The Great Hearts II: A Game of Gods

by David Oliver

  That left Rikol and me. I turned to him, only to see a sword pointed at my head, “Don’t you be getting any ideas now, you hear?” he said. “I know that I am a beautiful and ridiculously attractive individual but I don’t swing that way. Just admire me and leave.”

  I snorted and clapped him on the shoulder. “Come on, oh attractive one. Let’s grab a beer, you can regale the northerners with your tales of rescuing princesses and fighting dragons.”

  “Now you’re speaking my language!” cried Rikol. “Lead the way, my liege!”

  A night of passion, alcohol and laughter helped begin to ease the pain of the past weeks. The smiles came less frequently, but the laughter was still genuine. The scars of the test cut deep, but we would survive it.

  Or so I thought.

  Present day

  The Emperor stood in his office, the behemoth of a man holding the tiny request form in his hand. Turning as I entered, he threw the letter onto the desk in front of him.

  “You wanted to see me?” I asked pointedly. I had no time for decorum with this man. Not these days.

  “Indeed I did my boy! That letter there is, I believe, the fifty third request I have had from you to go hunting a very specific monster. Does that sound about right?”

  I sighed and began to turn away. “I have better things to be doing than be denied agai-”

  “-I’m inclined to grant your request.”

  I stopped dead.

  “After all this time...why would you do that?” I asked, hope warring with suspicion in my chest.

  He shrugged. “Perhaps your incessant requests have worn me down. Perhaps I think it fruitful to rid the world of the...what do you refer to it as? The red eyed skyren? Or perhaps the planets and stars are aligned to make me feel particularly generous as of late. But ask yourself this...do you really care?”

  I awoke to a crackling fire and a shadow of gigantic proportions looming over me. Wide, chaotic eyes watched me with a hint of worry as a finger the size of my wrist poked me in the side.

  “Ow!” I snapped, rubbing at the rapidly bruising spot. “Stop that! I’m awake.”

  He poked me again, a rumble of noise in his throat.

  “Awake and alive,” I confirmed, “as I can see you are too. Congratulations.”

  A beatific smile spread across Cassius’s face.

  Sitting up, a bite of pain lanced through my shoulder and I hissed, feeling the open wound that the skyren’s tail spike had caused. With a groan I reached for my supplies and began checking them one by one, thankfully finding all the blades intact. Oathbreaker Cassius already had next to him, the blade gleaming in the firelight, it was probably the first thing that he had picked up on reverting to normal. After a few frustratingly painful movements I had my first aid kit in hand and set about cleaning and binding the wound. Cassius knew I was wounded but he didn’t have the capacity to look after me, resulting in far too much experience in learning how to deliver self-care. Luckily a constant administration of my green seraph would help the wound heal quickly and without complications.

  Ministrations done, I tentatively touched my Imperator jacket and finding it to be largely dry I flung it to Cassius. “Here,” I said as he caught it, “cover yourself with this if you get cold.” Another innocent smile and he carefully curled the jacket onto the top of his head before sitting down next to me.

  “Glad to see you haven’t let it win yet,” I murmured softly as he sat. “We’ll have to find you something to wear as soon as possible. Honestly if you’re going to change at the drop of a button then we need to find a way that you keep your clothes intact. Ridiculous really.”

  Cassius rocked back and forth, careful to keep the coat perfectly piled on his head.

  “I know, I know,” I sighed. “It isn’t your fault. We both know who is responsible for this, we could have at least got him to sort something out clothing wise - looks like the Emperor isn’t quite so infallible as he would like us to believe.”

  Silence.

  I nodded in agreement. “Or he just doesn’t care.”

  Reaching into my sack I pulled out a soggy piece of jerky and began chewing thoughtfully, trying to place our position on the maps I had filed away in the back of my mind. Come dawn we would be back on the road and we needed both supplies and repairs - not easy to find in thyrkan controlled territory.

