by Tom Hansen
Yolphinir’s head turned at the distraction.
“Follow me, you big oaf!”
She flickered her hair low then bright again. Doing so took too much concentration, and her foot hit a large bone sticking up from the pile. She fell, hitting the ground, and let go of her hair.
The room plunged into darkness but for the glow of Synol’s torch in the distance.
Ynya rolled to her feet, her thin dress flaring out as she skidded to a stop with her feet melting the packed ice below her.
Steam wafted up from her ankle as her body began to heal itself.
The bear roared.
He was entirely focused on her right now, a small morsel, a snack before he ate Synol.
“Come get me! I’m tasty!” Ynya yelled, building up energy in her head as the big bear tensed his own muscles.
“Synol!” Ynya snapped, using the same loud voice she’d used at the bear, hoping he would think she yelled at him. “Close your eyes first, and when he gets to me, run! Drop the torch and run home.”
The two sisters’ eyes met, and for a moment, the sheer dread in Synol’s eyes flickered from horror, to revelation, to worry, and finally to terrified understanding.
Ynya smiled as the bear took his first lumbering steps toward her.
Synol would run. Ynya just had to distract the bear long enough to let her sister escape.
The two shared one last glance. It was a soft glance, bereft of the seething frustration Synol normally had for her.
“I love you, sister.” Ynya whispered. “I will keep you safe.”
Yolphinir took another step. He built up speed as he hurtled his way across half of his lair. He only needed a few steps to traverse the massive cavern, and two more would place him right on top of Ynya.
The mass of heat building up in her head was overwhelming. She had to be careful not to overheat herself, but she only needed another half-second.
One more step.
The rotten meat smell of the massive ice bear hit Ynya’s nostrils, turning her stomach.
Now!
Ynya crouched down with such speed that her hair remained hovering for just a moment.
She unloaded all her heat into her hair, which ignited in a brilliant blinding display.
She clenched her eyes hard, hoping her sister had done the same.
The bear roared, rearing back to try to avoid the long fiery hair in his face, but it was too late. His momentum propelled him into her hair, where she had just been, and he took a face-full of white-hot hair as he sailed right over her.
Singed fur and skin replaced the rotted meat smell, but she knew it wasn’t over. This would only make him angrier.
Ynya ran, her eyes locked on the torch that lay on the ice floor.
Synol had run, too.
Good.
Ynya ran at the torch. But instead of turning right down Synol’s tunnel, the one leading back to their village, she turned to stand against the ice between the two tunnels.
Chapter Six
Yolphinir roared, a terrifying sound that Ynya had hoped she would never hear in her life. She had messed up real bad this time. She knew her antics got her into trouble, but she would stay to clean up her mistake.
Ynya glanced down the tunnel to make sure Synol wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She had to make sure her sister got home safely. It was the only thing that mattered.
“Come get me!”
Yolphinir stood a few paces away, shaking his head. Blood poured down his face and into his eyes. No, his one good eye. Her hair must have gotten into his left eye and burned it clean out.
The sight should have churned her stomach, but Ynya’s heart raced so fast there was no time for sickness. Just fighting or running.
And she wasn’t going to run.
“I’m over here you dumb animal! Can’t see so good with only one eye, huh?”
Yolphinir looked at her, recognition on his face. He roared once more, and massive talons glinted in the low firelight.
He charged, his claws digging into the packed ice, spraying chunks behind him.
Ynya tensed. She was planning the same thing this time, and knew that doing the same move twice in a row was dumb, but she had no other options. She needed him to lock his antlers into the ice so she could run.
But as he got closer and dipped his head low enough that the antlers scraped the floor, Ynya realized that she couldn’t go down – she had to go up.
She had already tensed, and willing her body to go in the opposite direction she had already planned was not going to work well.
Still, she tried.
Ynya jumped, just clearing Yolphinir’s antlers as they scraped along the ice. She landed in a heap on top of his massive head, her hands scrambling for handholds of any type.
He is so soft! She hadn’t expected that. But underneath that softness were powerful corded muscles that thrashed to pull himself from the ice.
Yolphinir had gotten himself stuck in the ice, but not as much as Ynya had hoped. The bear hadn’t been running near as fast as he had before, and the scraping of his antlers across the floor had slowed his pace significantly as they dug in deeper, until the bear was forced to stop.
She grabbed onto the antlers and held on tight as he wrenched them from the icy floor.
Shards flew in every direction, pelting her small body and cutting open exposed skin.
Yolphinir looked around and roared again, but instead of trying to throw her off, he sniffed.
I’m so small he doesn’t feel me!
The ice bear turned down the tunnel where Synol had fled and began to lope down the tube.
Chapter Seven
Despite his damaged face and missing eye, Yolphinir was still a powerful and massive bear, and a couple loping strides took him farther along the tube than dozens of Synol’s feet could carry her.
Ynya realized her sister would never make it back down the mile or so of tunnel before Yolphinir caught up with her.
