Silent Snow: Tales from Ancient Ieda 01

by Sarah Thomie

  Silent Snow

  Tales from Ancient Ieda 01

  Sarah Thomie

  Black Cat Orange Cat Publishing

  Copyright © 2021 Sarah Thomie

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  ISBN-13: 978-1-955627-00-9

  Cover design by: Clarissa Kezen

  (http://ckbookcoverdesigns.com/)

  Printed in the United States of America

  This book is dedicated to

  Ryan

  Big Z

  Little Z

  Asha and Cali

  Tricerasisters

  Good Morning, love!

  Thank you for purchasing Silent Snow!

  This is S. Thomie's debut story of the world of Ieda. Those written as Ancient Ieda are medival fantasy, while Modern Ieda is more urban fantasy.

  Chapter 01

  “Run!” a male screamed. My fear and desperation overrode the fatigue or exhaustion. I had to get away from the burning buildings before the King’s Guard showed up to investigate the fire growing behind me.

  Snow Cat rose in me, asking if I needed her help. I gave myself to the spirit, allowing her to take over my movements. My energy renewed. As I blinked, a shade of pale blue tinted my line of sight. The Snow Cat was in control, and my body moved of its own volition.

  I ran through the woods, my feet carrying me through a mess of trees and bushes. I leapt over a fallen log, then splashed in the cold water waiting on the other side. Ashes clung to my skin; the smell of smoke followed me. When I found a clearing, I slowed and debated whether to keep to the forest or take the chance through the meadow. Night was coming, so I thought the darkness would hide me, even in the open spaces. So, I ran through the clearing, reaching the forest on the other side.

  I do not know how long I ran, but my body slowed, unable to keep up the break-neck pace. There was a small fire ahead of me as the cold, night air cooled the hot sweat on my skin. I shivered and slid to a stop to see who owned the flames.

  A large Wood Elf dressed in leathers walked back toward his camp. His dark brown skin and black hair glistened in the flickering light. He stood near his fire, taller than me by over a foot. His thick arms muscles hinted at the rest of his stature. His cloak caught my attention: a wolf pelt that looked warmer than the tatters of clothes I wore.

  The man did not know what hit him when I tackled him from behind, plunging him face first to the ground. I made a grab for the wolf pelt, but he swung his arm back, catching me in the cheek.

  I threw myself off him. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth.

  He rolled onto his back, then stood up. “A City Elf?”

  I crouched, waiting to pounce again. We circled each other, his hands in front of him, while I looked for a weak spot. When I thought I found one, I launched myself at him.

  He feigned his weakness, catching me by my upper arms. He then turned and slammed my back into the nearest tree. I tried to kick him, but he smashed me into the tree again, knocking the breath from my lungs. I gasped for air, trying to get away from him. He held onto my arms, bruising my pale skin with the force of his strength. The Snow Cat’s rage erupted within me. I kicked him, my heel connected with his thigh, after he turned his body at the last second to prevent me from nailing him in the sensitive areas. He dropped me, backing away.

  If I could not find a way to stay warm, then I was going to die. Both the Snow Cat and I knew it, so there was no chance of walking away without the pelt. After I landed on all fours, I launched myself at him again. He grabbed me, that pulled the two of us to the ground. The Elf used his feet to kick me over his head, and I crashed into a rock behind him. Tasting more blood in my mouth, I begged my body to get up, but my body refused. I slipped in the cold dirt, watching as he came closer. I tried to fight back, but darkness closed around me, my vision fading.

  Chapter 02

  I woke up in the morning light to the sound of cackling fire, my vision cleared of the Snow Cat’s blue tint. I tried to move, but my hands and feet were bound. The leather shirt and pants under the soft wolf pelt warmed me. The Snow Cat was too tired to help me, so I was on my own.

  “If you are planning on attacking me again, you should reconsider,” the large Wood Elf said in the common language from nearby. “But if you are willing to play nice, I might even share my food with you.”

  I did not say anything, even if I could.

  He walked over and helped sit me up, leaning on the log he sat on. “Are you going to be a good City Elf?” he asked.

  I nodded to him, a tinge of excitement for warm food filled my aching bones.

  He untied my wrists but kept my ankles bound. He handed me a wooden bowl with what looked like soup in it and sipped from it. The hot soup warmed me from the inside. I looked to the large Elf who just kept an eye on me, waiting to see if I would attack him again.

  “What is a City Elf doing so far away from civilization?” he asked.

  Using my fingers, I mimed running.

  He just looked at me. “Too good to talk to a Wood Elf?” he spat.

  I shook my head again, trying to stop him from thinking the wrong thing.

  “You could at least tell me your name,” he growled.

  I blinked. He knew I was a City Elf, but did he not realize that none of us had names? I moved the wolf pelt and the sleeve of the leather shirt he put on me while I was unconscious. I showed him the brand on my wrist; the numbers 13-87-22 had been burned into my skin.

  He ran his thumb over the brand, and I could almost see his anger rising.

  I tried to pull my wrist back, but he refused to let go.

