice and moved up past a ledge.  She could have chosen to rest upon it, but Lara was moving swiftly now and didn’t seem to require a break.

          ‘Sumi, the one thing you are not is pampered!’ Lara laughed.  In fact, I think you’re the least pampered person I have ever met.’

          ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

          Lara turned her head to face her companion.  ‘You know, back in Cessair when I saw that you were on my squad, I was a little disappointed.’

          ‘Really?’ Sumi said, surprised by the admission.  ‘Why was that?’

          ‘You know, the Susanese stoic thing.’

          ‘The Susanese what?’

          ‘Arinna once told me that the Susanese weren’t great conversationalists.  I remember thinking back in Cessair what a long journey it was going to be if you weren’t going to say anything.  I’m accustomed to talk.’

          ‘Well, I’m talking now.’  Sumi smiled to herself, as if enjoying a private joke.  

          At first Lara couldn’t see what her companion found amusing, but as they pulled themselves up onto a ledge wide enough to stand on, it dawned on her.  They had climbed the most difficult part of the ice wall.  From this point on, they could scramble up the face without the need to use knives or sai to assist them. Lara now understood why this stoic Susanese princess had suddenly been so garrulous. Sumi was cunning. She had kept Lara talking the whole way up the precipice.  ‘You sly beast, Sumi.  You kept me distracted.’

          ‘I told you it would be easier if you didn’t focus upon the pain so much,’ Sumi chided in a friendly way.

          Lara could see that she was right.  Although they still had a long way to go, she knew that the worst part of the climb was behind them.  She knew she could do the rest and the confidence that knowledge brought was like fuel in her veins.

 

 

Sumi and Lara were standing at the top of the ice cliff facing north.  On either side of them two impossibly tall mountains reached up into the charcoal coloured-clouds that had drawn in as the day had grown longer. Between these monolithic mountains lay a blue, shadowy valley completely covered in ice.  They were standing at the head of a dark glacier that stretched out for many leagues before it was lost in a grey blur that Lara assumed was one of Sessymir’s infamous blizzards.  To the east where one of the mountains met the glacier, indigo shapes slowly moved across the ice.  It was difficult to focus upon them as their colouring matched the colour of the ice under the overcast sky, but Lara was sure they had antlers.

          ‘They’re kanevvluk - snow staggorns,’ Sumi said following Lara’s gaze.  ‘They live in herds on the glacier.’

          ‘What a lonely place to live!’ Lara commented sadly.  ‘I guess they’re safe from hunters up here.’

          ‘No.  Not quite.  Once a year, hunters gather up here in response to the massive bounties the fur traders place upon these beasts.  Fortunately blizzards keep the hunters out for most of the year, but in summer they swarm over this valley like moskita.’

          ‘I’m glad it’s not summer now,’ Lara sighed.  ‘Where exactly are we?’

          ‘This great glacier is called the Slith.  It is a frozen river of rubble and ice.  The black rock far below its surface gives it its dirty colour.  It’s not pretty but it will be useful to us.’

          Lara smirked.  ‘I didn’t expect to find gentle fields and babbling brooks in Sessymir.’

          ‘This glacier paves our way to Caliban,’ Sumi continued.  ‘It goes all the way to Nilfheim.’

          ‘This goes all the way to Nilfheim?’

          ‘Yes.  We’re exactly where I hoped we would be.  It’s all downhill from here.’

          ‘I don’t suppose you’re being figurative as well,’ Lara said meekly.

          ‘I’m afraid not.  The Slith is one of the most dangerous places in Sessymir and Nilfheim is still over three hundred leagues away,’ Sumi said ominously.

          ‘Of course, it would be,’ Lara said throwing up her hands dramatically.  ‘It would be far too much to expect things actually got easier on this journey!’

          Sumi smiled.  ‘The Slith also offers us the fastest road to our destination.  The route we will take runs down the glacier.  The hunters use it to take the staggorn pelts back to Nilfheim.  Fortunately, this cruel trade can work to our advantage.  It can furnish us with what we need to finish this mission.’

         Lara was not optimistic that anything the Sessymirians had to offer could be beneficial to them.  The image of Lokasenna burning Sumi’s face upon the charred earth of the Hollow Hills came to mind.

         Sumi pointed to the west where an arm of the mountain on their left reached out across the icy valley before them.  Lara could make out a square mound capped by snow in the dim light under the white ridge that extended from the forbidding mountain.  ‘It’s a hut.  A lodge for the hunters who come up here for the kanevvluk.  We can rest there before continuing on our way.’

          ‘But won’t someone be there?’ Lara said nervously.  ‘The last thing I want to run into up here is a Sessymirian hunter.’

          Sumi strode off towards the distant hit.  ‘Oh there are much worse things out here than Sessymirian hunters.’

           Lara looked about as if expecting to see the sort of beast Sumi was talking about.  Although she was relieved to find no such animal in sight, she quickly slithered across the snow to catch up to her companion.

 

 

It was a building, but it was not really a hut.  In Lara’s mind, the word hut gave rise to images of stone chimney stacks and deep brown log walls.  When Sumi had mentioned the hut, Lara had imagined a fireplace where hot poddoo soup was bubbling away in a big black pot.

          What stood before her was nothing like her imaginings.  It had no quaint chimney stack – just a metal pipe sticking out of the roof like an arrow standing in the corpse of a beast.  The ‘hut’ was not even made of wood.  The building was a square block of metal comprised of rusted beams of iron and greasy sheets of steel.  In the centre of it lay a small hatch that looked more like an entry into a ship’s cargo hold than it did a doorway into a cabin in the mountains.

          ‘It doesn’t look particularly cosy,’ Lara commented.

          ‘Oh, you’ll find it’s a lot more comfortable inside,’ Sumi said as she took hold of the ice-encrusted circular handle that lay in the middle of the steel door.    The frozen metal made the handle difficult to turn, but eventually the hatch fell open to reveal a dark, silent room beyond.

          ‘A little light would be good,’ Sumi suggested to Lara before heading into the hut.  Like most Susanese, she had no love for the Sessymirians and even less trust.  It would not be beyond the hunters that ventured up the Slith to have set up traps inside the hut for anyone thinking of entering the place in their absence.

          Lara began the El Illumina incantation whilst Sumi listened for sounds coming from within.  Moments later a ball of purling golden light rested in the witch’s hands.

          Sumi looked at the shining sphere Lara had conjured up and raised an eyebrow.  ‘Is it me or are you getting a lot better at this sort of thing?’

          The look on Lara’s face indicated that she was just as surprised as Sumi.  ‘It’s getting easier.  Before setting out from Cessair, it would have taken me much longer to cast this spell.’

          ‘You’re growing more confident.’

          ‘I don’t feel more confident,’ she shrugged.

          ‘You’ve had to grow up quickly.’

          Sumi was right.  In the space of six weeks she had witnessed more dreadful things than she could have dreamt of.  She had seen so much death it clung to her, like a sticky film across her scales.  It had started with the death of Bannick Landen followed shortly afterwards by the grisly discovery of the orphanage in Scoriath.  Then there were the repeated attacks of the Ghul and marroks, as well as the gruesome pile of bodies in the cellar in Providence.  All these things were shocking, but she also had more personal losses to contend with: Edgar, Stoops and Tagtug.  Add to this the corruption of the Pryderi, the treachery of Lokasenna and the complete change in Arinna...    

          Lara was amazed she hadn’t lost her mind.  She was astounded that in the face of so much adversity, she had endured.  It seemed odd that she had survived when so many other brave souls had not, and then she realised it was because of them she had persevered.  It was because of them she remained alive.

          Her hands wandered to her waist where hung Tagtug’s tattered bag.  It seemed strange that she had clung to this – she had no reason to keep it.  She did not even know what Tagtug had carried inside it.  Perhaps she had been unable to let go of the Mabbit.  Of all the victims of Caliban’s war on the Myr, he was one of the most innocent.

          Suddenly an image of Birren floated up through the pool of thoughts in Lara’s head.  She quickly undid the top of her blouse to see the reassuring blue glow of her Birthstone.  Her daughter was still alive.

          ‘Let’s go in,’ Sumi said quietly, ‘but be ready for anything.’

          Lara braced herself but nothing could have prepared her for what lay within the cabin.  As she slithered into the hatch, a repulsive smell filled her head.  It was like nothing she had ever experienced before.  It was pungent and made her feel dizzy in the small confines of the room.

          She placed her glowing sphere upon a table that lay near the door and looked around the hut.  She was met with the leering faces of over a dozen animals, all mounted upon the greasy steel walls that surrounded them like a prison.  The stuffed beasts ranged from a tiny twin-headed flummox to a mighty male staggorn whose antlers were almost as wide as the room.  Lara scanned the other heads assembled around the room and was unnerved by the same manic stare and idiot grin on each creature’s face irrespective of their species.  It was as if the taxidermist had captured each dead animal at its most foolish.  She followed the hideous line of heads around the room until she saw something more shocking and depraved than anything she had seen since leaving Morae – above the door she had just entered was the head of a Mabbit.

