Andover was glad he had only had three cups of wine. More and he would not have remembered as much as he did of that night, and he never wanted to forget a moment of it as long as he lived.
Tega stood in the relative calm and looked at the area around them in wonder.
They’d made the Mounds with almost no additional troubles, but had decided to wait until after the latest storm before trying to find access to the frozen towers. It was a wise choice as just after the sun set and brought an even greater darkness, the weather soured and grew violent again.
The ground was locked under a sheath of ice. Opening the doors of the wagon had been a challenge and had involved the men using a wood axe to shatter the ice layers around the entrance before she could finally be freed.
The spokes of the wagon wheels were under so much ice that there were no longer any spaces between them. The entire wheel was coated in ice an inch thick.
Only a few feet away, the tent that the men had slept in was surrounded by a much thinner crust of frozen precipitation, but long sheets and shattered trails of the stuff lay all around it: signs that they’d been busy clearing the ice through the night.
For the moment, the storms were done, but they lost time getting free from the worst remains of their last encounter.
All of which paled when she considered the structures before them.
The Mounds.
They were not mountains, to be sure, but the spires and odd growths that thrust from the ground were monstrous in scale and even hidden they were unsettling.
They were layered by ice as well, but the thickness was far more than an inch. The Mounds were buried within ice and dirt and ash that had accumulated to a depth Tega doubted could be cleared by a single axe. More likely the blade would break before the frozen caul yielded.
Darus Leeds looked at her and kicked at the ice. “How are we supposed to get past this?”
Tega looked back at him and shook her head. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“What you can do?” He was frowning as he said it.
“I’m the apprentice to Desh Krohan. I have been taught a few things.”
The man’s eyes grew wide as she spoke. He’d forgotten why she was there, apparently.
Tega climbed back into her trailer with a sigh and closed the door. Beyond it, she heard Darus talking to the other men. “Where is she going? We have to figure this out.”
One of them responded, “She has her ways. We have ours. Grab your axes, or a pick if you brought one. Does that sound right to you, Vonders?”
Vonders replied, “The gods of fortune are with you, my fellows. I happen to have several fine tools for just such purposes.”
His words were met with grumbles. Tega allowed herself a smile and went in to get her supplies.
She could not leave. That would be foolish this far into the search, but she could consult with Desh or one of the Sisters. She sorted through her supplies for the right ingredients and then set about making her preparations.
Ten minutes later Tega fell back on her cot and closed her eyes. Moments after that, she was where she needed to be.
Desh!
The man looked at her and smiled, held out an arm for her to land on his wrist. He was not in the castle, but riding slowly along a well paved road, Brolley Krous next to him. Brolley seemed rather surprised to see her. He should have been. Not every day that a storm crow settled on the wrist of a wizard.
“What are you doing here?” Desh’s voice was warm and he had a smile on his face.
She told him quickly of the Mounds, her eye locked on his to let him understand her words. She could not speak, of course, as she was not truly there. She was back in the camp and resting on her cot.
“Well, I certainly can’t come to you right now, Tega. I’m afraid it’ll have to be you. But if you think you’re up to the task I have little doubt you can manage it. Just be careful. And prepare yourself. You’ll be very tired when it’s done.”
She bobbed her head up and down a few times. The feeling was perfectly natural, as natural as the feathers on her wings and the claws at the ends of her talons.
I’ll do my best, Desh.
“Do better than that. You have the knowledge and the skills. You just have to be patient. Don’t rush.” He paused a moment and then, “Have they been behaving themselves?”
Perfect gentlemen the lot of them.
“You are a bad liar. If they misbehave too much, call on me and I will resolve the matter.”
She bobbed her head one more time and then launched herself into the air, her wings flapping madly to get the altitude she needed.
The bird went left, her mind went right. A few moments later she was opening her eyes and back in the cot, the cold seeping through to her bones.
She climbed from the wagon and looked to where the men had been hacking at the ice. They had cleared a surprising amount, but the ice must have been nearly as hard as steel, by the way they were attacking it.
Tega took a few deep breaths. “You should rest yourselves for a few minutes.”
Nolan March looked at her for a moment, his dark eyes regarding her. He was a fine looking man, but the way he looked at her was not what she expected. Most men tended to examine her physique and went out of their way to smile for her. He did not seem to care.
