Aithne's story part 56 - Splintered on the Ice
Entry posted by jfraser in Aithne's story
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Aithne blinked as the world reassembled itself around her. She still felt as if she was flying, though the wind had slowed, as had her body. Nevertheless, the wind that brushed against her face made her cheeks feel mildly chapped from the cold.
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Around her, the sea played its constant rhythm, a rhythm that was counterpointed by the familiar creaks and groans of a seafaring vessel. Ahead and just to port, a large iceberg jutted out of the water, its clear ice sparkling in the bright sun. Her mind wheeled, trying to fit the pieces of the world together like some sort of metaphysical jigsaw puzzle.
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She was on a ship. She had been unconsciously aware of the fact, but it finally clicked on in her conscious brain - there was no mistaking the feeling. Further, she was in the crowsâ nest of the ship, high above the deck. All she could see below were sails and ropes. As she tried to come to grips withâĻwell, all of it, the ship shifted to port, the sails puffed as they picked up wind, and they lurched forward, accelerating on a ramming course with the berg.
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Disorientation fed the quickly-growing berg to her already well-baked confusion, added a large helping of dÊjà vu, and presented her with a full plate of steaming hot panic.
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âNo no nononononoâĻâ
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Aithneâs mind thought of a lot of things to do; too many, in fact â she felt paralyzed by the options and ended up doing nothing but grip the sides of the crowsâ nest as the ship careened into the berg at full speed with a massive BANG that echoed across the frozen ice fields. The impetus drove her from the ship, her body continuing the collision course with the berg; she heard the sound of her own screaming as she threw her arms over her head.
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Whether it was by instinct or luck, some part of her remembered, in the nick of time, that she knew how to fly â her body twisted in midair, jerking her up and to the right. A moment later, her scream renewed itself as the giant mast slammed down toward her like a hammer. She swooped under it, squeezing through just as the yardarm smashed into the berg.
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The concussion of the crash blasted her out of control, and her body tumbled through the air. She was fortunate a second time that her trajectory had been upward at the time of the blast â she ended up hovering over the icy waters of the sea fifty feet away from the berg and thirty feet in the air.
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The ship groaned and then settled. Only a portion of its port side remained above water, held in place only by a slim underwater shelf of the berg. Aithne paused a moment, then pushed her cautious way toward it.
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There could only be one answer to this puzzle, but it seemed impossible. She stared at the scene as she flew over it and tried hard to get herself to wake up â she was having a dream, a nightmare. It was the only explanation.
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But the dream persisted, refusing her requests to let her leave. With a sigh, she moved forward, swinging over the mast and landing on the surface of the berg, then studied the wreck.
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It had to be the Jaunty Spirit. It all looked exactly the same as it hadâĻwhat? Six years ago? The wreck had happened on 30 Sunâs Height, 201. Alduinâs destruction of the College had happened in the afternoon of 8 Morning Star, 208. So just under six and a half years.
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It felt like so much longer. She shook her head as she wrapped her arms around her body. The unfamiliar feel of leather caused her to glance down, and if nothing else had convinced her that she was back where it all began, the naval uniform that clothed her body certainly brought the fact to jarring life. She shook her head as her brain finally came to terms with what her senses had already tried to tell her.
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This was real. She was back where she started.
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The how didnât matter at this moment, although it would definitely be something she was going to look into once she got back to the College. Her mind shifted through books that might of some use, but then froze as she realized what this meant.
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If this was six and a half years ago, the College should also be back. She peered to the east but the distance was too great to see anything but the sea and the distant shore.
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Still. If the college was back, that meant Urag was back! Her heard jumped at the thought of it â he had been taken from her far too soon! Her friends would also be back. Well, and Merks, but stillâĻ
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A pause and a frown. Wait, Urag would be back, butâĻAithne touched her womb as a new wave of sadness passed over her. Chtonji would still be gone. He wouldnât be born for almost two years. And he wouldnât be born at all if she didnât happen to have sex with the right person at exactly the right time.
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The thought sent a chill through Aithne, and that chill quickly turned into a core of ice as solid as the berg she stood on.
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She would need to have sex with Chtonjiâs father. And Chtonjiâs father had beenâĻ
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Even as the name rebounded around her mind, a head surfaced, as if bidden, from beneath the shipâs bulk. She heard a great indrawing of breath as massive green arms scrabbled for purchase on the ice. Aithneâs icy core splintered into outright panic when the owner of the hands was revealed.
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It was an orc. A giant of an orc, huge even for their species. He was dressed in plain, water-soaked linen.
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Aithne couldnât help herself. Her insides turned to instant quaking jelly and she fell to her knees as her legs gave out. The sound alerted the orc to her presence and his head snapped in her direction. And, in the face of her gibbering fear, Borkul the Beast smiled.
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Edited by jfraser
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