"You really are something huh, boy," the old man said to the leading guard whose face was hiding behind his helmet before turning around.
As the elder stepped forward with shaking steps into the white hell, the families parted, letting him pass. Then, the group turned and followed him east to the falling sun, their ragged cloaks billowing in the frozen wind.
Caught in the middle, Ellie hesitated, her gaze flicking between the retreating figures and the guarded treeline.
'Should I follow them? Or should I tried to sneak in?'
The logical choice would be to sneak in but the question was how. Ellie was lacking too much information—where the patrols were weakest, when the shifts changed, how far the camp extended. Without such information, the risks of getting caught was too great.
After the encounter with the multi-eye beast, she had come to realized how important it was to be well prepared. Ellie held Ray a little tighter. Because of her lacking, she had almost failed to protect him, facing an opponent far stronger than her with nothing but blind determination. If it hadn't been for pure luck, she would have died. Ray would have died.
Worse… she would have left her mother behind.
'I can't afford to keep stumbling forward blindly, hoping things would work out.'
What she needed now more than ever was information. Her eyes trailed back to the abandoned group of elves as they trudged into the white hell.
'I will get as much information as possible. If danger strikes, I'll make sure to leave them behind.'
At that moment, a sudden voice called out to her from behind.
"I remember you. You are one of the outsider hunters. You must be here to get some drinking water, right?"
Ellie turned around. It was the leading guard.
"Sorry, but from now on, we will not be providing outsiders with water."
His tone was casual, almost indifferent. Then, without warning, he unfastened the waterskin from his waist and tossed it toward her. Ellie barely managed to catch it.
She stared at the waterskin, then back at him.
The guard had simply turned, disappearing into the treeline as if the exchange had never happened. Soon, the other guards followed him.
***
A young man, barely past his teens, came stumbling forward from the rear.
"Elder! Elder!" he called out, causing the elder, who had been steadily leading them into the frozen wasteland, halted mid-step and turned.
"There's… there's a man." His hands gripping his knees as he sucked in air.
The elder furrowed his brow, eyes narrowing. "Spit it out, boy."
The young man swallowed down his labored breathing before forcing out the rest.
"He said... he said that he has mermaid's blood."
Mermaids, another name for them was Waterfolks, were a race born from the deep, carrying its whispers in their voice. Their flesh shimmered like sunlit waves, their eyes held the abyss of the sea, and their blood was a gift from the divine water itself.
It was said that a single drop could mend wounds that even the most skilled healers deemed hopeless. Everyone had once sought after it, willing to trade fortunes for just a vial.
But now, there were no fortunes nor blood for trade. The Waterfolks were trapped beneath frozen rivers that would not thaw, the waves that once carried their songs silenced under a thick sheet of white.
And they were not the only ones.
The Dwarves could not fight off the creeping grasp of winter. The longer they remained outside their caverns, the more sluggish they became until, eventually, they succumbed to an unnatural slumber, their bodies curling in on themselves like hibernating beasts.
Trade between the three great races had come to a grinding halt, severed by the endless winter. No more mermaid's blood. No more dwarven steel. And mermaid's blood had became a folk tale grandparents told to their grandchildren about a time long past.
"Where is the man?"
The young man raised a his hand and pointed past the weary exiles, toward the stranger who had been trailing not too far behind them.
Everyone followed the direction of his outstretched finger.
A figure stood a few paces away, wrapped in heavy furs. There was a baby bundled tightly against their chest in a makeshift sling. The stranger had been following them but they didn't pay him much attention, not wanting to think about his nor the child's fate, only now at the mention of mermaid's blood that they took it upon themselves to look at him. He remained still as every gaze settled upon him.
***
Ellie walked with careful steps toward the front of the exiles, her steps felt heavy under the watchful gaze.
'Look straight ahead, avoid eye contracts. Walk with purpose. Do not show doubt. Do not flatter. You need to convince them you have mermaid's blade.'
Standing face to face with the elder, she could finally make out the details carved into his aged face. Deep lines ran across his forehead, his skin rough like bark stripped from a dying tree. His long ears weighed down by time. His eyes was those of someone who had seen far too much, piercing into her with a quiet patience that came with age.