          Lara screamed when she saw it and rushed outside for fresh air.  A cold wind blowing in from the north slapped her in the face pushing her back towards the hut.  Lara dropped her head and slithered over to a small outcrop of rock that sheltered her from the gathering wind.  She curled up into her coils and wrapped her arms around her head.

          Lara’s stomach gurgled, her shoulders shook and her head twisted.  Before she had any idea what was going on, her vomit sprayed across the snow before her.  The image of the Mabbit’s head remained at the forefront of her mind.  It was too horrible for her brain to put aside and ignore.  Her body convulsed again and again.

          ‘Here let me help you,’ said a soft voice behind her.  

          Lara glanced up to see Sumi’s concerned face looking down at her.  She then looked at the mess she had made on the snow and felt ashamed.  ‘Please go away, Sumi,’ she begged.  ‘I was sick.’

          Sumi put out a hand and said, ‘It doesn’t matter.  Come on.  Let’s get inside.’

          ‘I can’t go back in there Sumi.’

          ‘It’s okay.  I’ve taken the Mabbit’s head down.  It’s gone now.’

          ‘How could they do such a thing?’ Lara cried.  ‘How could they be so barbaric?’

          ‘People can do terrible things.’

          ‘It’s not the Cabal who are the monsters, Sumi,’ Lara exclaimed in a forlorn voice.  ‘It’s us.  People.  We’re the real monsters.  We know better and yet we still hurt one another.’

          Sumi shook her head.  ‘No.  We’re not all bad.  Most of us are actually good, I think.  There is still much kindness in the world.  There’s still much beauty.’

          ‘How can you be so sure?’

          ‘Because I wouldn’t be fighting so damn hard to protect something that didn’t exist,’ she said proudly.  ‘Come on.  There’s a storm coming.’

 

 

The ball of light Lara had created was still sitting on the table when they entered the metal hut.  The room was filled with the miscellany required to survive on the Slith during its summer months.  Empty barrels that once contained ale were in abundance as were numerous thick pelts the Sessymirians had acquired in the course of their hunts.  These pelts lay over the floor and piled up by the walls.  Against the walls, there were bunks interspersed between the mounted heads and each bed was covered in pillows and thick blankets.

         Crates that had held stores of food lay to one side of the room.  Nearby stood a bench with unwashed plates and dirty cutlery piled upon it.  Lara caught sight of tiny red maggots crawling across the surface of chunks of uneaten meat that lay on some of these plates.  The bench also held a box that contained hunting knives used for skinning the beasts that hunters caught.  Few of these blades had been cleaned. 

          In the centre of the room was a round fire pit still full of blackened shards of Cold.  An iron chimney was suspended above this, casting a small patch of natural light upon the pit.  A bag of Cold lay beside the fire pit and of all the things in the room, this captured Sumi’s interest the most.  ‘You’ll find temperatures much colder up on the Slith,’ she said as she placed a few blocks of the petrified ice into the middle of the hearth.  ‘We’ll see if we can get a fire going.’

         A crate containing some lengths of Acoran ironwood lay close by.  There were only a few blocks of the slow burning wood, but it would be enough to last the night.  ‘This is good wood,’ she said looking at a length of timber.  ‘At least we’ll be warm tonight.’

         Sumi placed her hands into the middle of the pit and slapped two pieces of Cold together until they ignited.  Lara grimaced as the resulting flames wrapped around Sumi’s arms but her companion ignored the fire, piling up the wood around the Cold until a roaring blaze filled the pit. 

         Once the fire had established itself, Lara lay back on a grey and black fur.  She didn’t know any animals that had such a coat and this made it easier to lie upon the skin.  The fur was soft on her scales and she felt drowsy as soon as she rested her head upon it.  The familiar sound of wood crackling in the fire was calming.  She could feel her heartbeat slowing down.  Her eyes closed.

         It was then she realised that they weren’t alone in the cabin.  The breathy noise of the flames licking the air was not enough to hide the sound of something creeping across the floor.  Whatever it was, its nails scraped against the metal floor at the far end of the cabin.  Lara shot up and opened her eyes.

         Sumi had already drawn her knives and was squatting on her haunches, her head slightly cocked as she tried to locate the source of the sound.  It had disappeared, but Sumi had a feeling that whatever they had heard was still moving across the room.  It had probably crept onto a rug where its footsteps could not be heard.

         Lara pointed to the far wall where she could see a small shadow merging with the darkness under the bench.  There was something moving there.

         Sumi saw it too and quietly made her way around the room so she was next to the wall alongside the bench.  Lara slithered over to the other corner so that the bench was between them, as well as whatever hid beneath it.

         The two of them slowly moved in closer, Sumi with her knives extended, Lara with her hands twitching as if she were about to launch into an incantation like the one that had killed all the marroks at the bottom of the cliff.

          The creature under the sink was aware of their approach.  Sumi could see its dark shape shaking as she neared.  It seemed the other occupant of the cabin was much more scared of them than they were of it.  Before Sumi could take another step, it darted out of the darkness under the bench and scurried under a thick black fur that lay on the floor in front of the bench.

          Sumi dropped her knives and dived at the shape that skittered under the fur.  She landed in the middle of the rug and her hands clamped down on the wriggling lump of the creature underneath her.

          ‘Not so fast, little fellow,’ she said with a smile.  It was plain to Lara that her companion did not fear whatever it was she had caught.  Wrapping the fur up into a ball, Sumi tucked the bundle under her arm and walked over to the fire so she could get a good look at it.  ‘Let’s see who has come to visit us,’ she laughed as she unfolded the furs on her lap.

          ‘Sumi, perhaps you should be care –’

          The folds of the fur dropped aside to reveal a small creature with large, beautiful, blue eyes and a tiny pink nose that twitched as it stared back at the two Myrrans.  The creature had long green feathers but it was not a bird.  It had short arms that ended in chubby, clenched fists.  It had no legs that they could see but two large, flat feet stuck out of the base of the creature’s stout feathery torso.

          ‘What is it?’ asked Lara tentatively.

          ‘I’m not sure what species it is,’ said Sumi, ‘but it sure is cute.’  She reached out a hand to touch the creature, but it backed away from her.  ‘It’s alright.  I know my face looks bad, but I’m not going to harm you.’  She smiled tenderly and after a long, quizzical look, the creature smiled back.  It lifted its hand like a small child wanting to be picked up.

          Sumi obliged.  She placed her hands under the creature’s arms and lifted it to her chest.  It was at that point, the beast chose to strike.

          Its name was Uguku and it was one of the Cabal.  Indeed, it was one of the worst of them.

          The first thing Uguku did was attach its small hands to Sumi’s neck.  It was not trying to strangle her.  It was biting her.  Uguku had sharp fangs in the palms of its hands, fangs that could easily strip flesh from bone.  On either side to Sumi’s neck, blood exploded.  She screamed in pain and sank to her knees.  Her hands came up and grabbed at Uguku’s tiny arms.  Despite the beast’s diminutive size, it was strong and Sumi failed in her attempts to remove it.

          ‘Lara!’ she screeched as the fangs sank deeper into her neck and gnashed at the meat it found there.  ‘Burn it off me!’

          Lara was already in the final stages of the incantation.  Her hands shook wildly as arcane energies built up in her body.  She had never mastered En Pyrrha before, but the incident with the marroks earlier that day had emboldened her.  It was more than confidence.  It was insight.  For the first time in her life, she felt she intuitively understood the way magick worked.  A ball of searing flame grew in her palms.  She wasted no time in hurtling the fireball at the creature on Sumi’s neck.  The knowledge that the flaming sphere would not hurt her companion did not offset her fears that the spell would probably burn her skin, but fortunately Sumi managed to twist the right side of her face away as the fireball splashed across her body.

          Sumi’s clothes caught fire but Uguku continued to grip her neck in its grotesque act of feeding.

A high-pitched noise filled the air.  Lara had managed to replicate the explosive magick she had employed to kill the marroks.  The intense sound rose and Lara prepared herself for the sickening sight of the creature bursting apart.  The noise intensified to a point that Lara felt she would lose control and harm Sumi and herself with the magick.  The creature tearing at Sumi’s throat seemed oblivious to the spell.

          Twisting violently under Uguku’s grasp, Sumi knew that it would not be long before she lost consciousness.  She figured she had a few seconds of life left.  She would die a horrible, painful death.  It was inevitable.

          Suddenly, the gnashing stopped.  Uguku’s expressive blue eyes opened wide as it realised it had been attacked from behind.  Lara had abandoned her attempts at spell-casting and turned to sharp, uncompromising steel for a solution.  She had rammed Sumi’s knife so far into Uguku’s back that the blade pierced its feathery belly which lay upon Sumi’s chest.

          Sumi grunted as the knife cut across her breast, but it was nothing compared to the pain of the creature’s teeth upon her neck.  With its grip loosened Sumi shoved Uguku away from her and rolled across the furs to her left in the hope of extinguishing the flames consuming her clothes.

