《I Would Very Dearly Love to be Done with the Cold》


 Death of a Friend

    Shohei was tired, really, truly, properly tired. It did not bother him much, he had been tired for most of his life, in fact it was a good kind of tired, the kind that came after a long period of hard work almost done. He was trudging through a good two feet of snow in a forest where the trees had long ago lost their foliage allowing the sun to shine through. It reflected off the white of the snow creating a strange warmth, that cut through the bitter cold. It calmed him, so much so that he felt the urge to curl up in the snow and sleep. It was so pure and beautiful to his eye, the undisturbed whiteness of it like a fresh canvas, one where he could paint the rest of his life, except this canvas was not undisturbed, and the rest of his life had already been painted..


    There were tracks cutting through the snow directly in front of him, he had been following them closely for the last few days, but the snow was falling again. Shohei had to catch their creator by nightfall. The journey so far had not been an easy one, it had been a month, at least, since he had seen another living soul save his target. Out here there was nothing but the cold, and the trees, and death. When he had first tracked his target to this forest, he had groaned, ¡°Frozen Forest, what kind of a name is that? So unimaginative. Is it fucking cold there or something?¡± he had thought. Now he understood the name, there was no other that would fit, everything that was here would freeze in the end, even Shohei. He continued along the tracks, they seemed fresher now, less snow had fallen on them to fill the chasms left by another¡¯s feet. He was close.


    Shoehei was not exactly sure how he would feel once this task was finished. Joy perhaps, relief at least, but not a total relief, there would still be one more name, one more score, then perhaps he could rest. Still, it would all work out in the end, it always did, just keep moving forward.


    He could see a figure off in the distance now, the snow falling amongst the trees made such a pretty scene he almost forgot how ugly things would be. He pulled his axes out of their respective belt loops and began to run. Shoehei was good at running, he sliced through the snow as if it were not there, axes streaming at his sides. A deep lust pulsed through his body, he could taste it on his tongue, vengeance, so sweet, so sickly, it was everything. He could still hear her voice in the back of his mind, pushing him ever onwards, towards his target.


    The figure turned now, Shoehei was maybe a hundred feet away at most, he could see the bastard¡¯s eyes, they held fear in them. He looked far more disheveled than Shohei had expected, the fear in his eyes hardened to determination as he drew his sword. Shoehei did not waver in his charge, there was no stopping now, to his credit the man ran returned Shohei¡¯s charge with one of his own. The sword flashed copper in the winter sun, Shohei had never liked the color of the man¡¯s sword, it seemed wrong somehow, although its effectiveness had always spoken for itself. They were almost upon each other now, bits of copper suddenly melted off the sword and were flung at Shohei like darts. He dodged to the side smacking them away with his axes, they merely turned around and flew back towards the sword, melting back in.


    The sound of metal on metal rang out as they met, the copper sword molded itself around Shoehei¡¯s axe and wrenched it from his grip, lodged in the sword¡¯s blade. Fucking Harper he thought to himself, they had fought together so often once and yet Shohei still forgot what he could do with that weird ability of his. Harper backed off and flicked his sword behind him, axe sliding right through the blade again and flying backwards, away from Shohei. He felt naked now, rarely was there an opponent who could disarm him, he needed his other axe.


    ¡°Weren¡¯t prepared for that were you Shohei?¡± Harper grinned at him.


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m not too worried, seems you still have those same performance issues. Most people¡¯s blades stay hard all the way through a fight you know.¡± Shohei said back as they exchanged blows.


    Harper smiled at that, some of that old comradeship was still there he supposed, although it would not matter now. Truth be told if Shohei had his say, he would not be here, killing someone he had once called friend, unfortunately, he no longer had any say, that was left to her now. They traded blows again and again, Shoehei¡¯s axe swinging ferociously, always being sure to pull it away from Harper¡¯s blade when it melted around it¡¯s head. They stood locked in a dance for what seemed like hours although it was likely mere seconds. The snow continued to fall, it clung to their clothes. The cold worsened as time went on and began to set in, Shohei could feel his movements slowing, his ears burning, his face numb. Somehow it was as if the forest itself was concentrating all its cold on him. Their weapons clashed again, except this time his axe swung clean through the blade and the top half flew straight at him. Shohei barely had time to get out of the way and earned a gash on his shoulder.


