Snow
“My lord Tengri”, a gruff man shouted, “This unseasonal blizzard… our men can go no further, but if we stay, we will freeze to death.”
General Tengri, a well built tower of a man with flowing black hair, glanced over his frostbitten army with fierce eyes, trying to formulate a plan.
“Stick close to the forest and burn what you can”, his commanding voice bellowed, “I will take the strongest men and horses to scout ahead. Watch for my signal.”
“Yes, General!”, his men replied in unison.
Without hesitation, Tengri took off at high speed into the snow, looking for any signs of a town nearby. Further and further he pushed the horse to go deeper into the snow. Suddenly, they hit a wall of the blizzard that was far worse than from where they had come. The horse refused to go any further.
“Dismount!”, Tengri commanded.
“But my lord-!”
“Then die here!”
The man instantly shut up.
Tengri pushed further.
Then a flash of long black hair caught his eye.
There, a person dressed in an all-white, fur-lined cloak, stood in the snow under an umbrella held by a servant with a slight scowl on their face.
“A goddess!”, one of the soldiers whispered.
“We have reached the heavens”, one held back tears of despair.
“Hush you fools! We’re not dead yet!”, Tengri growled as he watched the person walk a few paces ahead and turn left, “Wait!”, he suddenly shouted and desperately ran through the knee deep snow.
The figure paused and turned to look at the men. Tengri got closer and realized there was a wooden gate and a long wall stretching out from both sides.
“Shelter!”, another breathed in relief.
“Please”, Tengri began, “My men need help. We can pay you handsomely if you allow us to rest here until the blizzard passes.”
The person just looked at them for a long time without a word as the snow angrily whipped around them. Tengri was desperate.
He dropped to his knees, “Please.”
“That’s quite a large force”, the person finally spoke in a soft, melodic voice.
Tengri’s breath hitched, “I promise, we will not cause trouble and repay you!”
The person stared down at him for a prolonged moment again.
“Sukh”, the person suddenly called out and a servant appeared in the crack of the doorway, “Get them some warm clothes and fresh horses. Assist them in bringing their comrades here. Have the others clear out as many rooms as you can to fit as many as comfortably possible.”
“Yes, your grace”, Sukh bowed, quickly moving to do as commanded.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”, Tengri bowed repeatedly into the snow.
His men immediately set off multiple signal flares and listened for a response. A barely audible bang returned. Relief and glee vibrated through the scouting team as they were rejuvenated with new found energy. Sukh returned with warm clothes and several others to assist them.
“Thank you!”, Tengri exclaimed.
The person nodded and turned to go inside, “I will see you shortly.”
“Yes”, Tengri beamed, “Oh and dear savior, what is your name?”
The person tilted their head slightly, “In this land’s language…You may call me Khuu.”
“Khuu”, Tengri repeated breathlessly.
“Our goddess Khuu!”, the men cheered as they set off to retrieve their comrades.
Khuu disappeared inside while Tengri’s army and the servants of the palace rushed through the blizzard.
“She’s quite the beauty, isn’t she?”
“Wonder if she’s married.”
“A woman like that? Has to be. Ain’t no way some lord hasn’t snatched her up yet.”
“Hush, that’s no way to talk about our savior”, Tengri quieted his men.
The men coughed awkwardly, “Yes, General.”
When Tengri and his scouts reached the resting army, the soldiers’ eyes were a mix of desperation and hopefulness. They had managed to cut down a few trees and light them afire, but the deepening snow made keeping a strong enough blaze nearly impossible.
“Men, we’ve found shelter just due east. We must move quickly now!”, he commanded.
The soldiers scrambled to pack up and nearly sprinted the entire way to their newfound safety behind Khuu’s servants, who led them to the main gate of the palace.
Breathless, the army looked around in awe and jubilee as they filed and squished into the snowy courtyard by the thousands. Hundreds of servants got to work separating them into groups and getting the men quickly inside to warmth, while others ported snow to help fill the baths.
“What is this miracle?”, one gasped through breaths.
“The gods have not forsaken us!”