          Uguku slowly turned to face Lara.  It gave no indication that it was actually in pain despite the fact she could see the tip of the knife protruding from its stomach.  It regarded the knife that was sticking out its torso with mild curiousity.  It tried to swing its short arms behind its back to pull the weapon out but was unable to reach the knife’s handle.  The beast frowned a little but other than this it did not seem the least bit perturbed about the blade Lara had wedged in its body.

          Lara slithered back away from Uguku.  Anything that could ignore such pain was not to be trifled with.  As she moved her antagonist swivelled around to face her.  It lifted its hands and she could see its two mouths were smiling at her revealing small, sharp teeth that were red with Sumi’s blood.  Lara was stricken with fear as the mouths opened wide in a menacing display of contempt.  Uguku’s eyes narrowed and its body shuddered as it spat a wad of sputum from each mouth directly at the witch.

          Lara managed to duck the disgorged material.  It splattered on the wall behind her and the metal surface sizzled and a noxious smell drifted across the room.  It was the same mordacious smell they had smelt when they first entered the hut.  Lara gagged as the fumes of the creature’s spit filled the room.  She slithered across the furs to her left but Uguku continued to face her, its cruel intentions hidden behind its beautiful blue eyes.  It drew back its arms and prepared to launch another volley of its acidulent saliva at its prey.

          Lara quickly invoked a shield of magick around her as the spit flew across the room but it did her no good.  The wads of green phlegm simply passed through the protective barrier and slapped against her shoulder.  Lara’s agonized scream reverberated across the metal hut and she fell back into the furs near the doorway.  

          Despite her knowledge that her magick had absolutely no effect upon her attacker, she lifted her hands to begin another incantation.  Her left hand became entangled in something.  A quick glance revealed that she had caught her hand in Tagtug’s hempen bag.  Her fingers were touching something smooth and round, and whether it was by instinct, curiosity or mere luck, Lara pulled the object out of the bag.

          It was a large, purple fruit.  With the malevolent creature hurling its burning spit at her, it may have seemed strange that Lara would pause to look at the odd fruit, but something in the back of her mind told her that what she held in her hand was something she should not ignore.

          Sumi lifted her head from the furs and was at once delighted and horrified to see the object Lara held in her hands.  ‘It’s a boomberry Lara!’

          ‘What?’ she screamed, ducking another volley of spit that hit the door behind her and hissed as it burnt a hole in the metal.

          ‘Throw it!  Throw it now!  It’s explosive.’

          ‘Where?’ Lara yelled, panicking at the thought of holding something so obviously volatile.

          ‘At that!’ Sumi barked as she pointed at Uguku whose eyes were narrowing as it looked upon the strange purple ball in the witch’s hand.

          Lara threw the boomberry.  Moments later Uguku’s insides were on the walls, floor and ceiling of the hut.  With Tagtug’s help yet again, Lara and Sumi had survived.

 

 

It was late by the time Lara and Sumi finally settled down to bed.  They had spent a number of hours cleaning up the room and each other.  Lara’s growing skill in the area of magick couldn’t have come at a better time.  She was able to heal Sumi which was remarkable – the extent of the damage to her neck was severe but Lara had stopped the bleeding and mended the tendons and tissue that had been mauled away by Uguku.

          Lara also wove a spell upon herself that quickly made her own injury nothing but a bad memory.

          They inspected the area where they had found the creature.  There were holes in the floor under the bench where the metal had melted away.  A familiar pungent smell floated up from the holes.

          ‘What do you think went on here?’ Lara asked confounded by the presence of the holes in the floor.

          ‘The creature must have been waiting for us here.  I imagine anticipation of its meal may have made it salivate and this is where drops of its spittle fell upon the floor.’

          Lara shrugged and shook her head.  ‘It makes total sense when you explain it.’

          ‘It’s just logic.’

          ‘You’re always right, Sumi!’ Lara laughed.  ‘You must get tired of being perfect.’  She meant it as a compliment.

          Sumi walked away, found a couple of skins that had not been stained with Uguku’s entrails and placed them down by the fire pit.  She sat down on one of these and proceeded to undress herself in preparation for a much-needed night of rest.  ‘I’m far from perfect, Lara,’ she muttered as she pulled off her boots.

          Lara slithered over to her and coiled up on the skin next to her.  ‘No.  That’s not true,’ Lara contended.  ‘I’ve never met someone so accomplished.  You’re smart.  You know about things I’ve never heard of.  You’ve been everywhere, done incredible things.  And you’re so confident and self-assured.  You can fight.  When I think of the way you fought by Stoops’ side when we were attacked crossing the Assipattle, or the way you went to Edgar’s aid in the Hollow Hills, or even the way you dispatched the Pryderi when we were escaping Providence...  I’m in awe of you.  At first I found you intimidating, but now, you’re just inspiring.’

          Sumi put a hand to her burnt face.  ‘I’m hardly inspiring now,’ she said solemnly.

          ‘The Keelii will be able to mend your face.  And look at the rest of you.  If I had legs, I’d want legs like yours. You have those beautiful brown eyes.  And those freckles.  I always wanted freckles when I was a child.’

          Sumi looked away unsure of what to say.  Lara caught a glimpse of her face and laughed.            ‘Sumi, I don’t believe it.  You’re blushing!’

          ‘I’m not accustomed to receiving compliments.’

          ‘Nonsense.  I bet you had every man in Susano and Kompira lining up to meet you.  I’m sure you had a thousand boyfriends.’

          Suddenly Lara noted a shift in her companion’s demeanour.  ‘Well… maybe not a thousand, but at least a hundred.’

          Sumi turned from her, clearly not interested in pursuing the conversation further.

          ‘Um… fifty?  Ten?  Sumi?’

          Sumi’s head sank into her hands.

          ‘One?’

          And for the briefest of moments, Lara stopped talking and all that could be heard was the wind howling outside, the fire crackling inside and the sobbing coming from the deepest part of Sumi’s heart. Lara moved over to where Sumi could see her.  She gently put a hand to her face and lifted it ever so slightly.

          ‘I know I’ve said the wrong thing, but I’m stupid.  We both know that.’

          Sumi smiled the smallest smile and sniffed.  ‘You’re not stupid.’

          Lara reprimanded her softly.  ‘Now don’t tell me about what’s stupid.  I am an expert on what’s stupid.  It’s one thing I do know and –’

          Sumi put a finger on Lara’s lips and the Moraen stopped babbling.  

          Tears were perched on the edge of Sumi’s eyes, about to run down the long black lashes.  ‘I’m sorry. It’s just... there’s only been one man in my life.  I’ve never known another.’

          ‘I’m sorry,’ Lara said.  ‘That was thoughtless of me.’

          ‘Trojanu Sato and I were married only a few days when our wedding boat was attacked by the Ryugin.’

          ‘I’m sorry.  And here’s me asking about how many lovers you had.’

          ‘One.’

          ‘What?’

          ‘The answer’s one.  In Susano, we take one husband for life.’ She held up her forearm to display her magnificent armband ‘

          ‘I understand.’  Suddenly a terrible realisation dawned on Lara. The skeletal figure lashed to the Ryugin – adorning the remains of its right forearm was a replica of the golden band Sumi wore on her forearm.  Trojanu.

          Sympathy of the deepest sort swelled up in Lara.  She could not begin to imagine what it must have been like for Sumi to face the Ryugin in light of what it had already taken from her.

          ‘So you see,’ Sumi said quietly, ‘I don’t really have everything.  I miss him terribly.  Whenever I think of him, I feel sick to my stomach, and yet I think of him all the time.  They tell me that time heals such wounds, but I don’t believe it.  And so I just count the days until I see him again.’

          ‘Again?’

          ‘Yes.’

          ‘You want to die?’

          ‘No.  Why would I want to do that?’

          ‘To be with your husband.’

          ‘That we will be reunited is inevitable.’

          ‘But you said you were counting the days until you see him, as if you know when that will be.’

          ‘I do. When this mission is over, I’m making the journey to Usnach.’

          ‘What’s Usnach?’

          ‘Usnach.  The Empty Isle.  You’ve never heard of Usnach?’

          ‘No – should I have?’

          ‘Well, yes.’

          ‘Our culture has always been a little insular. We do not know much of the world outside Morae.’

          ‘I understand that but I had imagined that all Myrrans knew of Usnach.’

          Lara lay down into the fur she was sitting upon.  She put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes.  ‘Please, Sumi, tell me about it.’

          Sumi turned around so that her back rested on the small ringed wall surrounding the fire pit.  She crossed her legs in front of her and stretched, preparing to tell the story just as she had told her companion stories in the snow cave on their way across the lowlands of Sessymir.  ‘Usnach is the Arnakki world for emptiness, but the island of Usnach is anything but empty. The souls of those who die before their time inhabit the island, waiting for the day when their loved ones grant them leave to go.’

          ‘Go?’

          ‘Go into the great beyond.  The only place that could truly be called endless.’

          ‘And they wait all that time?’

