The Frozen Land
11500 BC, alpha timeline
-o-
The blue and black swirls abruptly vanished, and Kurt landed face first in the snow. Yelling, he scrambled to his feet, trying to get his face and hands out of the stuff before they froze solid. Unfortunately, the air wasn't much better, especially not with the howling wind ripping the heat away from his skin. Everything was white - the ground was covered in snow, and the sky with flat white clouds.
Zeo groaned. Apparently he couldn't stand up, which made sense, since Kurt could see the foot-long shard of red stone sticking out of his knee. The snow under Zeo's leg was stained red. Kurt pulled a thin tarp out of his bag and spread it on the ground.
"Where are we?" Zeo asked.
"I don't know," Kurt said. "Not Guardia castle." He grabbed under Zeo's arms and pulled him onto the tarp. It wasn't much, but at least he wouldn't be lying in the snow. Hypothermia and frostbite were looking like real dangers.
"Maybe if you get this thing out of my leg, I'll be able to walk."
Kurt knelt down and studied the wound. "It's wedged in the bone. Right in the joint. I'm not a doctor, Zeo. If I pull it out I think it's more likely you'll never walk again."
"Well, that kinda sucks," Zeo panted. "We should find a doctor, then." He was still holding on to that stupid piece of iron, like it was good for something besides making his hands colder.
"Yeah." Kurt stood and scanned the horizon. The wind picked up the powdery snow like dust and threw it in his face. "Uh, I don't see anything. I guess we'll just have to pick a direction at random."
"I hear something," Zeo said. "Someone crying, like a kid."
"I don't hear anything, just the wind." Zeo was probably going into shock, or something. Did cold contribute to shock? Blood loss definitely did. Maybe if Kurt wrapped a bandage around the knife, he could slow the bleeding down? He knew how to wrap a bandage, at least. He fumbled in his bag.
"I'm sure I hear it." Zeo looked around and pointed. "It's that way."
"I guess it's as good a direction as any other," Kurt said, wrapping the bandage around Zeo's knee. He tied it tight. "I guess I'll just drag the tarp." He wasn't sure whether his metal gauntlet was keeping his hand warm or sucking the cold out faster, but at least his hand wouldn't get tired. He grabbed the edge of the tarp and started walking the way Zeo had pointed.
"Where is this?" Zeo said. "Where does it get this cold in May?"
"The south," Kurt answered. He winced at a gust of wind. "Really far south." Suddenly he remembered the stories Mistress Lucca had told him. "Or. . . hey, Zeo, you don't think. . ."
There was a pause. "Nah," they said together.
"Mom said the gates all vanished," Zeo said. "And anyway, there never was one in the castle."
"One in the forest and one in Leene Square," Kurt recited. "I remember. Oof. Apparently there are hills. I couldn't really see, 'cause everything was all white."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Well, it means I wasn't seeing as far as I thought, so maybe there's some shelter close, which is good. But it also means I have to haul your heavy butt up a hill, which is bad."
"Well, keep going, that crying is getting closer. The kid won't be alone out here." Kurt, who still couldn't hear any crying, didn't answer. "At least the wind isn't so cold anymore."
"What are you talking about? It's worse, if anything." Suddenly Kurt realized what that meant. "Zeo, try to. . . wrap the tarp around you or something, keep the wind off. You're freezing to death."
"That's not good," Zeo muttered vaguely. Kurt felt the tarp shifing. "Doesn't feel any different."
Kurt reached the top of the hill. On the slope below, he saw the first bit of non-white color since they'd gotten here. On a patch of hard earth, swept clean of snow by the wind, was a tree, and at its foot was some sort of big blue ball. Curious, and eager for even the slightest shelter, Kurt hurried toward it.
The tree looked like genus Ficus, though of course it couldn't really be a fig tree in this climate. As for the blue ball, it turned out to be a creature, with weirdly thin arms and legs, a tuft of green hair on top, and a face right on its round body. It was fast asleep. "Hello?" Kurt called as he approached. Maybe it was intelligent, like a Mystic, and would help them. "Excuse me? We need shelter!" The thing kept on snoring. "Hey! Wake up!"
Kurt walked right up to the thing, and it didn't wake. "Maybe its in some kind of hibernation." He grabbed it by the - not shoulder - spot above the arm, and shook. It didn't move. Its body, though, was almost painfully warm to Kurt's icy hand. He promptly hauled the tarp up next to it and shoved Zeo into the crack between the thing and the tree.
"Ooh," Zeo said. "I think I'm freezing to death again, Kurt."
