PM to join Frozen to death (Aliara Cantrell)

[Bledrig Fearn]

Winter, Day 22, 514 AV

Bledrig was freezing in his bed. The fire had gone out. The wind had managed to snuck inside his home from a hole somewhere. Damn blizzard had continued for days now. But today it wasn't as cold as it had been in before. It was still annoyingly cold, but not as much as it had been. Bledrig got up from his bed and put some clothes on. Maybe the blizzard had ended?

He pushed his door. Nothing happened. Bledrig cussed and tried again. This time the door moved slightly. Bledrig took few steps back and hurled his body against the door. The door gave in and Bledrig found himself on the ground, mouth full of snow. He coughed and spitted the snow, and looked around. There was inches of snow everywhere, it covered the roofs like a soft mattress. One roof seemed to have collapsed under the weight of the cold mattress. He saw people coming out of their homes to see what had happened to their city. And what damage had the blizzard done.

Bledrig decided to take a small walk. Only after few steps he noticed something strange in the snow. A hand. It was all black, pointing at the sky like it was trying to reach for something. Bledrig went closer to examine it and dug up some snow from where the face would be. Soon he saw the face. It was man's, his eyes were closed and he had black marks around his face. Bledrig was going back to take his spade to dig the man up before he heard a voice. He turned around and saw the man's lips move. No that wasn't possible, the man was dead, he was just seeing things Bledrig thought. Still he went closer to the man. He placed his ear close to the man and was almost touching him. The man remained silent. Suddenly the man spoke in very weary tone ''He-he-help me...''

Bledrig turned to face the man, he had opened his eyes. His cracked lips kept on moving but they didn't produce any sound anymore. ''So you're alive huh?'' Bledrig said and grinned. ''You are one tough bastard, I'll give you that. Too bad you are worth to me more when you are dead'' he said and got up. He would return to this man once he had dug up other unfortunate ones that had perished in the blizzard. Bledrig realized that he would probably need help to dig and move all the frozen bodies. He wondered how much he would pay for that kind of a job. Not enough sounded like good idea.

[Aliara Cantrell]

Her toes were ice as was her nose, it had been a rough blizzard. Aliara only had five or six jarred food and no way to know whether she had to cook it eat it raw or if it mattered. She had burnt three meals and had decided that she was never going to be a housewife and she don't think she could ever cook. Pulling her blanket closer Aliara shivered and groaned, it was so cold and her jackets were so far away from the bed, wrapping herself tightly into a cocoon of blankets, she slide off her bed and cringed at her cold floor.

Pulling on both of her cotton shirts Aliara hopped it would be enough with her jacket and gloves to venture outside, as she added her shoes and scarf Aliara could still feel the cold however it wasn't as bad as before. Stuffing a small chunk of pickled salted pork in her mouth Aliara decided she needed to head out and see who had a job for her since the Blizzard, opening herself up to labor to help out. Inhaling deeply Aliara opened her front door.

Frozen where their last breath had taken place, curled in corners or huddles together it didn't matter they looked so defenceless stuck in their icy prisons. Taking a step out her door Aliara stood in absolute silence, she knew no words that could help the situation, they were all dead, out in her street in front of homes and no one had let them in, Aliara hadn't of let them in… She hadn't of even considered them, how could she not of thought of them... Walking into the street Aliara stared at each body and sent a silent pray to any god or goddess that would listen.

“God, goddess’ , whoever is listening please help these poor souls, they got left in the cold and no one cared, please guide them to wherever they will be welcome.”

Looking around Aliara couldn't help but bite her lip to hold back a sob, so she just stood there cutlass at her hip and kurki in her boot morning those that had no one to mourn them, she would do anything to get them the rights they deserved. They couldn't just be left here, Aliara knew some of these people said hello to them as she had passed and now they were gone.

....

[Bledrig Fearn]

Bledrig was digging up another frozen body, this one being also man. Although he was breathing more heavily he didn't have a bead of sweat in his forehead. It was too cold to sweat and even if he would have, it would have frozen. Digging up a body wasn't hard, but digging up a body without damaging it was a bit harder task. The snow and ice didn't help him.

As he finally managed to dig up the man completely he groaned and lit up his pipe. He looked around as he drew the warming smoke in. He noticed a woman looking around. She was young and beatiful looking, with her blond curly hair. Young and stupid. Perfect for the job Bledrig had in mind. He started walking towards the woman, dragging his spade behind him.