          ‘The dead have no sense of time and will wait until they are farewelled at Usnach.  When a loved one finds his or her way to the island, the dead they knew appear and bid farewell to this world.’

          ‘What if no-one comes to see them away?’

          ‘Eventually everyone finds their way to Usnach.  Whether it be in life or death, sooner or later we will all end up on the Empty Isle.’

          ‘It’s unbelievable.’

          ‘No more unbelievable than the magicks you invoke.’

          ‘And you’re sure of this?’

          ‘Yes.  I am sure and I know Trojanu waits for me.’

          Lara sat up so she and Sumi were face to face.  ‘Do you think my mother waits for me?  Do you think she could be on Usnach?’

          ‘There is every chance.’

          Lara was astounded at this news. Her cloistered environment had kept too many things from her and she felt as if the world had just passed her by. This was no snippet of geographical detail that had eluded her – this was a complete epiphany.  Her mother was waiting for her.  Lara’s mind reeled at the possibility of seeing her one last time.  ‘Would she recognise me?’

          ‘Yes.  Undoubtedly.’

          ‘Even though I was but a child when she was killed.’

          ‘She would recognise you Lara.’

          ‘Will I recognise her?’

          ‘Without question.’

          ‘Would we able to communicate?’

          ‘Yes, just as we do now.’

          ‘You’ve been to Usnach before haven’t you?’

          ‘Yes. Once, last summer, three weeks before the Assembly of Nations.  My younger sister had been rock-climbing the Skyfall.  They found her body floating in Lake Erras.  After the Ryugin’s attack upon The Princess Orani I made the journey to Usnach.  There were three others on the ferry out to the island – a Sessymirian woman and her daughter, and a Sapphyrran.  By coincidence, all of us had lost our loved ones on the same day.

          ‘You’re talking about the Morrigu’s attack on Skyfall aren’t you?

          Sumi nodded.

          ‘And your sister was killed by –’

          Sumi nodded again. ‘So you see, I have great reason to hate Caliban Grayson.  The creatures he has unleashed have stolen from me a sister and a husband.’

          ‘What was it like – seeing her?’

          ‘To be honest, at first I felt a little stupid, standing in the ruins of an old Tuirrenian fort on a frozen island, waiting for ghosts.  As the hours passed, I began to lose faith and doubted the veracity of the stories about Usnach.  But just before the sun set, I felt a familiar warmth spread over me, as if I had been dipped into a warm bath.  I closed my eyes as the feeling covered me from head to foot, and when I opened my eyes, there was Mai, standing before me, her eyes shining in the fading light, smiling as she had done when she said goodbye to me a month before she died.

          ‘And you talked to her?’

          ‘Yes, for almost an hour. And then we both knew it was time for her to leave. It felt… natural.  I still grieve for her, but I accept her passing.’

          ‘But why didn’t you see your husband there?’

          ‘I had hoped to.  A small part of me dared to pretend that he had not died and that was why he was not there to say farewell, but in my heart I knew he was gone.  Sometimes it takes time for certain spirits to find their way to the Empty Isle.  My husband was defiant.  I would imagine he would not willingly speed his way to Usnach.  There were times, after his death, when I would sit in my room in the palace in Kumoku and I had a feeling that he was near, watching over me.  But I haven’t felt that way for a long time now.’

          ‘And so you know he waits for you – on Usnach.’

          ‘Some day soon I will be standing on the white plains of Usnach, my husband at my side. He was torn from me, Lara.  I… haven’t yet adjusted to his absence.  I need to see him, speak to him, so I may start living once more.’

          Then, there was no more need for words.  They had arrived at a place that only hardship revealed to people.  There was an intimacy between them that would never be broken, and each woman was grateful for the presence of the other.  With a fire burning in the hearth, they lay down under the furs and Lara watched the dance of shadows on the ceiling.

          After a few minutes, when Lara was on the verge of sleep, Sumi asked, ‘And you really think I’m pretty?’

          ‘Uh-huh,’ Lara murmured as she slid into slumber.

          ‘Freckles and all?’ Sumi asked.

          ‘Freckles and all,’ Lara replied, and then she was asleep.

 

 

Sumi woke first.  Lara lay fast asleep, her tail swinging back and forth contentedly as she enjoyed her sabbatical in the land of dreams.  When she finally woke, Sumi had everything ready for their departure.

          ‘Look at this.  I found a storage box outside.  Warm coats.  Gloves.  Dried fruit and nuts.  Even flasks of wine.  Who would have thought that the Sessymrians would be so generous?’

          ‘Sumi you know they’d kill us if they knew we were here,’ Lara said as she stretched and yawned.  She slithered over to the stores Sumi had lined up by the door.  ‘I’m not sure I can wear a fur.  I feel guilty having slept on them.’

          ‘These coats have been woven from pullok hair.  They’re light but they will keep you warm.’

Lara wrapped the soft coat around her body.  It felt no heavier than her blouse but she immediately felt as if she had been wrapped up in a warm blanket.  

          ‘Are you ready to go?’

          ‘I think so.  How’s your neck?’

          ‘As good as new thanks to you.  How’s your shoulder?’

          ‘As good as new, thanks to me,’ she grinned.  ‘I think I’m ready for the long trek to Nilfheim.’

          It was Sumi’s turn to grin.  ‘Oh, I don’t plan on walking there.’

          ‘What do you mean?’

          ‘Come outside.  I’ll show you.’

 

 

They walked around the hut to another smaller building that lay behind it.  It was a storeroom containing all manner of things, ranging from hunters’ weapons to machines and tanning chemicals used to convert animal hides to leather.  One object had caught Sumi’s attention and she had dragged it out onto the snow in front of the storeroom.

         ‘What is it?’ Lara asked, perplexed by the strange metal construction.  It resembled the carriages she had sometimes seen travelling through Coldbrook, but it was smaller and had long flat beams of wood where a carriage had wheels.

          ‘It’s a sled of sorts.  The Sessymrians call it a slidoo.’

          ‘Sumi, you’re talking like a Spriggan.’

          ‘It’s a snorseless carriage.  A wagon of sorts but on skis.’

          ‘What are skis?’

          ‘These long, thin beams underneath are called skis.  This vessel is going to take us down the Slith.’

          ‘Sumi, the Sessymrians will hang us when we arrive in Nilfheim on this.  We’re stealing.’

          ‘Then we’ll just have to make sure we don’t get caught.’

          ‘You’re really not a typical princess are you!’ Lara laughed as she slithered onto the seat of the slidoo.  It was not designed with Moraens in mind, but it was more comfortable than sitting on a snorse.

          Sumi loaded the supplies she had gathered into leather satchels fixed to the side of their strange conveyance.  When Lara saw her place a long coil of rope into the bag, she groaned.            ‘What’s with the rope?  Surely, we aren’t doing any more climbing?’

          ‘You can never have enough rope,’ Sumi said earnestly.  ‘This is good rope.  I found it in the storeroom.  Along with this.’  She pointed down at some blocks of Blue Cold she had carefully placed alongside the sled.

          ‘What is that?’ Lara asked, her curiosity heightened by the delicate manner with which Sumi leant down and picked up each piece and placed it in a chamber in the centre of the slidoo.

          ‘This is Blue Cold.  It’s highly volatile.’

          ‘You mean it explodes?’

          ‘Yes, it does,’ she replied with a grin.  ‘You’ve never seen an explosion till you’ve seen this stuff go up.’

          ‘I think the boomberry was enough for me,’ Lara said nervously.  ‘Can I ask why we are carrying the highly volatile Cold on this sled?’

          ‘It’s fuel and we need all the fuel we can carry if we’re going to get to Nilfheim by tomorrow morning.’

          ‘Tomorrow?  Didn’t you say it was over three hundred leagues away?’

          ‘I’d hold on if I were you.’

          ‘Huh?’

          Sumi climbed onto the slidoo and punched the black iron plate in front of her.  The slidoo’s engine exploded into life.  A tail of flame melted the snow behind the vehicle and it shot out onto the black ice of the Slith.  Lara, not fully comprehending the significance of Sumi’s comment had not held on to anything and she went flying from the back of the slidoo and fell gracelessly in the snow.            When she lifted her head, she saw that the slidoo was just a glowing dot almost a hundred yards away.  She watched the sled arc around and within a few seconds was back at her side.  Sumi killed the engines which quickly spluttered to a halt.  She looked down at Lara lying in the snow.            ‘What are you doing?’

          Lara scowled.  ‘I think I burnt the tip of my tail as I fell off that thing.’

          ‘I’m sorry.  I did say to hold on,’ Sumi said meekly.

          Lara’s frown faded.  ‘Well, at least we know the slidoo works.’  She slid in behind Sumi and clutched her around the waist, just as she had held Edgar when she had ridden with him when they were crossing the fens of Scoriath.  ‘Shall we go?’

          ‘Perhaps I should describe the route we are taking before we begin.  It’s not going to be easy.  The first fifty leagues, we’ll be hurtling through the Shears, an icy wasteland filled with icy monoliths as sharp as knives.  Then we have an area called the Lattice which is at least 120 leagues long.’