"That's actual warmth, stupid." Kurt shoved his gauntlet in his bag and curled in on Zeo's other side. He pulled the tarp around them to stop the wind.
"Aggh! Watch the knee!"
"Sorry. Try to get in closer to the thing, we need the warmth. And wiggle your toes," he added, remembering something.
"Why?"
"So they don't freeze and fall off." That killed the conversation rather quickly. "Zeo?" Kurt said after a few minutes. "Are you conscious?"
"Yeah. I'm not gonna fall asleep too easy with my knee like this."
"Just checking."
"What are we going to do, Kurt?"
Freeze to death when the sun went down. But Kurt didn't say it. If Zeo was asking what they would do instead of proclaiming it, he was in rough shape. "Maybe the wind will die down, and we'll be able to go look for someplace better. Or something." They were managing all right here, for the moment. Maybe something would happen.
Something shook Kurt's shoulder. Time must have passed - he must have been drowsing. He could have frozen to death like that. He rolled onto his back, opened his eyes. He saw a girl.
A young woman, really. She looked about eighteen. Dark hair, dark eyes, delicate features and rough skin. She was wrapped in white fur, and carried a flint-tipped spear on her back. "I thought you were dead," she said. "The spirits are with you."
"Is that what I hear?" Zeo muttered. "I thought it was a little boy. Or the wind." He rolled away from the blue thing, wincing at his stiff leg. "Who're you?"
"I am called Fina. Who are you, out on the snow plains dressed like that? You might as well be naked."
"I'm Zeo, he's Kurt. We didn't mean to come here, we got lost."
"You're lucky you found this place. The women often come here, to leave an offering of food for the Nu. That is why I found you."
"The what?" Kurt asked.
"This, that you sleep against. It is an ancient spirit called the Nu, and it has slept here as long as I can remember. I think animals eat the offerings, because the Nu never wakes, but I leave them anyway. Hold still." She put a hand on Kurt's chest, and with the other, shook a rattle of dried seeds next to his ear. The hand on his chest glowed white, like snow glare, and Kurt felt warmth wash through him. When it reached his feet, it burned.
"Aagh!"
"Welcome the pain," Fina said. "It means your feet will stay with your legs, rather than your boots." She reached over him to Zeo and repeated the process. The prince winced but didn't cry out. "I cannot treat your wounded leg here. We will have to carry you back to the village."
"Right," Zeo said, sounding better but still shaky. "At least I won't be getting dragged anymore."
Kurt climbed to his feet. All his toes seemed to be working. "Thanks for your help," he said.
"All the people are as one," she answered simply. "But that does not mean I will stand here and freeze to death for you. We must hurry. It is going to snow."
"Right. I'll get this end. . ."
Fina took off her fur scarf. "Take this, first, so you do not collapse on the way." Kurt wrapped the thing around his neck and ears. Body heat was lost quickest through the head. Fina took off her cape and laid it over Zeo. She was still mostly covered in white furs. "Lift him. The village is south of here." They picked Zeo up and started walking. Kurt noticed that Fina had indeed left a pair of what he guessed were edible roots for the Nu.
"Fina," Zeo said, "do you know how we could get back to Guardia?"
"I don't know that place," Fina said. "Which tribe is closest to it?"
Zeo blinked. It had clearly never occurred to him that someone might not have heard of Guardia. Kurt spoke up. "Guardia is the name of the people, as well as the place."
"Then I can't help you. I know the Tribe of the White Bear, and the Tribe of the Grey Seal to the south and east, and the Tribe of the Black Albatross that is gone over the sea. In my learning, these are all the people in all the world."
"I think Guardia is far to the north of here," Kurt offered. "Probably across an ocean."
"Over the sea? And you can't be from the Albatross; they went west. I never thought there might be people alreadyover the sea. Is that why you have such strange garments? I don't think they were ever the skin of an animal."
"Yes, that's right," Kurt said, not really paying attention. If they'd never heard of Guardia, there probably wasn't anyone on the island - continent? - but these Tribes. Though apparently they had the tech base for an ocean-going ship, or thought they did. Maybe he and Zeo could get home that way.
"You will have to teach me the ways of your tools," Fina said. "They seem better than ours."
"Huh? Oh. Sure, what I can," Kurt said. If Fina was impressed by cloth, chemistry and electronics wouldn't be going concerns around here for quite a while. Judging by that spear, they didn't even have bronze!