  “Best get some sleep,” I said to the big man before laying back down to nurse my bruises, “as tomorrow we find the Undertrail.”

  For some people, hunting thyrkan, being chased by your demonic friend and surviving a close encounter with a beetle infested mountain and a fight with a demon would be the most memorable points of their lives.

  For us?

  ...It was just another day.

  Chapter 12

  Pass of Eredon

  The Pass of Eredon was an eerie place. A stunning glacial blue, it shimmered with strange light and sound bounced off every surface, reverberating and reflecting a million times before fading. Somewhat disconcertingly there had been no sign of men in the poorly built encampment at the entrance to the pass. Tracks led out from the pass, not in. Wherever the Hrudan were attacking from, it wasn’t from here. Even so, we decided to push forwards, through the ice caves and to the Hrudan lands. I imagine the experience of walking through the glistening blue was weird enough for my friends, but for me, with my extra sensory capabilities? I could have gone quite mad in there. Each footfall echoed into the distance until it sounded like one made by another. I could hear the ice groaning and shifting into the deep, until I could imagine something living inside the ice. And every now and again, I swore I could hear a soft, bristly scurrying.

  That said, it was a beautiful place. Every different shade of blue imaginable streaming out into the fractaled distance. Icicles hung suspended in the air and frozen stalagmites rose out of the floor. It was unsurprising that it was a place of spiritual significance. It felt like you could learn a great deal about yourself just by venturing through the cave.

  And in a way, we did. We all learnt to hate spiders.

  There it was again. “I’m sure that there is something alive in here, moving around us,” I said softly to the others.

  We all stopped. Nothing. “Any idea where?” asked Cassius.

  “No. The ice makes it hard to track. At first it sounds like it is coming from above, then beneath.”

  “Well if Jadira is right about the spiders, it would probably be like them to live in the walls,” Ella supplied. “We should probably keep our weapons close and hope that they decide to leave us alone.”

  It was about all we could do, and so we continued forward, hands close to blades at all times.

  I still couldn’t find any recent tracks making their way back through the ice caves away from Meredothian lands. “Perhaps Jadira has more on her hands than raiding,” I ventured. “It could be that this is an invasion.”

  Cassius knelt down and scratched away at the ice floor. “I don’t know if there have been the tracks of enough men to warrant an invasion force. Roughly sixty Hrudan were killed during their attack on the fort. If we assume that the same force has been conducting the increasing raids then Jadira and her people have killed near enough two hundred...do you think there has been that many pass through here?”

  “It’s difficult to tell. The ice changes shape often enough to remove most tell-tale sign. It’s possible a large force pushed through and the ice has healed since their passage.”

  Sophia spoke up, “Or perhaps the Hrudan attacking Jadira’s people have found another way through.”

  A troubling thought.

  Two hours into the pass and the colours changed. Light should not have easily reached the inside but the walls still glowed as if lit from within. Deep blues and purples spread out and throbbed, once again giving the impression of being alive. The walls of the path maintained a surprising consistency. Whilst the tunnel twisted and turned, the width and height of the walls remained the same; big enough
for the six of us to walk abreast and then some. Whether a marvel of nature or a feat of engineering I did not know. Either way it was impressive.

  Four hours into the cave and the walls began exhibiting hues of swirling greens and even reds amongst the plethora of blue. The scurrying noises had continued intermittently, as if one creature continuously paused and listened before moving again...or many creatures were picking up our presence and moving before letting us leave. Another disturbing thought. I just hoped that the creatures were not as dangerous as Jadira suggested.

  A fool’s hope.

  Five hours in and we reached a junction. The first that we had seen. One path led to the right, and seemed to stay on the same level. The other led on a downward gradient. After a quick discussion we decided to go right. Some track marks remained that came from that direction, and so sensibly we decided to follow them - until we hit a dead end.

  Not a natural dead end either. It looked like a cave-in that had frozen over. Massive amounts of rock had fallen, blocking any avenue of exit and the approach was now shielded by ice.

