The snowdrift rose in front of them, mysterious and ominous. Although its peak remained clouded by swirling snow, the slope of the snowdrift told Lilau it didn’t quite reach the top of the trees. Not exactly a mountain. Barely even a hill. Yet the thought of moving up it, of uncovering what lay hidden at the top, sent shivers down her spine.

We could go back to the village, you know, Makotae offered.

She glanced back at Makotae and gave a weak smile. It was a pleasant idea, but they both knew it wasn’t so easy. She needed answers. The compulsion was as strong as her need for food, and she was starving for both. Makotae sat and watched in knowing silence as she removed the snowshoes from her back and tied them to her boots.

Each of the specialized shoes had been made from a flexible branch bent into a large oval and tied together at the bottom with thick rope. Thin leather strips criss-crossed through the center of the oval into something which reminded Lilau of a spider’s web, while two simple straps stuck up from the center. She used the straps to tie the snowshoes to her fur boots.

Alakna had told her the snowshoes would allow her to walk across deep snow without sinking all the way to the ground. Lilau hadn’t found a reason to distrust Alakna, but that didn’t keep her from hesitating as she took a step up onto the snowdrift’s bank. The snow crunched, sank a little, but did not give way. Lilau released a slow breath. One worry down. A hundred more to go.

The shoes kept her above the powder. Each step brought her closer to the blizzard at the top. The wind increased, whipping at Lilau’s hair and wrapping it around her face. She pushed the white strands off her half-numb skin and raised her hood against the assault.

Makotae whined from the foot of the snowdrift, the sound nearly lost. His uneasiness echoed her own, melding together as they ricocheted around her head. She gritted her teeth and pushed on.

Higher and higher it went until she doubted her first assessment of the snowdrift’s size. The wind grew stronger, sharper. It twisted toward the apex of the storm. At first, it pushed against Lilau, making each step a battle. As she drew near the top, it pulled her in, almost eager to get her to her destination.

Or cutting off your escape route. Makotae’s thoughts trickled in—quiet, subdued, as if talking under water.

The snowstorm at the peak of the snowdrift expanded, enveloping her in impenetrable frozen mist. A low rumble came from nearby, rattling her bones and settling in her chest. The smell of rot washed over her. Her breath caught as she turned.

A creature, impossibly tall, towered over her. Its long-muzzled face reminded her of the deer Fokla. That was where the resemblance ended. Massive antlers sprouted from its head, flat and paddle-like. Wilted vines hung down from their edges. The creature rumbled again, filmy-gray eyes focused through Lilau as it lowered its head, the upper part of the antlers coming into view. They merged in the center, forming a bowl with prongs around the rim. Blackened fruit and rotted berries filled the bowl. The entire mass writhed with maggots and worms.

The smell of decay stole her breath. Her stomach spasmed, stealing her attention for a moment too long.

The antlers smashed into her stomach. The ground fell away as the creature arced upward, then it shrank, eaten once more by the snowstorm as Lilau sailed through the air. Her senses caught up to her as she slammed into the ground.

She tried to cry out, but her lungs refused to expand. Every muscle seized as molten agony exploded across her body.

Something appeared near her face. She kicked, rolling away from it, even as it called out.

…au. Lilau. Lilau!

Makotae’s muzzled came into view as breath rushed back into her lungs in large gulps. He sniffed at her frantically. What was that? What happened? Where are you hurt?

Lilau wrapped her arms around Makotae’s neck and leveraged herself into a wobbly crouch. She stared, eyes wide, at the snowdrift. The air grew still. The storm at the snowdrift’s peak froze, snowflakes suspended in mid-air. Time slowed as if the entire forest held its breath.

Then it exhaled.

The world went white as snow blasted past. Makotae spun and dropped in front of Lilau, his body taking the brunt of the torrent. Even so, Lilau could feel the icy fingers of the gale reaching through her thick furs as if she wore nothing. The air cleared, and the world paused once more.

R… ae… lini.

The broken thought penetrated her mind, as sharp and cold as the wind which heralded it. Beneath the cold, something else squirmed, slick and putrid.

Lilau swallowed the lump in her throat, turning to peer over Makotae’s girth into the eyes of the speaker. The creature from the top of the snowdrift stared back.

Without the storm to obscure it, it stood taller, larger, than she first thought. Four limbs, thick as the trunks of the trees, supported a large-chested body that rippled with swathes of muscle. Tufts of dark brown fur clung to pallid tan skin, bringing to mind the times Lilau had helped Mara treat mange among the unbonded Great Wolves.

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The creature pawed the snow, its three-toed hooves on scraping the frozen earth. Moun.. tains. Mother… bleeds… others… take. What… I… am… fades. What… we… all are… dies. Seek… stop.

As the Guardian spoke, twisting designs lit up along its body, pulsing in sluggish tempo. Black at first, then brighter, clearer, as the Guardian grappled with forming coherent thoughts. The black turned to putrid green, then a blue green of an almost pleasant shade.

With the last word spoken, the designs blinked out.

Lilau’s heart hammered. The power it emanated, the strength in its words, were all too familiar. This, this thing, was the Guardian of Alakna’s tribe. Or at least what remained of it. Her stomach continued to sour. Her saliva turned hot, but she couldn’t give in to the nausea. Not here.

The Guardian stomped and snorted. The gleam of a crazed animal returned to its gaze.

