Frozen Flame

[Nyika]

Panicked and restrained in Cookie's arms, Nyika squirmed as Vanessa hauled Istvan from the icy depths of the frozen lake. With an awkward twist the wildcat broke free of her bonds, claws splayed as she skittered on the ice. She slipped and fell and cracked her jaw but just as quick she was back on her feet, sliding next to Istvan's prone form.

"Is he alive?" she gasped. Her jaw ached but she ignored the pain.

"Does he look dead tae ye?" Vanessa barked. "Hackin' an' mewlin' like a kit?"

As if in answer, Istvan coughed and turned, spilling half the lake's contents at his side.

"You saved him," Nyika said to Vanessa, her eyes wide and glimmering.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Dinnae remind me."

"No, seriously." She paused, her ears swiveling back as she heard the others gather around. She dropped her voice to a hush. "Did you see them?"

Vanessa furrowed her brows. "Who?"

"His ghosts!" Nyika breathed. "They followed him into the ice. I saw it! They were keeping him from surfacing."

"Ahh, nay." Vanessa's paw rubbed at the back of her neck. "The addlebrained buffoon cannae swim. Nae even wet behind the ears. Disgrace tae the otter race, if ye ask me."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "You're wrong. I saw them. They followed him in the ice."

Vanessa's face was a mask of confusion. "Wot are ye talkin' aboot?"

"Nyika thinks," Zevka started, but caught herself at the cat's glare. "Nyika says Istvan's haunts followed him into the water. You know, the ones who he's claimed to have made atonement with his Mama-Dearest."

Poko snorted, and Nyika's fur bristled at the sound. They were mocking her. The cat's paw opened up, claws unsheathing as she flexed her digits.

"Oh!" Vanessa shook her head. "Ah dinnae see any ghoosts."

"Then why were you down there so long?" Nyika half shouted, rounding on the otter. "Why did you have to pull him from the ice, near drowned as he is?"

"Because like Ah said," Vanessa said, rearing up and raising her voice to match the cat's. "The daft fool cannae swim!"

"They followed him down there. I saw it. I tried to warn him."

"You did," Istvan said. They all turned to the male otter, who was shivering with his arms wrapped about his legs on the ice.

"Then why did you go down there?" Nyika yelled. Her paw clenched into a fist, her arm shaking from built up energy. She wanted to strike him.

"Because I knew the All-Mother would protect me." It was spoken matter-of-factly, but Nyika could see past the lie.

"No," she hissed. "You wanted to see if she would." It was all she could not to claw his eyes out. He had made a fool of her.

"Are ye all idiots?" Vanessa shouted, breaking the rising tension between the two. "He got caught in the current, is all. There were nae any ghoosts."

Nyika scoffed, turning on Vanessa with a demeaning tone. "What kind of current flows in a lake?"

Vanessa rolled her eyes, adopting an air of self-righteousness. "Have ye nae heard o' springs, lassie? Snow roonoff from the mountainside? How d'ye think this lake got here?"

Nyika opened her mouth but nothing came out. A flush had risen to her cheeks. Suddenly the ice and chilled evening air didn't seem so cold anymore.

"Oh," she said quietly.

Poko laughed, a sudden outburst of stabbing condescension that set Nyika's blood boiling. With a feral hiss, the wildcat launched herself on the small ferret. Poko screamed; everybeast else shouted. Suddenly Nyika was swinging in the air, her tail ducking between her legs as she hung at Cookie's paw by the scruff of her neck.

"No," he said firmly, and flicked her nose. Nyika shut her eyes tight, wincing from the pain that shot down her muzzle. A trickle of blood left one nostril. There was a loud, splintering crack, solidifying everybeast for one terse moment before Nyika found herself falling.

She hit the ice with a thud and it crumbled beneath her. There was no room for thought as she submerged in the icy water, the weight of her clothes pulling her downwards, the freezing temperatures seizing her body and limbs in a vice-like grip, pressing on her lungs, forcing her to exhale and scream. Willing her limbs into compliance she swam, but in what direction she could not tell. She had been turned around somehow, dragged by a surge of water she could not fight against. Her eyes opened in fear, but Istvan's ghosts were nowhere to be seen.

She panicked then, her limbs thrashing as she tried to free herself from her watery grave. She was going to die down here. She was going to drown. They always said drowning was the worst way to go. The pain was excruciating.

Desperately, Nyika fought to keep herself alive but she was running out of time. Her lungs ached, her chest tightened. She needed to take a breath. She could barely feel the paw that grabbed her, barely feel the way it pulled her up. Her ears popped and the light above grew brighter.

When she broke the surface, she gasped. Four paws were grabbing at her, spilling her out upon the ice and then they abandoned her. She curled into a ball, gasping and shivering but coherent. So that was what it felt like to drown. Wrapped up in her little shivering ball, Nyika paid a whole new respect to those that passed beneath the waters. She had survived it. She could not imagine the agony of those who had not.

"Nyika," Zevka said, the pine marten looming over her. "Can you move?"

Nyika shivered. "No."

"Come on, we need to get you out of those wet clothes."