  “Well...gives more credence to another route, don’t you think?” smirked Rikol. “Looks like this was a waste of time.”

  “Not really,” admonished Ella. “We know this is blocked and so can concentrate on locating the other route - if any.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Perhaps the men who have been attacking have been staying in the Meredothian lands because they can’t go back home? It could be possible that the raiders were all that was able to get through here before the pass sealed.”

  “Sounds plausible,” I added. “No tracks leading back because they knew there was no point. Interesting.”

  “What about that side passage?” Cassius asked. “Shouldn’t we go down there and see where it leads?”

  “You know the horror stories that we tell at the Academy, Cassius?” Rikol asked. When Cassius nodded he continued, “What you’re suggesting to do is pretty much how each of them begins. ‘Let’s all go down into the spider pit! I’m sure it will be fine! Ahhhh! Spiders! Who could have guessed?!’ ME. That’s who.”

  “But we should check it in case there is another route-”

  “But nothing! I told you last time in the desert that it was a monstrous death pit, and did any of you believe me? ‘It’s fine Rikol. Everything is long dead Rikol. Stop worrying Rikol.’ And look how that turned out.”

  He had a point.

  I turned to him. “Okay, what would you have us do?”

  He smiled grimly. “Camp here and then head back out. We know it’s defensible as there is only one-way in.”

  We all looked at each other and nodded. Decision made.

  “Oh and one last thing,” Rikol added as we started making camp. “No ghost stories.”

  ✽✽✽

  All in all the Meredothian camping gear made for a decent night’s sleep. Good, warm tents and thin but very toasty furs allowed us to sleep in the middle of an ice cavern without need for a fire. A useful thing too, as an ice cavern by its very name doesn’t hold much in the way of wood for kindling. I took the first watch, a completely uneventful experience that was incredibly relaxing. The ice somehow still retained light, even though the sun must have set, and the patterns were almost hypnotic. After a few hours I was relieved and went to sleep with dreams of colour.

  Skittering

  Bristles

  Eyes

  I jolted upright, sweat coursing down my back and cursed my brain for being unable to sleep properly. Realising that I wasn’t going to sleep more I pulled on my boots and went out to let Rikol catch a few more winks...only to stop dead in my tracks.

  Rikol hung suspended in the air, slowly rotating, his eyes holding nothing but sheer, unadulterated terror.

  Craning my head up I could see why. Standing over the tents, each leg like a fur coated pillar, was a spider.

  Using my magnificent powers of deduction I ascertained that it probably wasn’t a normal spider.

  Black eyes dotted the top of a large, bristling torso, Rikol’s rotating image reflecting in each of the glittering orbs. Mandibles the size of my forearm quivered next to a fanged mouth and a large stinger extended from the base of its abdomen.

  I slowly began moving my hand to my sword and froze as my reflection lit up in the glittering eyes. Shit.

  “WAKE UP!” I roared, my voice thundering through the cave, and sprung forward to shear my blade through the nearest leg. Or tried to. The blade stuck half way and before I could dislodge it I found myself in the air, hanging onto the blade and staring into a glittering reflection of terror.

  Bumbling sounds emerged from the tents as the others woke up, hastily buckling on weapons and boots. The spider danced in pain as I grimly held on to the blade, its remaining legs trampling through the tents and knocking them asunder. One by one my companions were free to see what was going on. Free to gasp in shock. All except Cassius who ran to the next nearest leg and slashed, twisting the blade as he did so to avoid my fate. The spider hissed in fury and lashed out with the leg that he struck, flinging him through a tent and sending him crashing into Sophia. With its other leg it dashed me into the wall hard enough to crush the ice, causing me to lose my grip on the blade, then began to vanish back through the tunnel, taking poor, potentially prescient Rikol with it.

