by HM Waugh
I smile. ‘Mera thinks they are.’ My smile vanishes as I remember where we are, how upset Mera was when she heard we were coming here out of season. I fight the fear. ‘No. They’re not real. You can’t hide a whole city in the snow. And the type of magic they’re supposed to have? It’s just not possible.’
‘Yeah, I suppose so. It’d be cool, though, wouldn’t it?’
‘What?’
‘If they were real. If we could go there …’
He’s asleep within moments. I can’t join him, restless with the strange noises and the sensations of the valley that tickle inside my head. Still spooked by the idea of being here out of season. I can’t feel anything outside that seems out of place – of course I can’t, Ice-People don’t exist – but still I can’t sleep.
Something nuzzles me. ZuZu. Her smell, her sense. She settles her warm flank against my stomach, and I pull my rug over her. My hand rests on her belly, feeling the jerk and kick of the little legs growing inside her. And I’m glad I’m here, with ZuZu and the nannies. To help raise the next generation of wagging tails and butting little heads. Like I helped raise each of the gotals in this room.
I fall asleep smiling.
And I wake with a start. Like a scorpion is crawling over my head.
What woke me?
I’ve no idea what time it is, day or night. It is hard enough remembering where I am. I hold my breath and listen. My ears register nothing of concern. Danam breathes steadily next to me. I check his neck and it is comfortably warm. Gotal fills my nostrils, soft snuffling breaths. They’re all asleep too. Outside the snow is largely silent, but the air hums a song of early morning, of the sky that lightens and the mountains that catch the first colours of dawn.
What woke me?
My stomach growls. I sigh. I’m letting this isolation, this weird snow-carpet land, get to me. I try to relax, sternly telling my stomach to settle down. No need to wake the rest of the room because I’m hungry.
The air outside feels happy, and I smile. I never hear or feel like this in the village. I can’t actually remember feeling this clearly before. I suppose it’s how high up in the mountains we are, how deep in winter it still is up here. It lends clarity to a place that is buzzing and busy in summer.
BOOM! The noise resounds through the hut.
Danam shoots upright. ‘Whasat?’
BOOM!
My heart hammers, the gotals bleat. This isn’t happening. Something isn’t bashing on the hut door.
Boom!
‘It must be Uncle!’ Danam says.
But I know it isn’t Uncle. Ignoring the fact he’s dead, Uncle I can feel, Uncle I can recognise.
Whatever’s out there is invisible to my heightened mountain senses. Whatever’s out there I don’t know, have never met, don’t comprehend. In my head I’m hearing Mera’s voice again, telling me the tale of how vengeful King Orun of the Ice-People turned trespassers into ice sculptures destined to melt in the thaw.
I grab Danam’s arm. ‘Don’t go out there!’
‘We must help him!’
‘It’s not him.’
The knocking is replaced by the dreadful screech of the main door opening.
Someone is entering the main room.
Or something.
The gotals are up and milling around excitedly. Light shines beneath the door to our room. Bright light that wavers. I search for my knife, tucked in my right boot. Where did I put it last night?
‘By the Dragon,’ Danam says. ‘What’s happening?’
My grateful hands close on the icy hilt of my knife at the exact moment our door shudders open.
And there is only light. Light like a summer noon. I shut my eyes, but the light remains.
Fear freezes me like ice.
Chapter 5
‘Take your hand off the knife, Dirt-Girl.’ The voice is powerful, despite sounding as young as Danam.
I shrink back, but I don’t drop the knife. I’m not stupid. ‘What do you want? Get out of our hut!’
The owner of the voice chuckles, but without warmth. ‘Have you lost track of time, Dirt-Girl? The winter has not yet waned, and therefore you are in our hut.’ He sniffs. ‘Though I hate to claim something so dismal. And smelly. No wonder we never come here.’
Our hut? Dirt-Girl? My mind is a foggy whirl and I can’t think straight, but could this boy be …
A man sighs. ‘I don’t think they look promising, Your Highness. I told the Princess but she wouldn’t listen.’
‘Whatever they are, they are trespassing,’ says the first, younger voice. Who is he, to talk like this?
