CHAPTER 293: REAL COLD

There was a burning from the cold Irene’s face as she climbed the hill that left the northern side of the township she had gotten comfortable staying in. In response, she slowed Sammy and pulled the scarf higher until it was just under her eyes.

With a moment of pause, the girl turned towards the place she was leaving and her eyes brushed over it fondly. She was sure she would be back on the way home.

While the sun was rising and the clear sky would make one think that it was going to be a warm day, she could see the occasional sparkle in the sky that showed just how frozen the air actually was. It had reached a point she was familiar with where the sky was too frozen to hold clouds. The sun was a misleading backdrop to what would be an awfully cold travel day.

Yet the horse underneath her seemed giddy to keep going so she squeezed her knees and requested he go forth. He bounded down the hill in response and they crunched through the snow with each step.

She even spared one last glance to the ships that stood in the distance. The further north she traveled, the icy plateau that led to a mountain even higher than the northern mountains in Chemois would conceal the ships and the signs of life would no longer be present.

Her father told her that the likelihood she could miss the village altogether was quite high. She needed to pay special attention to her surroundings and everything it said on the map. The village was said to be where the icy plateau was no longer in sight and they had a gateway to the far north. Only there she would find the lumps in the snow that represented the village that her uncle and father came from. It was the one her grandmother and grandfather built from scratch.

She also had three grouse carcases that she had frozen the night before in individual pouches, knowing that they would come in handy.

From the township, she had also stolen a shovel that she could put behind her saddle and on top of one of the saddlebags. There seemed to be a high likelihood that the expanse of whiteness ahead meant that there wouldn’t be rocks or buildings to nestle against to stave off the cold. Her only option otherwise was to dig downward and hope that snow was stable enough to offer shelter.

Considering the weight of Sammy and her was only sinking down about six inches, there was a high likelihood that the snow would hold. The issue would be if she was too tired or not to accomplish the digging needed to give both herself and her horse a decent enough shelter.

Because of the clear day, Irene occasionally measured the icy mountain with the northern mountains that were her backdrop. She was supposed to be going northeast rather than true north. Each time she looked in the direction of the mountains, she knew she was on the right track, but the monotonous path ahead was making her doubt herself.

The only way she could tell that they had gone forward a great deal was the fact that the township was lost in the distance and concealed by what she wasn’t sure were hills or merely snowdrifts. It made her realize she would love to return once things were thawed out. However, Sunstoian people traveled in packs for a reason. The high amount of monsters in this region when things thawed was not something she could take all on her own.

Almost the second Irene noticed that the sun had peaked in the sky and was falling down the other end did she decide to dig a hole for her and Sammy. Even though it was a bit early, it was never too early to ensure that they didn’t freeze to death in the night.

Even though her blanket rolls and clothing were good, she couldn’t help it if she didn’t create a space for her fire to survive in the night and, she knew that with the long night ahead, she was going to need to wake at least once to make sure that it remained alive and useful.

The girl slipped off of her horse and strode around another area that boasted a great deal of possible hills or snowdrifts. Regardless of what they were, they were going to be useful to create a shelter where Sammy could walk into it easily and not risk falling directly into the hole since the edges were likely to be too unstable for all of his weight.

"Just give me a few moments," she assured the horse as she grabbed the shovel and went on.

Dig, dig, dig.

Once she got down about a foot, the snow was packed down heavily and each scoop of the rectangular shovel gave almost a perfectly shaped lump of snow. Each shovelful was then placed along the edge of where she was digging.

It was enough to break a sweat and she had to remove her scarf completely and open the front of her clothing. What a mistake it would be to sweat enough that her sweat soaked any of the material that was meant to keep her warm. It would freeze during the night and she would likely freeze with it. If needed, she could change tunics since she brought a few with her. However, a new coat was out of the question.

She pushed up her sleeves as well until there was a gap between coat and glove. After all, she couldn’t remove the glove because her hands would be hurt by the splintering wood of the old shovel she was using to do this in the first place. The risk of it snapping in half caused her to silently beg that it stay together. She would have to dig three, possibly four, more structures until they made it to the village where there was no certainty she would even be able to find shelter there.

The sun got lower and lower but she still seemed to feel warm. It was only about an hour from setting that she finally finished their structure for the night and she fell onto her knees in relief.

Dug into a hill, they had cover on three and a half sides. The back side was the top of the hill, the sides were the sloping downward parts of the hill, and the front was snow that she had stacked up herself.

While it wasn’t perfect and lacked any sort of decent design quality, she had already beat the wall and leaned against it after packing it down to ensure that Sammy wouldn’t destroy it.

It was enough space for the two of them but still small enough that it would be easy to heat with a fire.

Sammy strode up to her as she stood and looked at her handiwork.

"All for you," she told the horse. "You’re going to be a tough yet spoiled horse by the time we’re out of this."

He huffed at that and she scratched his cheek.

"Shall we?" she asked as she took his reins and led him to the opening.

It was time to build a fire and settle in.

Even though Irene shivered until she went to sleep, holding water bottles full of thawed water that were warm from the fire lulled her to sleep eventually. On her father’s advice, she had herself a little snow platform because he said that coldness would settle in the bottom of these structures when she was truly camping in the arctic environment.

It was even too cold for her to take out her writing or reading. That didn’t sound enjoyable even when she was right next to the fire and could warm her hands.

Every lesson taught to her presented itself in the cruellest of ways.

For three days the girl lived this way. The nights were cold but survivable and she knew her dreams of warmth in the Duke’s Tower were simply motivation to be able to feel that again.

By the second day, she no longer even voiced her complaints to Sammy. It was easier for her to accept that this was her reality for the time being. If a horse couldn’t complain, then she wouldn’t either. After all, the beast of a steed would wake up with energy each morning and willingly gallop every time they set off as if he was excited for what lay ahead.

Only when Irene saw that they had finally passed the plateau and there truly was an open expanse around them did she take out the map once more and pore over the instructions of how she was going to find the township.

It was in a bowl, as was described. There were bodies of water nearby, but during that season, they would simply be ice flats of light blue that would only be revealed if it was windy enough.

She pressed on, not seeing a depression of the land just yet.

As her eyes traveled around, Irene looked further east and saw what she thought was the bowl. She squeezed her knees and Sammy galloped forth.

A cry of relief escaped her lips when lumps in the snow appeared. Only two of the lumps gave way to something other than snow and she saw the wood structures of who she knew were for sure her ancestors. It was such a welcome sight.

The girl dismounted her horse.

However, even though they were leaving behind the plateau, there was another to her east that grew closer with each step she and Sammy took.

Her eyes weren’t focused on it and she missed nearly a quarter of it collapsing as the snow got too heavy and fell. It caused the ground to shake and she was on her knees.

Only when she saw the snow that settled did she realize what happened.

"I thought father said it was a wide open expanse," she uttered with a gloved hand over her chest as she willed her racing heart to stop.

She waited a few moments and the snow settled rather than coming in her direction. She decided they were safe and had to press on. The thought of being able to sleep indoors once more was too much for her to stop just yet.