    This was not going well, Harper had always been a strong fighter, Shohei had always been better. There had to be a way out of this, he needed his other axe. He scanned the snow whenever he had a spare breath. Axe would melt through sword, pivot out, look, repeat. The rate of snowfall increased, vision became difficult, the wind howled, the trees began to loom over them, the fight was coming to a close, Shohei was done.


    It was funny, he had gone through so much, he had taken on many stronger than Harper and yet Harper would be the one, he could not keep up, his strength was gone. Then he noticed a glint in the snow, his axe, if he could just get to it everything would work out. One step at a time. He launched another attack, coming a little closer than made sense and, as the arc of his axe began to finish he snapped his elbow around and connected with Harper¡¯s face. He spun out, behind a stunned Harper and ran for his axe. Three, two, one... he rolled under Harper¡¯s detached blade aimed for his back, spun around, his back in the snow and knocked the blade back. He rolled to his feet and lunged for his other axe, fingers just barely curling around the shaft in the deep snow. There was his break.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Harper spat blood from his mouth and rubbed his jaw. ¡°You always were sneaky like that Shohei.¡± They stood five paces apart staring each other down, it felt as if the forest itself was sapping Shohei¡¯s strength. ¡°I imagine there¡¯s only one left after me.¡± Shohei merely nodded.. ¡°Well, shame you¡¯ll never get to him, even if you manage to kill me.¡± Shohei grimaced, he could not even think of that man without doing so.


    ¡°Why did you do it Harper? Even if you agreed it had to be done, you could¡¯ve left it to someone else, anyone else, we were friends. I loved her, you knew that.¡± Shohei said almost pleadingly, hoping for a way out of killing a friend that he knew was not there.


    Harper¡¯s eyes adopted a look that one could call sympathetic if they so chose. ¡°It was for the cause, anything and everything, that¡¯s what we always said wasn¡¯t it? Anything and everything.¡±


    ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right, doesn¡¯t make this any easier, harder actually.¡± Shohei said and then they charged at each other. This time Shohei would not lose his axe, this time Harper stood no chance. Shohei reestablished the rhythm they had adopted at the start of the fight, axe through blade, pivot, repeat. Axe, blade, pivot, repeat. He was waiting for just the right moment to break that rhythm. Harper began to grow comfortable, Shoehei let him believe his strength was almost spent, although truth be told it was. Harper grew confident, more aggressive, he had always been good but it would seem he had forgotten his limits. Shohei changed the dance, his axe again swung clean through Harper¡¯s blade except instead of pulling it back this time, he kept swinging, spinning right on through, reversing the axe head in his other hand and cutting deep into Harpers left arm at the end of his spin.


    Harper cried out in pain and clutched at his arm now hanging off at the shoulder. His face contorted in pain. Shohei booted him in the face as he leaned over, sending him sprawling onto his back. He squirmed in the snow, blood leaking from his arm, wailing so horridly that even the trees shivered. His face a mess of crimson and crushed skull, he thrashed, Shohei pitied him. Is this how it happened for her? Squirming in the snow, blinded by her own blood, wailing for some last respite? Shohei hoped not, he knew better of course, still, just keep going, cling to what you can, it¡¯s all one can do no? Maybe not in Harper¡¯s case, his fate was sealed.


    Shohei sheathed his axes in Harper¡¯s knee caps, placed one of his boots on Harper¡¯s good arm and the other on Harper¡¯s throat. Harper thrashed so violently Shohei almost lost his footing and was forced to plant one of his feet on the ground leaving Harper¡¯s arm free. The snow came up to his knee almost swallowing Harper¡¯s body. Shoehei left his boot on Harper¡¯s neck, looking down at him as his life began to drain.


    ¡°You got anything left to say?¡± Shohei asked.


    Harper stopped thrashing for a moment and struggled out ¡°Leave me my sword once im gone. Wouldn¡¯t feel right without it.¡±


    Shohei nodded and pulled one of his axes out of Harper¡¯s leg and raised it over his head. ¡°When the darkness comes¡± Shohei muttered. He began to swing it down as a wicked grin spread over Harper¡¯s smashed face. A wave of panic washed over Shohei as he looked over to Harper¡¯s good arm, it held an evil looking shard of black ice. Before Shohei could think the shard was lodged into his leg, he howled, a feeling of dread came over him as a cold, vicious taint began to spread from the wound. Harper began to laugh, a laugh that wanted to carve Shohei¡¯s very soul from his body. Everything was hazy now, Harper¡¯s eyes were completely black, his lips spread almost to his ears. Shohei had not seen someone look like this since, since, well, he did not want to think about it.