A third voice speaks, a girl this time. ‘Calm yourself, Praseep. One of these may be the one we seek. Let us not rush forward with cruel words.’
‘Your Highness,’ says the man, his voice softer as he turns away from us. ‘I advised you to wait outside.’
‘I was too excited,’ the girl says. ‘Is this them? Those are the gotals, it must be them! Have them come out where I can see them.’
‘You heard Her Highness. Drop your weapons and come out.’
I snatch a glance at Danam. He has a firm hold on his herding stick, and I guess he has about as much intention of exiting the room as I have. He steps forward, squinting against the light. ‘Leave us alone,’ Danam says. ‘This valley belongs to my grandfather.’
The boy called Praseep laughs. ‘You are a fool. If you have forgotten all this becomes ours each winter, then you need to be reminded.’
I hear myself groan like it’s someone else.
They are.
They really are.
Ice-People.
All at once, ZuZu rushes at the light, at the figures that must exist behind it. Head bent, horns forward. A cry, a heavy exhale of air, and the light wavers.
‘Demon beast!’ yells the man.
I’m no longer being blinded. Instead the light swings to illuminate the main room, where a boy in a glorious white cloak is struggling with ZuZu. She’s dug her hooves into the packed floor, stubbornly refusing to move anywhere. The light moves to beam briefly on a girl, a bit older than me, also dressed in white, before the man rushes towards ZuZu with a knife drawn in his other hand.
‘No!’ I scream, and I forget I was determined to stay in that small room, forget everything but ZuZu. I run to her, to the man who frowns. I have to save her.
Except I’m grabbed from the side by someone else. There must be more of them. My wrist lances with pain and I drop my knife, gasping. Doubled over, hands held behind my back. What’s happening? A harsh voice tells me to get down. Like I’ve got a choice. I’m forced to my knees on the floor. My arms are pinned, my hair pulled back harshly, and something sharp points into my neck. The lights are blinding.
This wasn’t exactly the outcome I was hoping for.
‘How dare you threaten the Royal Line?’ The man who was going for ZuZu says.
I try to shake my head, but whoever’s holding me means business. The point at my neck burns and I stop. ‘The gotal,’ I gasp. ‘Don’t hurt the gotal.’
I hear a bleat and ZuZu’s warm breath whuffs over my cheek. I let myself relax. At least I seem to have taken their focus off her.
‘That gotal is crazed,’ says the boy, Praseep, but he doesn’t sound like he quite believes it as ZuZu cuddles up to me.
‘Shall I kill it for you, Your Highness?’ the man asks.
‘No!’ I cry.
The girl speaks at the same time. ‘Of course not, Vilpur. I forbid you. Look at her, she is a beauty. Do you not think so, Brother?’
There’s a shuffling noise beside me. From the corner of my eyes I make out Danam, kneeling on the rough floor too. His arms pinned behind his back by another guard. How dare these people?
‘They are all fine animals,’ says Praseep. ‘Are they with kid?’
Silence. Whoever’s holding me pokes my side. ‘Huh? You asking me?’ I say.
The blade leaves my neck long enough for someone to whack me over t
he head from behind. ‘The correct way to address the Prince, is Your Highness,’ says the grainy voice of the man holding me.
My head’s spinning. My ear was already sore from Uncle’s stick. Now … now it’s just worse. ‘You asking me, Your Highness?’ I spit out.
Praseep laughs. ‘You, or your equally filthy companion, yes.’
‘Praseep, be nice,’ the girl warns.
Who is this girl, who doesn’t have to grovel to Praseep? A Princess like he is a Prince, his sister it seems … but also his superior? I squint until I can make her out off to the side. There’s a tall woman next to her all decked out in swords and daggers and watchful eyes. A guard, perhaps?
‘Thank you, Your Highness,’ I say to the girl, and this time I don’t drawl out the title. If I can get her on our side … ‘These gotals are my father’s finest, and they’re all with kid. Your Highness.’ Royals are probably like an old uncle, except worse. I lace extra respect through everything I say.
‘Release her, that must be painful for her neck,’ says the girl. ‘The boy too.’
