Chill

Chapter 7

"Psst, do you want to know a secret?"

The girls crowded in Maena Madrullian's bedroom all paused in their chatter to look at the curiously glowing cube sat in a corner on its own cushion, as if it too was a guest of the sleepover. Maena crawled across the bed where Sara and Evie were sprawled in sleepy contentment and picked up the cube to gaze expectantly at its square facets.

"What you got for us Kyoobee?" she asked and the others listened.

"Karanie Fornoe has lost her virtue, lost it she has," came the calm modified voice. Everyone gasped.

"I knew it!" Tessanna squealed. "The way she and Dimsoe senior were pawing each other just the other day. Spring it is, and mountain air and too much solitary sheep herding," and she sat back well satisfied. Another marriage was in the offing it seemed, but still, they should have waited. Tessanna came from an old fashioned family of first landers with links to Old World prestige and money.

Maena squinted at the cube a moment and then gave it a vindictive shake. The glowing device protested with a squeak as if it could feel pain.

"Spill," she commanded unsympathetically, knowing there was more.

"Lost her virtue she has, lost it to another, another than a Dimsoe," the cube announced. The girls crowded round, excited and scandalised in equal measure.

"Who could it be?" one said.

"That poor boy," another sympathised with the betrayed individual, having no particular liking for the flighty and flirty Karanie Fornoe.

"He'll get over her," Maena declared with a dose of offworld cynicism. There was laughter and squeals and everyone chattered about this latest snippet of gossip from the whisper cube. The impromptu sleepover was proving to be a great success and she was so glad she thought of it when she did.

For three days the snow had continued to fall and all across the upper slopes of the High Peaks sheep farmers brought their flocks down to graze on lower meadows only lightly dusted by the cool conditions. School was out and youngsters were stuck indoors so it was an ideal time to hold various parties to see the storm through.

Upper Maeven took the brunt of the worsening weather and people only ventured out occasionally to stock up on food and fuel supplies. There was a run on warm clothing at Dimsoe's All Goods Store and equally a run on warming liquor at the Sorrell Wayfarer Inn. A particular brew known as Vivid was proving to be extremely popular ever since Lick acquired several casks from an offworld shipment that went astray. He learned how to imitate the savoury liquor and was able to create a brew virtually identical in taste and texture to the original. So long as supplies of ingredients held he could keep producing the popular beverage.

Of course, once news of Fallow's engagement to the Sumoe girl had spread he was obliged to stand everybody a drink whenever he appeared at the inn, which was frequently while the snow storm lasted. The northerner was proving to be an asset to the isolated community as conditions worsened and showed signs of lingering beyond just a temporary cold snap.

As there were no obvious signs the weather was going to revert to normalcy any time soon Maena had resolved to wait out the storm by arranging a boy free sleepover with her school friends. She had chosen the third night of the cold spell as drifts began to accumulate on rooftops and in sheltered corners of yards. The professor, on hearing of this plan, decided it would be a good idea to pay a visit to Lower Maeven for the evening so the girls had the run of the place, watched over only by the careful but nervous Falma.

Maena announced it to be a whisper party of course, emphasising the chief attraction of the evening, her tale telling cube. Tam's accusation that Maena somehow had the ability to read minds was half-true for the cube was a semi-sentient device that was able to process human thought in an analytical way, something like telepathy but still very much limited in its scope. The device was many times more sophisticated than the locally produced gadgets imported from Atherbridge Nine which would occasionally mutter a random suggestion based on emotion or body language or voice tones. The whisper cube could detect these pale imitations and make disparaging comments upon them. Maena's school friends were envious of her whisper cube but delighted when they ever got a chance to ask it questions.

Attention was split between games of chance, random questionings involving dares and confessions, and teasing the whisper cube into disclosing its secrets. Forsa Bandilor had brought her version of the cube, a pyramid covered in garish eyes. The device had been imported from Atherbridge Nine and sometimes threw up interesting insights into the secret goings on of Maeven. This night, as the snow continued to fall softly outside, it seemed content only to mutter about economics, hardly a subject of interest to the assembled youngsters.

