---Raala’s perspective---

  Kenophobia…

  I realise now that I definitely have it!

  I always thought that my dad’s description of the utterly nauseating anxiety he felt travelling in the lands East of the Basin was something I didn’t share.

  Afterall, I knew what plains looked like!

  We lived less than half a day’s travel from plains and those ones didn’t make me uncomfortable! At least, not in any more than the abstract way of ‘that’s land I can’t hunt on’!

  But there’s a difference: Those plains had topography! They had rolling hills and mountains visible to the West and South! They had patches of trees dotted about them!

  Where I am now is… sickeningly flat!

  I've not seen so much as a bump on the horizon in any direction for two and a half days!

  No where to hide.

  Nothing to obscure us.

  Nothing to even let us know we’re moving at all… except the trail of footprints left in the snow behind us as we walk.

  We followed a river as we came down the mountains but, when we came out onto this steppe on the second day, it veered East and we needed to go South.

  It might not have been so bad if we could’ve kept following it. I’d have something to look at other than overcast skies and endless flat, snowy land at least!

  Shelter’s been an exhausting nightmare since we left the mountains too!

  No wood to build with.

  No caves or rock crevices.

  Nothing to make our shelters with but snow.

  Snow is a better insulator than you’d think but, for best effect, you need to build quite… intimately…

  It’s difficult to sleep with my kidnapper less than an arm’s length away from me!

  I am at least grateful for the charcoal he brought. We’d likely already have reached the limit of the amount of wood we could carry and we’d have nothing else to burn!

  Replenishing the water without a stream to break the ice on is a bit more tedious…

  It means stuffing snow into the skin and leaving it by the fire, then sleeping with it between us so it doesn’t refreeze.

  It’s-

  “Hey! I think I see something!” announces the much taller man, bringing his hand to his flat brow to look over the horizon.

  ---Ksem’s perspective---

  As we walk through the forest, a lake emerges.

  Frozen over of course but still a welcome sight… even if it is in our way!

  We stop on the bank and Raala digs a pomegranate sized rock out of the frozen soil.

  I watch as she hurls it up and out onto the ice.

  The ice chirps like a bird each time the heavy rock bounces on its surface.

  The first bounce caused her to wordlessly step forward, apparently satisfied that the ice will support our weight.

  I’m… less at ease!

  Even having heard Old Red’s stories about it, even with Raala’s rock throwing test, even with Raala going first… I can’t so easily get over my discomfort.

  Knowing that, beneath the ice, most of the lake is still liquid, knowing that, if misjudged, I will go through it and (best case) be freezing cold and soaking wet and (worst case) get trapped down there and drown… well, it certainly has my heart going!

  I finally take a cautious step out onto the surface.

  I reassure myself at first by looking down, looking at the stony lakebed just a shinlength beneath my feet… I quickly stop when the bottom gets far enough down to be partially lost in the murk.

  My mind tortures me by showing me implausibly large river monsters swimming below my feet.

  Alright, I just need to walk straight and I’ll be across in a few hundred heartbeats!

  Raala’s already nearly halfway over!

  Don’t think about it!

  It’s just slippery ground!

  It’s just-

  *skrrrp*

  My heart stops as my foot loses traction and I almost fall over!

  I know it withstood a rock falling on it but… I weigh a lot more than a rock!

  I don’t want to test if falling over on the ice causes me to crash straight through it!

  Maybe lets think about it a little!

  Let’s think about it just enough not to fall over!

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  Raala’s already made it over and turns back to shout insults at me for my slow speed.

  I ignore her and just focus on walking as fast as I can without losing my footing.

  After what feels like an eternity of crossing, I see the lakebed shallowing below me again and breathe a sigh of relief.

  I’m not fully comfortable though until my feet are once again on solid ground!

  My body relaxes and I breathe deeply with the release of the fear.

  Unimpressed, my companion mocks “You crossed that like a toddler! Like that was your first time!”

  “It was my first time!” I pant in answer.

  She’s momentarily shocked before saying “Oh… Yeah… No snow or ice in the South… I keep forgetting!” she looks up at the sky and then around through the forest before saying “We should probably get started on the shelter for tonight. It’ll be good to actually have some branches to lay our cloaks on instead of just putting them directly on the compacted snow.”

  Mostly having caught my breath, I take the charcoal basket off my back and open it’s top to withdraw the digging stick.

  Handing it in her direction, I ask “Do you want to get started on that while I have a look around to see if I can find anything edible to top up our supplies?”

  She rolls her eyes “Yeah, yeah… leave me with the hard work!”

  I smirk “We could always swap? You could look for food and I could lay out the foundation of a nice and cosy compacted snow shelter for us?”

  Scowling at me, she reaches out and snatches the digging stick.

  I start walking away before turning around, remembering “Oh! You need this, don’t you! Almost forgot!” reaching for the buckskin towel that’s been serving as our shelter’s roof for the past three nights.

  “No, keep it…” she stops me, gesturing around “…We’ve got trees now. I’ll make the roof with branches. They’ll support snow on top and it’ll be a lot warmer than just buckskin.”

  “Oh… alright then.” I say, tucking the folded towel back into my belt and walking away.

  ---Lorgul’s perspective---

  We approach from down wind, able to hear and smell without being heard or smelled.

  I squeeze my club’s handle and look to my cousins.

