10 Years, Plains. Winter.

Shooo...

The snow under my sled is making such sounds as I slide over it in high velocities. Leaving the rest of the Nosediving Merlin wide behind, I help Olivia’s bird in scouting the area ahead of us.

A week has passed since I left the village, around five days since I came together with Olivia’s Hunting Band again. It has been days of travel, and we already put a remarkable distance between us and the village. This distance was able to give me some peace of mind, and I have been able to think extensively about magic.

Thinking of magic, I found another most useful way of using kinetic manipulation: With the help of self-lightening and speeding up myself, combined with a crudely-made sled Timo and Popey put together using a wooden saw Timo carried and a few thick branches of a tree on the roadside, I was able to get around perfectly without moving my legs at all.

I am most proud of this Idea, I came up with it myself, with some inspiration drawn from Maaten. Olivia, and most of all Shina, were sceptical at first, but once they saw the results, they seemed impressed. Using a combination of upward acceleration and forward acceleration while seated on the sled allows me to move it without having anyone tug it. Maaten’s original Idea was having Timo or someone else tow me, but once I heard the word sled, I quickly put the pieces together.

I had time experimenting with the exact spell over the last days, and it went through quite a few changes. At first, I first tried only using forward acceleration, and while it worked, it was a bumpy ride. The sled caved in the snow all the time, and I was being sprinkled with it constantly. Therefore, I cast a secondary self-lightening spell, and it worked wonders – the sled had less friction, and the lower acceleration forwards was balanced out. In addition, the problem of the sled getting under the snow all the time was solved.

The only thing keeping this from being perfect was that I had to constantly maintain three spells, and I lost concentration every now and then. This was not a big problem since I was not doing anything dangerous, but it was still annoying. However, the technique was perfected when I discovered I could simply merge the two kinetic spells!  By bundling the power of both spells, and focussing it into a direction in between the two original directions, I was able to achieve both effects at once. Depending on how fast I want to go, I make this direction more or less pointing upwards. This was unintuitive at first, but I quickly got the hang of it.

 

It is time for me to return and make my report. There is nothing to report, and there never really was anything – it was more or less only a pastime. I drive my sled as far as I can while still seeing the rest of the troop as dots in the white landscape, and then return. While driving, I think – and when I arrive, I talk.

Whenever I see a small animal, I decide whether or not it is worth hunting – if I deem it worthy, I shoot it with pebbles and load it into my lap. The rest of the band seems to appreciate this, and they have been telling me that this is more or less the only way of getting fresh meat in the plains. Animals are small, and rarely far from their burrow. If you approach them, they hide – only if you are faster than they are, you have a chance of making a kill.

 

The silhouettes of Maaten, Olivia, Popey, Simon, Timo and Shina are getting bigger, and Popey starts waving. He is the only one of them who always seems to be high in spirits, no matter the circumstances. While the rest look glad as well to see me again, Shina less so as she spots my empty lap, they do not quite share Popey’s enthusiasm. But, I cannot blame them, after all this has largely been a very monotonous travel. Nothing but snow and the occasional sign hinting that there might be a road hidden beneath all of it, it would bore out anyone. If not for my high speed, I probably would be bored out as well. However, I cannot seem to get enough of moving at high velocities, and while dashing through the snow, my head feels as sharp and clear as ever.

“Nothing noteworthy down the road. Not even animals, it seems to be deserted.” I make my report, and start sliding alongside them at roughly the same pace, sometimes a bit faster, sometimes a bit slower to let them catch up to me.

“Not even a single caravan? Even around this time of the year, we should be seeing some...” Olivia sighs. “I guess we won’t be able to restock until we get to the next village. Humman should not be far away by now, but still a day’s worth of travel. Our supplies will last, but not if we get delayed for a lot.”