Immediately the pressure on me is gone. I flash a glare at the very grumpy-looking guard who was holding me, but my feeling of triumph fizzles when I look back at the girl. She’s watching Danam intently. Her cloak is plushest white, her hair ridiculously shiny, and around her neck is a chain of what I suppose must be rubies.
Except I’ve never seen any gemstone that enormous.
‘Now, Vilpur, this has not gone ahead as I had envisaged,’ she says. ‘Please introduce us to these Dirt-People, and we can get on our way.’
The man who must be Vilpur nods respectfully to her, then turns to us. His face reminds me of the hermits who burn incense on the path to Dragon Mountain, broad and calm and peaceful. However I’ve never seen a hermit so purposeful with a knife.
He clears his throat. ‘May I present to you Crown Princess Rishala of the Skylands, and her brother Prince Praseep. I am the Queen’s Advisor, Vilpur. You have entered the Queen’s domain without permission. Please state your names and your purpose.’
Skylands? This is Mera’s stories come to life. I open my mouth to speak, but Danam beats me to it. I purse my lips shut.
‘I’m Danam,’ he says. ‘And this is Sunaya. We’re here to pasture these gotals. This is our land.’
He looks annoyed. Did he never stay to listen to Mera’s stories?
‘Danam,’ I murmur to him. ‘Remember. It’s winter.’
He scoffs. ‘They don’t call themselves Ice-People.’
‘We don’t call ourselves Dirt-People.’
Danam looks away, bites his lip. I look back at these Skylanders, these Ice-People, and I focus on the Princess. ‘We’re very sorry we’ve come onto your lands without permission, Your Highness. My father ordered it. We’ve already lost my uncle in the trek here, please do not make us leave. I respectfully ask of you a favour, Your Highness, that we may remain here to care for our gotals until the winter ends.’
She smiles at me and my hopes rise. ‘That was very prettily said. Unfortunately, I cannot grant your request.’ My guts tumble back down again. ‘We are here for a reason of our own, to search for my Cloud Dragon, who the Seers foretold would be found if we came here.’ She looks across at Danam, beaming. ‘And I think we have found him.’
Danam startles next to me, and my own jaw drops. ‘But Danam is a boy,’ I say. ‘Not a … You can’t be …’
She waits for me to stumble to silence and nods. ‘A Cloud Dragon is a Royal Protector. Danam, you are who we have been long searching for. You will find a rich life in a land of much beauty, the role of Cloud Dragon is very much respected.’
I swallow. ‘With all due respect, Your Highness, you can’t take Danam. He belongs with us, in our village.’
Everyone glares at me, except Princess Rishala who looks serene. ‘And yet, we will take him. I see from both your faces that your lives in the Dirt are hard. Danam is now saved from that hardship. You should rejoice for him. He has been Chosen for a higher life.’
I look again at these strange people, look harder. Their white cloaks appear heavenly soft. Vilpur is a man well grown, with hair as grey as Father’s, yet his calm face is neither ravaged nor deeply lined. Then I look at Danam beside me. Face filthy, clothes rough, skin reddened and abraded from exposure.
I see us as they see us.
And I see something else. A spark in Danam’s eyes. Hope. For a moment I’m shocked. ‘Do you actually want to go with them?’ I whisper.
He shrugs. I don’t believe this. He’s always been one for adventure … but, really? That grumpy guard put a knife to my neck. And Vilpur-the-Calmface wanted to kill ZuZu. These are not the sort of people anyone should be excited to join.
But I realise they’re going to take Danam, whether he wants to go or not. How could we stop them? There are at least three guards here, as well as the two royals and Vilpur. I wish First Uncle were still alive. He probably wouldn’t know what to do either, but at least I wouldn’t feel so responsible.
I’m torn. ‘We could go, but what about the gotals?’ I whisper to Danam.
Praseep speaks up. ‘We will take the gotals too, payment for your trespassing. They will be a valuable addition to our herd.’ He smiles a hard smile that makes me think he doesn’t consider us anywhere near so valuable. ‘But no one said anything about you coming, Dirt-Girl. The boy, yes. The gotals, yes. You, however, will return to your sorry excuse for a village and remind your people of the agreement concerning our borders.’
