The icy wind filled the room as he pushed the door open and stepped inside. His family startling and rushing to the main room upon hearing an infant's cry.
"Whose child is that?" His mother asked but he remained silent, shut the door and snugly tied the bundle closer to the crying child.
"I need you to take care of her." He muttered and stepped towards his sister, offering the infant girl out "I can't."
His sister stared at him then down at the child. "I know you have wanted a child and I know you've had trouble." He added "Please. Her mother did not make it. Take her as your own, I beg of you."
The woman stared at him for a long time, confused. Questions filled her mind but seeing his state she did not dare to ask them, not now. She nodded and extended her arms to take the infant, bringing her closer to the hearth's warmth.
"Has she been fed?" His mother asked.
"I don't know." He answered, sinking into the chair and leaning over the table "I don't know." He repeated quietly, his words muffled by the palm of his hands as he placed them over his face. Silently hoping to dismiss the reality he now faced.
~
Icy crust against his eyelids made them hard to open, his breath was still shallow and pained. Lying within the small cave he waited till his vision cleared but then felt a small nip against his cheek. He turned his head and at the movement a fox sprang away from him and back out into the wild, the beast perhaps having hoped that he had become a corpse to fill on. Sick and weakened it wouldn't be long until the scavengers would have their feast.
His eyes fell towards the sack to see that it had been looked through and the fox ate the little ration he had left.
Pulling his cloak tighter, his gaze returned towards the mouth of the cave. He was uncertain what time of day it was or even how long he had been here. No one had found him yet. He had left marks in hope that his kinsmen would stumble upon him. There was a pause in his thought, his eyes closing. They were not his kinsmen anymore and hadn't been for a long time.
The voice was silent and he was not surprised. In the moments he needed the distraction the fiend did not speak, instead left him to focus on the illness and its painful discomfort. He was free from the harsh cough for now but it was only a matter of time until it would return and meanwhile his fever provided enough distress.
Maybe this is how his journey would finally end; alone in a cavern, beaten by an illness. Not everyone had the comfort of passing in their sleep undisturbed, surrounded by their loved ones or a heroic death, remembered through the ages by a few or many. Some simply slipped away unnoticed and unknown. In the back of his mind he could only hope that something would remain of his frozen corpse to bury should he be found.