          ‘The Lattice?  That sounds a lot more appealing than the Shears.  What is it?’

          ‘It’s an intricate series of natural ice bridges over bottomless fissures and chasms.  Some of the bridges are not much wider than the slidoo, and they are prone to collapse, so we’ll have to be careful.’

          Lara's face turned ashen.  ‘Wonderful – what’s next?’

          'The next section is about 150 leagues from start to finish.  It is a flat, barren region called Gormhaard’s Run.’

          ‘Flat?  Barren?  That doesn’t sound too bad.’

          ‘Well, it’s much worse than it sounds.’

          ‘Of course.  It couldn’t be easy could it?  That would just be too boring.’

          ‘Gormhaard’s Run is populated by huks.’

          ‘What’s a huk?’

          ‘It’s about the same size as a grizzum, only with huge tusks, sharp claws and a voracious appetite.  It’s quite an amazing creature really.  The huk’s tusks are almost longer than its body.  When it is in pursuit of its prey, it tucks its hind legs up behind its ears and uses its tusks as skis.  It pulls itself along with its four powerful forelegs.  It can build up to phenomenal speeds.’

          ‘As phenomenal as this sled?’

          ‘Hard to say,’ Sumi replied, placing the truth before Lara’s need to have her fears allayed.            ‘Once the huk is on the hunt, its berserker rage is such that it can withstand an unbelievable amount of pain.  I have heard of a huk that continued to attack a group of Sessymrians long after they had cut off its limbs.’

          ‘That’s incredibly reassuring Sumi.  At least I now understand the run part of Gormhaard’s Run.  Who was this Gormhaard anyway?’

          ‘He is Sessymir’s greatest hunter.  In his day, he was the most famous man in the land.  Apparently he had bagged seven huks in one day.  The beasts’ tusks are prized among the Sessymirians.  You can see huk ivory on the masts and prows of Sessymirian ships.  It has been carved into all manner of things.  Look at the scabbard of this dagger I found in the storeroom.  It’s been carved out of the finest huk ivory you could find.  This alone is worth more than –’

          ‘Terrific.  Now they have a reason to hate us – you’re wearing one of them.  Don’t you have enough weapons already?’

          ‘Do you think so?’ Sumi said with a wry smile.

          Lara sighed.  ‘How are we going to get past the huks?  They sound worse than marroks.’

          ‘Apparently, the only way to stop one is to strangle it.  It can’t attack when it can’t breathe.’

          ‘Oh this just keeps getting better and better,’ Lara moaned sarcastically.  ‘And we have 150 leagues of the beasts do we?  This route sounds impossible.’

          ‘It can be done.  The Sessymirians have travelled upon the Slith for centuries.’

          ‘Let’s not celebrate stupidity, Sumi.’

          ‘Lara, if we keep our wits about us, we’ll get through this.’

          ‘Whatever happened to Gormhaard anyway?’

          ‘Oh he got killed by a huk.’

          ‘That figures.  So we’ve got razor sharp rocks, bottomless drops, and crazed animals.  What’s left?’

          ‘Snow slugs.  Sixty leagues of them.  And then we’ve made it.’

          ‘Snow slugs doesn’t sound that bad at all.  Can’t we just squish them with the slidoo.’

          ‘Well we could if they were two inches long.’

          ‘I take it they’re not two inches long.’

          ‘No.  They’re a bit bigger.’

          ‘How much bigger?’

          ‘See the hut?’

          ‘As big as that hut?’ Lara exclaimed.  The hut was at least fifty feet square.

          ‘No.  About five times bigger.  There are rumours that the mother slug is much bigger still.’

          ‘You’ll stay away from the mother slug, won’t you?’

          ‘Oh you can’t stay away from the slugs.  They know you’re coming.  They can feel the vibrations through the snow.’

          ‘And do you have a plan for getting past the snow slugs?’

          ‘I thought you could cast your fireball spell.’

          ‘Cast my fireball spell?  It’s not exactly that easy Sumi.’  Lara looked out across the dark ice of the Slith.  It looked like a scar upon the landscape.  In light of all Sumi had just said, it seemed appropriate that the glacier looked so unwelcoming.  She imagined all the horrors that lay between them and Nilfheim.  She didn’t know which of them she feared the most.  ‘Tell me, how do the Sessymrians that don’t have a Pryderi witch on board get past the slugs?’

          ‘With these.’  She pointed down at two harpoon cannons mounted towards the front of the slidoo.’  As intimidating as they were, they did not fill Lara with confidence.

          Sumi pointed at the thickening clouds above.  ‘We best be off before we get caught in a blizzard.  Hold on.’

          This time, Lara held on with all her strength.  Now Sumi had outlined all the things that could kill them on the trip, the last thing she wanted to do was to die by falling off the slidoo.

 

 

The journey through the Shears was more horrifying than Lara had imagined it, but they had survived.  As each sharp-edged block of ice whizzed past, Lara learnt that it was better to close her eyes and put her faith in Sumi’s ability to weave through the maze of projections.

         Closing her eyes spared her the harrowing view that Sumi had of the forest of fifty for ice shards.  In many places these were clumped so close that the slidoo threaded them with only inches to spare.

         After fifty leagues of twisting, braking and sliding Lara thought she was going to be sick, but she managed to stifle her nausea by trying to remember the names of all the flowers that grew in the Bregon Woods.  When she ran out of flowers, she moved onto birds and then to beetles.  When she had exhausted all the flora and fauna she knew, Lara resorted to remembering her favourite songs but was asked to stop by her companion who was finding it hard to concentrate with Lara’s nervous humming in her ear.

         As frightening as their passage through the Shears was, it simply didn’t compare to the terrors of the Lattice.  Sumi wasn’t joking when she mentioned how thin some of the ice bridges were.  Whenever Lara chanced to look down, she did not see snow and ice rushing by – only darkness filled her view as the yawning chasm of the Lattice reached out to embrace her.

         The cracking sounds of the bridges made Lara feel as if the ice would break at any given time.  She wondered how long they would fall until they hit the bottom.  As far as she could see, the chasm of the Lattice had no bottom.

          It amazed Lara that Sumi could actually navigate the countless bridges.  Her companion’s steely determination provided Lara with a glimmer of hope that they would survive, but each time the slidoo sped onto a bridge, a crushing sense of mortality weighed down on the witch.  

          This feeling of dread was at its worst when she realised that night was approaching.

          ‘Sumi, shouldn’t we be out of the Lattice by now?’ she called into her companion’s ear above the cold air rushing by.  ‘You said we’d be in Nilfheim by morning but were not even halfway yet.’

Sumi nodded.  ‘The first stretch is the slowest part.  We should make up a lot of time when we’re out on Gormhaard’s Run, but…’

          ‘But?  There’s a but?’

          ‘But I hoped to be out of this section by nightfall.  If we’re still here in the darkness, we’re dead.’

          ‘Sumi, it’s getting dark now!’

          Lara was right.  Night fell quickly out on the Slith and the light that surrounded them was quickly fading.

          ‘We should have reached the end of the Lattice by now,’ Sumi muttered just loud enough for Lara to hear.  ‘Unless…’

          ‘Unless what?’

          ‘Unless I made a wrong turn.’

          ‘You can’t have made a wrong turn!  Do you think you made a wrong turn?’

          ‘We should be through it by now.’

          They climbed to the top of a wide bridge and Sumi brought the slidoo to a complete halt.  Lara leant over her companion’s shoulder to see why they had stopped and the view before her told her everything she needed to know.  A massive gulf yawned in front of them.  The far end of the bridge they were on connected to a column of ice that was completely surrounded by the abyss.  Another bridge ran out from the column to a dark grey expanse of snow and ice that stretched out to the misty horizon – it was Gormhaard’s Run.

          Lara felt an unsettling mix of joy and despair bubble up inside her.  After hours and hours of precipitous drops, it was a rapturous feeling to behold flat land, but it sickened her to see what lay between them and the relative security of Gormhaard’s Run.  The last bridge, the one that connected the ice column to the land on the far side of the abyss, seemed little more than a thread of ice.  It was at least five hundred yards across and did not look wide enough to carry the slidoo.

          ‘You’re not planning to cross that are you?’ Lara said horrified by the thought of speeding across the fragile looking bridge.

          ‘I don’t believe we have a choice,’ Sumi replied.  ‘It’s getting too dark to go back and find another way across.’

          ‘Can’t we just stay here until morning?  Perhaps we will be able to find another way tomorrow.’

          ‘It’s too risky.  There’s no protection should a blizzard come in.  You’d freeze to death long before morning.’

          ‘So what do we do?’

          ‘We have to cross that bridge.’

          ‘Can you do it slowly?  It doesn’t look very wide.’

          Sumi stared at the span trying to get a sense of its structure.  After a long, heavy pause she said, ‘The only way we’ll get across that bridge is to go as fast as we can.  It’s not the width that bothers me.  I can keep the slidoo straight.’

          ‘So what bothers you?’ Lara said, her voice distorted by the sense of doom that had enveloped her.