  “You do not even have a name…” His dark eyes flashed at me. “Can you even speak?”

  I shook my head, as he dropped my wrist. I wished I could have explained why, but without paper, I would not be able to write it down for him. Even if I used my hands to speak, I was not sure he would have understood the gestures.

  “Where were you going when you attacked me? Your clothes were destroyed, so you must have been through something terrible. And what about the ash on your skin?” He looked at the ground, deep in thought. “I am guessing you were running from a fire.”

  I shrugged, at the first question. I had nowhere to run to, just away from. I nodded at his guess that I had been running for a while and about the fire.

  He seemed hesitant before he said, “I need to bring you to the Elder. He will know what to do with you.”

  I waved my hands in front of me, hoping he would understand not to take me with him.

  “You do not have a choice. Either you come with me, or I will leave you here to freeze.”

  I glared at the ground. He would realize how much of a curse I was to be around sooner rather than later.

  “I will get the camp cleaned up, then I will release your ankles. If you try to attack me, I will leave you behind. Considering that the only reason you are warm is because of my good graces, you should think about your actions.”

  I showed him a rude hand gesture, and by the way he chuckled, he knew what I meant.

  He broke down his camp around me: collapsing the small tent, dowsing the fire, and cleaning the pot and bowl he used. He stuffed them into his pack. He untied my ankles and helped me stand.

  I stepped away from him but did not try
to run. He would learn that I was cursed, so I wanted to keep the warm clothes on as long as possible.

  “It is a day and a half walk back to the village. Do you feel up to it?”

  I shrugged, not sure whether I could or not.

  He led us through the forest, following game trails as they wove through the trees. He must have been a foot and a half taller than me, but he did not take his full gigantic steps, so I could keep up. He kept asking me questions, and I tried to answer what I could. He then asked me something I was not expecting, “Why were your eyes blue last night, but green today?”

  I tilted my head to the side, trying to figure out how to answer that. I mimed that it was snowing, followed by a cat’s claw, then as a ghost, as you would charade during fireside terror tales, finally pointing to my heart with my thumb.

  It took him a second to understand, but he caught on. “You have a Snow Cat spirit within you?”

  I smiled and nodded.

  We fell into an easy silence as we moved through the forest. We stopped a few times to rest and eat and, again, when we saw a beautiful vista. I had never been outside a city before unless it was in a covered travel cage as my enslavers moved me from place to place. I was surprised that he allowed me the freedom to stop and stare as we hiked.

  As nightfall came upon us, he pulled his pack off his shoulders and set up camp next to a river. “If we follow this river, we will reach the village by nightfall tomorrow.”

  I gazed at the clear, running water from a rock above the deep water. I leaned over it to try to see the smooth pretty stones under the water.

  “Be careful,” he warned. “That rock does not look stable.”

  I heeded his warning and tried to slide back to the solid ground. The rock slid forward, and I lost my footing. With a loud splash, I fell into the deep, cold river. I fell beneath the waterline, not able to swim above it. There was a loud splash near me as the Wood Elf dove into the water after me. He grabbed my wrist and swam the two of us back to the shore. He had me hold onto a bunch of roots while he climbed out of the water. He then grabbed me under my arms and pulled me onto the bank of the river.

  He guided us back to the camp, where he had a fire built.

  I shook in the wet clothes and cold, night air.

  “Take your clothes off.”

  I wondered how I could tell him to go to the Abyss, until I saw that he was removing his own clothes as well. I turned away from him and undressed.

  He grabbed the clothes from me and hung them on a branch above the fire to dry. He wrapped a blanket around me and pulled me closer to the fire.

  I shivered, while he made his soup and handed me the bowl of it. I sipped on it, hoping it would get rid of the chill I felt.

  After we finished eating, he grabbed me and tossed me in the tent. He shoved me under more blankets and crawled into the tent next to me. “Do not move,” he said as he wrapped his arms and legs around me. He radiated body heat, and I stopped shivering. Soon, the day’s walk and his heat drew me to the lull of sleep.

  Chapter 03

  I woke up warm and comfortable, until I saw the shadow above me.

  “Lookie here, boys. We found ourselves a couple of love birds cuddling for warmth,” the gravelly voice said from the shadows. It was another Wood Elf, and from the glares from my companion, they were not a part of his Clan. The new Elf bent down and grabbed me, pulling me to my feet. “Oooh. She is a City Elf. Look at her scars, she must be a bad girl.” He smiled at two other Wood Elves with him. He grabbed my chin to meet his eyes. “Just how bad can you be, City Elf?”

  Part of me debated if biting him in the nose would make the situation too much worse.

  “Let her go,” my travelling companion growled from where he sat up beside me.

  “Do not move, unless you want my friends’ arrow to go through you.” He looked to the two other Elves as they knocked their bows, aiming at my traveling companion. The enemy looked at me and said, “We just want to play with your friend here. If she is a good girl, we will just rob you. If she is not, or if you try to attack us, we will kill you.” He grabbed my hair. “Never seen silver hair on an Elf before.”

