Drektah\u2019s snow-laden boots dragged through the layers of whiteness blanketing the mountainside. Blistering snow spattered her exposed cheeks; she bundled her fur cloak tighter to stave off the cold. Through the slated bone aperture over her eyes, protecting her from the most blinding rays reflecting the sun on snow, she saw him. Her brother laboured forward, ploughing a path for her. When he tired, they would trade off again. That\u2019s how it had been for weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They would stop to rest every few hours, cloaking themselves in a shared wolf\u2019s fur stitched with heavy leather seams. They would eat dried meat rations, chewing through chattering teeth. Then, they would pack up their measly belongings and the other would take up the lead through the snowy mountains, forging through the untouched snow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe ancestors will favour us,\u201d Anik told her as they huddled beneath the furs in exhaustion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel favoured,\u201d Drektah muttered. \u201cI feel cursed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe lights,\u201d he said, looking up and breathing in the musky furs. \u201cThey\u2019re brighter here. We\u2019re close. I can feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She, too, had watched the colourful lights snaking across the inky black sky. But she didn\u2019t share his hope. Not while their peoples\u2019 fate rested on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lights were the ancestor\u2019s spirits, the Lidth<\/em>, sent to guide them to the Ancient One. The ancestors chose Anik to bear the Lidth. The elders sent him with their best warriors. Drektah insisted on going too. Now, she and her brother were the only two left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe can do this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though the furs trapped their body heat, she couldn\u2019t help the familiar shiver passing up her spine; it curled around the back of her neck like the claws of a feral beast. \u201cWe never asked for this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n His smile was the only true warmth. \u201cI am here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few days later, it took him, too, starting just as it had the others. They sat beneath the fur sharing the last of their waterskin when Anik unbandaged his foot and revealed his three smallest toes completely blackened. \u201cI will be fine,\u201d he said, shoving his foot back in the boot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But of course, he wasn\u2019t. And soon the shaking started. Then stopped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She left his body to freeze like the others because she couldn\u2019t do anything else. And still, the lights in the sky gyrated and whirled, ushering her on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was alone on the mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drektah stood on the rise of a cliff; below spanned a large valley. Nestled within the colourful layers of rocks were signs of greenness, and a half-frozen stream with cracking ice where a waterfall pushed tiny fissures through the thick, rippling sheets. She\u2019d forgotten the sound of running water or the sight of anything but the mountain\u2019s blanched indifference. She dropped her cloak to expose her bare face to the sunlight pouring through the clouds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ancestors had led her, just as Anik promised. \u201cSielijkt,\u201d she said in whispered prayer, touching a gloved finger to the spot just above her eye. Faith renewal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Drektah broke through the ice and dunked her face into the water, sucking down as much as she could before bursting out of the icy stream with a gasp. Her face numbed in the air. Only when her aching belly was full did she notice the subtle rumbling behind the frozen waterfall \u2013 and the shadowed shape of a colossal beast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Its great opalescent eye blinked at her through the ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drektah stumbled back, falling over her feet and landing painfully. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The beast unfolded itself from the rock, splitting the waterfall and sending massive icicles smashing to the ground. The lights of a thousand spirits twisted around its night-black body in shifting greens and blues. It stretched to its full height and stood like a small mountain, then levelled its great serpentine snout to her, its great wings quivering around its bulk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The beast\u2019s voice shook the air as more Lidth lights sprang up around its glowing eyes. \u201cWhat are you doing here?<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drektah fell to her knees. \u201cAncient One!\u201d she cried, somehow finding her words. \u201cI have come on behalf of my people.\u201d Her voice cracked at the last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ancient One tilted Their head, and she somehow knew it was a gesture to go on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She raised her trembling voice. \u201cAn unending cold sweeps our land, blanketing us in ice and death. Our elders sent us to find you. My brother and I travelled for months. Please \u2013 can you help us? Can you warm the lands before my people starve?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ancient One\u2019s eyes roamed the blanched slopes beyond the green valley. \u201cYou would ask me to stop nature Herself?<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drektah\u2019s voice was a hoarse whisper. Had she come all this way for nothing? Lost her brother, for nothing? \u201cI ask that you spare my people.\u201d She couldn\u2019t hold back the tears. They froze halfway down her cheeks. \u201cPlease<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhere is your brother, girl?<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Drektah swallowed the ache in her throat. \u201cI am alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The beast let out a low rumble. Its massive snout bent towards her until it was mere feet from her face. Drektah didn\u2019t dare speak as its breath bathed her with mulch-scented air. \u201cI cannot leave this valley \u2013 but I can bestow what you seek.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2013 Bestow?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTake their light and heal what has broken.<\/strong>\u201d The Ancient One\u2019s voice was a thrum, more inside her head than out. Before she could speak \u2013 before she could ask what They meant \u2013 the great beast dipped Their head and gently touched the tip of Their snout to Drektah\u2019s upturned face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A burst of sky lights exploded and Drektah collapsed into darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When she awoke, she was alone in the valley, lying on packed snow. No running water; no green grass. She blinked up at the starlight. She\u2019d grown so used to the lights above that their absence felt like a void.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, she felt a strange warmth and looked down. She <\/em>radiated light. It danced over her, almost playful. She felt a pulse of something in her. Strength she hadn\u2019t felt before. A pull to the sky, drawing her to her feet. She stood and the lights hugged her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDrektah\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She spun around. No one. She was alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDrektah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBrother?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, I am here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHere. Where? I don\u2019t see you.\u201d You are dead,<\/em> is what she thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe lights,\u201d her brother\u2019s voice came clear as if he stood beside her. \u201cI\u2019m in the lights. I am with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She felt the power spark at her fingertips and alight around her. \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The beast unfolded itself from the rock, splitting the waterfall and sending massive icicles smashing to the ground. The lights of a thousand spirits twisted around its night-black body in shifting greens and blues. It stretched to its full height and stood like a small mountain, then levelled its great serpentine snout to her, its great wings quivering around its bulk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[361,368,15,364,367,242,362,80,365,268,163,344],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","tag-aurora-borealis","tag-dragon","tag-fantasy","tag-ice","tag-inuit","tag-magic","tag-northern-lights","tag-short-story","tag-snow","tag-storm","tag-winter","tag-ya"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/6.png","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/music.amazon.ca\/podcasts\/09c34bbc-b359-49af-a286-31830ed5634c\/short-stories","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/short-stories\/id1621456328","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_play":{"key":"google_play","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbGV4aXN2ZWVuZW5kYWFsLmNvbS9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Qvc2hvcnQtc3Rvcmllcw","label":"Google Play","class":"google_play","icon":"google-play.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbGV4aXN2ZWVuZW5kYWFsLmNvbS9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Qvc2hvcnQtc3Rvcmllcw","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0lcQCRs52MfYlKs35lVX4K","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/short-stories\/id1621456328","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/blog.alexisveenendaal.com\/feed\/podcast\/default-podcast","embedCode":"Lights of the Lidth<\/a><\/blockquote>