So this is Chapter 2...
Had a long journey till there. I hope that people are still reading this or my boyfriend would be right and this would be a waste of my creativity.
Christmas was quite busy and a desaster...I really hadn't had the heart in me to begin to write again on the computer (it always leads to some arguments ...) though my notes were getting bigger and bigger.
I try to be a bit more descriptive from now on. Wish me luck. ^^
Thankfully the snow gave me back the inspiration for this piece (40cm !)
I hope you like it so read and review !
Another piece of Dante's inferno in this one.
Chapter 2: Ghosts from the past
But when I had reached the base of a hill,
There at the border where the valley ended
That had cut my heart to the quick with panic,
I looked up at the hill and saw its shoulder
Mantled already with the planet's light
That leads all people straight by every road.
With that my panic quieted a little
After lingering on in the lake of my heart
Through the night I had so grievously passed.
The clearing behind her resting place looked peaceful enough with the white blankets of snow spread out over it. Shizuru knew that looks could be deceiving and that she had to tread carefully. It still bugged her that the tracks of her mysterious visitor simply vanished on the clearing, still she looked around for them a few moments though she began her journey again when she found absolutely nothing. Her headache which she had acknowledged in the morning was becoming worse.
Soon enough her misgivings about the nature of the ground proofed to be true when she felt the slippery and smooth surface of ice underneath her soles. The lake had been frozen over, but the ice still cricked and groaned dangerously when she attempted to cross it.
Twice did she slip and fell down into the snow. The coldness bit harshly into her face and her hands took most of the brute of the fall however her skin burned after it. There had been snow slipping down her neck and Shizuru needed at least fifteen minutes to properly get it out of her clothes.
The second time she twisted her ankle as it broke through the surface on the far side of the lake. She did her best to get away from the mass of frozen water as fast as possible. It only strengthened her resolve to leave when she found the frozen solid carcass of a deer with half of his body, including the head, under the waterline just about 15 meters from the shore.
This meadow was a deathtrap.
Soon she had reached the trees again and here the walk was maybe more tricky, though she didn't have to look too closely on the ground. A sharp and cold wind had picked up and rustled the needles of the firs she passed. It stung and burned in her throat when the huntress inhaled but she never had felt so alive. It was the strong and cold wind from the north and to her it smelled like homecoming.
He sniffed the crisp air suspiciously. The roasted meat of the grilled hare had vanished down the bellies of his people in seconds. Still, the smell lingered...diffusing his concentration.
The place reeked of human...and HER. There was a distinguish minty scent in the air, like the smell of ice over pine trees. He knew SHE smelled like the wood itself, a fact which made it even more difficult to stay away from HER. The smell reminded them to much of home and the dark woods. They were the free ones! They would not cower before someone!
He concentrated on the scent of the human again. The fair female had left the trees behind and had stepped out on the lake. A growl of disappointment left his throat. That area was treacherous. He had lost many a young pup to the lake. There even was a possibility of the human having drowned.
He knew that they were going against HER wishes, if they crossed that lake they would enter forbidden territory but if you had a lot of mouths to feet you let the rules fall over board and grap what you can get.
One of the whelps yowled behind him. They were hungry again. It hadn't been much meat on the small hare and it definitely hadn't been enough for the youngsters. Though it was still to dangerous to act right now.
They would follow the female within a distance and out of her sight, wait till she tired and then he and his fellows would strike from the shadows like they had done many times before. He yipped at his family and together they vanished into the murky and dark depths of the forest.
Snowflakes stung in Shizurus eyes. A storm was brewing over the horizon and she would nto be caught unaware in the middle of it. She had to find shelter soon.
Also did she feel being watched. Someone or something followed her that was sure. The young huntress always had trusted her instincts on that. The question was who or what was following her and why?
She had to stay focused or she would loose her way in the endless maze of trees and white snow.
Shelter was hard to find and the young woman decided to keep walking till nightfall to find a suitable place to rest or till the storm forced her to build something from scratch.
There was fire in that girl. That much she had to admit. She had seen far too much people on that particular path which had disappeared without a trace. Men and woman looking far stronger, than the young, fragile woman, who was trudging through the snow.
Her eyes had been on the fair headed woman since some of her many guards had informed her of the crossing on the borders. The determination, she could almost smell it in the wind.
Sadly she was walking in the totally wrong direction if she wanted to find shelter. After the trees right before her were the vast meadows of Rindishy. The village had perished in the years of the plaque and now the field lay barren with the wind howling over them.
A stab of disappointment in her heart. Such fire was rare in these parts of the land, it should be protected...cherished.
She gave a sign with her head and in a flash she and her friends vanished.
