CE: Across the Ice

Damien sighed and ran a gloved hand across his forehead. This was harder than he’d planned. The dire stared at him, and had been dancing around whenever he’d tried to get the sled harness on him. “Novaak. Can you just stay still for a few minutes so I can get this over with?” Damien said, his tone exhausted from having tried this for almost an hour. By the sled, a silent albino sat and observed the two, the purple harness laying in the snow beside him. Ifrit had been pretty amused by the antics of Novaak but now they were starting to get close to the time of the race. And despite how uninterested he seemed for the even, he was only there because he wanted to bring back a trophy for his owner, the girl that had spent so much time with him, and brought back his spark for life. Seeing as Damien didn’t have any success with getting the dire tacked up, Ifrit stood up and wandered over to the two. “Novaak.” he said, his tone calm but with a hint of annoyance deep below. The dire looked down at him, if it wasn’t for his red eyes, he’d been almost invisible in the snow.

Novaak didn’t take kindly to the tone Ifrit had called his name in and growled at him, “What do you want?” he questioned, hackles raised. “I strongly suggest that you settle down and let Damien do his work.” Ifrit replied, his tone now cold and void of emotions. But his eyes spoke plenty. Novaak forced himself to stand still, and not take a couple of steps back that his body had wanted to do out of instinct. Scoffing in an attempt to save face, the dire turned his head and stood still, allowing Damien to put the harness on him. With nimble fingers, despite the cold and snowflakes that started to fall from the clouds above, Damien managed to get the dire fully tacked up in a few minutes. Smoothing out the fur beneath the harness, the man looked up at the dire, who wore an annoyed look on his face. “It’s not too tight I hope?” he asked. Novaak glanced at him and shook his head. Walking back with Ifrit to the sled, the dire watched as the albino stood perfectly still and made the process look as smooth as water running down a stream.

“Alright, now everything should be packed, so we just need to get to the starting area and wait for the signal to start.” Damien said, nodding as he placed his hands on his hips. Pleased that he’d gotten everything they needed with them. Sure he might have packed more food than necessary, but he imaged that Novaak and Ifrit would get hungry while they ran the marathon. Connecting Ifrit’s halter to the sled, Novaak walked over and let Damien hook it to his harness without any protests. Damien went to the back of the sled and motioned for the two tokotas that they could start moving forward. While Ifrit was very confident in his movements, Novaak got a bit uncertain about how to handle the weight he now had to pull. It wasn’t so much that it was bothering him, but he didn’t really see why they needed to pull the sled along with them. Sure it was a sled marathon, but it still felt a bit unnecessary. “You’ll get used to it soon.” Ifrit said beside him, and Novaak turned his head to look at the albino. His movements were fluid as he moved through the snow.

They made it to the starting line in time, and Damien had the stop next to another pair while they waited for the starting shot. Ifrit sat down and closed his eyes, enjoying a bit of silence, despite the chatter of the handlers and tokotas around him. Novaak looked at him. He seemed so calm compared to a few of the other pairs, that was constantly told by their musher to calm down. Perhaps it was the fact that the albino was so calm, that the dire himself wasn’t stirring around as much as he’d probably done otherwise. Looking back at Damien, Novaak looked on as the man talked with the musher for the pair beside them. They must have known one another and they were wishing each other good luck in the marathon. Now that he thought about it, Novaak pushed a bit of the snow away with his paw. If he did well in this maybe he could bring back a trophy of his own to his owner. It would make for a nice gift. A hint of movement caught his eye and he noticed Ifrit glancing over at him with a knowing smile on his face.

Seeing who they guessed was the judge, the pairs and their mushers made themselves ready, and soon the starting shot rang out in the air. Novaak dug his legs into the snow and shot forward, now determined to win this race and bring home a trophy. Ifrit smirked. That’s the spirit. Damien let the two decide on a pace, and he knew Ifrit wouldn’t let Novaak move to fast as it would only serve to tire the dire out quickly. They’d need all their energy, and use it with caution. They still had a very long way to go. A few teams had pulled ahead of them, but Damien wasn’t worried, they wouldn’t be able to keep that pace up for long, and would only get tired sooner. Using one hand to pull up his scarf over his face, Damien then pulled down his goggles as the falling snow stung against his face. He wasn’t sure how it was possible, but the temperature had dropped significantly in a matter of minutes from when the marathon started. Novaak glanced over at Ifrit, he wanted to go faster, but he’d been able to tell by the other teams that he had to keep pace with the albino beside him.

Ifrit simply shook his head, they wouldn’t move faster than this. It was a good and steady pace, and they would be able to keep it up for a long time. Novaak snorted in disapproval, but what if the albino knew better than him? This was his first race, but maybe his teammate had done this before. Getting a signal from Damien they turned a bit to the left and the snow flew in the air as they adjusted to their new course. Despite there having been a good number of teams at the start, they could only see maybe one of two in the distance, and they were closing in quickly on them. So speed wasn’t the most important thing, Novaak thought as they passed a team that had taken the lead at the start. He caught Ifrit giving a nod, and despite the albino not saying a word, Novaak knew that it was to confirm his thoughts. While in his thoughts, Novaak stumbled on something hidden under the snow, and he fought to regain his footing. He didn’t know if it was because Ifrit had gotten up beside him that he regained his balance, or if it was from Damien shifting his balance on the back of the sled, but he was grateful nonetheless.

Then something occurred that neither of the tokotas had expected. The ground beneath them changed suddenly, and they were no longer plowing through snow, but rather running on ice. Damien hadn’t seen it coming as it had blended in with the snow even from a distance, and he thought about if they should change their course, as he didn’t know how thick the ice was. Could it handle the combined weight of the two tokotas and the sled? Ifrit and Novaak however didn’t seem bothered by it, as they soon got comfortable with running across the frozen body of water. If it hadn’t been for their good footing they’d surely slid around on the ice like a newborn fawn. Novaak’s ears twitched as he heard a crack. Looking to Ifrit, he saw the male tense up. Something was wrong. “Run!” Damien suddenly shouted at them, as the cracking sound got louder. Then it hit him, the ice was breaking! In a small panic, Novaak launched himself forward, almost making Damien loose his hold of the sled. Ifrit growled in frustration at his sudden movement.

“Calm down!” Ifrit shouted at Novaak, but it fell on deaf ears. Needing to increase his own pace, Ifrit took longer strides and he could see a faint red color staining the ice where Novaak had stepped. This wasn’t good, they needed to stop and take care of it. But first they had to get off the ice. With the panicked pace Novaak had unwillingly set for them they were soon at the edge of the large lake. Ifrit barked for Damien to stop them. Using his entire weight, Damien stepped on the bar, and the sudden jerk of the new resistance was enough for Novaak to slow down a bit. Once more Ifrit called for him to stop. A mix of the albino’s tone and his own fatigue from the adrenaline leaving his body, Novaak slowed to a halt. Damien was quickly at his side, and inspecting his paws. Both of his front paws had scratches on them from the fast run over the ice, and Damien started to dig through the packs on the sled for bandages and the boots he’d taken with him just in case something like this would happen. The question now however was if they should stop for now or keep pushing forward. The look Ifrit gave him was enough to prompt him to go for the safer option, and let the tokotas rest for a bit before they’d continue.