Helping the wildcat to stand, Zevka led her away from the ice towards the shore. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Cookie crawling away from the hole, cold and in pain. It was her fault?her fault he had nearly died. She knew now it had been his paw who grabbed her, his paw who brought her to the surface. Nyika gritted her teeth. She was always relying on somebeast else; never able to take care of herself. Placing her paw on Zevka's shoulder, she pushed the pine marten away. Zevka opened her mouth to protest, but the glare the wildcat shot her silenced any words that would have come forth. Nyika walked forward, stumbling, but able. She could do this; she was not a kitten to be coddled.

Noonahootin, Greenfleck, Istvan, and Gashrock were huddled on the shoreline, the seamsrat hitting two strikers together above a pile of pine kindling. It was short order before she had a fire, the sap from the needles providing good fuel to burn.

"Nyika, come here, you're soaking wet." Zevka said.

The wildcat shivered as she turned her head to see Zevka holding a blanket. She nodded, stripping of her ice cold clothing and wrapping herself in the soft, dry blanket. Gashrock had built the fire to something substantial, and Nyika scooted herself close to the flames. Nessa and Istvan were drying themselves off, Cookie was wrapped in his own blanket, Zevka and Poko sat side by side, Noonahootin was preening his feathers, and Greenfleck sat glaring at every one of them.

"So what happened, Nyika?" Poko's sneering tone cut through the wildcat's chill. "Did the ghosts drag you down, too?"

Nyika's heart quickened in her chest, her fur standing on end despite its sodden state. She hated the ferret. Hated her with a fiery passion that left her warm and dry inside. A vicious shiver wracked her body.

"Poko, be quiet," the pine marten breathed.

"No! I saw them! I swear! They followed her down there! Didn't anybeast else see? Took poor Cookie with them, trying to reach her!"

"Poko," Zevka tried again.

"Your mother was a whore."

Despite how quiet and reserved Nyika's voice was, everybeast heard her.

"Nyika." Zevka glared. "Don't."

"What did you say?" Poko said.

"Your mother was a dirty, filthy whore," Nyika said.

"Be quiet," growled Cookie.

Poko's face twisted as she rose to her feet, her body rigid and fangs bared. "You take that back."

Nyika turned to the ferret, lolling her head to hang at its side. "Oh, you don't believe me? Let me consult my crystal ball." Scooping a pawful of snow from the ground Nyika held it out before her, peering with intensity at the misshapen mass.

"Nyika," Zevka hissed. "Don't you dare."

Ignoring the pine marten's warning, Nyika pressed on. "I see ... I see a ferretmaid, a dancer in her prime. But what's this? Her mate has turned away from her. A new ferretmaid has caught his eye, younger and prettier, and he'd much rather play and tussle with her than spend time in the sheets with his aging mate."

Poko stared wide-eyed at Nyika, her body convulsing in quick, short gasps. Next to her, Zevka growled, rising from her seat and marching over to the cat without another word. Before Nyika realized what was happening the pine marten had swung a wicked left hook at her head. Pain exploded in the cat's left eye, but by the time she had recovered Cookie had leapt forward, his fists laying like twin hammers on Zevka's unprotected body.

"You don't touch her!" Cookie roared.

In a flash Istvan was between them, holding Cookie at bay with his knife pointed at his throat. Zevka whimpered in a crumpled mass on the ground.

"She deserved it," the pine marten said between moans. "She shouldn't have said that about Poko's parents."

"Aye," Cookie said, his voice low and dangerous. Shoving Istvan away he rounded on Nyika, arms shaking with pent up rage. "Don't you be disrespectin' Des like that! Say another word and I'll tan your hide so hard it'll come right off of you."

Picking her trembling self up from the ground, Nyika narrowed one eye at Cookie?the other had swollen shut. She was livid. Poko, Zevka, Cookie, Nessa, Istvan?they could all burn in Hellgates, every one of them. It was too late now; the wildcat's temper had run away from her, taking control of her tongue and leaving her mind to watch in horrified awe at the destructive wake that followed.

"But Risk ? Mr. Cutter." Nyika paused, letting his true name fall upon the group. Risk jerked, glancing at the owl. "Far be it from you to lecture me on how to disrespect a beast."

Risk bristled, sputtering as he towered in front of her, his paws flexing back and forth into fists. He took a step forward, then looked away from her.

"I need to widdle," he said, and stalked off.

"What else do I see?" Nyika said, drawing another clump of snow in her paw. She scanned the group, settling on the toad. "I see a merchant ? a rat, but it's a false skin. His heart is made of coal, and ice runs through his veins. Behind him stands Death, his associate and servant."

Greenfleck remained unfazed, his composure calm and collected as he answered the cat. "Am I somehow connected to this merchant you speak of? I don't know what you are talking about."

"What do you know of Goragula, my cold-blooded companion?"

The old toad's smug smile fell from his face.

"Enough!" Noonahootin shouted, breaking the spell the wildcat had cast. "Miss Nyika, I'll not have you tearing this group apart when we have only ourselves to rely upon."

"As you wish, Captain," she muttered, tossing the snow into the fire. It did not have the same effect as salt, but it would suffice.

A tense silence followed, disrupted only by the hissing fire and the shuffling of uncomfortable beasts. Gashrock took this time to rifle through the sack Goragula had recovered.

"Well, I dunno about anybeast else, but I'm hungry. Let's see wot kind of pro-vi-shuns we got 'ere." A wide grin split her face. "Oh look, fish."