We actually came across a caravan around three days into the journey. When I saw them in the distance on my scout trip, I immediately went back to report. Maaten told me to let Timo tow me again. I insisted, but Olivia and Simon sprung to his side, and told me it is important. Afterwards, they told me a story in case the caravan should ask why a child was traveling with them. According to it, I was Olivia’s son, and trained to be a member of the hunting band. I had injured my legs in an accident, and was therefore unable to walk.

The encounter went without incident. They were asking if I was okay, but the story satisfied them. Olivia dealt with them and bought supplies, mainly food. I got a piece of candy from them as a gift – it was one of the rare occasions that I was able to get my hands on some. I used to gawk at it laying out in the store windows, my parents always bought me a piece or two on birthday celebrations, and Ione would sometimes bring some with her to the lessons.

After Olivia was done trading and exchanging news with the caravan, they split ways with us, heading into the direction we came from.

“It would have surprised me more if you had spotted a caravan.” Maaten sounds gloomy and stares into the sky, he has been doing that for the past while. He points at the clouds approaching us. “This should be the reason why it is deserted. Anyone worth their salt will do their best to seek the nearest shelter the moment they see this, even in the horizon.”

“Could be a proper storm. Nasty, especially around this time of the year. Let’s hope it doesn’t unload right on top of us.” Shina gives her judgement, and Maaten nods approvingly.

“Whenever there was Sky like this, it was sign that spirits are angry. We should be cautious.” Popey mindfully looks at the brewing storm, seemingly reminiscent of older times.

I find this intriguing. Popey is always talking about spirits. Yet, I never saw, or even heard of spirits in my entire life from anyone else but Popey. Perhaps this is his version of the person everyone gives thanks for their food? Still, he involves them way more than anybody I have met before. I want to ask him, but on the other hand, he could also think that this question was dumb, and laugh at me.

“Whatever it is, Spirits or not – you are right, we should be most careful. Reiland, I want you to stay close to us. Should this storm hit us, I wouldn’t want us separated.” Even though Olivia was the leader, it was actually Maaten who gave most of the calls regarding the travels. I learned in the past days that Maaten was the one who was part of this band the longest. When the old leader retired, he gave leadership off to Olivia, after Maaten made clear he would not be taking it. He has been here for almost as long as I live, and the rest respects him for that.

Safe for Shina, but she does not seem to hold very dearly to other people, and men, anyway.

Still, Olivia has the final word in every matter, first and foremost the important ones. I view her as a good leader, at least from how I experienced her in the rather short time I travelled with the Nosediving Merlin.

 

In the end, we just continue down the road. We have no choice anyway, there is no shelter on these barren plains. However, the clouds are coming closer every minute, and in the distance, we see white downpour. It is at this point that Olivia calls for a halt. “Everyone, stop! There is no use continuing. At this tree right here, we put up our shelter. We need to make it as wind-proof as possible. Maaten, light a fire! Timo, use your backpacks as barrier, as good as possible! The rest, you know the drill!”

Immediately, everyone is busy. The atmosphere was charged in anticipation of this order, and now it discharged into hasty preparations. Maaten takes a bit of dry tinder from a backpack, and wood from the tree, and only two minutes later, the fire starts burning. Around it, the rest of the band assembles a shelter as good as one can from what narrow resources we have.

Everyone cuddles up in their sleeping bags, and tent canvas is wrapped around us. Together on Maaten’s instructions, we form a close circle around the rather dim fire, with backpacks around us as acting as wind breakers. We incorporated the tree into our circle, and it acts as our strongest member. Bear-like Timo sits on the other side, and acts as the second pillar. I sit next to Shina and Popey, and opposing me are Olivia, in the middle of Simon and Maaten. The mood is sullen.

 

Olivia’s call was right on the money.

We barely finish before the wind starts getting noticeably more agitated. At first, we notice an extremely icy wind on our faces, the only uncovered part. This wind turns harsher, and starts carrying snowflakes. Simon looks upset, even more so than the rest of us. “I hate this part...”, he sulks.

