Aga always tucked Nasak in at night with a kiss on his forehead and a cup of root tea to keep out the cold. Nocturnal wind would wail against the windows of the small, cozy house their large family called home, and Nasak loved to listen to its song. He was the youngest of all his brothers and sisters, and cousins too, and the silver streaks that had recently begun cascading from Aga's otherwise charcoal-black locks made it likely that he would remain so. One blustery night in mid January, as Aga was steeping the root tea, her young son asked the innocent question of a child; "Aaaagaa, where did the Sun go? I miss it."
Aga thought on this for a moment before answering. "Don't fret; it is only hiding." She stroked his hair softly. "Why the sudden concern with the sun?"
"Chulyin." He replied somberly. Chulyin was Aga's oldest son. Less than a year ago, he had gone out hunting at night and never returned. Still, every night, Aga woefully set a place for him at the dinner table. "The dark got him. Without the sun, it'll get everyone."
Fighting to hold back tears in front of her young son, Aga handed Nasak his tea and kissed his forehead. "The sun will be back, but for now you must go to sleep. You have a many chores to do in the morning." The boy smiled and nursed his hot beverage as Aga twisted a tarnished knob on the gas lamp, dimming the room, and whispered, "sweet dreams, K'eyush."
Nasak lay snug under his blankets, listening calmly to the wail of the wind and even humming along with it for a while. Gently, his almond eyes nudged themselves shut and the small boy found the peace of slumber. He awoke soon to a mild tapping on his shoulder, and upon groggily inching open his eyes was revealed a small, spindly sort of man, barely taller than the child, whom Nasak had never before seen. The man's hair and skin were as pearly and pale as the frost on the window, but his eyes were dark almonds, not unlike Nasak's own. Though he thought he might've, Nasak did not scream. Rather, he found himself oddly comforted by this strange man's unexplained appearance at his bedside, a feeling like being hugged by a grandparent on his birthday, or playing house with his sisters. It was a feeling of familiarity and love.
"K'eyush, my lad, my dear sweet child," His visitor began in a voice somewhere between a whisper and a sigh, "I'm sorry I've you from slumber riled. But the wind said you'd asked about the Sun, and something sinister has begun. You see the Moon perched in sky so fair? It scared Sun away with its glare! They've waged war since time began, up there to watch the dance of man." The frosty stranger lifted a slender finger, pointing it upwards towards the sky. "This Moon is ruthless in its stock, for He's enlisted a vile Warlock to keep the Sun forever hidden, though he knows that's strictly forbidden!"
Nasak's eyes widened. "Does that mean the Sun is gone forever?" He asked his odd guest.
"Aye, that's true, I'm afraid, unless the Warlock can be swayed by persuasion or some other plot to give Sun the Moon's sweet spot. And that, dear K'eyush, is where you come in, so quickly, now, we must begin!"
"Begin what? What can I do?"
"Much, my boy, for you believe! All else, it seems, are too naive to see the battle overhead between midday and time for bed! Now come, hurry up, no time to lose! We must away while others snooze!" The strange man at once grasped Nasak's hand and beckoned him out of bed. Quickly, the boy donned his whale-skin boots and warmest brown coat and followed his visitor out into the frigid night, but stopped short in his tracks when he realized what he was doing.
"I can't. I can't go." Nasak protested. "I can't leave Aga alone like Chulyin. The dark will take me too. I can't do it."
The strange frosted man turned 'round, looked into the boy's worried eyes, and recognized a fear that he knew could only be conquered by a labor of love. "Do it, young K'eyush, for your Aga's sake; without Sun will the dark HER too take!"
"No!" Cried Nasak in horror, a tear creeping down his cheek. He took a moment to contemplate what the man had told him. "Fine, I will do whatever I have to, to keep Aga safe."
Relieved, the frost man smiled warmly at the child. "Wise indeed is your decision with the choice that you've been given. Now come along; we've far to go over hills of ice and snow."
