COLD THAT HAS TEETH
1154 Words
Chapter 10:
The riverbed didn’t end. It just changed its mind about killing them.
Raina took the first step. Then another. Each one cost more than the last. Her side was a block of ice now. Numb was better than pain. Numb meant she could still walk.
Eli followed. He didn’t speak. Speaking would waste heat. He kept his hands fisted in his sleeves like that would stop them shaking.
The wind had teeth. It found every gap in Raina’s coat. Found the wound under the cloth Eli tied there. The poison kept her warm from inside. A bad kind of warm. Like a fever that forgot it was supposed to stop.
“Stop,” Eli whispered after an hour.
Raina didn’t turn. “No.”
“My foot.” He lifted his boot. The sole had split. Ice and snow had gotten in. His sock was red and white and stuck to his skin.
Raina looked at it once. Looked at the river ahead. No end. No bridge. No mercy.
“Sit,” she said.
He did. She knelt and tried to untie the boot. Her fingers didn’t work right. The numbness was spreading. She used her teeth on the knot instead. Tasted blood and salt.
Eli didn’t make a sound while she worked. That was worse. Kael would’ve cursed. Kael would’ve told her she was doing it wrong. The silence where his voice should be was a blade.
She tore a strip from her own undershirt. Wrapped his foot. Tight. Too tight. He hissed but didn’t pull away.
“Can you walk on it?” she asked.
He stood. Took one step. Fell to one knee.
Raina caught him before his face hit ice. He was lighter than he should be. Fear burns calories. Grief burns more.
“I can carry you,” she said. Lie.
“I can walk,” he said. Bigger lie.
They compromised. He leaned on her good shoulder. She became his crutch. Two broken people pretending to be one whole one.
The poison whispered. He’ll die anyway. Dragging him slows you down. Varek is behind you. I can feel him.
Raina ignored it. Ignoring was a skill now. She’d practiced.
They found another overhang before noon. If you could call gray sky noon. Raina pushed Eli inside first, then collapsed beside him. Her dagger slipped from her hand. She didn’t pick it up. Picking it up meant admitting she might need it.
Eli’s lips were blue. Raina had seen that color before. On men who didn’t wake up.
She built a fire. Small. Stupid. Smoke would rise. But frozen lungs would kill them faster than Varek. Pick your death.
The wood was wet. Her hands were worse. She had to use the dagger to shave bark. The blade felt heavier. Or her arm did. Hard to tell which.
“Let me,” Eli said. His voice was thin.
He took the dagger. His hands shook too much. The blade slipped. Cut his thumb. He didn’t flinch. Raina watched the blood well up and thought about Kael. Kael bled and kept swinging and told her to run.
Eli handed the dagger back. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For the stone. For being slow. For being here.”
Raina stared at the fire. Sparks climbed into darkness and died. “You’re alive,” she said. Same answer as before. It was the only one she had.
The fire caught. Weak and small and defiant. Raina held her hands over it. The numbness retreated an inch. Not enough.
Eli watched her side. Blood had soaked through the cloth. Black in the firelight. “You’re worse,” he said.
“Shut up.”
He shut up, good boy. Kael would’ve teased her for being mean he would’ve said “She only bites when she’s scared.”
The poison pulsed, cold, familiar. It showed her Varek again. Standing in ash. Turning his head north. Like he could smell them.
Raina stood. “We move.”
“It’s still dark.”
“We move.”
Eli didn’t argue, arguing took energy. He stood and almost fell. Raina let him use her shoulder again. She hated it. Hated needing to be strong for someone. Kael was supposed to be the strong one.
They walked. The riverbed narrowed. Stone walls rose on both sides. Teeth, like Raina said. The river muttered under ice. Sometimes it cracked. Loud as a bone breaking.
Raina counted steps. 100. 200. 500. Counting kept her from thinking about Kael’s last look. Set. Calm. Resigned. He knew. He always knew.
“Raina,” Eli said.
“Don’t.”
“I threw the stone.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t run fast enough.”
“You’re alive.” Third time. It sounded thinner each time.
Eli stopped walking. Pulled his shoulder away. “Stop saying that.”
Raina stopped too. The wind filled the space between them.
“Then what do you want me to say?” she asked. Voice rough. Wind-torn. “That he died for nothing? That I should’ve stayed? That you’re right and we’re both dead?”
Eli’s eyes were bright. Not from cold. “I want you to say his name.”
Raina looked at the stone. At the ice. At anything but him. Saying his name would make it real. Real meant Kael wasn’t coming. Real meant the jokes, the warnings, the way he always stood between her and danger. Gone.
The poison whispered. Say it. Grief is weakness. Leave it behind.
Raina closed her eyes. “Kael,” she said. Once. Quiet. Like a prayer and a curse at the same time.
The word hung in the air. The river didn’t answer. The wind didn’t care. But something in Raina’s chest cracked. A door she’d locked.
Eli exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for hours. “Okay,” he whispered. “Okay.”
They stood there until the cold forced them to move again. Grief was a luxury. They couldn’t afford it long.
The riverbed turned. Ahead, the ice was thinner. Darker. Under it, something moved. Not water. Too slow. Too deliberate.
Raina drew her dagger. Her hand shook. Not from poison. From knowing.
Eli saw it too. He picked up a rock. Same as before. Same useless weight.
The ice bulged up. Cracked. A shape rose underneath. Pale. Long. Too many joints.
Cold that had teeth, Raina thought. Literal now.
It broke through. Water poured off it. Eyes opened. No pupils. Just white and hungry.
Eli threw the stone. It hit. The thing didn’t care.
Raina stepped in front of Eli. Poison screamed in her veins. Good. Let it scream. Let it fight.
Behind them: ash and Kael’s silence.
Ahead of them: teeth and something worse.
Between them: two people who weren’t ready to die.
Raina ran forward instead of back.
Running was all she had left.
- Writer