Yolphinir could see just fine in the dark, and Synol stumbled forward in the blackness. Luckily, it was an open tunnel with curved walls, so she would eventually make it there as long as she kept one hand on a wall and followed it back to the light.
But Synol didn’t have the time, no matter how fast she jogged or sprinted.
Yolphinir would catch up.
Beneath Ynya, Yolphinir fell into a calm rhythm that surprised her. He was a massive terrifying animal, but there was a grace about him that she couldn’t ignore.
Still, he was going to catch up to her sister, and Ynya had to stop him.
Ynya heard the gentle clapping of Synol’s feet as she ran for her life.
Synol sprinted down the tube, and her huffing breath showed she was nearly out of energy.
Yolphinir heard her too, and sped up just a little.
“Oh no you don’t!” Ynya yelled.
Yolphinir jumped slightly when she yelled. He must have forgotten she was up there, or thought her so insignificant that he didn’t think she was a threat.
But she was a threat. She was always a threat when her family was in danger.
Ynya poured heat into her left hand, which transferred immediately into his antler. She held onto the base, and soon fur sizzled and Yolphinir yelped in agony.
He swung his head back and forth, trying to shake her, but Ynya had locked her small body tightly into his antlers. No matter which way he swung, she was held in place by his own body.
She stopped the heat, and the bear whimpered, but then locked onto Synol again, who had stopped to look behind her.
“Go! You’re almost there, I’ll keep him at bay!”
Synol ran, and the light was close enough that Ynya could just start to see her silhouette move in the darkness.
Yolphinir growled again and took an uneasy step up the tube.
Ynya responded with more heat into his right antler this time.
The bear stopped, confused.
She pulled back the heat, and bent down
so that she was eye level with the massive beast.
It snorted, but didn’t move.
“So we understand each other?”
Yolphinir growled, and tried to shake her, but she poured heat into both of his antlers this time.
He stopped again, much sooner this time.
“I’m glad you can learn when you’ve been outsmarted.”
Ynya smiled at the bear. “Now we are going to wait here patiently while my sister makes it to safety.”
The next few minutes were torture for Ynya. She had no way to know if Synol had made it safely or not, and as much as she hoped Synol would alert her, she also worried that any yelling would entice the bear to continue his hunt.
Yolphinir tested her twice over the next five minutes.
Each time, she gave him two steps before unleashing her heat.
She was getting near the end of her energy, and would need a lot of rest and food soon.
Finally, the bear got the hint and laid down on the tunnel floor. His breathing slowed to a gentle rumble.
After another ten minutes, she dared to hop off his side, still amazed at how soft his fur was.
Ynya held onto his antler and the two eyed each other for a long minute. At that moment he could swat her out of existence with his massive paw, but he didn’t. The ferocity was out of his one good eye. The rage had boiled away, and the fight had turned in her favor.
“I’m going to go now.” She let go, backing away slowly. She grabbed a tuft of hair in her hand and held it out, pouring her final bits of energy into the strands so they glowed softly in the blackness.
“One move from you and I won’t hold back.”
Yolphinir didn’t move.
Synol waited for Ynya when she got back to the tunnel entrance. Synol gave her the handful of nuts and dried berries she normally kept as a snack in her thick coat.
It was dark outside, and the stars above were a brilliant and welcome sight.
The two sisters didn’t say a thing the whole way home, but Ynya couldn’t stop thinking about that bear. She had tamed the most ferocious creature in these lands.
Ynya smiled. She was now the queen of the ice bears.
Miss-Miss’s Near Miss
Chapter One
“Suzie, Darla, Jim, and Toby! How many times do I have to tell you to stop playing in the mud. You’re going to get all your clothes dirty and then I will have to give you another bath.”
“Sorry, Miss-Miss,” they all replied in unison.
Miss-Miss nodded, her lips in a line. She wasn’t mad, but she did need to run a tight ship, otherwise things might get out of hand. Out here on the frozen wasteland, situations could get too dangerous otherwise, and keeping the younger ones close seemed like the best method to keep them safe.
“Martha, you there, Hon?”
“Yes, Miss-Miss, just finishing up with the laundry.”
“We can finish that later. For now, I want you to come help me with the gardening.”
If they were going to survive here, they needed to keep some vegetables growing through the winter, and it was a good thing the previous residents already had the infrastructure in place to do just that.
It had taken some work to rebuild the burned-out village and they were far from done. But they procured more glass from Ynya for windows and a greenhouse before she and her sister, Synol, set off on their adventure to find their other sisters. With the greenhouse construction completed just the day before, it was time to get the first vegetables planted.
As Martha came over, her gentle skirt-swish and heavy footsteps told Miss-Miss that the oldest of her care was a full-on lady now. Miss-Miss appreciated the help around the place, but Martha would be marrying age soon, and should move on with her own life instead of taking care of a blind woman and a group of orphans.
Still, having the help for the near-term was nice. Martha was a big help catching the younger children up on proper chore technique. They had been orphaned before their parents could pass on their knowledge.