“This is not your first time getting stuck in a snow storm, is it?” I ask in Simon’s general direction, but Oliva answers.

“I wish, but no. We have been stuck in a few, three since I came to the band. We tend to be able to avoid them, but we ran out of luck today.” Olivia shields her eyes with her hand and looks up into the sky. “This may be one of the worst one’s yet.” She nods sideways to Maaten, who nods back.

“Brace for a long day, and possibly night. This fire here is not nearly as strong as I would like it to be – I fear it will get snuffed out, most likely sooner than later.” In fact, the fire already seems to be dwindling, and the winds get stronger every second. Snow is filling the air more and more, and the snowflakes evaporated by the fire are sizzling concerningly.

Olivia gives a signal, and the others lay their arms over their neighbour’s shoulder. I flinch away from Shina. “It’s not the time for that!” Shina snaps at me. After a look to Maaten, I lay my arms around Shina’s and Popey’s necks as well. The winds have gotten strong enough to shake us, and without the added support of each other’s backs it would be hard to sit here without tilting. In addition to that, the frosty wind is sapping our warmth, even through the blankets.

Nobody is having a conversation, but even if we tried, the howling of the wind is so loud we would have trouble understanding each other. Nobody seems eager to start a conversation anyway.

A particularly strong gust of wind deals the fire it’s finishing blow. Maaten swears profusely, and bows forward to the still smouldering fireplace. Despite him giving his best to revive the fire by blowing fresh air into the embers and otherwise shielding it from strong wind, it remains dead. It is remarkable he got it burning in the first place, since the only firewood available was very low quality.

Now that the fire was extinguished, the mood hit a deep. I have it warm with my self-heating, but I had to increase its strength two times already. The others don’t have this luxury. Simon’s lips are of an unhealthy blue hue, and I notice Popey’s arm and back shivering. Every face is layered with snow, and the snot running from Simon’s nose appears frozen.

Shit... If this continues, he might not make it.

I frown at this thought – after being prepared to fight with something as powerful as an owlbear, would a person really succumb to something as trivial as frost?

They would. I heard stories of people freezing to death in the village, and even though it was a small village, there was a similar story each spring of the remains of a caravan who did not make it.

If I want Simon, and the other members, to survive this blizzard, I need to act. The snow is a problem, but the main perpetrator is the wind. Since wind is moving air, I should be able to stop it, or at least slow it down by reducing the general air velocity in a bubble around us. I need to make it tight around us, so that I use as little energy as possible while still enclosing all of us.

I use every bit of coefficient not dedicated to my own warmth. The wind immediately blows less intense on my face. A spark of hope starts glimmering in Maaten’s face, who was looking like waiting to be laid down into his grave beforehand.

“I-Is th-th-the worst ov-over?” Simon stutters, his lips cracked open from the cold. Instead of a hue, they are deep blue now, and sprinkled by small blood drops. He sounds exhausted, and not far from fainting. I barely understand him due to the howling of the wind.

“I am not sure... this d-does not feel natural to me. The winds around us are strong as ever, only right at our place, they slowed d-down a bit.” Maaten looks over to me questioningly. I nod. “In this case, k-keep it up. I am going to give Simon my coat as well, and try to r-relight the fire... maybe we have a chance after all.” Although Maaten is obviously freezing himself, he still gives up his coat to Simon. What reassures me the most is the look in Maaten’s eyes when I nodded, though. It was gratitude, and my proof that what I do could make a difference. I got no proper look at the other faces, but they are certainly relieved as well.

Maaten shakes his head to get rid of the snow piling on his hair, and then slips out of his sleeping bag. He unbuttons his winter coat, and after wiping the snow of Simon’s back, he hangs it over his shuddering shoulders. He quickly re-enters his sleeping bag, and continues with reaching into a backpack behind him and taking out a small glass bottle.

“I am really glad I got this f-for emergencies like this...” Maaten mumbles and shovels snow out of the fireplace with his bare hands. “Just a little less wind...”