          ‘I don’t think it’s strong enough to support us.’

          ‘Could we walk across it?’

          ‘We could try but the winds blowing around the abyss would probably wipe us from the bridge.’

Lara gripped Sumi hard.  ‘Then let’s just do it!  If we keep talking like this, I think I’ll die of fear.  Let’s be done with this!’

          It was all the encouragement Sumi needed.  She punched the iron plate in front of her and the slidoo’s engines roared like an angry beast woken from a deep sleep.  Sumi jammed down on the gears by her feet and the slidoo shot forward.  They hurtled down the bridge they were on, gathering speed at an incredible rate.  By the time they slid onto the ice column, they were moving faster than they had travelled all day.  It only took a second to cross the top of the column and then they were shooting their way up the thin bridge that spanned the last chasm they had to cross.

          Lara dared to look down and her heart almost stopped when she discovered that she could not see any ice below her.  The bridge wasn’t even an inch wider than the slidoo.  Sumi’s margin for error was non-existent.  As they reached the top of the span, a mind-numbing cracking sound filled their ears – the bridge was weakening.  

          ‘We’re too heavy!’ Sumi hollered to Lara.  ‘If you know a spell they can save us, now’s the time to cast it!’

          Lara’s face dropped.  There was no magick that would save them.  She closed her eyes and waited for the fall.

          Sumi pushed down one of the gears by her side and the slidoo groaned as its engines were pushed to their limits.  The entire bridge was shuddering.  The terrible cracking sounds became deafening as massive sections of the bridge dropped into the dark abyss below.  Lara could feel the ice beneath the slidoo shifting but Sumi kept the vehicle steady as it slid down the last part of the bridge.  It picked up speed on the downward slope and – miraculously – it was enough.  They shot out onto Gormhaard’s Run as the last bridge of the Lattice disappeared behind them.

 

 

Night wrapped around Sumi and Lara before they had a chance to catch their breath.  A brilliant starscape shone above the dark, flat plain of ice before them.  Aldra had not yet risen, so the stars had no rival in the heavens to detract from their magnificence.  Out here in the crisp air above the Slith, the sky above achieved a breathtaking clarity.  The stars made mockery of any jewels the world below could provide.  

          As they sped across the ice, Lara leaned back and gazed at the shining orbs.  The stars were the same stars that shone over the Grove back in Morae but out here on the freezing plains of Sessymir they were larger and more beautiful.  Unexpectedly, Lara thought of little Birren, captive in a darkness where the stars never glowed.  Her heart ached, and the pain of her thoughts was such that she let out a small groan.

         Hearing the mournful sigh, Sumi slowed the slidoo and swivelled around to see Lara frantically pulling at her pullock-hair cloak and tearing at the laces of her tunic.  Her hands pulled the cloth back to reveal a radiant blue light emanating from the centre of her chest.

         In the soft blue light, Sumi’s brow furrowed, trying to comprehend what it must be like for Lara, to have the gnawing uncertainty of her child’s future eating at every hour of every day.  Birren was still alive, but still far, far away.  ‘We’ll get her back, Lara.  On my life, we’ll get her back.’

          Lara looked up but Sumi had turned back to the front and was pushing a lever down to return the slidoo to its maximum speed.  The engine behind them growled responsively and the sled lunged out into the empty, dark-blue plain.

 

 

After a few hours, the icy ground below started changing, softening and the slidoo started slowing down.  Sumi kept looking down at the skis and muttering to herself.  Lara scanned the land around nervously, but there was no sign of the fearsome huks Sumi had told her about.

          ‘What’s wrong?’ she yelled into Sumi’s left ear.  ‘Why are we slowing down?’

          Sumi tilted her head around so Lara could hear her above the billowy, cold air pounding upon them as they raced across the expanse.  ‘It has snowed here recently.’  She paused.  ‘The wind has shifted.  It’s moved into a southerly.’

         ‘Thank-you for the weather report, Sumi, but it doesn’t answer my question,’ Lara grunted indignantly.

         Sumi, who was now accustomed to Lara’s occasional ventures into sarcasm, just pointed to the ground below.  ‘We have been travelling over flat ice for the past eighty leagues.  Now we’re on fresh snow.  The slidoo is carving through the snow rather than skating over the top of it.’

          ‘How slow are we going?’  

          Sumi inferred Lara’s meaning immediately.  ‘Too slow.  The huks would catch us easily.’

          Lara glared at the snow on the ground and for the second time in a minute scanned the starlit plain around them for huks.  ‘But maybe the snow thins out ahead,’ she said trying to wish the idea into reality.  She looked to the north where the stars had vanished, hidden behind thick, pregnant clouds.  ‘Actually, I don’t think it’s going to get any better,’ she said despondently.

          A sudden gust of wind brought with it a thick flurry of snow and this was the precursor to a snowstorm that enveloped them in seconds.  ‘I have to agree,’ Sumi remarked.  ‘It’s not getting any better.’

          Lara gritted her teeth and in a show of unrestrained frustration, hammered her fists upon her temples, moaning, ‘Why can’t it be easy for a change?  Why?  Why?’

          The slidoo pulled on through the storm.  Sumi occasionally tapped the glass of the compass she had taken from Tagtug’s neck before they buried him at sea.  Lara could sense something was wrong and leaned over Sumi’s shoulder to find out what was to be added to the litany of woes that beset them.

          ‘The compass keeps losing its bearings,’ Sumi shouted over the gale.  ‘I’ve heard such things happen this far north.  We can no longer use it.’

          ‘Is that bad?’

          ‘In weather like this, it means we’re lost.’

          ‘Lost!  Please tell me you’re joking!’ Lara screamed furiously.  ‘How long have we been lost?’

          ‘For about two minutes!’ Sumi screamed back, her voice tinged with tension.  She was trying to control the slidoo, navigate a way north and develop a plan for avoiding the huks, whilst keeping Lara’s anxieties under control.  It was proving to be a challenge even for her.

          The snow was coming in almost horizontally, stinging their faces.  Everything was dull grey as the blizzard closed its hands upon them.  Morning was still some way off.

          ‘Don’t move!’ Sumi whispered harshly as she brought the slidoo to a stop.

          ‘Why are we stopping?’

          ‘Shhh!’ Sumi hissed as she stepped down from the slidoo.  She pulled her bola from her waist and with a subtle flick of the wrist started spinning it above her head.  The thin sound of the weapon slicing through the air grew louder as she spun the bola faster and faster.

          Lara peered out into the swirling darkness but could see nothing.

          The whining sound of the bola continued.

          Lara whispered harshly, ‘What are you doing Sumi?  You’re going to get us killed.’

          Sumi ignored her.  The thwip thwip sound of the bola suddenly cut away as Sumi released it.            Lara spun around following the sound to see what she assumed to be a huk being throttled as the line of the bola wrapped itself around its neck.  Gurgling sounds broke from its shattered windpipe as the creature clawed in vain to remove the band of steel cord from its neck.  After a frenzy of snatching and scraping it stopped moving and slumped against its massive tusks with the bola still wound tightly around its neck.

          Lara was aghast.  ‘How did you know it was there?’

          ‘It has been following us for at least three hours.  That was when the wind shifted and I caught its scent.’

          ‘Three hours!’ Lara cried.  ‘And you didn’t tell me?’

          ‘I didn’t want to worry you.’

          ‘Oh, I’m worried Sumi!  The huk – it’s dead now, isn’t it?’

          With a sai in each hand, Sumi slowly approached the creature.  The huk was motionless.  No trace of breathing was evident.  Lara was sure the creature’s neck would have been broken by bola coiled around its throat but Sumi knew it was best to assume nothing.

          Then she did something so violent and unexpected that Lara yelped in shock – she plunged her sai into the creature’s chest.  The huk bucked and twisted about, throwing its claws around wildly but Sumi had been ready for the reaction.  She jumped back, pulling out the blades as she did so.  Gouts of blood shot out, splattering all over Sumi’s face.  The huk slumped back into the snow in a bloodied heap and was still.

          ‘Well,’ said Lara, ‘I guess it pays to be careful out here.  I’m glad you didn’t nudge it with your foot.’

          Sumi wiped her blades on a clean patch of fur.  She turned to scan the horizon, watchful of other huks that had picked up their scent.  

          ‘Shouldn’t we be going?’ Lara suggested, her nerves frayed by the incident.

          Suddenly, the huk burst from the ground and sprung at Sumi, its four claws extended.  Taken by surprise, Sumi spun around to find her vision filled with claws and fangs.  Lara thrust out a hand and cast a spell that sent Sumi flying out of the huk’s way.  The beast fell to the snow with its claws outstretched.  It was dead.  It had summoned up its last remaining energy in a desperate act of spite, trying to kill Sumi before its life had completely faded away.

          Both women were stunned – Sumi by the huk’s desperate attack and Lara by her ability to cast magick so quickly: ‘My powers are increasing.  It’s a simple enough spell, to move an object a few feet, but I’ve never been able to do it so instinctively.’