Another footstep caught her ear, a familiar echo to Martha’s.
“Joey, is that you lurking around in the back?”
The heavy footsteps stopped. “Yes, Ma’am.”
“’You get all the wood chopped?” She already knew the answer based on the pungent pine scent and the way he rubbed his sore calloused hands together. He probably had blisters still from his new job. She was more proud of him than anyone could know. Joey was growing up to be a fine man, willing to work for others.
“Of course, Ma’am. Wouldn’t have come back here if I didn’t.”
“Well, get things set up for another wood chopping demonstration. You’re going to teach the younger boys this afternoon what it’s like to be a man around these parts.”
And maybe it’ll get him to stop following Martha around like a lovesick puppy.
Poor Martha hadn’t a clue either. So busy with tending to the young ones, she hadn’t grown enough emotionally to notice boys. Joey, on the other hand, had his eyes on the only eligible young woman in the area.
I need to pull that girl off to the side one of these days and teach her about the facts of life.
Miss-Miss waited a spell for Joey to finish his setup and for Martha to round up all the children and give them a small cooked fish snack before the lesson.
“Okay, children I want you all to gather round and pay attention. Growing crops in the ground isn’t something we normally do this far north, but we’ve been blessed with a greenhouse that will allow us all to grow things year-round, despite the freezing temperatures outside.”
Then, she heard it.
That distinct horse whinny and hooves on stone.
Someone was coming, and it wasn’t the two boys she’d sent out to fish.
The rhythmic clomp clomp clomp of the hooves told Miss-Miss one thing.
Soldiers.
No no no, not yet. We just escaped that life.
Chapter Two
“Children. We have a slight situation here.”
Miss-Miss reached for her cane, and one of the children placed it in her hand. She chastised herself for not placing some kids into the rotation already for observing the road. The early warning would have given her more time as they came over the rise. Right now, there was no time. No time at all.
“We aren’t going to be able to make it into the underground bunker. Children, I need everyone to hide right now. Find yourself a partner, the closest person next to you, and slide under a bench, a bed, or a plant if you can’t find anything better.”
Miss-Miss heard feet scraping against wood, and then Suzie’s voice making a disgusted sound. “Yes, that barrel right there should work out just fine, Suzie. I know it smells like fish, but you can take a bath later.
“Now listen, these men might say mean things. I want you to ignore what they say and just stay hidden. I will handle this.”
Miss-Miss listened to the clomp clomp once again. She hoped the ruined village wouldn’t interest the soldiers. But the horses slowed, just about to make the turn into Marsfjord.
“Martha, take the two smallest and keep them quiet. Whatever you do, don’t show yourself.” She paused. Emotions crawled up her throat trying to cut off her words. “If they do take me–”
Martha cleared her throat. “They won’t. Places kids, and NO talking until Miss-Miss handles the men.”
Small feet pattered and little voices whispered as the dozen kids fanned out, finding spots to hide.
Miss-Miss set her cane off to the side and busied herself with the planting. She mixed some compost and chopped up old vegetable stems with the ground to start composting again. She grabbed the pitchfork and turned the pile twice, hoping that it looked like she was just an old lady out doing chores in the morning.
Miss-Miss stopped. I’m an old fool. She realized her cane would be a dead giveaway.
She walked over to the cane, but it was gone. A slight wheezing breath below her told her that Darla had pulled it
in with her under the planting bed.
Good girl.
As the soldiers came down the road into the burned-out remnants of Marsfjord, Miss-Miss took a few moments to warm her face in the sun. She breathed slowly, going over in her mind the plan, such that it was. She tapped her dress pockets, looking for her knife, but there was none to be found.
Damn. I’ll have to improvise.
To a soldier riding into town, she hoped it looked like she was relaxing in the cool morning, but what she was actually doing was listening. She listened for the individual small noises the kids made. She mapped out their locations throughout the small encampment.
Then, she heard something she had once hoped she would never hear again.
“Ahoy, woman!”
Chapter Three
“Woman, you hard of hearing?”
Miss-Miss turned. “What’s that? No, I can hear you just fine, you just interrupted my morning constitutional is all. What can I do for you fine gentlemen passing by on this warm summer day?”
The man, though she couldn’t see him, was someone she recognized from Holmslatr when she hid the kids under the old mill. His name was just at the tip of her tongue – she knew it started with a T, that was for sure.
Or maybe it was an L?
TL man replied. “What, my lady, may I ask that you are doing this morning in this burned out rubble of a town?”
“This? Well, I call this home, don’t ya see?”
“Home? Are you blind, Ma’am? The place is a wreck.”
Miss-Miss huffed and grabbed her pitchfork once again, giving the compost bin another turn.
“I can see that, good Sir. It’s just that when I got back from visiting my grandchild in Lyraville, I found my town quite destroyed. I don’t know how it happened, but I knew one thing was for sure. I needed to fix it right up in case any of my old neighbors come back here.”
TL man turned and asked his soldiers to fan out and look for kids.
Miss-Miss tensed.