"Does Paalar Musconie think I'm beautiful?" she asked the pyramid. He was a boy in the upper school at Pashak she had a crush on.

"As much as a wool blanket before the chill," the device muttered back in a less than satisfactory way.

"You bought a trader's voice," Evie laughed, lying face down across the bed next to Sara, head propped up on her hands, feet in fluffy slippers kicking with amusement. A pillow caught her squarely and for a brief moment Allak Dimsoe's fantasy became reality as shrieks and laughter filled the rosy-lit room, cushions scattered everywhere and bare limbs tangled and untangled on floor and bed.

"Psst!" came an insistent hiss from Maena's whisper cube. It was repeated several times and she called a halt to the fighting. Everyone caught their breaths and shuffled about to gather round the cube. It sat there in high state on its embroidered throne. "You want to know a secret?" came the inevitable question.

"Of course, Kyoobee," Maena breathed. "So long as its not the fact Forsa's pyramid is a bit rubbish." The owner of that device stuck her tongue out briefly. No one was looking at her though. All eyes were on the glowing cube.

"Your mother," the cube began and Maena gulped, lifting up from her kneeling position, tears springing instantly to her eyes. "She does not love you, your mother loves you not at all, not a bit," the emotionless voice announced. Silence descended upon the crowded room. There was a mutter from the pyramid but everyone ignored it.

Maena stood up slowly. Sara's chocolate eyes followed her in sadness as she went to the balcony and slid the door to one side.

"That's not a secret," she said quietly, looking over her bare shoulder into the room, and then she went out onto the balcony to cool off, for it was simply too hot and stuffy inside all of a sudden.

It was one of the greatest dangers of a whisper cube, the very thing that thrilled and awed her school friends. There was always a possibility it might say something no one should hear. Sara, wrapped in a blanket, joined Maena a moment later and found her leaning on the rail, gazing up at the dimly glowing escarpment, ignoring the soft flakes fluttering down and melting on her exposed skin. A blanket was placed around her thin shoulders and Sara looked at her.

"My mother doesn't love me," Maena said through her tears.

"I'm sure she does," Sara countered softly, not knowing the full story of the Madrullian Mission. "Those whisper things aren't always right."

"No. This one is, always. Believe what it says."

"Well, Tam's plan to leave was true," Sara conceded. "You should have seen his face when..." her voice trailed off.

"My mother doesn't love me because she died before I was born," Maena choked out. "She never knew I existed. How could she ever love someone she did not even know?" and she bounced a small fist off the wooden railing, scattering a layer of snow that had gathered there. Then she looked up, her face clearing. "It's stopping!" she gasped. Sara Manderby also looked around her. The night sky seemed somehow lighter and at least two of the lesser worlds of Myscenna peeped through thinning clouds overhead. A flake of snow landed on her blonde locks and another in the corner of the balcony and that was it. The two girls hugged each other and Sara went inside to let the others know. Maena wiped her tears, sniffled a moment and looked up towards the dark shapes outlined in glowing white that was the assembled roofs of the Sorrell Wayfarer Inn. Just where she knew Tam's window was she felt certain a light had been shining a moment and shadowy movement betrayed the presence of someone up there. "Checking me out again are you?" she sniffed, smiling wanly, before returning to the crowded bedroom. The mood had changed again after the moment of discomfort for everyone was making excited plans to revisit old haunts now the snow storm was ended.

Tam Sorrell squinted in the bright sunshine and even brighter reflection of snowy surfaces that very morning, as he scraped drifts from various entrances around the inn, a new chore to add to his many others. The air was cool and crisp and full of light. It was like nothing he had ever seen or felt before, this bright freshness all around. As if the world had begun anew. For Tam this was a distinct possibility.

