Now that the Coven’s rules no longer applied to me, I tried wearing home clothes for a change. I felt naked, almost as if I was in my underwear. But also very comfortable, so I stayed in them anyway.
A slab of ice stood before me. I tied up my hair and grabbed my hardened ice tools. “Alright, here we go...”
Sculpting. I never thought I’d try my hand at artwork before, but the days were long, and I had to occupy my mind somehow.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t very good at it. A dozen shattered ice blocks lay melting around me from my previous attempts.
I could snap my fingers and get it done, but that wouldn’t have been very artistic of me, I supposed.
Crack.
Another slab crumbled to pieces.
I stood back in disbelief. “Maybe I’m using the wrong kind of ice?”
Predslava bounced into the workshop in her ball form, dragging another slab by her claw. “More future masterpieces coming right up!”
“Thank you,” I said as she dropped it in front of me. “Maybe I can sell the sculptures. We don’t really need money, but it’s a trade… right?”
She inspected the slab closely. “Yeah, I can see that happening!”
I smiled sheepishly at her. “I haven’t even started this one yet…”
“Imma go make some iced tea. Want some?” she asked.
“Sure.”
“Okay!”
I sat down to resume my work as she bounced off, then I frowned.
Since when do we have tea?
“Who knows…” I shook my head and chiseled away.
I came up with something eventually. This sculpture wouldn’t sell for anything, but it didn’t have to, since it was for me.
I put it on an ice pedestal inside the great hall so I could look at it every day.
It was a bust of Chloe. Except here, she went through a horrible accident that left her disfigured.
Best I can do, I’m afraid.
I wiped my sweaty forehead. All this work made me hungry.
White branches grew out of the wall as I blew softly into it. Blue figs bloomed at the end. I stood on my toes and plucked one.
To us witches, the mana fruits we grew sustained our bodies and let us recycle mana from the world around us. To anyone else, however, they were deadly poison.
I went off looking for Predslava as I chewed on the juicy fig. Noises came from her bedroom.
She liked snow, so her chambers were mountains of it. I found her atop one of those piles.
“Did you find the tea?” I asked.
“I forgot. But look!” She hopped proudly beside some sort of sculpture. “I made a snowman!”
I squinted.
That’s no snowman…
It was a full-body, hyperrealistic snow sculpture of a hippogriff.
“You’re surprisingly good at this. Maybe you should do the sculpting, and I'll do the selling.”
She thought for a while. “Nah, it’s just a hobby.”
I choked on the fig. “O-okay, then.”
Sharp noises rang out from outside.
I frowned. “Do you hear this as well?”
“Yeah, what's up with that?!”
They continued, as if someone threw stones against our walls.
“I'll go take a look. Maybe our new neighbors want something.” I snapped my fingers and threw an extra shawl over my light clothes.
Predslava came rolling after me. “They’ve been so quiet since we arrived, though. Didn't even come say hello!”
“Strange indeed.” I opened the front gates and stepped outside, scanning the palace grounds. “Hello?”
Nothing. The noises came from the side. I followed them until I saw the creatures.
Gray fur covered their entire bodies except for their faces, hands, and feet. Big round noses hung low from their faces like eggplants. These were Snoutlings, the most common race in the frozen wastelands of the north, known for their fast breeding, hard living, and… that was basically it. No Snoutling civilization was ever seen anywhere.
They pulled a massive block of solid ice out of my wall.
“Hey!” I said. “Please, stop that. You're going to hurt yourselves.”
The group, a dozen of them or so, exchanged glances wordlessly.
I sighed. “Thank—”
They pushed the block and bolted after it. My jaw dropped as they plummeted fast across the snowy slope below. “Why…?”
Predslava stopped beside me and chuckled. “They’re bold. I like—”
Splash!
We jumped back as the block landed at the bottom of the hill, right on top of a Snoutling. The rest of the group set off running in panic.
I covered my mouth. “Do you think… he's dead?”
“Oh, absolutely. Mashed potatoes type dead, scrambled eggs if you will—”
“Please stop.”
“Sorry.”
I glanced back at the palace. “Do you think they'll try to steal again?”
“I would. Look at our walls—they’re so shiny!”
I pulled Predslava to my shoulder with a sigh. “Let's go have a word with the Snoutlings.”
