The Lost Villager of the Tundra

By: Greyda Posted on: February 28, 2004

"By Sarapis' frozen nu... argh!"

It was a cold, sunny day in the tundra, and on top of having to fetch her brother from their grandmother's house, Hili had just stepped in a puddle of melting ice, soaking her new boots and nearly freezing her toes off.

"C'mon, Hili, we're going to be late!" called Frohan, already far ahead of her.

"Go on, I'll catch up," she shouted back, grumpily dropping her pack to the ground and taking a seat on a fallen log.

"Of all times for the melt to start, why now," she muttered as she peeled the boots off and pulled a vial from her pack. She wrinkled her nose as she dipped the caloric salve onto her finger and massaged it over her feet, sneezing as the astringent odor invaded her nostrils. Strapping the boots, now covered in ice, to her pack, she stood up to get her bearings, barefoot but comfortably warm.

With her setback in the snow, Hili knew she had better hustle so as to make it on time for dinner. Latecomers were unwelcome at her family's fire, and Hili knew she would already be in enough trouble for ruining her new boots. She decided to take the back route to the village, which would give her plenty of time to dry her boots and dig into the penguin stew her mother would be cooking up.

Since she could remember, Hili had been told to take the main road back to the village; the tundra was a harsh place to live with many dangers. Only foolish hunters from the south of Sapience dared stray from the road, seeking wolves, bears and mammoths to add to their trophy collections. Wendigos, of course, frequented the nightmares of smaller children, but it had been years since a villager's disappearance had actually been attributed to one.

The back route lay just off the road, over a snowbank and through a thick tangle of trees along the river. The trick was finding the river, which froze over in winter although water still ran below. After that it was easy; just follow the river upstream to the village, where it passed behind the main lodge.

As Hili picked her way over the snow drifts and began to press through the thick evergreens toward the river, she had the distinct feeling that she wasn't alone. But at this point she was more concerned with the branches scratching her arms and face, however, and didn't let the feeling bother her.

A loud screech pierced the stillness of the dense wood, startling Hili. She looked up and saw a snowy owl perched on a branch well above her head. She smiled to herself, admiring the milky white plumage, a bright contrast against the mottled green hues of the trees.

And in an instant it was gone.

A quiet thud, and all Hili now saw were two lonely white feathers floating down from the branch. Curious, she moved toward the tree where she last saw the owl, searching the ground in case it had fallen.

Hili whirled around at a rustling behind her. Backing away slowly, her eyes opened wide in horror as she looked up at the roaring form of an immense wendigo. Blood and feathers tangled in its matted fur, it loomed over her, growling hungrily.

Before she could think to run, the wendigo smashed a mighty fist down into her shoulder, and she crumpled to the ground. She screamed as she felt herself slipping on ice, then immediately stiffened when she realized the surface of the river was below her. With a tremendous crack the ice broke and Hili was plunged into the icy stream.

At first it felt as though she were floating in a warm bath, the shock of the plunge not sinking in at first, and she felt diamond fish brush against her as the water propelled her downstream. After a few seconds, though, the caloric salve began to wash away from her skin, and the cold crept in, jolting her to action.

Hili flailed her arms about, grabbing at any solid thing she brushed up against. She was just beginning to feel lightheaded from the lack of air when she wrenched to a stop, her legs tangled in the branches of a sunken tree.

One thick limb stretched up towards the surface, and Hili clung tightly to it, gasping for breath as she popped her head out of the water. She winced as the top of her head smacked hard against the underside of the ice, but was relieved for the chance to breathe.

Scraping desperately against the bottom surface of the ice, Hili searched with her fingertips for a weak spot, a crack, anything to give her hope. She was starting to shiver from the cold, and she knew her chance of survival depended on the next few minutes. Freezing to death was a horrible way to go, she knew, having seen more than her share of deaths due to the inclement weather of the tundra.

As her fingers began to grow numb and her teeth chattered more and more violently, Hili found a small crevice in the ice, about the width of two fingers at its base, the crack running lengthwise with the current of the rushing water. Daring to hope, she grappled with the necklace around her neck, yanking at the tough sinew on which was strung carved bone figures.