He had had a sleepless night. Thoughts of Fallow's hunting tales had drifted through his mind on that first full day of the storm. Talk of bear hides fetching a small fortune, flash rifles and the thrill of the chase, all conspired to excite his dissatisfied mind. Here, thought he, was an opportunity to make the kind of money that could finance his escape from backward Troy. A chance to see something of the galaxy without even having to risk his bones on frozen Cimmeron. The High Peaks themselves would provide the means, thanks to the big chill. Arctic elks and the fearsome bears would surely cross the Ridge and settle in this new winter wonderland on the doorstep of the Wilds of Maeven. While Maena and her friends had been indulging in the soft pleasures of a sleepover, Tam had been gazing up at his ceiling, dreaming of ploughing through snow drifts high in the mountains in search of big game. Hunting, stalking, killing and skinning. The Adventure Channel had occasionally covered the subject, less appealing to the Pioneer Guild of course, but still a source of thrills and income. Tam could not wait for sun up so he could get out and explore.

"All done here," he shouted across the yard to where a capacious barn currently sheltered the small flock belonging to the inn. He tossed a shovel away as he spoke. One of his twin uncles, Forsten he thought it was, difficult to tell as he was muffled against the cold air, popped his head through the gateway to acknowledge Tam's announcement.

"Good boy," he said gruffly, "now--"

"Now I can have a look around at the landscape," Tam interjected hastily, fearing another assignment.

"Well I was going to suggest you check the fuel supplies down in the store but I think Fursten's already there," the man chuckled. "Go on with you then," and he waved a gloved hand at his nephew to make himself scarce. Tam needed no second invitation.

At first he thought of calling a friend or two to go exploring with him but a sense of solitude gripped him. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts for a while, come to terms with what all this meant for him, Maeven and the world as a whole. He hardly knew what he was thinking and needed to unscramble his mind. Wrapped in an extra layer of clothing and moving with stealth to escape the inn compound, Tam began the careful trek up the easier paths of the escarpment. Already his newly focused hunting skills came to the fore as he noted tracks in the snow at various points. Others had already got to Arcadia Valley before him. He cursed softly but then turned the circumstances to advantage. He would hunt his fellow man, by way of practice for the great adventures ahead.

At the top of the escarpment the sight that greeted him was enchanting. A wide sweep of whiteness broken here and there by dark masses of woodland, filled his vision. The jagged peaks of the surrounding hills seemed almost black in contrast, too steep to hold any snow. Blue shadows winding across the landscape showed where rivulets he had seen last time he was here were now choked completely by the drifting mass of snow. Lake Mirron was visible in the distance as a sullen sheet of grey metal. Had it frozen?

Tam crunched forward across what would normally be lush meadow grass, trying to get his bearings in the unfamiliar landscape, recalling where there were dips and troughs in the undulating ground now all smoothed off by settled drifts. Between two masses of trees he paused, uncertain. It looked as if there were tracks off to one side, towards some birch wood heavily burdened with snow. He took a step towards the cluster of trees and suddenly a projectile hit him squarely on the forehead, almost dislodging his cap. The surprise unbalanced him and he tumbled. Across the glistening surface the sound of shrill laughter could be heard.

Tam scrambled to his feet and glared around him. Another missile arced towards where he stood unsteadily and in dodging it he took another tumble. Another shriek of laughter and his attacker mercilessly targeted him as he lay in a daze. Without farther thought, Tam quickly got up and ran towards the other clump of trees away from the demonic shrieks he could hear. Once safely among their branches he took stock of the situation. What was that all about?

For answer, glancing over at the opposite copse, he saw a slight figure, just visible in pale furs, advancing towards him. A long arm whipped up and another lethal projectile exploded among the branches around him. He backed up against a tree trunk, dislodged a mass of snow above and all but buried himself. By the time he had climbed out of the choking snow his assailant stood just a few yards in front of him, out in the open.

"Tam Sorrell," a girlish voice announced. "You look just like a frightened sheep caught in some brambles," and with that another missile was launched at him. This time it was aimed lower and caught his midriff in an explosion of crystals. He could see the girl then squat down and gather snow in her gloved hands, crunching it up in preparation for another missile attack.

"Snowball?" he gasped, raising a hand in submission. The girl juggled the white ball menacingly.

