ice can kill…

The cold was horrid and awful and terrible and all of the other bad words to describe things that Amaria could think of. On days like this, she would have been huddled in a cove, wrapped in furs, or even at home, if her father had deemed it too cold. Or at the very least, she would have had gloves. But she shouldn’t complain. Others had it worse, she was sure. Instead of focusing on just how cold she was, Amaria started to make a list of all the nice things.

”One – I have shoes that keep out most of the cold and wet. Two – I ain’t injured. Three – the snow is pretty, if you look where there’s no prints. Five – I got plenty of food and water. F—Oh wait… That wasn’t right, was it?”

For the second time in a month, Amaria had been forced to leave the confines of her mistress’ house to go to the Grand Library in Drythwood Forest. The kicker this time, though, was that she had no reason to say no! She had managed to find the first book purely through the help of another traveler that happened to be there, but she hadn’t dared tell Mazelina that. Somehow, she sensed that it was supposed to have been a secret which book she was trying to find. But she never would have found it on her own, due to her complete inability to read. She had avoided her mistress’ ire by returning with the book, but now she had lost her single excuse for not going again. Protesting the cold and the distance had fallen on deaf – or uncaring, or some combination of both – ears, and so Amaria found herself back under the heavy boughs of the forest.

Though she had thought that she was taking the same path as last time, it was hard to tell – everything was now covered in snow, and really, Amaria was just following the path of least resistance. No-one had ever taught her how to read a map either! She had been walking and paying little attention to her direction for at least two hours before she had started on her list, but that distracted her even more. Enough that somehow, she managed to find herself part way across a large sheet of ice before she realized where she was. Fearing for its stability and her own safety, Amaria panicked and tried to run to one of the edges. Where before her footfalls had been soft, her change in pace sent her foot driving through the ice, and with a crack and a shriek, Amaria found herself under where she had just been stood a matter of seconds before.

… as dead as fire.