"You're telling me you have mermaid's blood, boy?"
"Yes, I do."
Ellie held out one hand, in it was the waterskin given to her by Gennan. She had bitten deep into her tongue, letting the metallic taste of her own blood mix with the never-freezing water inside.
The elder's tired eyes narrowed.
"It's this a joke, boy?"
"No, not at all."
She kept her expression neutral as she lowered the waterskin to the ground before placing one of her hand over the other's thumb. A deep breath filled her lungs with painful cold air before she twisted it back all the way and a sickening pop followed.
Ellie turned her gaze to the young man.
"Come. Check it yourself."
He hesitated, then stepped forward, his fingers carefully brushing against hers.
"It's broken," He confirmed.
"Good. Now pour the mermaid's blood on it."
She shifted her body subtly, angling herself so that his shadow cast over her wounded hand. The last thing she needed was for the sunlight to catch the liquid as it flowed from the waterskin, setting her and the young man on fire.
The young man obeyed, uncorking the waterskin and tilting it forward. A slow stream of water mixed with her blood trickled onto her mangled finger. The young man's eyes widening as he watched the broken finger began to mend, twisting itself back into form, the swell slowly disappearing.
"It's healed. It's healed. Elder's wound can be heal, too."
At this sight, he yelled out in excitement causing Ray to flinch at the sudden loud scream before letting out a loud cry. Ellie looked at the young man with a deadly stare.
"I am sorry," he said quietly.
The elder's eyes narrowed as he studied her.
"If you have mermaid's blood, why not offer it in exchange for a place in the Moldrivore's floating island?"
'No, that wouldn't work.'
That idea had crossed her mind. But she had quickly pushed the thought aside. What she had wasn't real mermaid's blood. If those living on the island had any real mermaid's blood to compare it to, the difference would become obvious. Not only that, but the waterskin she used was given to her by her ancestor with so many guards as witnesses.
While these people had only heard stories about the extraordinary remedy. Even royals like Ellie had only seen it a handful of times, and she lived in the future where the winter was not as long and uncaring.
"Because they will kick me out soon enough. Sure, with the mermaid's blood, they might keep me around for a while. Use me like some trophy to encourage others to hand over resources. But once they've squeezed everything they can out of me, they'll throw me out. And they'll do it in a way that doesn't stir unrest. It's easy for them to fabricate some excuse, saying I stole something or broke some law.
I was part of a hunter group once. We shared meals, fought together, watched each other's backs until I wasn't worth the trouble anymore. They kicked me out, left me to fend for myself and my baby. To people like them, if you don't have a use, you're no better than trash. And trash gets tossed."
Her eyes drifted to the elder, then to the families. She made sure to linger on each person's eyes until she made sure their broke away.
"You didn't abandon your elder. Even when you knew the scent of blood could attract beasts, you still stuck together. I'd rather give my mermaid's blood to you than them. I'm tired of being around those that only keeps you around when you have something to offer to them."
Ellie finished her speech, letting silence take the stage. She waited for their response.
'Yes… the way to get into a group is to find a connection between them and yourself. If you can't do so, then make it up.
First, I showed them I was on bad terms with the ones living on the floating island. An enemy of an enemy is a friend. That alone wouldn't be enough, though. People don't trust that easily. So, I reminded them how I too was abandoned, discarded like trash, just like them. That wasn't a lie either. The best lies are built on truth.
I evoked their sympathy, made them see me as one of their own. With this, I should be able to get close to the group. Close enough to learn what I need to survive.'
Touched by her word, the elder's stern expression softened. He stepped forward with the help of a woman, wrapped one hand on Ellie's shoulder before pulling her in. One by one, the families followed. Arms wrapped around her and Ray, pulling them into a tight, warm embrace.
Ellie froze, stiff as a board. Ray let out a muffled giggle against her chest.
'Oi, oi, who told you to hug me?'
Her arms slowly found their way around Ray and the strangers.
'If a hug meant I have been accepted into this group, then the least I could do it to return the favor.'