  By the gods it was quick. By the time we had given chase it had pulled from view. Its legs somehow finding some scant purchase on the floor and surrounding walls, allowing it to propel itself along at a tremendous rate. Whilst we were wearing the sturdy boots that the Meredothians used for ice exploration we couldn’t hope to move a fraction of the speed. Ella recognised this first and stopped our headlong chase.

  “It’s gone, hold up!” she shouted as we sprinted and slid after the long-vanished spider.

  Cassius looked at her incredulously. “Why are we stopping? It has Rikol!”

  “I know, but it’s obvious that we aren’t going to catch it. Even Calidan wasn’t anywhere near matching its speed on the ice. We know that it is likely going down that other path - it stands to reason as we didn’t see any other openings on the walk here. So we should approach this carefully and not rush headlong into anything.”

  She had a point. Long experience has since confirmed to me that rushing into the lion’s den is a bad move. Mainly because as an Imperator what is inside will be much, much worse than a simple lion.

  I nodded. “Good thinking. Let’s collect our gear and make our way to that other path entrance.”

  Thirty minutes later we were back at the descending pathway, fully attired and prepared. Or close to it; my sword was still embedded in that foul creature’s leg.

  “Going by what we saw, our best bet is probably the eyes and abdomen rather than the legs,” Sophia confirmed. “Let’s take it slow. Spiders are ambush hunters.”

  Weapons out - in my case twin daggers - we paced forward to face the foe and rescue the friend.

  Unfortunately we had hoped for foe singular.

  Perhaps a mile into our descent the walls began to glisten differently to those above.

  “Ugh.” Cassius said, wrinkling his nose and rubbing his hands. To our inquisitive faces he simply shrugged and said, “Webs.”

  He was right; the entirety of the hallway was covered in strands of cobweb. Suddenly walking became much more difficult, each step began to take twice as long as the webs snatched at our boots with surprising strength.

  “This is not going to help us if we need to fight,” grunted Cassius as we thumped our way down the passage, all traces of stealth gone.

  “Er.” I raised my blades. “Funny you should say that...” The cobwebs in front of us were vibrating relentlessly as my eyes picked up a wave of legs coming towards us. The tumulk had arrived.

  Arrow after arrow slammed into beady eyes, bodies falling from the ceiling and walls to join the growing pile on the floor. Sophia was in fine form. Protecting our archer we ducked and weaved as
the table-sized spiders swarmed us. Unfortunately that was largely all we could do. The swift movements of Kaschan were impossible whilst on the webbed floor and that made the fight much more desperate. In seconds we were overwhelmed, covered in ichor and flattened by sheer numbers. A wave of legs, fur and fangs covering our faces until all we knew was endless stabbing.

  After what felt like a lifetime the pressure eased and the wave of nightmares ended.

  “What just happened?” Sophia asked, covered in thick green ichor.

  “I have no idea,” I replied, wiping goo off my face. “Anyone hurt?” Surprisingly, no one was.

  “I think they weren’t attacking us at all!” groaned Ella as she peeled herself off the floor. “Perhaps they were running from something?”

  I cocked my head as a faint reverberation rang through the air. “I don’t think you’re far off the mark there Ella. Something is ahead.”

  “The spider?”

  “I don’t know.” With another groan I shouldered my pack. “Let’s go find out.”

  Chapter 13

  Arachnophobia

  The cobwebbed ice tunnel eventually opened out into a large cavern. It would have been quite pleasant if it hadn’t been a spider infested hell hole. Mummified prey hung suspended from the ceiling. Some had four legs, some two. The tumulk, it seemed, were not as opposed to catching humans as Jadira had suggested.

  More strangely was that there were remains of several spiders scattered around. Fresh remains judging by the smell. Legs torn off, limbs removed and green ichor splattered everywhere.

  “Do spiders eat each other?” Ella asked aloud.

  “I’m sure some do. But do you think they do it without eating their prey?” Cassius replied. “It is different to the neatly organised prey hanging from the ceiling. More like unnecessarily violent than skilled hunting.”