As Bledrig got closer he noticed that the woman had some muscle in her arms. That would come in handy. He also noticed her carrying a cutlass. That wouldn't. He blowed the smoke out before he spoke to the woman ''Are you in a need of few coins? I could use some help'' As she turned, Bledrig realised that the woman was almost as tall as he was.

[Aliara Cantrell]

The voice echoed through the cotton on her head, the words repeated again and again losing its meaning as it became white noise. So many words that no longer meant anything to these frozen bodies, names that no longer have a place in this city, a silence had fallen over the sunset quarter. Many had their names circling in front of Aliara’s vision haunting her, why hadn’t she let them in.Turning slowly Aliara looked at the man before her, roughly the same height which was unusual but seeing him didn't make any difference, neither did seeing him attempt to dig up one of the poor souls. Silently Aliara walked to the man and looked into his eyes, he was the undertaker of Sunberth.

Walking past him Aliara simply nodded in agreement and handed out her hand to shake, but as she looked over him she decided not, she might lose her fingers. Sticking her hands in her pockets and huffed slightly causing a small cloud of mist to blow into the men's face. She need something to turn her feelings off and coins sounded great.

“Seven golden mizas is my usual rate, but since this isn't what i usually do I’ll do it for four golden mizas,”

Pulling her scarf tighter Aliara smiled tightly and looked back at the frozen people, she could help them by getting them out of the ice. She couldn't imagine what it was like to be so cold that they curl up and try to sleep. All alone shivering in the cold. Brushing the hair out of her face Aliara settled herself to just helping them in this way by digging them up and taking them to be buried.

....

[Bledrig Fearn]

Se-se-seven gold mizas normally? What kind of a woman is she? Bledrig thought. She could be a whore, she certainly had the looks for it, but who would be stupid enough to pay SEVEN gold mizas to a whore? Though she did wore a blade and was muscular. Perhaps she was a mercenary?

In the end it didn't matter. She was willing to work and Bledrig needed a hand. He looked around and blew some smoke up in the air. The strong smell of his pipeweed surrounded them. ''I don't see you having anything to dig the bodies up. Tell you what. I pay you three gold mizas and I rent you my shovel for one gold miza for the day. How does that sound?''

Shovel was better suited to move large chunks of the snow, but spade punched through ice better because of its pointy head. And since most bodies were covered both in snow and ice, Bledrig prefered the spade.

[Aliara Cantrell]

She had to rent a shovel? how idiotic was that, rolling her eyes Aliara just nodded and agreed. It was better than having these poor souls frozen in the streets. Brushing all of her hair into a messy bun Aliara looked around the man and located his shovel, pushing past the man Aliara picked it up and gripped it till her knuckles turned white.

“By rent, im letting you keep a miza so you know,”

Walking to the lady she had been standing in front of before Aliara took a moment to calm herself, she was no longer a person just something she had to do, just an object. Her eyes aren't staring into Aliara’s soul and she can't hurt her either, inhaling softly Aliara touched the snow encased figure and winced. Telling her mind to shut up was going to harder than originally guessed it seemed. Closing her eyes she breathed and told herself once again no one was in the object she was digging up. Slowly her eyes opened and Aliara found herself slightly calmer than before. Looking down at the ‘object’ Aliara assumed the first thing she would have to do is separate the ice from ground. Crouching down with her cold muscles Aliara located the place where the snow was most compact, ramming her shovel into the ice Aliara wiggled it and lifted the clumps free of the main ‘object’

“I am truely sorry…”

Murmuring softly the same phrase again and again Aliara continued to work on her task,jamming her shovel until a clump would come free and picking it up and moving it to the side. The more she continued to work the more she felt like everything was her fault. Clump by clump the body became free the first was the feet, grimy and black, then the legs burnt from the cold. So much pain was felt when this girl had curled up, Aliara couldn't help but cry as she continued the work. .

....

[Bledrig Fearn]

The woman accepted the offer surprisingly easy. Perhaps she was in need of a coin. I should have offered even less, Bledrig thought. She didn't looked very pleased when she heard that she had to rent the shovel. Nothing is free in this world dear, he thought.

He watched as the woman got to work, he wanted too see that she worked for her coin. She started digging up a corpse, Bledrig couldn't tell the gender from where he was standing. The snow and ice was quickly thrown to the side as the woman worked. She knows what she is doing, Bledrig thought and was about to go dig another frozen body when he heard the woman say “I am truely sorry…”

The woman kept on saying the phrase as she dug the body. Bledrig couldn't see her tears, but he could hear the sadness in her voice. He walked to her, now seeing that the body was girl's. He tapped on her shoulder ''The first one is always the hardest one'' Bledrig said before going to dig another corpse. He had no idea why he had tried to comfort the woman. He just felt like he had to.