Night was falling quickly and settled on the white trees like a coat of darkness. Shizuru had been walking for nearly 11 hours straight. The headache had worsened considerably, she could see flashes in front of her eyes and her head felt like it would burst any minute.
When the sun set she only stayed still to lit a small lamp which was fastened on her knapsack.
Orange light cut a path through the inky blackness and small animals fled again into the shadows. A shelter which would provide enough warmth against the winds eluded her. In the end the young huntress was so tired that she just huddled down under a fir and pulled the lavender coat tightly around her body.
Fire...she had to make a fire. However the sticks she found were not dry enough and when she had managed to open her knapsack with almost frozen fingers half of the dry wood she had kept there fell into the wet snow.
Tear of exhaustion leaked from her wine-coloured eyes and almost instantly they froze on her face.
A second attempt at fire failed when she discovered that her numb fingers wouldn't hold the flint and steel. Resigning her fate to any god that was watching this night she curled up under the green needly branches and tried to warm her fingers. Maybe later she could make a fire...
The light of the small iron lantern guided her and her friends to the small thicket.
When she finally found the woman she was fast asleep, shattering her teeth and with ice-cold skin.
This was not supposed to end here; she wouldn't let this happen. Her determination on that part surprised her. Before she wouldn't have given a damn about who died in a frosty night on her lands. Though in this particular case she did...and boy was she surprised about it.
She did send her minions off to gather food and dry wood. She and her litter brother stayed with the woman who had stopped shivering when her brother curled up around her.
An ice-cold hand caressed the brunettes feverish face who flinched and tried to open her eyes.
What she had seen at the moment she couldn't say and also not remember clearly. Someone had spoke to her...and she had felt warm and fine fur around her.
Whoever it was, he or she was trying to warm her up, though that didn't matter. Only the warmth she felt did.
She had tried to focus on what the voice had said and after a few more flakes of snow had fallen on her she had been asleep again.
That deep and gentle voice she had heard followed her into her dreams. „ You shouldn't stay Menimishyka. You're on the wrong path..."
Shizuru awoke slowly to the smell of burning wood and roasted meat. It was strange...She could almost
an Ishyaq, a snow woman, taking interest in her. She still could feel the ice-cold touch on her face.
However this was ridiculous. Ishyaq where never known to venture into the forest regions, they rather stayed out on the flat plains.
She couldn't remember making a fire and cooking. Had she died? This wasn't the place where she had fallen asleep. The baffled woman sat in the remains of an old farmhouse. The ruins provided shelter enough to keep the cutting edge of the wind outside.
Her coat had been dried thoroughly and spread out over her while she had been sleeping. A little fire was burning bright in the corner. A roasted rabbit, wrapped in it's own quickly scrapped raw hide had been buried in the coals, emitting a delicious smell. His two companions and there furs hung still on one of the still standing support beams of the building.
She hadn't caught those...There wasn't a sign of another human being around. Only her boots looked a bit worse and like something had chewed on them for a while.
Maybe she really had died...maybe her body was still lying under that tree, gradually being covered up by the snow.
NO! She remembered someone being there, carrying her. She could still smell the hot breath of some animal on her face. So this someone must have carried her here, took great care in making her sleep as nice and warm as possible, didn't steal her belongings and made sure to leave a few pieces of meat for her when she would wake...But why then simply vanish?
Hunger was gnawing at her and her loudly protesting stomach told Shizuru that she should try to solve this mystery while eating. The rabbit, removed from his hot grave under the coals tasted delicious and the brunette almost gobbled it down in one bite.
Now she had time to properly take in her surroundings. The house, or the ruins of it, was quite old. The wooden beams still stood, covered in moss and snowy winter-grass. The ceiling had fallen through, as well as the roof, however that must have been quite long ago. Shizuru could only see a small hill of rotten reed and wood, partial hidden by the snow. A hedgehog was sitting in front of it, nibbling on a nut he had found somewhere. He scurried back into his grassy home when he noticed her.
Animals in her homeland up in the high north were different. They spent the whole summer eating and storing food to get enough supplies and fat to survive the colder times. Then when the first snow fell they would hide away and only would come out at the beginning of spring. Or some tried to survive like the big white bears from the coast. They hunted the fat animals who couldn't build a shelter and even whales.
She threw a few more logs into the fire.
The place reminded her of home. Her family had lived also in a Long-house. Maybe 30 people were able to fit in here, the foundations had been strongly build in stone and the floor had been made from planks which had turned rotten in the wet elements. That was the only difference to the house her family had build so long ago.
The last time she had seen such a house was when she had crossed the borders of Kurga almost 6 years ago.