The odd pair trudged on over barren dunes of snow for what seemed like forever to the young boy before he broke their silence. "Where are we going?"
"We seek the sage who burrows in snow; about this warlock he may know."
"How long 'till we get there?"
"Patience, K'eyush, we'll soon him discover when he emerges from his ground cover." And with that, the ground shook under the small man's feet. A great form rose from the snow, sending the strange little man toppling backwards. He quickly rose and addressed the form, "How lovely to meet you, wise and kind Sage, I presume our intentions you've already gauged?"
"Gauged? Yes. Yes, I have. Gauged." The great form replied with a drawn-out yawn. Nasak could not tell whether the sage was a vast man wrapped a thick, gray walrus skin or actually a walrus, somehow wearing the mask of a man's fragile face. It did not seem to matter that much anyway. "Hello there, young K'eyush. I have heard the wind whisper of you. 'Mind the K'eyush well,' it sung softly as I slept, 'Mind the K'eyush.' The wind is wise and has always been a friend on lonely nights for this old Sage. Yes, a friend." His volume trailed off, and he seemed to stare at nothing, lost in thought for moments on end.
The man of frost spoke up, "You do know where we can find he who's forced the sun behind? Please, if you cannot explain, our journey will have been in vain."
"The Sun? Oh, yes. The Sun. You seek the warlock who made an unlawful pact with the Moon." The sage let out another monstrous yawn. "Yes, I know where you can find him, yes. Follow the Moon in the sky to the water's edge. From there, you will see an island in the distance. Yes, an island. Yes, That is where the Warlock resides."
Nasak looked wearily to his traveling companion. "How can we go to an island? I don't have a boat. Do you have a boat?"
Before the frost man could answer, the Sage continued, "a boat? Ha ha ha! Friends of the wind do not need a boat! No, they do not! They simply ask the wind to carry them across land and sea, and the wind will sing beautiful whispers to them the whole way. Yes, beautiful whispers. Yes." The Sage smiled to himself, recalling some distant memory.
"K'eyush, to the wind you are a friend! Might you ask its aid to lend?"
"I can try." Replied Nasak, excited to be feeling helpful. "Wind? Are you there? Will you take us to the island? Wind? Please?" Nothing happened. Nasak's eyes began to well up with tears of worry. "Wind? Are you there? Please? Please?" Stillness. The boy, hopes crushed, let out a long sigh. He instantly heard a gust of wind, as if it was replying to him. He sighed again. Another gust of wind answered him! At once, he understood and Nasak began to hum just as he had earlier that night. As he hummed, the wind whirled and gusted all around him, harmonizing his song. A delighted smile leapt to his small, round face as he began to rise off the ground. The frost man and the Sage rose too, and the whole party began their journey in the Moon's direction.
They passed over endless dunes of snow and chops of water before they reached the shore of the Warlock's small island, which was no bigger than Nasak's village, and seemed to be nothing more than a huge, jagged rock sticking out of the sea with a sandy beach all around it, and, on one side of the rock, there was a small dwelling made of bark and hides. The wind set them down on the beach, out of sight from the hovel, as gently as it'd picked them up. The strange man then turned to Nasak. "Now this Warlock we'll confront! Let's hope he suspects not our stunt. K'eyush, for now, you should hide, 'till an opportunity I provide. You'll see to make yourself known; methinks our enemy dwells not alone." With that, he started towards the warlock's hovel.
"K'eyush, my lad, hide behind that boulder, there. Yes, that will do nicely. Yes. " Advised the sage before his attention drifted elsewhere.
Nasak did as the sage told him, and watched curiously from behind a large, loose boulder.
"Halt!" A booming voice advised the small, pale man. "I know your intentions, and I'll have none of it. The Sun will stay where I bid it as long as the Moon wishes. Turn back now; you are nothing compared to the powers of night and shadow!"
"Perhaps a small man you underestimate, but I too have powers great and frost and cold in shadow thrive; certainly you'll not survive from me a frontal freeze assault so it's I should advise you to Halt!"