"Hi Tam. Took you a while to get here. Late night?" and Maena Madrullian sniggered before tossing the snowball at another figure moving off in the distance. It scored a direct hit and the voice of Teric Jonas could be heard cursing at the unexpected and unprovoked attack.

"Had chores to do," Tam sullenly acknowledged. While everyone else was up here enjoying themselves he had been shovelling snow. He disentangled himself from the branches and underbrush around him and without warning launched himself at his erstwhile attacker. They fell together into a thick drift and all but disappeared. Tam lay on top of the girl a moment.

"Teach me how to make those things?" he said.

"Sure, in a moment," she responded breathlessly. Her silver grey eyes sparkled in the snowy light.

"Sorry. Did I hurt you?" Tam got up and pulled the girl to her feet.

"Not as much as I'm going to hurt you," came the mischievous reply. In an instant she twirled out of his grip, tossed several snowballs at various parts of his anatomy and glided beyond his reach. All his efforts to track her were useless. Those skimmer shoes made her impossible to catch and Tam wondered how he had tagged her in the first place, unless she had let him. Out of breath he gave it up and went over to where Teric and Allak were piling snow up into a pointless mound for some reason.

"Hi," Tam said by way of greeting. "Did you see what that girl did to me?" he indicated the fast moving figure of Maena now off in the distance.

"Yeah," Teric said. "We're building a fortified position to defend ourselves from the girls over there. That Madrullian girl can really throw. Those long skinny arms are the reason I reckon, but we got you on our side now, unless you're a traitor."

"No way. Show me the enemy and I'll attack them with all I've got. Do we take prisoners?"

"Depends who we capture. Some of the enemy deserve torture," Allak responded, and pictured shoving handfuls of snow down Tessanna's blouse. This pleasant image was shattered by incoming fire for Maena had drifted swiftly up and launched a devastating attack on the snow fortress. She had allies now as Sara and Evie had joined her. Trained in winter warfare, they both knew how to make and launch snowballs, although their efforts fell considerably short of the veteran fighter commanding the attack.

The boys caught on quick and before long a flurry of missiles were being exchanged. Sara was caught by a flanking movement instigated by Teric, who made the most of the capture and a truce was declared. Everyone flopped down on the walls of the fort and others joined them. Allak eyed Tessanna as she waded through the drifts towards them, dressed in a quilted turquoise overcoat lined with fur and matching boots, but she ignored him and sat by Sara and Evie in their identical pale pink outfits. The three giggled together.

"What say we have a more adventurous look around?" Tam said after everyone had rested. "Up there. See how far we can go." Without a single dissenting voice, the youngsters clustered together and with Tam as their leader they tramped across virgin snow, up several ledges to where a grand spectacle presented itself.

Beyond the next ridge the High Peaks revealed their full extent for miles around, shutting out the world with granite walls and plateaux, unscalable and unmapped. The sky was clear and the Spark glittered across the Wilds Proper onto black rocks and amphitheatres choked with blinding whiteness. Where once sheep grazed on thick grass there was nothing but a blanket of snow as far as the eye could see.

Higher up it was much colder and breath billowed and froze on hoods and faces. Cascades formed by earlier snow fall when it was milder were caught in ice devil blasts of freezing air, just as Fallow had said. The result was spectacular and crystal lace frothed in frozen majesty before their young eyes.

"This is so beautiful," Evie gasped and took images on her pink phone. Allak snapped off a frozen twig and was cursed by the girls for damaging the perfect ice sculpture.

As they explored they found other curiosities. Rocks riven by the sudden cold. Cobweb traceries across cliff faces and dark shadows of once-living plants drowned in glassy sheets of ice.

"What do you think?" Teric asked Tam as they stood at the top of what appeared a perfectly smooth field of snow that descended in a winding slope down to a distant valley. "We could skim that, couldn't we?" he suggested.

"Left my board behind," Tam stated but the look in his eyes showed he certainly thought it had possibilities.

"You'd break your neck," Tessanna casually observed.

"Girls," Teric countered.

"I'd do it," Allak said quietly and blushed. No one responded to this and they turned away to watch a strange mist pour off the top of a high inaccessible ledge like the sublimating exhalations of frozen carbon dioxide.

