When Jasnah woke again from her intense, deep sleep, the little village that had sheltered her for weeks had vanished entirely from view.
The carriage-shed rolled smoothly along the frozen river's surface, and outside, the dense pine forest lining both banks slid steadily, continuously past the small openings in the canopy.
Thick clouds had closed steadily back over the sky again, painting it back into that same dull, familiar grey it had worn for weeks before this morning's brief clearing.
Enno had come into the small cabin space at some point without her noticing his entry. He was feeding fresh wood into the small stove with one hand, and with the other, roasting a few skewers of stiff, cold venison over the flame.
"Cough, cough—"
With no chimney venting the space, the thin smoke that filled the enclosed cabin set Jasnah coughing hard. She braced herself up on both arms and sat properly up, throwing back the gathered blankets covering her.
The fresh bandage newly wound around her right leg made the corner of her mouth tighten at the sight.
Perhaps out of some wish to avoid embarrassment.
During the many days they'd stayed together in the little cabin, Enno had always, without exception, waited until she was deeply asleep to unwrap the bandage, apply fresh medicine, then rewrap it and splint it again.
Every single time she woke to find he'd already changed her dressing while she slept, a small flicker of astonishment rose in her.
Someone handling her leg while she remained asleep, and still she never woke—never once felt even a flicker of resistance rising to it, the way her instincts should have.
Jasnah could only explain it one way: Enno held no ill will toward her at all and so he never once tripped the sensitive wire of her deep wariness.
"How many days do you think we'll be on the sled, in total?"
She asked, brushing back the loose strands of hair drifting before her own eyes, her mood was somewhat improved by the fresh food.
"Barring anything genuinely unexpected—three days, roughly."
Enno handed her the warmed skewer of meat and pointed to the kettle set to one side, indicating there was hot water ready there for her.
'Three days.'
On its own, that genuinely wasn't so very long a time.
But given that they could run into a blizzard at any moment along the way, and would still have to endure temperatures dropping to tens of degrees below zero once night fell each time—
Three days began to feel very long indeed.
Several hours had passed by now since they'd first set out. Hauling a heavy carriage loaded with both considerable cargo and passengers had worn out even the sturdy sled dogs Enno had borrowed from the village; the sled's overall pace had slowed with the accumulated fatigue.
Through the thick hide covering separating them from outside, Jasnah could hear the dogs' heavy, ragged breathing audibly.
"These dogs need to rest for a moment—"
Jasnah said. Enno nodded once at that, thumped the side of the carriage a few times in signal, and the well-trained dogs began braking obediently in response.
The heavy carriage-shed slid forward some further distance before finally coming to a complete stop.
Enno swung down from the carriage with ease, dug out a few pieces of venison from the lower storage compartment, and carried the water kettle and a wooden basin toward the front where the dogs waited.
Listening to the sound of the dogs already feasting outside the hide covering, Jasnah found herself suddenly curious about the scene. She shifted her weight and climbed down carefully after him, making her way slowly to the front while holding onto the sled's own frame for support.
The dogs did look thoroughly, visibly exhausted from the work. In the ten-and-some degrees below zero cold, wisps of white steam rose off every single thick-coated white dog's body.
The two lead dogs had their heads buried in the wooden basin, eating with noisy, hungry grunts, while the remaining dogs waited in an orderly line behind them, watching with longing eyes.
Within two minutes flat, the basin sat entirely empty.
The lead dog, sharp enough to properly sense its place in the pack's hierarchy, backed away on its own accord, making room.
Enno poured more hot water carefully into the basin, scooped up a handful of snow off the ground to properly cool it, and finally tossed in a few more pieces of venison for the next pair.
The two dogs next in line surged forward eagerly without waiting for further invitation. The grunting, snuffling sound started up again immediately.
Never mind the ones still waiting patiently in line—even the two lead dogs who'd already eaten stood watching with continued longing eyes.
"They don't look like they've had enough, do they?"
Jasnah said to Enno, pointing at a lead dog visibly drooling at the sight of the others eating, a touch of unexpected, girlish tenderness entered her voice.
"That's enough."
Enno shook his head and said gruffly, without particular sympathy.
"There isn't enough food available to spare more."
Whine—
The clever lead dog whimpered softly at that verdict, its ears were drooping with disappointment.
Jasnah bit her lip at the sight, a flicker of reluctance appearing across her face, but then her expression brightened suddenly with a new idea.
"We should let them eat their fill. If we run into danger along the way, being able to run faster could save our lives."
Jasnah said, and she pointed one finger toward the ice a few feet away.
Whoosh!
A fierce gust of concentrated force tore through the empty air, and the space around it visibly blurred with the force of the spell.
