It’s A Bargain
Joan Grey
***
I wasn’t going to make it.
Which was bad enough for just-me (who wants to die in the middle of winter in the Sedli forest? Not me.), but it would be catastrophic for Tiktaw Village.
I gritted my teeth and leaned around the side of the ka’at tree I’d been huddled behind to see if the storm had gentled. It had, barely.
“Here goes nothing,” I muttered, and turned into the wind, which promptly stuck exploratory fingers along the seams of my seal-skin suit and into the corners of the eye-slit. I regretted the eye-guards lost in the scuffle outside of Powpe. Even though the wars had been over for nearly two decades, some humans just couldn’t keep themselves from fighting any ork they saw.
Our weather witch had predicted the next three weeks would be cold and clear. He’d been right until the day I left Powpe with our medicine. I hadn’t got a half-kliq from the city walls before the storm fell like Timuk, the god of winter, had just remembered he had work to do.
Well. So did I.
The next stand of ka’at trees was close. I’d make a snow camp behind the biggest one, I decided. Timuk would probably get distracted overnight and if I hurried, I could still make it home before it was too late.
Five steps from the trees, I fell into a gully hidden under the treacherous snow. I hit bottom hard, my head bouncing off something unyielding and sharp. The last thing I saw was the gap my body’d made in the snow drifting closed in the wind.
I woke to warmth and flickering light.
My head pounded, but I bit back my groan. If whoever had made the fire was unfriendly, best the first they know of my awakening be when I struck them down. I slitted my eyes open, but saw nothing more than a stone roof over my head, pale yellow reflection showing where the fire was. Carefully, I lifted my head. The snug cave’s ceiling hung with garlands of winter star flowers, each blossom glowing a different pink. I’d been propped against a pile of soft furs; the one drawn over my legs was heavy plush.
My pack stood near the fire, twitching oddly. A long fluffy white tail curved out of the open neck.
“Hey,” I snapped. “Get out of there.” I tried to reach for the cat, but my back muscles lanced pain down to my hip.
A furred white face appeared over the edge of my pack. Large blue-green eyes blinked at me, then the whole creature fell backward out of my bag and bounded in my direction.
“You awake!” It rose to its hind legs and put one paw gently on my shoulder, peering into my eyes. Its face was sharp and intelligent, framed by tufted mobile ears adorned with bejeweled gold rings.
“I’m dreaming, aren’t I? Riki are extinct,”
The snow dragon sat back on its haunches, letting its front paws dangle. “No,” it said. “We are hide, not died.” It cocked its head, earrings chiming softly. “You are nearly died, though. Orks not made to be out winter, why you out?”
I glanced at the pack and its gaze followed. “You raiding?” I hadn’t known something so small and cute could sound as disappointed as my birth-clan’s Matriarch.
“No!” I recoiled. “No.” I sagged, my hand coming to cover my eyes. “We’ve got icefever. Our supplies have run out and we don’t have a healer.” I looked at the darkness past the cave opening. “And now I’m probably going to be too late.”
“I Sisgi,” the riki said. “You name?” When I was silent, she tapped me sharply with her claws. “Name, please. Is polite.”
I breathed deeply. Pressing a hand to my chest, all three fingers extended and thumb curled into my palm, I bowed as much as my sore back would allow. “Please accept Kehas Dekdi, swordswoman of tikWisuc clan. I give you greetings and blessings.”
Sisgi laughed, her teeth sharp in the firelight. “I accept greeting, you need blessing, no?”
I shrugged. What I needed had rarely been important to the gods. Sisgi went back to digging through my pack. My dried fruit got an experimental chewing, as did the fat oak I kept as kindling for wet nights. As I watched, I remembered what snow dragons were known for.
“Ooh,” she said, tugging on a leather pouch. “Summer deer. Can I has? You share?” She dragged it toward me and I realized the pouch was nearly as big as she was.
I gathered my legs under me and reached for the pouch, spreading both hands over it. “I will give you all of this, my whole village will hunt for you, if you help me get home fast.” I handed her a piece of meat.
She gazed at me, jaws working industriously. “I get whole deer?”
“If you can get me home before Tched at nightfall, you will have more deer than you can eat for the rest of your life.”
Sisgi rose to her hind legs, as tall as she could. “You swear?”
I shuffled forward to her fire, then pulled my belt-knife and made a shallow slice in my left palm. I squeezed my fist, counting the drops of blood as they hit the flames, each flaring dark green. As the eighth fell, I said, “I swear on the blood of the mother of all clans, we will always feed you.”
She threw her head back, her shadow suddenly huge and dangerous. “Accept!” She reached for me, unexpectedly larger than me, larger than the cave, larger than the world. Her mouth fountained flames and in them I saw my wife, Ajla, slumped over our children, grey and still.
Sisgi’s flames poured forward and I landed at Ajla’s feet, medicine in my hands. Behind me, Sisgi chirped, “Now time deer?”
Ajla looked between us. “Kehas, what have you done?”
“I’ve saved us all.”