"Reckon there's a lake up there?" Maena said. Lake Mirron, for all the coldness that had occurred, had held too much warmth to freeze completely. Its edges were rimed with treacherous ice shelves so that everyone had agreed to stay clear. They had not found any other settled bodies of water to skate upon in their exploration, the larger lakes being north of the High Peaks and too far to reach in a day's trekking.

"Could be," Tam responded. He had been secretly watching for signs of big game and considered ascending some of the narrow valleys on the upper slopes above the grazing meadows. He knew Eastel was fond of hunting and his fierce uncle had a flash rifle but the boy was not present so he felt a little isolated in these thoughts. "Or it could be caused by the breath of a horde of ice devils waiting for us to fall into their clutches," he added teasingly.

"We're ready for them," Maena instantly took up the game and tossed an improvised snowball at the back of Allak's head as he sidled stealthily nearer Tessanna while she gazed at the view.

"Ow!" was all he said and suddenly everyone was running recklessly down the snowy slopes, past frozen cascades that did not warrant a second glance, and back onto familiar territory to resume the battles of earlier in the morning. This improved their appetites enormously so that by lunch time peace broke out and everyone returned to their various homes in high spirits, extolling the virtues of winter and ravenously hungry.

In the dining room of the Sorrell Wayfarer Inn as the family gathered for the noon time meal Tam was given the grim news that fuel was at an all time low. Oil for generators and wood for other heating use had been dipped into extensively due to the cold snap and new stores were needed urgently.

"Prices are rocketing," Lick Sorrell said as he helped himself to more potatoes. "Need to get in quick before it gets too expensive to stay alive. It's a seller's market in this weather." Maeven had never experienced anything like this before. "You can use the barrow but remember to free wheel down to save fuel," he said looking at his son as the latter toyed with his food, appetite gone.

"Aw dad," Tam said, "You know the thing has no brakes when freewheeling." The barrow was a motorised two wheel cart with no seating so that it would haul itself under load and needed steering only from the operator who walked behind it.

"You'll manage."

After the meal, Tam's mother gave him the shopping list and credit slips for the purchases. Flour and rice somehow got added also so he would have to make several trips around Lower Maeven's stores. At least he would get a chance to check out how the settlement had fared in the winter storm.

The barrow when empty was a lightweight affair, the heaviest part of it being the motor, but on the long steep slope down it was a nightmare to control as the bouncy tyres would catch a rock and launch the contraption into the air so that when it hit the ground again it would have picked up considerable speed. Tam resolved therefore to walk in front of it so it could not escape him.

High prices were the least of their worries when he arrived at the timber yard. The place was empty.

"What, you think you're the only one who burns wood?" Solo Mandrilloe said with a snort, showing the lad bay after bay filled with nothing but chips and sawdust. He got some oil and flour, the former for double last week's price. The rice depot was across the marshy flats and Tam was able to see how much the water level had risen because in places the causeways that connected the various buildings were partly under water. Some had even been washed away so that hillocks looked like islands in a lake of green water. Rice prices had already rocketed, to use Lick Sorrell's description, for the damp had ruined a lot of the stock and what was left had been bespoken by other families. A bidding war was the only way to acquire a sack, something the Sorrell family most definitely could not afford. He noted many of the dockets had the Madrullian mark on them and he frowned. Those offworlders were a very rich family he reminded himself.

Tam phoned back to his father about the wood disaster.

"We'll cut our own," came the reply. The forests of the Wilds Proper were public property, unenclosed and free to all. Half a million square miles of fast growing oak and beech for the taking. Tam motored the barrow back up to the inn in time to see preparations being made by the older generation to cut wood with a vengeance. To his annoyance he was not allowed to go.