  I give the signal and we quietly break from cover, continuing to creep towards the trespasser setting up camp on our lakeshore.

  ---Raala’s perspective---

  I’ve just finished clearing the ground for the firepit, compacting the snow for us to sleep on, building the three walls to break the wind and am about to start gathering branches when I feel a prickle on the back of my neck.

  I whip around to see three men who’ve somehow managed to sneak up on me without the sound of their footsteps giving them away in the snow…

  No… not men… the oldest of them can’t be more than about 19 Winters… the youngest looks maybe 15! These are boys!

  Them sneaking up on me from downwind, the expressions on their faces and the fact that they’re pointing weapons at me immediately let me know they’re not here to welcome me as their hearthstead’s guest!

  Straight away, my mind goes to my spear but, with a curse, I realise they’re already between me and it!

  Note to self; never leave your weapon downwind of what you’re doing again!

  The oldest one, a tall boy with bright, curly, clay coloured hair, a wispy beard and whose body still hasn’t properly filled out yet (giving him a boyish slimness) points his club at me and demands “Where’s the other one?!”

  “What other one!?” I snarl in response, dropping into a fighting posture despite being outnumbered and outmatched.

  He extends his left hand to gesture where the charcoal basket and supply satchels are.

  “That’s too much for one person to carry. Where’s the other trespasser?!”

  “We aren’t trespassing, boy!” I object “There are only tw-ten of us! We can cross this territory as we please so long as we come to give you your Due! We didn’t even realise this forest was occupied!”

  The boy wryly raises his club to gesture the shelter behind me “Ten of you all gonna pile in there, are you(?)”

  “I haven’t started on the other shelters yet, boy…” I lie, immediately.

  “That’s a lie…” he states, casually “…you’re travelling with a single companion who, if their tracks are anything to go by, has weirdly long and slim shoes!… So where are they?”

  “We’re allowed to be here, boy! However many of us there are, it’s not enough to qualify as trespass!”

  He sneers “You’re little easements might hold weight in the Basin, Basinwoman… but Hyena is an exile clan! We aren’t beholden to any of your rules! Every one of our paths is marked with downturned footprints to let outsiders know to keep out because we’re dangerous! We do as we like! We steal as we like! We kill. as. we. like!… You’ve stepped into our territory! You’ve trespassed and now it’s up to us what we do with you!… And stop calling me ‘boy’! I’m going to be a father this Spring!”

  “Oh, congratulations(!)… I’m sure your child will grow up to be such a wonderful person(!) How could they not with a teenaged psychopath for a father(!?!?!?)”

  He sighs and throws his club away behind him, pulling out a coil of rope and marching towards me.

  “Brogol, Nurgo, keep your spears trained on her while I tie her up… She’s going to see my dad!”

  “I’m going to see no one, boy!” I spit, backing away around my half finished snow shelter “Do not come near me with those ropes!”

  He doesn’t listen, just breaking into a sprint towards me.

  Instead of running away, I brace for the impact.

  He tackles me and immediately and clearly has the upper hand!

  Teenager or not, he’s much larger and stronger than I am!

  He quickly wrestles me onto my front, pulling my hands behind me to lash my wrists together.

  Then he grasps the scruff of my neck with his left hand, reaching his right to my bottom jaw to begin pulling me to my feet.

  Big mistake!

  I open my mouth and bite down, hard, on the side of his hand!

  He screams and irresistibly wrenches his hand from between my teeth, giving me the briefest glimpse of his blood, before he kneels on my spine to keep me pinned down.

  “She’s a fucking biter!” spits the man actually in the process of kidnapping me (unlike the outlander who just did so with his cursed stupidity!), sounding outraged “Brogol! Hand me that leather… I’m gonna muzzle her…”

  “You will not muzzle me! You will let me go this instant! You-Ahhh!” I shriek, as a thick piece of leather appears and has its top edge drawn tight across the bridge of my nose before being fastened at the base of my skull.

  My unwanted bandana is easy enough to breathe through and doesn’t stop me talking at all but does completely deprive me of the ability to effectively bite!

  I curl my feet over my back to aim ineffectual kicks at my attacker’s behind, screaming but, nevertheless, I’m pulled to my feet.

  I thrash and struggle, vainly trying either to kick him or fight my way out of his grip.

  Ignoring me, while holding me at arm’s length, the tall teenager orders his younger accomplices “Follow those prints! Apprehend the other one and bring them and all their stuff to the hearthstead! Be careful! They’re probably armed!”

  “Yes Lorgul!” say the younger boys in unison before running off along the tracks the outlander left in the snow.

  My captor stands for a few breaths after his subordinates have vanished, continuing to ignore my screaming and struggling.

  Finally, he sighs and pushes me back in the direction of his club, saying “You know… I didn’t want this right now!… All we want is to be left alone here but… every few years, someone waltzes in here acting like they own the place!!!… We’re just defending what’s ours, you understand?”

  “Not even slightly, psycho!” I snarl in answer.

  “*sigh*…Well… won’t matter once you and your friend are dead, I suppose…?” he says, reaching for his club as he causes me the greatest terror of my life, promising murder for a trespass I haven’t even committed!

  I scream out “HELP ME!… KSEEEEEEEEEM!!!”

  *Thp* is the sound of an arrow burying itself in the snow a handsbreadth from my captor’s bleeding hand, making him recoil away from his club!

  Ksem ice crossing |