“No bear?”
“No.” I climbed down the slope. “I don't want to scare them.”
Snow crunched under my feet as I approached their ‘settlement’. The shack clusters went far across the plains. Scattered groups dug into the snow for roots, their big snouts especially useful for finding them. Others ran after reindeer with spears.
A few wore hides, but otherwise I found no signs of local authority.
I stopped by the cluster where leather seemed most present.
A pair of young Snoutlings came to meet us, unfinished animal traps in their hands.
“Ya’ the long-legged reindeer from above,” one of them said. “Watchu want?”
“What did they say?” Predslava asked.
“He thinks I’m a reindeer...” I gave him a sheepish smile, then cleared my throat. “Where ya’ chieftain at?”
I knew their primitive language well enough to communicate, but many ordinary words simply didn’t exist in their vocabulary, like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Needless to say, I struggled.
“Grum is chieftain,” the Snoutling replied.
His buddy shook his head. “No. Grum died last day, ya’ lose thought?”
“Who is chieftain this day?”
“That is Mogg.”
“Mogg is cub.”
“Other Mogg. Cub can’t chieftain.”
I scratched my head as they argued away.
“I go fetch Dubb,” one of the Snoutlings finally said and walked off toward the frozen river.
Who’s Dubb…?
After an hour or so, he returned alone, carrying a feathered headdress.
“Dubb is dead,” he said.
My eyes widened. “W-what?”
“Ye’, Dubb fell in fishing hole and died.” He turned to his buddy and dropped the headdress on his head. “Grommo chieftain now.”
Just like that?!
“I don’t want chieftain. Die too fast,” Grommo said.
The other shrugged. “Is life.”
Grommo turned to me with a sigh. “I chieftain. Watchu want?”
I’d seen plenty of succession crises back in the day, but nothing like this.
I shook my head. “Anyway. Ahem…”
Then I explained, as best I could, that someone was stealing from our palace walls, the cost in lives that theft incurred, and that I couldn’t keep repairing them forever. My mana was finite, but I thought it was best to keep the science of sorcery out of it for now.
“Don’t know them. Other tribe, other chieftain,” Grommo said.
This can’t be real…
“Watchu use big ice block for?” I asked.
Grommo scratched his snout pensively. “Bigga’, betta’ hut, I think. Wood rot fast, and Snoutling dies fasta’ of many things.”
His buddy turned to Grommo. “I want betta’ hut too. Let’s go steal from big ice hut above?”
“Sure.”
“No, wait!” I raised my hands. “That’s what I was talking about—don’t steal from my palace, please!”
Their heads tilted. “Huh?”
Argh. I said that in Vesmerian…
“Look, I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry.” I turned and walked back home. “Please, do not go to the palace; otherwise you’ll die. Farewell.”
Footsteps crunched behind me. I didn’t look back until it sounded like a crowd was following us.
A crowd was following us indeed.
I ran off with a squeal, panicked.
The palace came into view. Its front gates flew open as I snapped my fingers.
We slid inside and locked them shut behind us again.
“Something tells me I should’ve gone bear to that meeting,” she said.
I slumped on the floor, panting. “May I have that iced tea now, please?”
“Sure!” She hopped away to her room. “Coming right up.”
The Snoutlings were pickaxing my walls again, this time from all around the palace.
“What am I supposed to do with these guys?”
It was hard to stay mad at them, though—they just wanted better homes at the end of the day.
“I can’t possibly accommodate thousands of them in here either. Besides, they would starve.”
Or, more likely, eat my poisonous figs by accident and die.
Snow blew out of her room as Predslava rushed toward me with a cup.
That gave me an idea.
“Here it is.” She handed me the cup.
“Thank you.” I took it, but my mind was elsewhere. “Hey… we can make building blocks out of snow, can’t we?”
“Yeah, I think so. Why?”
I chuckled. “This might be it, then.”
“I don’t get it, Katarina.”
“Don’t worry.” I raised the cup for a sip. “Tomorrow, we’ll—”
I frowned, staring at my drink.
“This is just cold water,” I said.
Predslava bounced up and down proudly beside me. “Yeah! Iced tea!”
I sighed. “I don’t think you know what that means…”