"Look after the inn with your mother," Lick ordered. "Your uncles and I can handle this. Oh, and school reopens tomorrow," he added by way of a sweetener. Thus Tam spent the rest of the day and well into the evening serving drinks and scowling at the hermit known as Paterion who had ensconced himself by the dwindling fire to keep warm and stare at the flames. He had somehow found a coin to purchase a small tumbler of Vivid, the favoured brew, and managed to nurse it for hours without it evaporating of its own accord. By dark the men had returned, Tam was relieved of hall duties and found himself in shirtsleeves in the yard, hauling freshly cut logs from the over-laden barrow into the store sheds. Their fragrance was heavenly but splinters were agony. That night Tam slept just like a log.

In school next day there seemed an undercurrent of resentment among the scholars as various muttered accusations went the rounds. Some families had felt the pinch regarding food and keeping warm. One ungrateful guest of Maena's sleepover openly declared how extravagantly warm the Madrullian mansion had been.

"Why you could walk about naked all over the house without catching a chill," Forsa Bandilor said, still chafing over her less than impressive whisper pyramid performance.

"Do tell," Allak said, sitting upright, eyes wide.

"Settle please," the Proctor interrupted so the lesson could resume. It was an environmental studies lesson ironically and several pupils felt obliged to ask the Proctor his opinion on the cold snap, nicknamed simply the chill. He was just launching into theories on global climate versus local topography when everyone started noticing how dark it was getting, yet it was the middle of the day still.

A girl screamed on looking out the window nearest her. It was snowing again, big heavy wet flakes almost audibly thudding against the window. Everyone scrambled to their feet to look. In Lower Maeven the previous snow storm had only lightly dusted the settlement. This looked worse than when it snowed in Arcadia Valley. The Proctor seemed uncertain what to do but was relieved of responsibility when a junior came to each classroom to announce for safety's sake school was ended and everyone should disperse.

"Whoosh!" Teric cried, making a fist. "Hello snow, goodbye school!"

Maena Madrullian shook her head solemnly.

Tam wasted no time exiting the school compound, having farthest to go, but the journey up the hill with blizzard conditions every inch of the way was an ordeal he could have done without. Gallantly he offered to escort Sara and Maena who also lived close by so the three of them huddled together as best they could in the difficult climb. It was impossible to see where to go, except upwards, ever upwards, thus they missed the Madrullian mansion and Sara's cottage and only realised this when they were met by one of Tam's uncles on the slope.

"Thank goodness I've found you," the man said, a look of terror on his usually placid and cheery round face. "Bring the girls, we'll let their families know they're safe. It's Forsten," he then cried.

They squeezed through the half open gate, already choked with snow.

"What's happened?" Tam asked in alarm.

"He was up there, when all this started, looking for forage for the sheep." They had entered the great drinking hall with its blazing fire, dragging wet pools of water with them across the wooden tiles. "The flock's up there too."

"That's crazy," Tam said, remembering how much snow still lay on the ground.

"They're good sheep," was all Fursten said and he sat heavily in one of the great armchairs dotted around the hall in homely fashion. "Fallow was here, and he and Lick have gone up to fetch him."

Everyone sat quietly in various seats, waiting, too nervous to speak. Sara's father came to pick her up after a while and she hugged Tam intensely, crying all the while.

"I hope they're all right," she whispered and kissed him softly on the cheek. She hugged Maena, who had elected to stay with her grandfather's approval, and was gone.

Finally the sounds of howling wind were broken up by the shouts of male voices and the far door of the hall was kicked open. Three men dragged themselves in, the larger carrying one of the other's on his back. Fursten hastily closed the great wooden door to shut out the cloud of snow flurries that filled the space a moment and then went to where they had placed his shivering twin brother by the fire. A mug of Vivid was thrust into his red hands.

"I knew you were not dead," he repeated several times. Forsten Sorrell seemed not to hear, staring strangely into the fire all the while as he sipped his drink.

"We lost them all, every single one," Lick Sorrell said, turning to Tam and Maena. "It was as if some ice demon had fallen upon them. The flock died where they were, in Arcadia Valley. Some were still standing, eyes staring," he glanced at his brother. "Staring like that."

Fallow put his hand on the man's shoulder to comfort him as best he could. He knew all about ice demons. Maena just simply stood there and cried.

To be continued...