          ‘You saved my life.’

          ‘Again,’ Lara corrected.

          ‘You saved my life again.’

          Lara thought she could detect some admiration in Sumi’s eyes.  It was a strange feeling – to be admired – but she liked it.  

          ‘Marroks, huks, Ghul…’  Sumi unwound the bola from the huk’s neck.  ‘You’re becoming quite the fighter, Lara Brand.’

          Lara nodded.  ‘I am, aren’t I!’ she agreed in a playfully smug way.

          Sumi rolled over the body of the huk and shoved her sai into the creature’s neck.

          ‘What are you doing?’ asked Lara apprehensively.  ‘It’s dead, isn’t it?’

          ‘Yes it is.  Now it’s my turn to save our lives.’

          Lara’s brow wrinkled in confusion but she decided not to say anything.  She wrapped her long white cloak around her and watched as Sumi spent the next hour hacking away at the body of the huk.  She stripped the hide from the creature’s back and cut the skin in two.  The flesh under the hide was quickly chopped into fist-sized chunks and laid aside on the snow.  Sumi then removed the skull and spine, extracting the brain and placing it to one side.  After much hacking and sawing in the mouth of the beast, Sumi managed to remove the tusks.  They were at least two metres long each and incredibly heavy to lift.  She then delved into the deepest parts of the body, removing the huk’s two hearts and spleen.

          After all this surgery had finished, Sumi looked up at Lara and then to the sky.  Morning was still hours away but the Myr’s triplet moons shone down on Sessymir, lighting up the snow and ice in a ghostly blue light.  They had been so absorbed in the bloody deconstruction of the huk’s body they had failed to notice that the snowstorm had passed.  The monochromatic expanse of the Slith stretched out to the horizon.  But it was not empty.  

          Fast-moving, hulking shapes could be seen sprinting across the landscape.  There were at least twenty such shapes and they came at the pair from all sides.  

          ‘Huks!’ Lara cried, but Sumi seemed unperturbed.  ‘They were always going to come.  Gormhaard’s Run is full of them,’ she said calmly.  Lara, by contrast, was a portrait of repressed terror.  The nearest huks were only 500 yards away and closing fast, skiing across the fresh snow on their huge tusks.

          ‘Sumi,’ Lara said not taking her eyes off the fearsome predators bearing down upon them.  ‘They’re very close now!’

          Sumi threw one of the hearts up to Lara, who screamed as soon as she touched it.  ‘It’s still beating!’ she cried as she dropped it to the ground.  

          Sumi shook her head.  ‘That will stop.  Apparently, they can continue to beat an hour after being ripped out of the torso of the beast.’  She smiled wryly.  ‘I told you it was a tenacious creature.’

          ‘So are they!’ Lara nodded at the approaching beasts.

 

 

These huks were much bigger than the one they had just encountered.  Their tusks alone were almost as long as the slidoo.

          Sumi remained unfazed by the beasts’ rapid approach.  She held the heart above her head and squeezed it.  Blood seeped out of five separate chambers, pouring over her head and down her arm.  

          ‘That is revolting,’ Lara remonstrated.  

          Sumi shrugged.  ‘If you don’t want to be eaten, you’ll do the same.  The huks hunt and attack by scent alone.  The blood will confuse them and they’ll leave us alone.’

           ‘How can you be so sure?’

          ‘It’s an old Sessymirian trick.  We’re lucky that first huk attacked us when it did.’

          ‘Of course we were,’ sneered Lara.  ‘Really lucky.’  She held the heart above her head and cringed as her fingers pushed into the spongy organ.  ‘Ewww!’ she groaned as a small spurt of blood dribbled down her forearm.

          ‘You’ll have to squeeze a lot harder than that if you want to avoid being dinner,’ Sumi taunted, gesturing towards the encroaching beasts with the hand that wasn’t drizzling the huk’s blood over her body.

          The huks would be upon the pair within seconds.  Lara closed her eyes, and clamped down hard on the heart.  It exploded with a pop, and warm, thick blood gushed out over her.  She felt as if she had been dipped in syrup.  When she opened her eyes, she found she was surrounded by a large pack of huks, all sniffing the air, wondering stupidly where their prey had gone.

          Sumi was on the ground fussing over the remains of the dead huk, unconcerned about the presence of so many ferocious animals only feet away.  For Lara, the sound of the huks grunting as they tried to make sense of the situation was almost as unnerving as their vicious approach.  Sumi had her knife out and she was carving away at the dead creature’s capacious skull.  She looked up at Lara, grinning.  ‘Their skulls make terrific pots.  Let’s eat.’

          Sumi put the flesh she had stripped from the huk into the skull and placed it on a lump of Cold she had removed from the slidoo.  She took some kindling from one of the leather pouches on the side of the slidoo and assembled it around the skull.  Moments later a small fire rose up from the wood and the distinctive smell of meat frying rose up into the cold night air.

          As the meat sizzled in the bony pot, Lara slowly spun around, her eyes apprehensively darting from one huk to the other, but the beasts had no interest in the immediate area, and gradually shuffled off on their tusks for less confusing places.  She was amazed that they hadn’t attacked.  Even though the smell of burning flesh saturated the air, the huks continued to move away, their small brains being unable to associate the smell with anything they could attack, kill and eat.

          The aroma of the sizzling meat crept up Lara’s nasal passages and rested comfortably in her brain.  She could not remember experiencing such a sweet, intoxicating smell.  So overwhelmed was she that she completely forgot about the huks.

          ‘Smells nice, doesn’t it,’ Sumi stated with a slight garnish of pride in her voice.  

          ‘Nice?’ Lara exclaimed ridiculing Sumi’s understatement.  ‘I think I have to lie down!  How could something so mean and ugly smell so wonderful?’  She was salivating as she watched the meat sizzling inside the capacious pot provided by the huk’s head.

          Whilst the meat was cooking, with a tremendous display of strength, Sumi heaved the slidoo over so that its underside was accessible.  She then went to the dead huk and rummaged around in its body.  She pulled hard and one of the huk’s internal organs tore away in her hands.

          ‘What in the Myr is that?’ Lara exclaimed, quite revolted by the amorphous dark-red shape wobbling in Sumi’s small hands.

          ‘It’s a spleen?’ Sumi replied prosaically.

          ‘And why is it in your hands instead of lying inside that beast’s carcass?  Please tell me we’re not going to eat that too!’

          ‘Eat the spleen!  Are you mad?’ Sumi laughed as she made her way back to the upturned slidoo.  ‘No, this is good for something else.’  Sumi held the organ up against one of the sled’s rails and squeezed with all her might.  A viscous, yellow liquid oozed out through a ventricle at one end of the spleen.  Sumi wiped this substance over the rail making sure that every inch was covered.  She repeated the process for the bottom rail oblivious to Lara’s curious gaze.

          ‘And why you did that?’

          ‘To make us go faster.  At these temperatures, the slidoo’s rails are sticking to the snow and ice, slowing us down.  This secretion from huk’s spleen will form a resin that is so smooth and hard, nothing will stick to it.’  

          ‘Well, that’s all very interesting, Sumi, but can we eat now?’  The aroma coming from the unique cooking pot was swirling around Lara’s head, taunting her, making promises to her tongue and stomach that seemed impossible to keep.

           ‘Here – enjoy!’ Sumi said playfully, flicking a morsel up into the air close enough for Lara to grab.  In a single motion, her hand darted out, seized the meat and tossed it into her mouth.  It took a moment for the riches of the flesh to be fully appreciated by her taste-buds, but once her brain understood the complex layers of flavour contained in the greasy sliver of huk meat, she did have to sit down.

          ‘Sumi,’ Lara gasped, ‘I can’t believe how magnificent this.’

          The witch’s head was swimming.  She watched Sumi put her knife down and wipe her hands on her breeches.  She reached behind her and picked up a carafe of wine which she poured into two brass goblets that lay next to her on an ornate red rug.  The sun appeared in the starry sky above and shone down upon them.  The snow around them melted revealing a meadow of flowerfall that stretched on forever.

          Sumi stood up and stretched, spreading her beautiful black wings as she did so.

          ‘I didn’t know you could fly!’ Lara said with great surprise.  ‘Is there anything you can’t do?’

          ‘I can’t fly Lara.’

          But she could.  Lara was overjoyed when Sumi stepped across the lush rug and held out her hand in an invitation to join her.  

          They soared up into the starry, blue sky above.  The dark ice of the Slith fell away.  To the west she could see the Oshalla Ocean, its whitecaps shining in the brilliant sunlight.  In the distance, she could make out a shining, golden object.  As the object grew closer, Lara could see it was a man in brilliant golden armour, riding an armoured steed across the winds.  He wore a rich, red cloak which streamed out from his broad body like a banner.  

          Next to him stood another man.  His long, dark hair fell down across his powerful shoulders.  He wore an ornate silk robe.  On his left forearm curled a golden armband encrusted with expensive jewels.