[Aliara Cantrell]

“The first was is always the hardest.”

Aliara hoped this is true, that they would get easier, that she wouldn’t see their faces anymore. She only had a to free the upper body, the hardest part their eyes. Their soulless eyes staring into Aliara’s, Biting her lip Aliara pulled out her Kukri and began to chip away at the ice, around the face and shoulders it was freezing her fingers to the steel of her knife. Turning them blue and causing them to sting. Even the cuts on her legs from her early accidents were burning with the cold. Sitting back on her hunches she looked back down at the body. She had mostly freed the body but she only had to free it from the ice trapping it from underneath, leaving it for her boss Aliara stood slowly and moved to the next body.

Curled into a tightball was a small child, inhaling deeply Aliara sat back down into the snow and began to dig once again. The snow melted onto her slacks and the snow began to mix with her hair. Sliding the spade under the frozen body in attempt to dislodge it, sighing softly she pulled the spade back out. This was hopeless why not lift them still in the ice into the cart? It seemed so much easier. Lifting her spade up Aliara slammed the spade into the corner of ice. It chipped off in a large hunk with a horrible scratching noise, lifting her spade once more she brought it back down. More hunks began to fall off and the more the body become free. She was easier to free physically but the more ice that was hunked away the more Aliara recognised the shape as a child, a person, someone with a soul.

....

[Bledrig Fearn]

The next corpse wasn't hard to find. There was distinctive bump in the snow and once Bledrig removed some of the snow from the top he found frozen body of a man and a dog. They had cuddled together to keep them warm, but that had obviously failed. Bledrig tried to separate the two, but neither of them did budge, as if they were still clinging to each other. Using his spade as leverage, Bledrig finally managed to separate them.

He studied the dog, wondering if he could boil it and make a soup out of it. It was a scrawny creature, nothing much to eat, but he could use the bones to bring some flavor for his soup at least. He removed remaining ice and snow from the dog before moving on to its owner.

Bledrig went trough the man's pocket, hoping he could find something he could use or sell. Only thing he found was two copper mizas, which he pocketed in his jacket. Next he carefully chipped any remaining ice from the body and pulled the man from his icy tomb. I'll find you a better home than this, he thought.

The woman gave questioning look as Bledrig pulled the man and the dog next to the other bodies. He raised the dog by its tail and only said ''Dinner'' He then moved to see if the man he had left alone had moved to the other side.

Indeed he was, his eyes staring into the blue sky. Some snow had fallen onto his face while Bledrig had dug up others. He started digging the man up, inhaling some ever so warming smoke while doing so.

[Aliara Cantrell]

A dog for dinner? The man was eccentric but this was a little too much. Frown Aliara tried to push the thought of her employer standing over the stove cooking the whole dog. She had cleared a total of two bodies and she could already feel her soul darkening at the experience. She couldn't handle staring into their eyes had she forced a shade under their frozen bodies.

“This is Idiotic!”

Throwing her tools on the ground Aliara stalked into her home and stood in front of her warm fire. It was like a warm bath clearing her of all the corruption that winter brought to the world, taking a moment Aliara slipped off her damp gloves and scarf, letting the fire warm her. For a moment she forgot why she had come back in, grabbing what ever could hold snow from around her fire Aliara stalked back to her door, which she had left open, and collect snow glaring at her employer. Snow melted when you heated it up and so did ice so if she was too pour boiling water onto the frozen souls the ice would melt leaving them free. Placing the pots and cups on the fire Aliara sat on her cold floor and slipped off her snow covered boots. She would wait until they had boil before she went out again.

The ice began to melt slowly and Aliara could start to feel her skin once again and while she was sitting here her clothes were drying which was a bonus. Aliara had realise about the ice when the season changed it was the heat that melted the ice so boiling water should work just as well. This was probably the only thing she could cook anyway. She wasn't particularly gifted in the kitchen.

Glancing into the pots Aliara saw the water had indeed began to boil. Slipping on her warm effects she grabbed the first pot. Walking back into the snow was a slight shock, it was so much colder than she had thought it was, maybe sitting in front of the fire hadn't of been the best idea.

Finding a body well in the eyes on her employer Aliara carefully applied the water and began to melt the ice around the figure. She got the body halfway thawed before she emptied the pot. Filling the pot with snow Aliara continued the routine of filling a pot putting it on the stove then pouring the water onto the body then repeating. Within in a bells time Aliara had turned her two bodies in to 18.

....