  “Boss?” one of the others asked. “He looks like the Moon Clan’s enforcer.”

  The boss threw me to the third Elf, as he bent down to inspect my companion’s face. “I believe you are right. We caught Howling Wolf with his pants down.” The stranger laughed as he stood back up.

  I looked at the Wood Elf in the tent. Even the City Elves knew of the viciousness of the Moon Clan and their Enforcer. No wonder the Snow Cat could not defeat him.

  The leader looked between the two of us and said, “Did not know who you were getting into bed with, did you, girly?”

  The Snow Cat rose in me, turning my vision with her blue eyes. The leader watched while I changed, subtle, but enough for him to know that something was wrong. I looked to my companion, appraising him.

  “What the hell is this?” The leader grabbed me again.

  I smiled, caressing the skin of the leader’s chest with my fingertips. He shuddered under my touch, before he took a tiny step back, giving me the chance to grab the knife from his belt. Then, I threw it in a smooth motion, where it slammed into the arm of the other Elf.

  He dropped his bow, screaming in pain.

  Rage filled the leader’s face as I backed closer to the second archer. “Grab her!” he yelled at the other Elf holding his bow on Howling Wolf. The second archer dropped his bow too, grabbed my upper arms, and pulled me closer to his body.

  I slammed my heel into his knee, forcing it backward.

  He let me go, just as Howling Wolf slammed his elbow into the leader’s face. The three Elves were yelling in pain and bleeding on the ground.

  Howling Wolf grabbed the rope and tied them to the nearest tree.

  Once they were subdued, I blinked, my vision back to mine. He threw me the dried clothes from above the fire, and I put them on, while he dressed. We broke camp down.

  The leader screamed at us, “What the Seven Hells is she? She’s not a normal City Elf!”

  I shrugged, letting Howling Wolf answer, “She is the newest member of the Moon Clan. So, I suggest that if you get out of that, you warn your Clan that she could easily defeat you, even without the help of the rest of our Clan.”

  We left them there, walking next to the river, continuing toward the village. Once we were far enough from them, I stopped. I did not know how to ask it, but he must have read my face.

  “I will have to talk to the Elder, but I doubt he will disagree with me after he sees you fight.” He then hesitated before asking, “How are you so scarred? I did not get a good look when I changed you the first night and then again last night; I was more worried about hypothermia than seeing your skin.”

  I took a deep breath and let it out. I mimed someone with a whip.

  “Their leader said that it is because you were bad. Is it because you fought against the humans that held you?”

  I nodded, but when I saw the sadness in his eyes, I wondered if I should have kept the scars hidden.

  “Let us get to the village.” He settled whatever was on his mind.

  I followed him, both of us lost in our thoughts. I was trying to reconcile what I had heard about Howling Wolf and about the Wood Elf who chose to spare my life after I attacked him. The Wood Elves were used by the humans to threaten City Elves. They told us that if we escaped, the Wood Elves would find us, and if our lives were not cut short, then it would be worse than what the humans did to us.

  “We are here.” He broke the spell of silence over us.

  I looked to see a modest village of circular wooden huts. In the center of the village was the largest building. I could hear voices, laughing, talking, some singing. I stopped; the fear of the stories I was told by the humans prevented me from taking another step. It was one thing to travel with a Wood Elf; it was something entirely different to be surrounded by them. I took an involuntary step b
ack, but Howling Wolf grabbed my hand.

  “It is all right.”

  A beautiful, tall woman ran toward us. She wore a thick leather dress that flitted in the wind. Her long black hair trailed behind her the closer she came.

  I hid behind Howling Wolf, thinking better the Wood Elf you know versus an unknown one.

  “Wolf!”

  “Sparrow!” He hugged her, and I wondered if they were a couple.

  She spotted me and let him go. “Who is this?” She leaned down, her eyes more curious than anything else.

  He pulled me around to his front, the top of my head coming up to his chest.

  She leaned in, and I shrank away, trying to push myself through him. “Hello.” She smiled at me, before looking back at Howling Wolf. “Where did you find a City Elf?”

  “She found me,” he admitted. “She was freezing and tried to steal my wolf pelt for warmth. She attacked me, and after I beat her, I decided that the Elder should see her to decide what to do.”

  She looked from him to me, then back to him. “She attacked you? She is like five foot nothing.”

  “Almost beat me, too.” His jaw shifted into a grin.

  That is not how I remembered that fight; I was pretty sure he beat me easily.

  She looked back at me. “What is your name, City Elf?” I showed her my brand, and she tilted her head. “What is this?”

  “City Elves don’t get names, since they are considered property,” an older, male voice answered her from behind her. The older man stepped into my view, and I could almost feel the respect that he commanded. His dark tan skin was wrinkling, and his dark eyes held no warmth toward me.

  The Snow Cat growled from her den within me when we noticed the Snow Cat pelt around his neck and back.

  He looked to Howling Wolf and asked, “What is the meaning of this?”

  “Honorable Elder, I believe that she could be of use to our Clan,” Howling Wolf answered. “I have seen her fight, so I believe that she can be useful to us.”