I halve the coefficient of my heating, and put the difference into the wind shielding spell. The wind gets a little weaker, but only so far that it’s barely noticeable. I start freezing as well. Maaten opens the bottle, and pours its contents over the wood. He then discards the empty bottle in the snow, and opens his tinder box, still laying between him and the fireplace. Using flint and steel, he strikes sparks at the wood – which ignites in a burst of flames. The burst lasts only a few seconds, but the wood has caught fire again thanks to it.

Maaten puts his hand into the snow. It is obvious he burned himself. “This is going to leave some nasty burn blisters.” Instead of sounding upset, Maaten sounds proud. The light of the fire acts as an anchor in this snow storm, and spends warmth to everyone surrounding it. With it, the same spark of hope that burnt in Maaten’s eyes lights up again in everyone else’s eyes as well. “Reiland, keep it up now. This could turn into a long day, but the lives of everyone here hang on this fire, and your magic. If one of them fail, we might not live to see tomorrow.”

I gulp, this is an awfully high responsibility. But still, I have to take it, since no one else can. “Understood.”

Maaten looks proud, as good as he can in this cold. I look around in our circle, and the same is true for Timo and Popey. Even the tree looks proud, somehow. Simon seems absent, and Olivia frantically tries waking him up again. Shina, despite the odds, looks grateful too.

The fire is finally strong enough to warm us properly. Since I want my temperature in my own hand, I redistribute a fraction of my coefficient back to the heating spell, but only so much that it does not affect the fire. Even though the wind got a bit stronger, the camp fire in our middle was more than enough to keep us from cooling out. Simon finally starts reacting to Olivia, his lips coloured slightly healthier.

Approximately three hours of huddling together later, the wind finally started declining. Maaten had to stand up and get some more firewood once, but the fire luckily didn’t get extinguished again. Now that the winds weren’t as deafening as before, first conversation attempts are being held: Shina asks Maaten what we would eat later once the storm is over, Simon stutteringly thanks Olivia for warming him and Maaten for giving him his coat, and Popey thanks his spirits.

Another hour later, the mood is almost cheerful again, and the storm has largely subsided. While the blizzard befell us very quickly, it’s currents only lessened over the course of several hours. I wonder if the storm stopped wandering right above our heads, to give us the whole package of goodness. Everyone is tired, and it is late in the night. The whole ordeal went for at least five hours, and it was already afternoon when we got caught up in the blizzard.

I am tired, as well. In fact, I can barely hold my eyes open. Concentrating on a new spell of this radius for such a long time was exhausting, and I had not really slept well the day before. When I finally undo the spell, I let out a hearty sigh of relief. The others congratulated me and started shovelling the piled-up snow to create a nice sleeping spot. I stand up to help, but as soon as I try to do that, the exhaustion takes its toll, and my vision shifts to black as I fall over.

 

I wake up seeing the world from a higher point of view. Sadly, neither did the sound sleep reveal any deep insights into the arcane secrets, nor did I have a growth spurt. It is just that I am getting carried by an extraordinarily tall man.

I am tied to Timo’s back again, just like back when we were still hunting the owlbear. I stretch out, and take a look at my surroundings.

The sun stands high up in the sky, it’s reflections in the snow shimmering nicely. Timo is walking at the back of the group, and is dragging my sled behind him. In front of him, all five other members walk steadily, with the exception of Simon whom Olivia is giving support as he is still unsteady on his feet. The rest of the group seems unusually cheery and well-rested, as well. Popey is whistling a song.

“You are awake, Reiland. That is good. We tried to wake you up, but since you had a deep sleep, we figured it would do no harm to let you sleep a bit longer.” Maaten comes up and greets me, being the first to notice me waking up after Timo.