    Panic had firmly set in now, Harper¡¯s laugh was so vile and twisted it made Shohei¡¯s gut¡¯s squirm. Harper had tapped something he should not have, but he would win this fight with it, Shohei almost could not blame him.


    Harper grinned, he was the dark manifest now, an evil that should not be, but was and would always be. ¡°How do you like me now bloomless? Thought I¡¯d go down easy like the rest of them I bet?¡± Harper said, Shohei did not respond, he was still panicking, he managed to pull the shard from his leg, the stain of it remained, in the wound, on his skin, beginning to seep into his very soul. There was only one thing to do now, he held the shard in his hand, desperately fighting it¡¯s evil.


    ¡°No response, eh? Time was you¡¯d never shut up, we always hated that, Shohei Bloomless, savior of Vosia, one of the seven, he killed Towdrin they would say. BAH! FUCK YOU!¡± Shohei plunged the shard into Harper¡¯s chest, he let out a shrill cry that echoed amongst the trees and then he ceased, his body shriveled up, dead. The forest itself seemed to absorb his body as it decayed, the shard of ice remained a second longer before melting into the ground with him.


    ¡°So does the light.¡± Shohei said to himself as he toppled over, sinking into the deep snow. He lay still motionless, he had always loved the snow, it seemed such a nice place to curl up and sleep, strangely warm despite the cold of it. The sun still shone through the bare trees, warming him, he could feel the icy taint spreading, there was no one who could help him, he would go the same way Harper had. Shame, he would not get to see her if he died this way, what can be done? Nothing? No. One step at a time, things will work themselves out.


    He struggled to his feet, and grabbed for Harper¡¯s sword and chucked it to where his corpse had been. The snow seemed so much deeper now, so much heavier, he half crawled through it, back the way he had come. He had to keep going, he had to find some way out, not for himself, for her, he could not die of this evil. She would never forgive him, it¡¯s not as if she could forgive him now. One more name and then he could die. The storm had almost covered the tracks now, his leg burned hot, the taint had begun to set in, he could feel it corrupt his body, in the distance he thought he could make out figures. Strange that there would be others out here, he did not have the energy to think about it though, he collapsed face down in the snow, his last moments drawing close. He saw her standing over him, Ana, and then everything went dark.

 A Charming Campsite

    Shohei awoke near the remains of a fire, the sun was beginning to shine over the horizon and all things considered he felt good. Swaddled in blankets with bandages around his wounds. His shoulder felt fine, but his leg pulsed with pain and the corruption within. It was no longer spreading throughout his body, still, it was there. Whoever had healed him must have been a powerful healer to have been able to confine it to the wound. He scanned the campsite, there was a smattering of tents which his hosts had decided not to put him in and seven or eight horses being fed by an eerily pale man with hair so blonde it was white. Some of the snow where the camp had been made was shoveled off and the remainder stamped down and hardened.


    The snowfall was light for the moment, the winds rested. Shohei could see a calico-colored Koshkaman and a short woman taking down one of the tents in front of him. You did not tend to see Koshkamen this far north, they preferred deserts of sand to deserts of snow. However there had been stranger sights around, if one were to dwell on the past. Shohei very rarely did, or at least he wished he did not..


    The blankets felt very cozy and he began to doze off again. Just as he had settled into sleep, a shadowy figure started looming over him. He could not make out their face as their back was to the sun. He could see a long red overcoat swaying around their body and the strong scent of musty leather became apparent. They stood over him silently, probably pondering what to do with him. Shohei felt helpless, he did not like being helpless. In an attempt to seize the moment he unraveled his cocoon of blankets and sprang to his feet, poorly.


    As soon as he got to his feet, the ground and his backside became reacquainted. The wound in his leg seared and he yelped with pain. The wound seemed to try to pull the rest of his body in since it could no longer spread throughout. Or in layman¡¯s terms, it fucking hurt. He looked up at the former shadow whose face he could now see. She wore a fur cap and had dark, angry eyes, she was staring at him with a palpable contempt. They locked eyes for a moment, her stare made Shohei squeamish. Thankfully, there was a rather pretty tree just to her left that many would consider not giving a proper once over a crime. And Shohei already had quite the rap sheet, no sense adding to it. As he examined the tree, which had only become more interesting with time another tree began to move into his line of vision and started coming closer to him.