The warlock rose into view, seemingly from within the rocks. He was a dark, sinewy figure with eyebrows as thick as his beard was black. He wore rags as kingly robes and wrinkles as battle scars. "You offer me a challenge? Such words for one so pitiful! Why, I see no need to bother disposing of you myself. I shall call upon my young apprentice. It will be good practice for him." With that, the warlock grasped a pendant that hung around his neck and spoke an unintelligible word. As if obeying a command, a boy of not quite twenty summers arose from within the small hovel, seemingly in a trance and already chanting a sinister incantation.
"Chulyin!" Nasak rose from his hiding place with glee and rushed towards the warlock's apprentice, who did not pay him any mind. Instead, Chulyin continued incanting, and a liquid darkness began swallowing the island and all upon it. The Sage, who had intended to watch over Nasak, was still sitting on the island's shore, humming the song of the wind, and was enveloped instantly by the invading shadow. Closer and closer it crept to the hovel and small band of adversaries. Nasak began to cry in fear; tears gushed from his dark, almond eyes. Desperately, he grabbed his brother's leg and shook him, "Chulyin! Chulyin! Please!" He snatched his brother's hand, and wiped his tears upon it. "Chulyin! Please!"
Feeling the warmth of his brother's tears on his skin, Chulyin gazed down at the weeping child. He stopped his incantation mid-sentence and embraced Nasak. "Where am I?" he asked his brother as the liquid darkness began to recede. Seeing the boy's tears break his spell and fearing defeat, the Warlock took advantage of the confusion and disappeared in a cloud of smoke and sparks.
"I'm afraid, good lad, you were under a spell causing you the light to repel! Now where has fled this Warlock so vile who would an innocent boy beguile? He represses the Sun for the Moon's own sake, and we must his unlawful shackles break!"
"I may be able to help," offered the former dark apprentice, "I don't remember a whole lot, but I know where he has hidden the Sun. It is on the other side of the world and it will not be moved unless the warlock and his magic is defeated."
"But where did he go, Chulyin?" Asked Nasak of his brother.
"I can't answer that one with certainty, but I think we can find out." With that, Chulyin disappeared into the warlock's hovel, returning in due haste with a corked jug of foul liquid. "If we three drink this, the warlock will be revealed to us. I think."
"What is it? It smells like yuck!" Said Nasak.
"Believe me, little bro, you don't want to know. Just drink it and soon we can go home." They each took a turn drinking from the jug.
"It tastes like yuck, too!" But the liquid took only seconds to have an effect. Immediately a figure faded into view before the odd three.
"What is this? You summon me? How dare you, boy?" The warlock's booming voice demanded. But while the dark, vile conjuror was consumed by his own anger, Chulyin and the small man of frost at once began reciting spontaneous incantations, drawing their spell from a power neither had ever before known. The sky above the Warlock's head opened up and out came not bolts of shadow, but bolts of light! The Warlock shrieked in agony as he burned, and as the wind blew away the sad pile of ashes left in the dark magician's place, the hold he had placed upon the Sun disintegrated.
"Fast approaches morning haze, and we must be parting ways. Let the wind you homeward carry and never more be you wary of nightfall's never ending black, for we three foiled the Moon's attack. Sleep you easy and forget that there ever was a threat and forget me, man of frost; mind you not our paths have crossed. And with that I bid you well and bid you not this tale to tell." And then, the short, spindly man with hair and skin as pearly and pale as the frost on the window disappeared as abruptly as he'd appeared at the side of Nasak's bed. Wearily, the brothers yawned and let their heavy eyelids shut out the dawn as the wind carried them both home and tucked them into bed.
The bright morning sun shone through the window and onto Nasak's warm, cozy blankets. A knock on the door startled him awake and Aga's soft voice cradled him into consciousness, "Come eat your breakfast, Nasak. Chulyin is already outside doing your chores. He said to let you rest today. I don't know what's gotten into him! Anyway, time to get up."
Poetry