The largest figure was a carved narwhal, the tip of its horn sharp and strong. This she jammed upwards into the ice, wedging it tightly within the crevice, and began to strike at its base with the next largest piece of bone, a carved walrus. Manically she hammered at the ice until she heard a loud creaking sound, and the ice began to separate.

Hili held tightly to the tree limb as she saw light pour in from between the cracked ice, still shivering but taking huge gulps of air as she saw she was freed. Reaching out a shaking arm, she clung to the edge of the ice and pulled herself, dripping wet with icicles forming on her hair and clothing, to the river bank. She rolled beneath a tall pine tree, away from the snow, curled in a ball.

Shaking badly, Hili pried her nearly frozen pack from her shoulders, groping inside for the caloric salve. Only a small amount remained, which she spread over her body, soothing the shaking. Exhausted from the ordeal and sprawled on a bed of pine needles, Hili drifted into a restless sleep, nightmares of wendigos and watery deaths plaguing her dreams.

She did not know how long she slept, but when she awoke there was darkness everywhere, an eerie whistling from the wind blowing through the trees, and the quiet rippling from the river close by. No moonlight shone down, and clouds blotted out any stars that dared to shine on the wintry north. Crouching below the tree, Hili surveyed the area, knowing only that she must travel upriver to reach her village. But the river had frozen over where she had broken through, and the darkness made it impossible to discern which way the water flowed. Hili could not risk falling in again, not without protection against the cold.

Staggering up the banks of the river, hoping to catch a glimpse of light from the central campfire in her village, Hili looked down and groaned at the scratches and gashes in her legs from the trip downriver. Trickles of blood ran down to her feet, leaving a trail sure to attract wolves or the wendigos. Wearied and distraught, she told herself not to panic.

"There are caves nearby," she thought, remembering her mother's stories of how the villagers once lived within the earth. "And the caves will have moss," she whispered, wincing as she brushed against a pine branch, the needles sweeping into the cuts on her leg.

As she reached the top of the river bank, she could see a faint green glow coming from several yards away, the unmistakable radiance of irid moss. She crashed through the bushes to reach the opening, sliding on the slick ice at the entrance of the cave and landing in a cavern with passages leading in several directions.

Most of the moss had been taken from the entrance, so Hili would have to go further into the caves to find enough to staunch her bleeding. Keeping a hand along the wall, she ventured into the nearest passageway, picking her way carefully among the stalagmites rising up from the floor.

After winding through countless corridors and taking more turns than she knew she could remember, Hili finally found a cluster of irid moss growing thickly on the walls of the cave. Fishing a knife from her pack she scraped at it, balling it up in her hand. Wrinkling her nose, she bit into it, gagging at the loamy taste and spongy texture, forcing herself to swallow. She felt a tingling sensation through her body as she regained strength and her mind cleared almost immediately.

Now, with no idea how to get out of the cave, Hili strode onwards, confident that an exit must lay ahead of her somewhere. The tundra was an old land, with sinkholes from thousands of years ago creating hundreds of entrances to the caves. Her ancestors once made their homes in the caves, but had long since moved on to build free-standing buildings where they could defend themselves. There had to be an exit somewhere nearby.

A spider scuttled along the corridor, hissing as it neared Hili, and she inched along the far wall to avoid it. A shadow far ahead flickered across the wall, and she thought she saw a vaguely human figure.

"H-hello?" Hili called out nervously, daring to hope someone might be there to help her. As she approached she saw it was a man, hunched over and covered with furs. Trying not to retch at his strong odor, Hili reached out a hand to get his attention. The man spun around to face Hili, greasy hair whipping about his face, a crazed look in his eyes.

"The shards! They'll kill us all!" he cried, throwing up his hands and shoving past her, running back through the darkness.

"Wait!" she cried out, stumbling after him. "I'm lost! Can you help..." but she was too slow, the sound of the cavern dweller's footsteps echoing as it disappeared.

Slumping against the wall, Hili bit back a sob as the gravity of her situation settled on her mind. "I might never get out of here," she thought, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes and falling on her tunic, freezing instantly. She looked back the way she had been walking, then looked in the other direction. Each way looked the same, eerie and dark.