“How long since we started going again?” The sun stands halfway up in the sky, so it must have not been for long. I make efforts to untie myself, and jump down onto the sled. While doing that, I listen to Maaten’s answer. “Around seven hours ago. You must have been quite exhausted to sleep for that long. It might be best for your body, though – there is still a lot of healing needed.”

I see. This also explains why everyone is so well-rested, as taking the seven hours on the road into account as well as the time we went to sleep, there should have been plenty of time to sleep.

Maaten reaches into his backpack, and gives me some dried food, a sausage and a potato, together with some water in a waterskin. “Eat this. We had our fill already, and these are the leftovers. We came across a caravan from Humman a few hours ago, but since we are that close to the village, we bought only enough for one meal.” I thankfully accept it, and start munching on it. It has been a while since I last ate something, so I am hungry.

I ask Timo to release my sled, and I start driving it with magic. The blizzard left behind a completely fresh layer of snow, and it is a joy to ride upon. I notice that Maaten has applied new ointment to my feet at some point, and rebandaged them, probably before they left the camp and I was still sleeping. It will still be some time before Maaten allows me to use my Feet again, so the sled will be my preferred way of travelling until then. I could of course disregard his advice, but I do not want to get onto his bad side.

Maaten leaves to the front and starts chatting with Olivia. Unexpectedly, another person falls back to me, and without warning starts to talk. “Listen, Boy. I wanted to say thanks. According to Maaten, you really saved our asses yesterday. It would have been a shame had Simon died and made Olivia sad.” It is Shina. “I know we did not start off on the best foot, but...”

She stops. I am a bit sceptical; Shina is not really the person to thank others. “I only did what anyone would have done in my situation. No need for gratitude.” Even though I am saying that and the truth, I am happy.

Shina shrugs, her eyes signalling ‘If you say so’. Again against my expectations, she does not distance herself. After a minute of just her walking and me sliding next to each other, she picks up the conversation again. “Say, how did you hunt those animals you brought back from time to time? I saw impact holes; did you use a sling?”

Right, Shina was a slinger. I remember. “No, I...” I stop. Demonstrating is easier than explaining. I pull out one of the pebbles I always carry with me, and lay it on my flat hand. With an unceremonious spell, I let it shoot far into the plains. Finding new pebbles in this area is hard, so I have to conserve them, but I got a good enough stock to use a few of them for such purposes.

“How handy.”, Shina remarks. I nod. Shina then pulls out a knotted rope from her coat pocket, as well as a stone the size of a chestnut. She puts the stone into a latch embedded into the rope, and then adopts a peculiar stance. She then swings around the stone in wide, circular motions, continuously getting faster and faster. Finally she releases the stone, and it flies in a nice wide arc, travelling a good deal further than mine until it hits the ground in the distance.

Shina has a smug grin on her face. “Finding good stones in this area is a damn pain, but to show a kiddo how it’s done, I always got one spare.” Hearing that, I laugh. “What is so funny?”

“I was thinking the same. The snow is complicating things.”

Shina laughs as well, now. She pats my head. It was unexpected, and I am unsure how to feel about it. “You are alright, Kiddo.” Coming from her, that might even be a compliment.

“Thanks, I guess. You too, Slingirl.”

Shina snorts. “What is that supposed to mean?” It is now my turn to shrug. What a weird conversation.

“Anyway, we fell back quite a bit.” Since we both stopped walking a time ago, the others made quite some distance between us. Shina nods, and we both start moving again, a bit faster than the rest of us to catch up eventually. We have half caught up when Shina points into the distance. “Do you see that?”

I squint my eyes together and look into the distance. Houses have appeared in the horizon. It will take us a few hours still, but the next village is finally in sight. Judging from the height of the sun, we might even make it before dusk. This is good news.

When we reach the rest of the band, the talk is already about a good meal in the inn and a nice bed to sleep in. Maaten asks me and Shina if we bonded a bit. I finally start a talk with Simon about literature, and the hours pass by quickly. In no time at all, we finally stand in front of the village gates.