First Chapter of new short story

A first attempt at a new story whilst I try and find an audience for the last one - any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Akanto lost her footing and fell. She snatched at the rocks, grunting with the effort of finding a fresh grip as the void below waited to swallow her. The wind urged her up to the next hand-hold and she hauled herself from the edge, twisting her body to lie flat on the snow. Her laboured breaths coiled above her like smoke from a fire as she drew the air deep into her lungs.

She did not hear Nanouk approaching to stuff her hot, wet muzzle into her ear.

'Not now, Nanouk!' chuckled Akanto, batting her away. 'We still have work to do.'

Nanouk bounded away, casting for a scent. Akanto gathered herself up and scanned the crevices for signs of life, spotting a twisted finger of leaves poking out from beneath the snow. She drew her knife and cut the herb loose from the rockface, depositing it in a pouch beneath her cloak before moving on to find more. She had almost filled the pouch when Nanouk whimpered, digging at something beneath the ice. Akanto joined her efforts and soon prized a dark, twisted root from its bed, soaking the air with a sweet, earthy aroma.

'Good girl,' she whispered, resting her forehead on Nanouk's. 'You found a big one!'

Akanto brushed the root clean as best she could and took one last smell of it before stowing it in her pack. She looked out over the precipice for the first time since starting her ascent. The village was nothing but a scattering of shapes below, resting at the foot of the mountain. It looked as it always had, even before the sickness had struck. Akanto was unsure whether to let herself imagine that things were back to the way they were, that her parents both waited for her; that the village was not diseased. In the old days her mother would have forbidden her to venture further than the outskirts, but when Akanto's father died, she was left with no choice.

'Kinak!' barked Akanto, speaking to the wind. 'We can play again tomorrow but I have to go back now, so no tricks.'

The wind made no response.

Akanto made her way down by memory as much as sight. She knew the mountain's character as well as she knew the wind's. She knew which parts would try to trip her and which parts would give her firm footing. Her heart leapt as it always did when she eventually reached her favourite point in the journey; a smooth, gaping slope curving down towards the village outskirts. She took off her cloak and sat on it, curling the hem over her feet. Nanouk waited for Akanto to shuffle herself over the edge before loping along beside her as she swept over the snow. She closed her eyes and lent her breath to the wind as the ground fell away beneath her.

When she had reached the bottom she replaced her cloak around her and checked her pack, giving Nanouk a chance to catch up. She had collected a pouch of stemgrass, two pouches of white mushrooms, three sprigs of mountain hair, a fat bundle of everblossom and the biggest snowroot she had seen in some time. It was enough to make medicine for the whole village. Maybe this time she would get the ingredients right.

The village was silent. Akanto traced a path through the tents of caribou and sealskin, vividly aware of the snow creaking beneath her footsteps. Her mother, Asiaq, turned from lighting the kudlik as Akanto entered their tent. Her face was obscured by a length of material hung about her nose and mouth, leaving only her eyes uncovered.

'Put your mask on!' she said as Akanto laid her pack to rest. Akanto reached down below her chin and drew her mask across her face, muffling the stench of disease within the tent.

'How is she?' she asked.

'She can still hear you, young one,' came a rasping voice from the back of the tent. 'So watch what you say about me, unless you want kicking.'

'Grandmother, you're awake!' laughed Akanto, rushing towards her. She stopped herself just in time. If she touched her, she would catch the disease. A wrinkled face emerged from the pile of furs set by a smouldering fire.

'If you wrap your arms around yourself and close your eyes you can imagine it is me.' There was a shuffling as aching limbs rearranged themselves beneath the furs. 'I will do the same and imagine it is you.'

Akanto knelt, wanting more than anything to dive into the furs with her grandmother and be next to her again. The old woman closed her eyes and sighed, a smile deepening her wrinkles. Akanto shut her own eyes and squeezed herself, trying to remember what her grandmother had smelled like before the sickness caught her. Memories of seal blubber and smoke flickered in her mind, staying just out of reach.

'I will be your arms, mother,' said Asiaq, gathering her daughter into a tight embrace. Akanto felt tears prickling the back of her eyes but did not let them come. There was no reason to cry. Her grandmother would get better.

'I have everything I need for more medicine,' said Akanto, as she and her mother separated.

'Even snowroot?'

'Nanouk found one at the top of the mountain, wait 'til you see how big it is!'

'The top of the mountain?' gasped Asiaq. 'Akanto, how many times...'

'I know, mother, but I need it to make the medicine.'

'Akanto, you could have been killed! The mountain is not a place to play! I don't want you going that high, I told you that!'

'I wasn't playing!'

'Promise me you won't climb that high again.'

'It's the only place left to look before winter comes!' shouted Akanto. 'If I don't keep searching then there won't be any more medicine and the village will die!'

'Stop being so foolish, Akanto!' shouted Asiaq. 'I won't let you get yourself killed trying to make a medicine that doesn't...' They fell silent. Akanto looked away.

'It will work,' she whispered.

'I know,' replied her mother. 'I know. I'm sorry. You just...you just scared me, I wasn't thinking straight.'

'The stemgrass was really strong when I cut it,' continued Akanto, 'and I'll mash the everblossom properly this time.' Her mother reached out and cradled her cheek in her hand.

'Well, come on,' groaned her grandmother, 'I want to see this snowroot.'

Akanto smiled and retrieved the root from her pack.

'Bring it closer, young one,' whispered her grandmother. Akanto held it out to her and watched as the eyes peeking through the furs widened. 'By the gods. It looks just like your grandfather.'

Akanto looked to her mother who snorted with laughter, taking the root and placing it in a stone bowl. She filled a smaller bowl with water and gave it to her mother, taking care not to make contact with her hands. Asiaq was the only person apart from Akanto still untouched by the disease.

'Stay here with grandmother, I will visit the others,' she said, burying the bowl under the snow.

'I will go,' said Akanto. 'I'm already prepared.'

'Be careful then,' said Asiaq. 'I've wrapped the fish and the firewood with your medicine in bundles outside.'

Akanto departed and Nanouk followed her as she knocked on the props of each tent in the village with a stick, delivering prepared supplies at their entrances.

'Your heart is bigger than a whale's, Akanto,' said Meriwa as she accepted her bundle. Her eyes were yellowed and her breathing laboured. 'Please thank your mother, also, you both work too hard.'

'How is Silla?' asked Akanto.

'You know, since taking your medicine he can drink all by himself.' Akanto beamed.

'The next batch will be even better!'

'I don't doubt it' wheezed Meriwa.

Akanto came to the tent furhtest from the others and knocked on the props with her stick, laying the last bundle down. No response came. She knocked again harder this time, and waited. She tasted the rotting air belching from the tent as the wind curled the pelts and knew there would be no answer. Retrieving the bundle, Akanto walked slowly back to her tent. Nanouk followed.