Hili didn't notice the spider that had crept up along the side of the wall, and as her hand brushed against it she instinctively kicked out with her foot, sending it scuttling a short distance away. Before she could react, she was covered in a web of ice. Kicking with her feet to break the entanglement, she tried to twist away as the spider drew near again, wincing as it sank its fangs into her leg before fleeing into the darkness.

Struggling with the crystal web, Hili found herself screaming in pain as the spider's venom sped through her veins, making her shiver violently. With a dull throbbing in her head, she pulled herself to her feet, reaching out a hand to steady herself against the cave wall, looking about in confusion. The floor was spinning, her entire body shaking with cold. Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, she slid down along the wall towards the floor. "I'll just close my eyes for a minute," she whispered to herself. "Then... then I'll find a way out."

Hili drifted in and out of consciousness, woken by her shivering, never quite recovering equilibrium enough to pull herself to her feet, blacking out from exhaustion, an endless cycle of torment she couldn't break. She thought she heard footsteps in the distance, the coming and going of spiders, ever fearful of what creatures would come to prey upon her weakness.

Then a soft warmth surrounded her, a firm hand on her shoulder, and the glow of fire near her cheek.

"Wha... wha... what's going on?" Struggling to open her eyes, she saw a sliver of light, and then a face. From a fur-lined cloak, a pair of bright blue eyes gazed back at her, penetrating the cold and jolting her body to life. Blinking rapidly, she saw the crouched form of a man, bearing a torch in his left hand as he helped her to stand with his right.

"Here, little one, hold these furs about you," said the man as she stood, shrugging two large bearskins around her shoulders. "I've been looking for you for quite a long time now." He smiled widely, his cheeks pink with cold over a thick beard, laughing as she stared back at him in shock.

"Will you... take me home?" she asked hesitantly. His eyes twinkled as he nodded, and he beckoned for her to follow as he headed down the passageway. He was taller than her, but then most grown men were. Human, she could see, but unlike any of her own villagers. This one was tall and fair, with golden hair and beard, unlike the dark features of her own people. As if he knew she was thinking about him, he turned and smiled.

"My name is Drugar, I'm from the southern part of the continent, have you travelled there?" he asked as they walked along. Hili shook her head.

"I've never really been far from the village," she said. "I'm Hili." Drugar nodded slowly.

"Your chief, Ne'bula, he sent me out to find you," he explained. "I was traveling through the north and happened upon your village. Everyone's quite worried, you know. Thought maybe a wendigo had gotten you."

Hili shuddered, remembering her close encounter. Drugar led her on through the caves, moving confidently through the darkness as if he'd spent years there, memorizing the layout of the caverns. After what seemed like hours, darkness seemed to lift from the passage.

"Ah, here we are," said Drugar, taking Hili's hand and helping her step up and over a pile of rubble. As she stared about her, blinking in the light, she saw snow, and trees, and the blue sky overhead. She stumbled, clutching tightly to Drugar's arm as she breathed the fresh air, inhaling deeply and feeling lightheaded as the damp cave air left her. Following silently, she stepped in the footprints Drugar left in the snow.

As the sun began to set, Hili realized she now recognized her surroundings. Ahead of her she could see a tiny hut, smoke rising from a hole in the roof, and beyond that the cluster of buildings she knew to be her home.

The pathway through the village seemed miles long as the pair approached the main lodge at its end. There was an absence of activity, Hili noticed, but the thought was not pressing. As they neared their destination, a dull rumble of voices reached her ears, and she gasped as they entered the lodge to see the entire village assembled therein. Cries of joy arose as from the crowd as they saw her.

"You find my villager!" came a booming voice, and Hili looked up from the ground to see Ne'bula striding towards her. Despite his thin stature, he seemed huge to her, the furs about his shoulders nearly doubling his size. "I so worried!" he cried out, crushing her in a giant bearhug, then moving on to thank Drugar for bringing her back.

"I really must be going, I have events to attend at my home," Hili heard Drugar say to Ne'bula. "I'm glad I was able to help find the young girl."

Hili sighed with relief, glad to be home. Sneaking a peek back at her hero, she gave a small wave and ran off to find her mother, blushing as she caught a sly wink from the adventurer, hoping fervently that she would see him again one day.