Khuu stood off to the side of the courtyard stairs, watching from under an awning with an amused smirk. Tengri glanced around and spotted Khuu, immediately racing over.
“Khuu, our savior! I am forever in your debt”, he breathed out a sigh of relief that whitened in the freezing air.
Khuu nodded slightly before heading back inside.
“Is-is that the lady that helped us?!”, a soldier gawked, “What a kind beauty!”
“Be not disrespectful. Avert your eyes or I’ll have you thrown back out into the snow!”
The men quickly straightened up, “Ye-yes, General!”
Almost every room of the palace was filled with several men who took turns bathing and drying by the fire. A system was set up for them to get dinner by group numbers. Unfortunately, given the sheer amount of them, there weren’t enough fresh clothes to go around, so many had to roam the palace in their underwear as their clothes were still drying.
“What an embarrassing sight”, Tengri scowled as hundreds of near-naked men quickly hustled down the hall past his door to get their rations.
“The poor lady. Her eyes must be burning”, his lieutenant added.
“I’ll make sure to provide proper compensation once we return.”
“Indeed.”
As the sky turned to night, the blizzard worsened and violently hammered the palace with snow, but the inside was a quiet hum of peaceful snores and subtle crackles of fire.
Khuu, wrapped in a warm oversized, fur-lined robe, stared pensively out of a window at the deepening snow.
“Shouldn’t you be asleep, General Tengri?”, Khuu said without turning around.
“I could ask the same of you”, Tengri held out a sweet pastry on a handkerchief and leaned against a wall, peering down at Khuu’s ethereal face.
“It is my palace for one. I will sleep and rise when I see fit”, Khuu said with a soft smile that barely moved the skin, turning to look up from the sweet to him, “And a sudden influx of thousands of men into one’s home would shake even the greatest of hospitable hosts.”
Tengri grimaced at his own stupidity, “...you… are right about that.”
Khuu returned to staring into the night.
“But though your words say that, your face says you couldn’t give a care in the world. Completely unbothered”, Tengri pressed.
“That you are right”, Khuu’s stone face repeated Tengri’s words.
A short chuckle escaped Tengri’s, “I’m not sure if you’re being honest or just teasing me.”
Khuu turned to walk away, “Interpret it however you like, General.”
“Now that’s no good”, Tengri said watching Khuu gracefully glide away, “Because then I’ll take that as a challenge.”
Khuu turned back just slightly before proceeding further down the hall through a set of doors.
“Ohhh, you shouldn’t have done that, goddess”, Tengri mumbled to himself while shoving the pastry into his mouth.
Shuffling back to his room, Tengri slid in, startling his lieutenant awake.
“General?”, he mumbled.
“At ease.”
“Everything alright? Where’d you go?”
“Bathroom.”
“Lies. You smell like sweets.”
“You got me there.”
“General”, the lieutenant gasped, “How could you raid the kitchen of our benefactor–”
Tengri tossed him a handkerchief filled with pastries.
“May the gods’ graces be ever with you, General”, the lieutenant quietly retracted, shoving several into his mouth.
With a smirk, Tengri sat on the cold ledge of a window, straining to see the outside past the large snowflakes pelting the glass.
“Our benefactor…”, Tengri mumbled, “is quite strange.”
“Huh?”, the lieutenant paused from washing the sweets down with tea.
“I saw her in the hall on the way back.”
“You were caught!?”, the lieutenant jumped up, “That means we’re in big trouble, doesn’t it?”
“No, calm down. She didn’t seem to care at all”, Tengri waved off his panic, “Like I said, she’s strange.”
“Yes. Now that I think about it, no ruler would have ever allowed an unknown force into their palace, no matter how kind they are”, the lieutenant pondered, “You know, the guards are quite few too…”
“Don’t get any funny ideas. We’re leaving this place as soon as the snow lets up”, Tengri growled, marching over to snatch the sweets and push him back down on his sleeping mat, “Go back to sleep!”
The lieutenant sucked his teeth before rolling over. Tengri huffed and returned to his own bed.