    This seemed a bit off to Shohei, in his world trees did not move all that much, which clued him in to the fact that the object in his vision was not a tree, but an impossibly large man. The man came and knelt beside him, he was still taller than the woman in red while kneeling and his thighs were wider than Shohei¡¯s torso. The giant began examining Shohei¡¯s wounds which understandably made him nervous so he started to pull away from the man. As he scrambled away the giant camly grabbed the ankle of his good leg and looked him in the eye.


    ¡°Stay still please, I can¡¯t heal your wounds if you insist on tearing them open yourself.¡± he said very calmly. The giant touched two of his meaty fingers to Shohei¡¯s forehead and a wave of calmness shot through his body. He sat still with what he imagined was a rather dopey look on his face as the giant tended to his wounds. Once he was done the giant touched the two fingers to Shohei¡¯s forehead again and the state of calm vanished. The pain in his leg was not as bad as it had been, which he supposed was owed to the giant. Everyone had gathered around Shohei now and were looking down at him, the Koshkaman and the short girl, who was carrying a sword that had to be at least a head taller than her were whispering in hushed tones. The rather pale man was hovering over him and the woman with the red overcoat stared at him fiercely.


    It was at this moment, one where many could be called vulnerable, not Shohei of course, but many, Shohei realized these people were likely here for him. He had killed quite a few of the Red¡¯s officers and this group seemed to be the kind sent after one who had done such things. It was odd that he had not noticed them before, over the past months, perhaps he was too focused on his pursuit of Harper, likely he had been. Good thing was, they were healing him, which meant he would live to be executed in front of a crowd, which is exactly what Vlad would want done with Shohei. There was a lot of bad blood between them, and just as much of it on Shohei¡¯s hands.


    The woman opened her mouth to speak and Shohei graciously accepted the invitation. ¡°You all look lovely this morning, I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank each of you for the assistance. I was in quite the state yesterday, old friends, you know how it gets.¡± He grinned at their stern faces, they do not look amused, right, of course, I am a heartless, murdering, bastard of a man. But, I already know all this. He jumped to his feet again, this time with less pain and began to walk around the campsite, all eyes trained on him. There had to be a way out of this, he could tell this was a nasty bunch, save the giant, and the girl with the sword of course, the Koshkaman looked nice too and the pale fellow had a certain charm. Certainly the woman with the red overcoat had just woken up on the wrong side of the bed, he looked into her eyes again, perhaps it was the birthing bed she got the wrong side of.


    ¡°Shall we exchange names?¡± Shohei said to his unamused audience as he started fiddling with one of the tents.


    ¡°Of course, my name is Lo---¡± the Koshkaman said before being jabbed in the sides by the girl with the sword. The woman in the red overcoat walked up to Shohei, who had just succeeded in knocking down half the tent. ¡°You are Shohei Turgenov, yes?¡± she said icily. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    ¡°If you want. I didn¡¯t catch your name there.¡± Shohei said avoiding her eyes.


    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t. Boris, Lorad, he seems to be a bit more spry than we thought, some restraints may improve things, don¡¯t you think?¡± she said towards the giant and Koshkaman. Shohei realizing the gig was up before it even began turned to run and was rewarded with a searing pain in his leg. Fortunately the packed down snow of the campsite made running a bit easier, unfortunately there was not much of it, and he could barely move, let alone run. The  Koshkaman pounced on him before he had even hobbled ten feet pinning him to the ground. The Koshkaman¡¯s claws were on the precipice of piercing Shohei¡¯s flesh, he could feel the strength of the Koshkaman on him, it was considerable. So not amateurs then, wouldn¡¯t matter either way what with this vile wound and all, just one step at a time, however hard it may be.


    The giant slowly walked over to him holding chains of a deep blue metal, his massive feet leaving deep imprints in the hardened snow. Each step felt like an eternity, Shohei had no strength to struggle, he could barely keep his head up. The Koshkaman began to purr, strange how soothing it still was, coming from one whose goal was to see Shohei hung, or worse. The giant walked up to the two embraced on the ground and the Koshkaman rolled off Shohei and pulled his torso up. The giant then, carefully wrapped the chains around Shohei, pinning his arms tight to his sides. He struggled against them as best he could to no avail. They had him dead to rights, it was not the way he always imagined he would go, dragged across the country by five strangers to be publicly executed by the man he hated most, it was happening, nothing he could do about it. At least at the moment, one step at a time, maybe you can win these grizzled veterans affections, well at least a few. The woman in red¡¯s gaze was like ice and fire, containing searing disregard and frigid contempt in the same glare. He was beginning to understand why Harper had procured one of those vile shards in self defense. It was a lot easier to hand out death sentences than face them.