Fina grinned at him suddenly. "I didn't think to find all the secrets of eternity in a half-frozen pair of boys. Hurry up, Kurt, the snow is coming." Kurt thought about correcting the misunderstanding, but decided it wasn't worth it. He shut his mouth and tried to move faster.
-o-
Zeo wasn't asleep. He did know how stupid it was to fall asleep outside in bad weather. Most people forgot, but Guardia Castle was in the foothills of a minor but northerly mountain range. And he hadn't been lying about the pain keeping him awake. It was just easier not to talk. To himself, he was willing to admit that his knee hurt a lot. A whole lot.
Just when he moved, mostly. Or when Kurt moved, or, now, when Fina moved. Or when Zeo breathed. Or when he thought about breathing.
So it was easier to not talk, and keep his eyes shut, and concentrate on ignoring the pain. He only opened his eyes when he felt a particularly big jolt. "Sorry," Kurt muttered. He must have winced. "We're here."
They were in some dim shack somewhere. The place smelled like mud, only worse. Apparently they used the same stuff to burn and build with, and it reeked. It was warm, though, which was all Zeo really cared about.
He was lying on a pile of furs, flat and comfortable. There were various herb packets and spiritual-looking things hanging from the ceiling, and Fina was puttering around with more in the corner. Kurt was standing by the foot of the pallet, fidgeting. A green-haired kid watched solemnly from the doorway.
Fina turned around with a rattle - a different one, more elaborate. She started shaking it in a simple rhythm - shake SHAKE, shake; shake SHAKE, shake. "Kurt," she said, "can you keep this rhythm?"
"Uh…"
"I can," Zeo said. "Mom and Dad made me take music lessons. He can do three chords on an organ and I found her old flute bent in half in an attic, but Ihave to play violin…" He was babbling. He clicked his teeth shut.
"That would be better, actually," Fina said. She handed him the rattle, and he picked up the rhythm easily. It made a pretty good distraction. That kid was still watching, his eyes big.
"What's the rattle for?" Kurt asked.
"To distract the festering spirits from the blood and pain," Fina answered. She was wrapping a leather strap with beaded tassels on the ends around the knife shard.
"What's that for?" Kurt asked.
"So I can pull the thing out without cutting my hand," she said, in the same smooth tone. Kurt blinked. "The beads are because everything in a healing ceremony must be blessed."
"Calm down, Kurt, it's magic," Zeo said. "You've seen magic before."
Fina actually blushed at that. "It isn't true magic. It's something like, but I can't seem to cross the line. Something is missing." She laid her hands on either side of Zeo's knee, and they started that snow-glare glow again.
"I don't think Mom was using her real spells, either," Zeo said absently. The rattling, and the warmth from Fina's hands, and the smell of the place all sort of filled his head. "But she would glow, when I ran to her with a scraped knee or whatever. Just like that. She was so pretty."
The glowing stopped. "Bite down on this," Fina said, putting another leather strip in his mouth. Zeo did. Fina paused, and looked at him strangely. "Your mother has… real spells, then?" Zeo nodded. "I would like to meet her," she said. "Very much." She shook herself. "It is time. Bite down on the leather, and keep the rhythm as well as you can." Kurt was fidgeting rather badly, now, and the boy in the doorway was biting the knuckle of his thumb nervously.
Zeo closed his eyes and breathed deeply through his nose. He concentrated on the rattle, on keeping that rhythm. Shake SHAKE, shake. Shake SHAKE, shake. Fina put one hand on his leg and the other on the knife shard. Zeo could feel the warmth from one and the jolt of pain from the other. Then she pulled. It was surprisingly fast. By the time Zeo realized he was screaming through his clenched teeth, the thing was out.
"Strange, I thought it would bind in the bone," Fina murmured, but she'd already handed the shard to Kurt (he held it like it was a snake) and started bandaging Zeo's leg.
"Should you splint it?" Kurt asked.
"No. I have found that if an injury to the bones of a joint is splinted, the joint will not bend anymore when it heals."
Zeo managed to spit the leather out, gasping. It felt like he'd nearly bitten a chunk off. Fina had done her not-magic, the thing that was like Mom's Aura, before, during, and now after pulling the knife out, but obviously her version did nothing at all for pain. It was better now than before, but the pain of the pull itself had him still sweating. Fina took her rattle back and started pulling furs over him. "You need warmth and sleep, now, Zeo. Rest." She walked out, pulling Kurt behind her. The kid stayed, in fact he came in and sat on the floor next to Zeo, still watching him. For some reason, Zeo didn't think this was strange. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.