Shizuru felt homesick, here in this abandoned place it wasn't so difficult to remember the hurt and sad face of her mother.
The young woman gritted her teeth as she tried to wish the image away from her mind when some movement at the edge of her vision drew her attention.
There, like being whisked on the spot by the violent winds outside, stood a white wolf. Snowflakes in his ivory coat glittered in the low light and he simply stared at her from a distance.
Suddenly the magnificent animal turned around, walking right through a gap in the ruined stonewall. After a few seconds it returned peaking through the stones and sending Shizuru an expecting look.
„Woof !"
The white one flicked its ears, scratched snow beneath him and went back to where he came from.
Shizuru, despite feeling small, lost, sad and homesick had to smile at his antics. She raised an eyebrow when the wolf came back and stood at least 5 feet away from her. Big white paws scratched the snow and the beast flicked its tail back and forth.
Obviously he tried to look friendly. „You're not going to eat me, right?" Shizurus voice sounded scratchy and wheezy and she hoped that she wouldn't be seriously sick in the next days. That could be deadly.
Humans….they were so easy to understand but in turn they didn't understand anything around them. He contemplated about going up to her and pull on her sleeve….
That would be kinda bold….and you never could predict how a human would react to such things.
A few steps forward again, ready to bolt at a flinch.
Did that wolf really roll his eyes at her just now? Shizuru had to smile again. This was strange for sure.
Now he came nearer again, head held low and ears rolled back. It certainly wanted something from her.
She stood up.
The beast almost jumped two feet away from her and the young woman nodded into his direction. She had understood and would follow him.
Packing her things together was a matter of one minute and not much later she was following a obscure animal through the woods.
Shizuru knew that she had lost her orientation, but who could guarantee that all what had been happening so far wasn't a trap.
As if he had guessed her thoughts the wolf returned from over the hill, rolled his grey eyebrows at her and did something totally unexpected.
He didn't stop a few pace before her, like usual. Instead he advanced further proudly, rubbed his head at her sides, then took her hand into his muzzle and began to pull gently.
"I understand, I understand." the woman laughed. "You're here to help. I'm coming with you."
His furry eyebrows rose and the wolf wagged his tail while jumping ahead. Despite feeling so tired that she could drop at the spot she felt mirth bubbling up in her chest. She followed the wolf laughing quietly.
The Alpha would be pleased. He was being a good Beta, leading the human to safety just like his superior had demanded. She in her human form had foreseen that the hunter would die out on the plains. He too could smell the scent of sickness wafting around the human, partly covered by her own scent which was earthy and reminded him of summer days with bushes full of raspberries.
He could already see the lantern light shining golden through the trees and he urged his charge on.
The huntress, too had seen the golden glow. To her it was like the light of heaven shining down on her. This was going to be her rescue.
Shizuru's headache had gotten worse again and a few seconds before she had felt so tired, now new energy surged through her veins and she pushed on towards the edge of the forest.
Michail Baradowitsh threw another big log into the fire. The little had gotten nicely warm while outside a storm decided to finally fall over the land like a hawk on a unsuspecting chicken. Snowflakes danced to a unheard maddening tune and Michail believed this to be the worst winter ever. As if he hadn't believed that before…
A large kettle was sizzeling over the fire and while stirring the soup Michail's gaze fell on a pile of hay in the corner of the room.
He still had to feed the rabbits. Grumling the old man left the spoon in the pot and gathered maybe three hands of hay in his arms. He had to rationize or his life-stock would not survive the cold. He took the nine-inch knife from it's place next to the door and stepped outside.
He nearly dropped the hay when his old eyes could make out a small light moving through the trees. A fen fire?
He threw the hay into the cages and just when he was about to close the door behind him to keep the evil ghosts outside, he saw her stumbling and falling in the snow right before his house.
At the tree line the wolf turned around. Shizuru's vision was going blurry but she still could see the outlines of a small house in the light. Someone was standing in the doorway. A dark shadow highly contrasted by the bright light.
The wolf returned to her side, rubbed his muzzle affectionaly against her pants leg and literally shoved her into the direction of the house. Then he wagged his tail again and bounded off behind the snow covered firs. Soon her furry fairy was out of sight and Shizuru stood alone among the dark trees.
She couldn't walk any further. Still her concisousness and a small voice inside her head urged her on.
You have to! GO!
Without knowing she had stepped out on the meadow and suddenly the pain in her head increased from a dull throbbing to an ice-cold knife thrusted directly into her brain. A small cry tore from her lips and without a sound the huntress fell down into the snow.
In the distance a wolf began to howl.
