Edvar warned me this morning. Tonight is the new moon and that is when the village makes sacrifices to the Frostmaiden. For Dougan’s Hole, they sacrifice their warmth. No fires between dusk and dawn. Anyone who lights one gets beaten.
I watched it happen house by house as the sun went down. One light, then another, then another. The village went dark.
Osbert came by not long after. He simply knocked and came in. The four of us sat together in the cold.
Edvar produced a bottle from somewhere. We passed it around and talked.
Osbert told me about the other towns. The smaller ones give up food instead. A day’s catch of knucklehead trout strung on racks outside town for whatever comes to claim it. The larger ones give up people. Bryn Shander. Easthaven. Targos. They hold lotteries at noon before the new moon. The unlucky person whose name is drawn is stripped bare and either tied to a post or sent into the tundra to die.
This feels like nothing so much as cruelty for its own sake.We sat until the dawn’s first light, as Edvar rebuilt the fire and Hilda made something warm to eat.
Hmmmmm, will this make this entry Day 25 or Day 26.