by Sabatea » Fri Jun 22, 2018 3:45 am
Username: Sabatea
Show Name: Winter’s Biting Breath
Barn Name: Verglas
First Summons:
I knew very little, and that of which I thought I knew, I wasn’t sure how I knew. I knew I felt a warmth against my side, and I heard a crackling in the corner. I knew the warmth was inside of me as well, which encircled the cold that radiated out from my core. The cold was a comforting aura within me, and I felt somehow that it was the very essence of myself.
A faint noise caused me to open my eyes, and as I blinked the bleariness away, I was able to see. I was in a room, with a great fire behind me. There was a mess of smears all over the room, coating it in a muddy brown. In front of me stood a short, grizzled woman. Despite her obvious age, her eyes glowed with a childish delight, as if her greatest fantasy had just come true.
She was covered in this same muddy mixture as the room, most of it centered around her hands and arms. As I was inspecting her, she reached a hand out slowly towards me. I didn’t know why, but I stepped forward, lowering my nose to meet her outstretched fingers. She gasped, but whether at the warmth or the cold I wasn’t sure.
“You will save us…” She whispered to me, tears suddenly spilling from her eyes and rolling down her cheeks.
I simply watched her, unsure of how to take it all in. Everything was foreign to me, but I had a feeling that I was here because of her. How I knew, I was uncertain, but I felt that I had a purpose. The woman seemed to sense these emotions wheeling within me, as she spoke again.
“I toiled in this room for so long, praying and hoping that the gods would hear me. I carved a body out of clay, hoping that they would send me the spirit of a great Rajarshi horse to save us… I asked for them to be the embodiment of cold and ice itself, to help rid us of this disease that is plaguing us. I want it frozen, locked away under the ice where no one will ever be harmed again…”
I listened to her intently, somehow able to understand. This must be my purpose, to save her people from this horrible disease. I now understood this feeling within me, why the great coldness was inside of me. I would help her to stop the spread of this disease, whatever it was.
Again, she seemed to be able to read me. She smiled through her tears, and pulled my head against her, hugging me to her chest. “Thank you…” She sobbed, though I wasn’t sure if it was meant for me, or for the gods that she spoke of.
She pulled away quickly though, taking in a deep breath to steady herself. “We cannot wait any longer. The disease has already killed so many…” She trailed off, her eyes becoming solemn again before she shook it off. “Come with me.”
She kept a hand on my shoulder as she stepped towards a door on the far side of the room. I followed her easily, making sure to go slow. She seemed so old and frail, her touch feathery on my side. Each step of mine seemed so large compared to hers.
Once we reached the door, she leaned forward to open it, and stepped through ahead of me. I followed, ducking my head and squeezing my way through. The doorway creaked, but I managed to pull myself through. The woman stood at my side again, looking around at her village.
There were many small buildings like the one we had just left. Fires roared between them, lighting the night sky in an orange glow. I heard coughing in the distance, and I turned to look. One of the shacks looked larger than the others, and much newer. The coughing came from there, and as I listened I heard many more than the first. Some were extremely weak, barely more than a raspy breath. My ears flicked down, and I knew that this was what the woman was so afraid of.
“Shaman!” A voice called from in front of us, and I turned to look. A man was running towards us, but he skidded to a halt when he saw me. “I-is that?” He stammered, but the shaman interrupted him.
“Yes, she is. The gods have heard us. However, we must discuss that later. Tell me, how are they now?”
“Y-yes, Shaman. They are suffering, and many seem to be finding it harder and harder to breath and remain conscious. The fevers are spiking, and we don’t have enough healthy to help them all…” The man stammered out, his amazed eyes still on me.
“Gods help us…” The shaman murmured, clutching a talisman around her neck. “We must hurry. Where has it spread to?” She asked the man.
“I have heard that a child has become ill as far as the Cumanju Mountain tribe.”
“We may have just enough time then.”
“Shaman, even if we stop it, I’m not sure our tribe will survive… So many are ill and-“
“It does not matter,” she placed a hand on his shoulder, “What happens here will not stop me. I will stop this from spread to the other tribes and prevent them from suffering as we have.”
The man nodded, an anguished look in his eyes. “What can I do?”
“Spread the word. ‘The gods have heard us.’ I’m sure I’m not the only shaman who has pleaded with them, and others will be trying as well. Send them hope.”
The man nodded again and stepped back. He took his own talisman into his hand, “Be safe, my shaman.”
She copied his stance and said, “And you as well, my brother.”
On a whim, I stepped forward and pressed my forehead against his. I felt a small bit of the cold in me enter him, and he shivered under my touch. Perhaps some of it would protect him. Then, I followed the shaman as she led me away from him, and towards the edge of the village. To one side, I saw a herd of horses, perhaps the Rajarshis that she had spoken of earlier.