‘No way!’ I get another whack over the head from Grumpy-Guard behind me, but I’m too angry to care. ‘You think you can take my nephew, my friend, away from me? You think you can take my family’s gotals, that I helped rear? You’ve no right.’
‘We have every right. And you need to have respect,’ intones Vilpur.
‘I’ll show respect when it’s earned.’
Silence. Heavy silence. Father always said my mouth would get me in trouble.
‘We could always kill you,’ Prince Praseep says lazily. ‘That is the punishment traditionally given to those who trespass our lands. The boy has a reprieve, because the Crown Princess believes he is of use. The gotals get reprieves, because I think they are of use. You?’ He sidles closer, nose wrinkling delicately. ‘You are of no use to anyone, Dirt-Girl.’
I hate this Praseep, with his mocking eyes. He can’t be any older than me, certainly not older than Danam, yet he speaks like we’re babes among the wise. The first direct rays of sunlight choose that moment to extend through the ragged door of our hut, and the snow cries out at its touch. As it always does, as it will always do. For the snow wishes to remain, and the sun must always rise.
Those are their purposes in life.
And I know mine.
I take a calming breath. Which doesn’t work. ‘So kill me. Because there’s no other way you’ll stop me protecting my nephew and these gotals.’
Outside, the mountains sing their silent song to the sky. And here inside, these people I cannot feel, they watch me. I’ve raised a challenge that must be answered.
Princess Rishala breaks the icy silence. ‘There will be no killing here today.’
I can’t stop my gulp of relief and Danam flashes me a smile.
The Princess turns to a woman near me, whose clothes mark her as a guard and whose face reminds me of a hawk, sharp and intelligent. ‘Aji, please see that the Dirt-Girl is tied so she cannot hinder our departure, but will be free before nightfall.’
Princess Rishala leaves then, out into the blinding white world of the valley beyond, her guard with her. Vilpur gestures to Danam to follow, but he stays like his feet are stuck to the packed dirt floor.
Praseep glares at him. ‘I suggest you walk on your own legs, or you will find we have many ways of making you.’
Danam swallows. ‘I’m not leaving Sunaya.’
The guard Aji comes a step closer to me and I flinch away from her intense stare. She can’t be older than
twenty, but the air she stirs up seems to throb with power. Around her neck a perfectly round, vividly white moonstone edged with gold hangs from a simple black leather cord. What sort of guard can afford moonstones and gold?
Father should have listened to Mera’s stories rather than mock them.
I look at Praseep. ‘Please,’ I say, hating the word, hating having to beg. ‘Please, if you must take my nephew, let me come too.’
Praseep doesn’t look at either of us, but his lip curls. ‘You come with us, boy, and the Dirt-Girl stays unharmed. You fight us and you will still be coming, but the Dirt-Girl will receive your punishment. Your choice.’ He saunters out the door.
Obnoxious little …
I feel like chasing him and kicking his ankles, but Aji stops me with a hand. ‘Take my advice, girl. It’s not worth it. We’ve been searching for an age for your nephew. He’ll be looked after and have a good life. They speak the truth.’
Even though Aji is one of their guards, she looks, well … kind. Her face, her eyes … I’m again reminded of the hawks that fly free and proud among these mountains. And I like hawks. I stare at Danam and he at me.
‘Do you want to go?’ I ask softly.
His eyes flicker. ‘I don’t want to leave you.’
I think of what Aji has said. Danam will be a Royal Protector, whatever that entails. I know he wants to go. The adventure. So different to the life we’ve got set for us at home. But I don’t trust these people, and I certainly don’t want to have to explain to Father that Uncle is dead and I’ve lost both Danam and his gotals. The shame would be almost worse than the punishment.
What I need is time to think. But I don’t have any.
‘If you want to go, go,’ I say to Danam. ‘I’ll be fine.’
Actually I’ll be creeping after him to bring him home when it all turns bad, but I can’t tell him that in front of Aji. It hurts to see how his eyes light up. I feel like he should be fighting for me. Except that would mean really fighting. And getting hurt.
So I smile. And I nod. And I say, ‘Go.’ And I widen my eyes and hope it gives Danam the idea that I have an idea. Because they can tie me up all they like, but I will be able to wriggle out sooner than they think and nothing will be able to stop me following them.