Makotae, we need to leave, now. Lilau slid into Makotae’s saddle, ignoring the ice crystals along the edges.

A question rose from Makotae, thick with cold. She opened their shared channels wide and showed him a full view of the increasingly agitated Guardian. As if to prove her point, the Guardian reared up, blotting out the sun, and flashed blue.

Makotae lunged away with a yelp.

The Guardian’s will smashed into Lilau. The Great Eagle’s mountain range appeared in her mind, sharp and jagged. Heat built behind her eyes as cold seeped into her skin. The scene shifted. She fell, soaring toward jutting rock and scraggly trees. She stopped a hair’s breath from impaling on the tip of a skeletal tree as the mountain range slid under her, pulled by an invisible string as the heat grew stronger, threatening to burst from her skull.

The landscape flew by in a blur, then snapped into still focus.

Blue.

Wake up!

The blue vanished. Makotae materialized under Lilau, sliding to her left much like the mountain range. No, not sliding, but falling. She was falling out of the saddle. Lilau tensed, locking her legs around Makotae’s middle as she curled close to his side. She wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him with all the power her adrenaline afforded her.

Makotae changed his gait as he tried to compensate for her unbalanced weight. Lilau blinked. She tried to think between the pounding in her head and chest. He was running.

Which would be a lot easier with you in the saddle. His ears pinned back.

In her current position, Lilau had no chance of pulling herself onto his back. She glanced at the snow speckled ground, flying dangerously close to her head, gauged Makotae’s speed, then loosened her grip.

She swung her legs out, pushing off the earth as soon as her feet touched it. She arced up, carrying the momentum through her core and arms until she landed in the saddle once more. Every muscle screamed in protest. She really should have exercised more.

Makotae’s heaving breaths stuttered as he tried to snort. Let’s worry about that after we escape the angry snowstorm.

Angry…?

Lilau looked back, eyes going wide.

A wall of snow and ice rose behind them like a tidal wave. It ate the forest behind them, roaring as it closed the distance with alarming speed. A malevolence came from it, a mad intelligence.

Lilau sucked in a breath. The Guardian. Faster, Makotae!

I’m going as fast as I can!

The mountains. We have to go back to the mountains!

The words slipped out without Lilau thinking about it. It echoed strangely in her mind until she couldn’t tell if it was her idea, or the Guardian’s.

The wall of snow shifted, slowing in the front as it bulged to the left. Makotae responded immediately, altering their course toward the safest route.

An opening, a shift between the trees. The tidal wave stretched right and closed in like the jaws of a predator. Lilau could feel it snapping at her skin. It wanted nothing more than to drag her into an ice cold grave.

Makotae’s ears snapped up as he dug in for another desperate lunge.

Trees and powdered ground fell away, replaced by dead grass and open expanse. An explosion came from behind them. The force shoved Makotae off his feet. Daggers of icy wind pummeled them both as Lilau hit the grass, the numbness spreading across her limbs dulling the impact. She tucked, skidding and rolling until she faced the malevolent storm.

Needle-leaved trees dotted the border of the forest lands. Leaf and vine covered bears paced its edge, pus green eyes glowing. A fine dusting of snow covered everything in sight. It was the only remaining sign of the storm.

Lilau’s legs trembled as she stood. A low whine filled her head. The grasslands Guardian had attacked her at first, but it had been logical, if quick to anger. This Guardian was completely insane. Madness took people and animals alike, whether through age or sickness, but people and animals didn’t hold sway over the elements, over the heart of the land itself. Her mind raced around the Guardian’s pained words—What we all are dies. If the Fokla themselves could die, did the physical world stand a chance?

A questing thought pierced the fog in her mind. She turned toward Makotae. The blast had thrown him a dozen steps away, where he lay shivering. Lilau covered the distance quickly, collapsing into his ice-crusted fur as hot tears brought feeling back to her cheeks.

Makotae curled around her, radiating warmth, calm, and acceptance.

They stayed that way until the bears grew bored and vanished, and the numbness of cold gave way to the numbness of tears.

Well, I’m not going back there. Makotae huffed.

Lilau choked out a sharp laugh. Me neither. Could be wrong, but I don’t think we’re welcome anymore.

If we ever were.

Memories of Alakna’s help clashed with the distance she and the village had kept. A stab of guilt pierced Lilau’s chest. Distance her actions had caused. Would things have ended differently if she’d accepted Alakna’s hospitality from the start?

Maybe. Or maybe they would have used us, then discarded us. Either way, do you truly think we could have fit in? Makotae asked.

Lilau considered the low-slung mud houses, the multiple occupants which popped out from their tight quarters only to huddle in close, talkative groups. A new chill ran up her spine. No. I wouldn’t have.

The admission brought a curious heaviness with it, one Lilau couldn’t place or name. She shoved it away. Dwelling on the past wouldn’t help them survive the present.

A quick scan showed the saddlebags had come through their flight mostly unscathed. Rings of moisture bloomed on them as the frost covering their supplies melted in the warmer climate of the grasslands. They’d come full circle yet again. A doomed attempt to fit in with a village, a meager resupply, and they were on their own once more.

Lilau sunk back into Makotae’s fur, letting the eerie quiet cover her like a blanket. Her eyes grew heavy. The chase had drained the energy from both of them. Now that they were beyond the reach of the mad forest Guardian, Lilau could find no reason to fight the rest they so desperately needed.

She dreamed of blood and the screams of the earth.