Dragonfly In The Land Of Ice by Resa Nelson

Author:Resa Nelson [Nelson, Resa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy, Myths & Legends, Norse, Vikings, Fairy Tales, Coming of Age, Science Fiction; Fantasy & Scary Stories, Fantasy & Magic, Maraya21
ISBN: 9781518695940
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2015-10-17T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

Greeta found traveling with a pack of dead men to be very peculiar. Leading the way with Frayka, Greeta couldn’t help but glance behind, curious to see how their companions would keep up.

In the confines of the towering black formations, shadows disguised the men and they seemed more like living mortals. But in the harsh light of the sun, they blended in with the landscape more easily. Each man had taken the shape of a mortal, but in the sunlight he looked more like a moving column of bits of rock and wood and plant, all seemingly held together by the invisible thread of his ghostly spirit.

After leaving the towering black formations, they crossed a field that stretched north for days, its long blades of grass rippling like a bright green sea in the wind. Far to the west, the land stood barren, comprised of nothing more than black rocks. Far to the east, they sometimes caught glimpses of the sea. Up ahead, a few dozen wild sheep scattered across the green field, their bleating breaking the silence.

Erik agreed to walk several paces in front of the women in order to detect hidden fissures. Every so often he’d sink knee-deep into one, gesturing for the others to halt until he wrangled himself out of it and found solid ground. One time he stepped into a crevice so large that he sank into the grass, which appeared to swallow him.

Greeta and Frayka kept still.

Minutes later, Erik threw chunks of himself out of the crevice. Finally, Erik’s rocky hands emerged above the waving grass. He hauled his head and upper torso out of the crevice with his arms and collapsed onto the ground.

“Erik,” Frayka called to him. “Are you all there?”

“I’m fine,” Erik said. His disembodied hands crawled and gathered up other pieces of himself. The hands dragged those pieces back to his intact head and torso to reattach them. A few times he hesitated, not seeming sure to which part of his body each piece previously belonged. “Give me a moment and I’ll be good as new.”

Greeta couldn’t help but stare. Like the ice dragons, there seemed to be nothing holding Erik’s body together. Even though he would jam a body part in place (although not necessarily the place it had previously been), that part didn’t so much attach as float in place like seaweed on the ocean’s surface.

After reassembling himself, Erik stood but looked different. His height had shortened and his torso had gained breadth. But he didn’t seem to mind or even notice. Avoiding the crevice into which he had fallen, Erik made his way around it and created a new path for everyone to follow.

Greeta lagged behind, catching Frayka’s attention. Frayka stopped and waited for her to catch up while the dead men forged ahead. “Are you hurt?” Frayka said.

Keeping her voice low, Greeta said, “No. They make me nervous.”

“Well,” Frayka said. “They are dead, and yet they’re moving and talking. That should make anyone nervous.”

“Do they make you nervous, too?”

“Let’s not forget they were going to eat us.

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