A deep gash suddenly split cleanly across the once-smooth snow, and beneath it, the ice cracked apart with a sharp, satisfying crackling sound.
The two lead dogs' ears shot straight up at once at the sudden noise, and the other dogs still waiting their turn stared at the unfolding scene with baffled, uncomprehending eyes.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Several fiercer gashes tore through the ice in quick series, and a large section of it shattered apart completely with a crash.
Even the two dogs still finishing their meal paused to stare at Jasnah with alarm at the scene.
Splash!
A dark shadow flickered suddenly beneath the broken surface, and a fish weighing more than twenty pounds leapt clear of the water below.
Whoosh!
A vicious wind howled past, and one of the two lead dogs sprang into the air, snapping the floating, exposed fish clean between its own powerful jaws in a single, decisive motion!
Water sprayed generously across Jasnah's face at the impact, and the sudden cold caught her off guard—she let out a startled cry and staggered backward, on the very verge of falling, but a pair of steady hands reached out from behind and caught her.
Mmph, mmph—
The lead dog that had successfully caught the fish whined happily, trotting over to Jasnah in quick, eager little steps, its whole tail was wagging furiously behind it in evident delight.
"This one's for you, then—"
Jasnah said, smiling at the enthusiastic creature.
Mmph!
The lead dog whined again in response, pressing its own shaggy head forward affectionately to nuzzle against her left ankle.
The rest of the dogs understood the game then too, and streamed over in an eager rush to crowd around the fresh ice hole, staring down into the dark water with hungry, hopeful eyes.
The sky above had grown noticeably darker than before during all this, and the snowflakes drifting gently down had thickened considerably, no longer the fine, scattered kind that had been falling earlier that morning.
Enno noticed all of this unfolding around him, but said nothing in response.
He only watched quietly from a small distance, as though he'd set down, for this one moment, every burden and every pretence he carried, watching Jasnah rejoice over each successful dog's catch.
His wrinkled, wooden face softened slightly.
"All right, then!"
A full hour or more later, once every single dog had gotten at least two plump fish for their trouble, Jasnah looking, just then, every bit the young girl she still was underneath everything else—clapped her hands together in satisfaction, turned back to Enno standing behind her, and said,
"Let's go, then."
And so, together, they set out once more on the journey.
Heavy clouds sank lower over the earth as they travelled, the sky was growing darker with each passing hour, and out in the frozen wild where water froze to solid ice the moment it fell from the sky, the wind howled now like the wailing of some vengeful banshee.
"Enno, is it going to snow again soon?"
Even Jasnah, sitting back inside the carriage, could sense that some kind of blizzard might well be closing in around them.
"Mm—"
Enno grunted in simple acknowledgment, tilting his face up toward the sky, his eyes went distant and focused as he studied the gathering clouds with attention.
No one, perhaps, in this entire region understood this brutal weather as thoroughly as he did.
What was about to fall wasn't merely a snowstorm—it was something far more violent: a whiteout.
Jasnah was just about to ask something further, but the sled, which had been faithfully following the frozen river's course the entire journey, suddenly veered sharply off its course without warning.
Under Enno's decisive guidance, the dogs hauled the sled straight up the steep riverbank and plunged directly into the dark forbidding forest beyond it.
His calm, assessing gaze swept the surrounding terrain rapidly, fixing quickly on a rocky outcrop rising distinctly from the rolling snowfield stretching ahead of them.
The seasoned, well-trained dogs barely needed any further direction beyond his signal. Led decisively by the lead dog, the whole team surged forward at a full, committed run toward the rocky rise, and brought the entire sled to a smooth stop in the sheltered lee of its downwind side.
"What's wrong, Enno?"
Jasnah's voice came anxiously from inside the carriage.
"We need to take shelter—"
Enno said, unruffled.
He leapt down from the sled with speed and, with quick skilful movements, unbuckled the harness from around each dog's neck.
Freed from their harnesses, the dogs didn't scatter or run wild in the moment. Keeping their order and discipline intact, they leapt one after another into the already-crowded carriage space, quick in their movement but never chaotic about it.
Enno used the brief remaining time to hurriedly loop the harness lines around a jagged spur of exposed rock, securing the whole sled firmly in place against what was coming.
The cold air around them had thickened suddenly with something heavy and grave, like the accumulated weight of earth pressing down together, and it set Jasnah's nerves on edge.
"Will we be all right, Enno?"
She watched Enno squeeze himself into the already-packed carriage space and cinch the drawn entrance curtain tight shut behind him, and asked the question.
"AWOOOOOO"
The whole world went dark all at once.
The whiteout had arrived.
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