          ‘Is that –’

          ‘My husband!’ Sumi cried joyously as she clasped her arms around his neck.  A great ship rose up through the clouds to Lara’s left.  Trojanu took his wife by the hand and led her up the gangplank that was being extended.

          Lara’s hand was still outstretched in a gesture of farewell when the ship melded into the sun.  The Moraen turned around to see the man in the gold armour waiting for her.

          ‘Edgar!’ she exclaimed.  ‘But you –’

          ‘Died.  Only for a little while, Miss Brand.  I’m here to escort you.’

          ‘Where?’

          ‘Why, to your daughter, of course.’

          Birren.

          She wrapped her arms around Edgar’s torso and nuzzled her face into his cape.  He still smelt clean.

          When she lifted her head she found she was on a flying steed, like the ones in the stories her mother had told long ago.  Edgar sat in front of her, guiding their mount through the deep blue skies.  Beneath them the globe of the world wheeled by.  To the south she could see a distant coastline.  A peninsula came into view where a great city, larger than any she had seen before, stood proudly.  Lara could make out expansive spaces filled with fountains around which the city’s people gathered.  Edgar swung his head over his armour-plated shoulder and smiled.  Over the noise of the rushing wind, he yelled, ‘That’s my home!’ and Lara smiled, touched that he had shared this moment with her.

          They flew over the city’s walls and out into a great meadow filled with flowerfall.  Here and there Lara could see veganistones in bloom.  On the far side of the meadow, Lara could see trees swaying in the sunlight and as they approached, the trees bowed reverently.  Edgar swung his head around as they passed the leafy boughs and stretched out a hand.  As if in response, the branches of the largest trees touched his face tenderly.  A single leaf swirled in the wind before her and for some reason, it made her feel sad.

          Edgar swung around in the saddle.  ‘I have something for you.’

          ‘A present?’

          ‘Yes, I found it and thought of you.  I hope you like it.’  He reached into the folds of his cloak and pulled out a large, rectangular gift.  It was wrapped in paper the same colour as the knight’s cloak and the ribbon glistened like his armour.

          Lara pulled the ribbon and the paper fell away.  A thick, old book lay in her hands.  The leather was all cracked and frayed.  Along the spine ancient runes glowed.  ‘It’s the Incanto, isn’t it?’

          ‘Yes.  I thought it would come in handy.’

          A swirling vortex of water came into view.  Lara could hear it moaning, its black maw growing wider and wider as they approached.  She became nervous.  Her hands trembled and the book slid from her grasp and fell into the blackness.

          A look of dismay crossed Edgar’s face, but Lara shook her head, dismissing his concern.  ‘It’s okay.  I don’t need the book anyway.’

          ‘You’ve changed.’

          ‘I had to.’

          Edgar pointed at the vortex.  ‘You’re still going there?  Into the Endless?’

          ‘My daughter waits for me.’

          ‘Then let me assist you, Miss Brand.’

          They dived headlong into the whirlpool.  The sound of the water crushing about them was deafening.  They were enveloped in darkness then a shining ball of light appeared in Lara’s hand illuminating a massive cavern.  On the far side of the cavern stood a man leaning on a staff.  He was bent over like the beggars she had sometimes seen in Coldbrook.  Every time he moved, skin would fall from him in large, bloodless chunks.

          The man was holding something wrapped in old rags.  His gnarled hand pulled back the cloth revealing a beautiful Moraen child.  It was Birren.

          An incantation breathed its way through Lara’s lips.   A great white light erupted from her hands tearing the man’s head clean from his shoulders.  His headless body dropped to it knees and Edgar rushed in and caught Birren before she hit the rocky ground.

          ‘My lady, I believe this is yours.’  He handed her the bundle of rags and her heart leapt as she felt her little girl’s arms wrap around her neck.

          ‘Lara?’

          The voice was not Edgar’s.  It was Sumi’s.

          ‘Lara?  Can you hear me?’  

          ‘Sumi?  What are you doing here?  You should be with Trojanu.’

          At the sound of her dead husband’s name, Sumi’s face darkened, but only for a second and she guessed what had happened to her companion.  ‘Lara, do you know where you are?’

          Lara gazed around her.  She was surrounded by snow.  ‘I’m back in Sessymir?’

          ‘The huk meat can have certain side effects.  It usually gives me strange dreams but I have heard that some races use it as an hallucinogenic agent.’

          ‘A what?’

          ‘You’ve been hallucinating.  Seeing things that aren’t real.  It seems to have had a particularly potent effect upon you.  It must be your Pryderi physiology.’

          ‘You mean I didn’t rescue Birren at all?’

          ‘No, not yet.’

          The weight of her sudden understanding was almost unbearable.  Birren seemed further away than ever.  The dream state she had fallen into had seemed so real that she now felt as if her daughter had been stolen from her a second time.  She was crushed with disappointment and wept bitterly.  Although her journey with Edgar on the flying snorse appeared ridiculous in the cold light of day, the hallucination had been so intense, so palpable, that Lara struggled to see it as anything other than a memory.  The smell of the knight’s armour, the feeling of the wind racing through her hair, the sound of the Worldpool’s torrent, the overwhelming sense of joy at seeing Sumi reacquainted with her husband…  

 

 

Sumi made her way back to the slidoo where she made final preparations for their continued traversal of the Slith, allowing Lara the time and space she needed to synthesise what had just occurred.  Overhead the sun tried vainly to pierce the deep grey clouds.

          ‘How long have I been out?’

          Sumi looked up over the engine of the slidoo.  It looked as if Lara had aged ten years.  Her face was gaunt and her tears had carved pale tracks through the dried huk blood on her face.  Her body was stooped as if all its energy had been taken.

          ‘At least six hours.  It is close to midday,’ Sumi replied.

          ‘Six hours!’ Lara cried incredulously.

          ‘I could not pull you out of the trance you had fallen into.  You were smiling throughout it and did not seem to be in any pain, so I just kept myself busy whilst you lay in a happy state on the snow.’

          She had been busy.  Lara could see that.  Fearful of Lara’s exposure to the merciless weather of the Slith, Sumi had stripped the huk of its skins and placed one pelt on the ground onto which she had rolled the hallucinating Moraen.  The other pelt she had thrown over Lara, keeping her warmer than she had been in weeks.  Sumi was still wearing her own clothes, but had fashioned boots for herself from the huk’s skin.

          ‘I see you have new boots,’ Lara observed.

          ‘Whilst you were out I noticed my old boots had holes in them.  Making a new pair helped me pass the time.’

          Lara smiled weakly, trying to return to a relatively normal state.  ‘It's a good thing then you can’t feel the cold.’

          For a brief second Sumi’s brow furrowed into a strange display of concern, but then it was gone, and she happily returned the smile.  ‘We’ll be in Nilfheim tonight.  We’ll need to change clothes lest we draw attention to ourselves.’  

          Lara looked down at her blood-soaked pullock coat.  It wasn’t exactly the sort of thing the people of Nilfheim would fail to notice.  For that matter, nor was the long, green tail that stuck out the bottom of it.  ‘I see what you mean.’

          ‘These furs will be useful for our passage through Nilfheim.’  Sumi cut a slit in each of the huk blankets she had made and through the slit of one of these she thrust her head.  She then took a strip of sinew she had taken from the beast and tied it around her waist.  She placed another piece of skin over her head to form a crude cowl.  Standing with her hands on her hips in a proud stance, she laughed loudly.  ‘Do I look like a Sessymirian?’

          ‘Not quite as ugly, but you’ll pass.’  Lara pulled the other pelt over her head.  Her fur was much longer than Sumi’s and it was almost enough to hide her serpentine tail from any casual glances.

 

 

Sumi hit the engines and the slidoo shot off.  Lara screamed – within a few seconds the sled achieved speeds the Moraen thought impossible.  The world became a grey blur as the craft rocketed over the snowy plain.  As monotonous as the view was, Lara could see it was changing.  The dark ice under the sled remained the same but the landscape on either side of the glacier grew more rugged.  The mountains lining the Slith grew increasingly steeper and more angular.

          Lara could feel her skin being pushed back against her skull and she thought her eyes would pop out.  At first she couldn’t understand how the slidoo could be so much faster than it had been before but then she remembered the spleen Sumi had vented over the sled’s rails.  ‘Are you sure you can drive this thing?’ she shouted into Sumi’s ear but her companion was too focussed upon piloting the sled to give an answer.

 

 

Lara imagined what Nilfheim would be like.  She pictured a tavern where she could curl up in a shadowy corner and sip on ale as she listened to the robust voices of the miners discussing the day’s events.  She thought of a steaming bowl of poddoo soup being placed on her table with a loaf of bread that had been taken straight out of the oven.  She moved deeper and deeper into the appealing daydream.  When catastrophe struck, it took her a few seconds to refocus.  By that time it was too late.

         ‘Snow slug!’ Sumi screamed, pointing up at the colossal white worm that had reared up from beneath the snow not more than 100 yards in front of them.

 

 

And as the slug crashed down on the slidoo, Lara simply thought how unfair and ignominious it was – after so many death-defying acts of bravery – to die under the body of a slug.