Across the Ice by ford_of_bruinen

Chapter 6

Slowly the discussions and arguments died down and the tears dried. No more than and handful left, turning back to a city that might be denied them, the others remained, reluctant to be parted from the families they had followed this far.

In silence they started digging the pits for burying bones and what they could not use. Cairns were build, carefully, to allow shelter for the small fires that would smoke the meat that they caught, conserving it for their journey. Trees were cut down and dug into the half frozen earth, providing poles on which to try and stretch the hides and furs.

The children helped with what they could, gathering stones for the cairns and branches for the fires. What firewood they did not use now was carefully bound in cloth and stacked away for the journey.

It took them days of building before the hunts started, smoking cairns and drying racks waiting for the return of meat and furs.

It was a hard time with little rest. Mainly boys and men joined the hunting groups while the women stayed behind to care for children and the caught prey. Irisse, who had grown up enjoying the chase, joined the hunt by Findekano’s side, her eyes shining of excitement as they tracked the roaming reindeers, the brown bears and small snow hares.  In the beginning the game was varied and close, their excursions rarely lasting more than a few hours but soon the game fled and the hunts grew longer and harder, forcing them to drag their slain prey back over large distances. The brown bears were the worst, their bodies large and heavy but their meat good and their furs thick.

In the weeks that followed the encampment stank of smoke and blood. The fires under the meat was constantly burning, women taking turns to stand guards at the smoking huts to ensure that the fires remained lit and the meat did not burn. The frozen field where they butchered the game was red from the blood that had seeped into the ground and constantly did they dig new pits for burying that which could not be smoked and eaten. Yet the foxes and wolves and wild, tufted cats grew closer and closer to the encampment, drawn by the scents of death.

The drying racks held furs and hides that had been scraped before being hung up and as soon as a skin was dried it was taken down and stitched into coats and shoes or set aside and stacked to be used as blankets. Most of the furs still smelt sharply of the animal that had carried them last, adding to the stench that hung over the camp.

Slowly the smoking huts filled with meat, but still they hunted, determined to bring as much meat as they could carry with them in their journey across the ice. More smoking huts were built and tall stands were erected in the middle of the camp. Here they could hang fresh meat to dry in the cold winds that seemed to blow stronger and stronger with every day.

It was impossible to count the time they spent by the shore, hunting and preparing for a walk that could well lead them to their deaths but eventually their preparations came to an end and every man, woman and child were given a pack as heavy as they could carry. Light sleighs made of fur and wood were constructed to help the stronger elves to carry more with them. Nolofinwe and his son’s all dragged one of the makeshifts sleights as did Irisse who had insisted to share her brothers burden. Whatever few horses remained were laden with furs and meat as were a few of the wild caribou that Turukano had manage to capture and tame.

Long weeks after the ships had burnt across the sea they could finally break camp.