    The giant and the Koshkaman helped him to his feet, the Koshkaman whispered in his ear. ¡°My name¡¯s Lorad, pleasure to meet you, you¡¯re the reason I joined the Reds you know.¡± Shohei gave a weak smile, there was probably a lot of people who had joined because of him. Many of them dead now, some worse than that. ¡°Sorry about that.¡± Shohei said back a bit more solemnly than intended. Lorad gave Shohei a confused look, probably not what he expected to hear from his idol, not that Shohei was much of one. Others had gotten this idea of him based on his exploits, he had met many like Lorad, he regretted it each time. It was strange that Lorad would still hold Shohei in any regard after a Shohei had spent six months killing his former comrades. People were strange. He noticed the pale fellow was calmly packing up the rest of the campsite during all the excitement, fuck they¡¯re well practiced at this then.


    The scary woman walked up to him, real hatred in her eyes, she stared him down for a minute, this time he met her gaze levelly. He had to if he was going to work his way out of this. ¡°Can you walk? We¡¯ll be escorting you to the capital for your execution, it would be a lot easier on all of us if you could make the journey on your own two legs.¡± she said as Shohei struggled to stand. He was not about to be carried or dragged all the way, he liked to think he possessed some dignity.


    ¡°So, that¡¯s how I¡¯m to go, capital punishment at the capital? what a notion.¡± Shohei said grinning, mostly at himself. ¡°I can walk, skip too if that¡¯s what you¡¯d prefer, whatever works for you guys.¡± he clutched his wounded leg as he said it. Walking there would not be as easy as he wanted it to be, but he said he could do it, so he would do it.


    The woman considered him for a moment, clearly aware that walking was not such an easy thing for Shohei currently. Then nodded and went off towards the horses. The giant clapped him on the back, his massive hand spanning its width. ¡°If you have trouble walking talk to me, I¡¯m a healer, helping the wounded is what I do.¡± the giant said before walking off towards the biggest horse Shohei had ever seen. Shohei leaned over to Lorad, snowfall sticking to his fur as he stood beside Shohei, paw resting on Shohei¡¯s shoulder. ¡°That sure is a sizeable fella, we¡¯re leaving now right?¡± Lorad smiled revealing his teeth which had more in common with knives than Shohei would have liked. ¡°Yes, and with such beautiful weather to sustain us as we go, is the winter sun not such a wondrous thing? Much better than how it would be now in the deserts of my home.¡± Lorad said before walking off himself and pouncing into his horse¡¯s saddle.


    The girl with the large sword glanced at Shohei before joining the others on their horses, sword sheathed on her back. She was a curious one he thought, the sword was wildly impractical, nothing like his axes, yet he had the feeling she wielded it as deftly as anyone could wield anything. It was only based on the way she carried herself, but he had a good intuition about these things, he had come by them after a long history of misjudgements which never ended well for him.


    He struggled at the strangely blue chains to no avail, they seemed to darken and swirl as he strained against them, just his imagination of course. It would be tough to shirk these bonds, he needed to, still one more score to settle. He could feel her impatience, he would have to deal with Vlad, he could not let her down, not after everything he had done, what would be the point of it all if he failed at the very end. He would escape, somehow. The pale man was staring at him eerily, it seemed as if there was nothing behind his grey eyes, they flashed red for a moment and then in an instant he was on his horse. That sent a shiver down Shohei¡¯s spine. His whole life he had been biting off more than he or anyone else could chew, it has always worked out for him, but now looking at his captors, he began to wonder whether this was truly it for him. I¡¯m going to die, Vlad will watch as the noose slowly draws the breath from me, my face will convulse and he will laugh. She will never forgive me then, that¡¯s all I seek now, I can never forgive myself, all my mistakes, and this is how I go, I deserve it of course. They horses turned and started to trot off, Shohei struggled after them pain searing in his leg, the vileness of it trying to escape its confines and corrupt his whole being as it had Harper¡¯s. This was going to be such fun.