She paused at the edge of the village and turned to me, “Great spirit, would you allow me to ride you? We do not have the time for me to saddle and ready my own horse…”
I gave a small snort and walked my way over to a rock where she might be able to reach my back easier. She murmured her gratitude and climbed up the rock and onto my back. She clutched my mane in her hands and pointed the way to the tribe. In the distance, I could just make out the mountain range she was gesturing towards. I turned towards it and breathed a cold breath out, chilling the air before me.
I started at a gallop, almost throwing the shaman off in my haste. I ran, letting the cold within me spread through the air. Though I wasn’t sure if it would help, I wanted to do as much as I could. The shaman sat on my back, murmuring prayers to her gods and clutching tight to my mane and sides. She still had plenty of strength, despite her age.
-
I ran for a day straight, spreading my cold behind me. The shaman stayed firmly on my back and did not seem to sleep. I was beside the mountains now, though I had yet to reach the tribe. I felt a chilling wind blowing from behind us, which comforted me. The brisk wind convinced me that I was managing to chill the earth, and it was not fading as quickly as I passed.
It was night again, which helped us to see the orange glow of the other tribe. I quickened my pace, and the shaman clutched me tighter. I dashed forward, covering the distance to the village in no time. I broke through the underbrush and skidded to a stop beside the village, a few startled tribespeople exclaiming and jumping aside.
The shaman slid from my back almost before I had stopped completely, and cried out to the crowd, “Where is your leader?”
One of the women in the tribe gestured towards a large hut towards the center of the village. The shaman rushed towards it, and I followed behind her. She put up a hand to stop me in front of the hut and entered it quickly. I stayed and heard murmuring within the hut, but I didn’t listen.
A few of the tribespeople had followed behind me and were gaping at me in awe. I carefully stepped towards them and pressed my forehead against one of them like I had with the man before. I released my cold and heard a gasp from the woman. I stepped back, and she looked at me in bewilderment, but pulled another person before me. I did the same to them, and as many of the people as approached me. I would protect as many as I could, with what little power I had.
“Will you save our sick?” A woman cried to me, a children’s doll clutched in her hands.
I followed as she walked to the sick house, where a young girl laid in the bed, her breath rasping terribly. A few others were in similar conditions, coughing and reaching out towards me shakily. I breathed in deep, releasing a cold breath throughout the room. Many of them breathed easier, but somehow I knew I was not curing them.
I could not work miracles. I was a protector, not a healer. I could protect them from suffering though, and I breathed my cool breath to ease their breathing and their fevers.
The woman cried beside me, hugging the child’s thin frame against herself, “Thank you,” she said to me.
I backed away and returned to my shaman. She was exiting the hut and glanced towards me. The look in her eyes told me that she knew what I’d done, and what I hadn’t been able to do. She steeled herself though, and came to meet me.
“We’re going to protect them.” She said, “Their leader says that they haven’t heard of it spreading any further. If we get up high, we might be able to freeze the disease and stop its spread.”
I looked up towards the mountains before us, and she nodded, clambering back onto my back. “I ask that you give us one more gift, Verglas. Breathe your winter’s breath upon this land.”
The name startled me a little, but I accepted it as I charged forward again. I aimed straight for the mountain this time, rather than beside it. I left the village behind me quickly, but a part of me stayed there, breathing hope and relief into the souls who resided there.
The mountain was steep, and the travelling was rough. I slid on the loose rocks often, and I struggled to keep the shaman nestled in the middle of my back. She often slid, without the support of a saddle to help her. Eventually, she climbed off of me and walked in front, and I nudged her whenever she slid.
Together, we climbed higher and higher, until we came to a peak. It wasn’t the tallest part of the mountain, but I could see far and wide from it. The village was below us, and now that the sun had risen, I could see it clearly even from this height.
Far away, I could just barely make out the shaman’s village, and others that we had not gone to, and that perhaps the disease had not reached yet. I flicked my tail and lifted my head into the wind. It was cold up here, but not nearly cold enough. The land was not cold, and the mountain wind was not strong enough.
I breathed in slowly, and when I breathed out it was slightly colder, but I knew that was not good enough. I would have to release all of my cold, and freeze the very earth, the very air around us. Nothing would be untouched by the cold I would release. I waited a moment, for a gust of wind to blow down from the mountain.
Then, I breathed in, as deep as I possibly could, and I began to breath it out, letting the mountain air carry it even further. As the cold raced out of me, I felt a strange burning along me, the cold leaving its mark along my hide. The chill I brought was unlike any other, it froze to the bones and penetrated any heat. The cold was impossible to escape, and it sank low on the breeze and carried far, far away.
It crawled down from the mountain, like a wave from the ocean it crashed along the earth below and cascaded forward, freezing the land and the air. Frost spread along the ground, the moisture in the air and the dew on the ground freezing immediately, and ice formed everywhere the wave touched. The gust travelled as far as the eye could see, seeming to cast the entire world in a shimmery, white glow.
As the last trace of cold blew from my lungs, I knew I had done good. No more would grow sick here, and though I may not have reached the entire world, I had done enough for these tribespeople, and for the shaman who had prayed for a gift from the gods. I closed my eyes, and felt at peace.
Last edited by
Sabatea on Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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