Finally he nodded and stepped back, gesturing for the others to do the same. They did not take much convincing.
Tega walked over to the spot where they had been digging. The ground here was not jagged and rough but unsettlingly smooth. The ice layer had been hacked and brutalized and shattered by their work, but the surface below that murky layer had a look that was both organic and almost deliberate. Once, long and ago, the ground here had been boiling with heat and the spot where they chose to dig looked as if it might have hidden depths. She could see a darkness that ran low and deep into the earth there.
A tunnel, perhaps, or merely a pocket where air escaped as the ground here re-solidified millennia ago. Whatever the case, it seemed a good spot to try digging. If it was an entrance into the area forbidden by the Daxar Taalor all the better, but at the very least it might be a shelter for them should another storm come.
“You chose an excellent spot.”
Vonders Orly nodded his thanks. “The only spot that looked like a possibility. Most of the other areas are too… jagged.”
She nodded. There was little doubt in her mind that the man had looked around. His eyes were constantly scanning the ground and seeking, always seeking. His family was familiar with the Blasted Lands, had scavenged there before. She had already seen him seeking whatever might be close to the surface for him to claim, though so far with no appreciable luck.
“I would ask you to all stand back; I’m going to try to clear a bit of this away.”
They did not hesitate to listen.
Tega eyed the area carefully and assessed the weakest spots and the areas most likely to collapse. Not the earth itself, hopefully, but the ice that surrounded the different structures. None of them were clear enough to make out. They were shadows within the ice, and even looking closely offered little but hints and vague possibilities. The ice was the issue in any event. Ice as thick as what she was dealing with might not respond to her attempts, or it might fall away in fragments large enough to break bones if it fell in the wrong area.
In the distance the horses let out several noises and Tega hesitated as the men looked first at the tent where the animals were sheltered and then to each other.
Maun spoke to the others in his soft voice and Nolan, Darus and Tolpen went to examine the situation. A moment later Tolpen called out and the rest ran to join them.
Tega let her curiosity win over for the moment and turned toward the sounds of the horses and the men alike. There was another noise, but not one that she immediately recognized.
It was inevitable that their luck, such as it had been, could not hold. They had managed a great distance without any encounters wit
h the denizens of the Blasted Lands, but now she could see the Pra-Moresh as it came closer and the horses were not at all pleased with the creature’s approach. It was only one, but it came in a stampeding rage, and even as she watched, the creature swept a paw in an arc and tore away half a mare’s ribcage. The animal shrieked as it died and the Pra-Moresh greedily tore at into the flesh, unconcerned about whatever or whomever might approach.
The other horses reared and bucked and pulled at their restraints. Three of the leads holding them to the wagon’s side snapped and the horses bolted, sliding on the ice, falling over themselves in an effort to escape the beast.
Tolpen Hart cursed and ran for the tent, ignoring the horses as they escaped. Darus and Nolan tried to recapture the animals, knowing that without them they might well be doomed in the wilds.
By the time the two of them had reached the wagon, the rest of the horses had broken free and the Pra-Moresh was looking up from its feast, blood painting the heavy muzzle a startling shade of red against the grey and black fur.
It screamed and laughed and whined as it looked toward them and reared up on its hind legs. By the gods, it was a massive thing, easily twice the height of a man.
Tolpen came from the tent with his bow at the ready and an arrow drawn back. He took careful aim and fired and the missile skidded across the monster’s face, not even breaking the hide.
But it got the beast’s attention. It looked toward the archer and roared. Tolpen was a hunter. He knew how to handle his weapon and he took the time to draw another arrow and aim as the beast charged. Nolan managed to get out of the way even as he pulled his axe. Darus was not as fast and was slapped aside as easily as a leaf. The poor man bounced across the ground. Even from her distance she could hear his grunts of pain.
Maun approached along with the other escort who’d been with her since the beginning of her quest. Both of them carried short spears and looked at the creature intently, even as it bore down on Tolpen.
Tolpen stood his ground and fired. He this time did better. The arrow drove into the open mouth of the Pra-Moresh and then through the soft side of the creature’s cheek. It reared up and roared-screamed-wept again, shaking its face as if to make the pain sail away as easily as Darus had.
While it was busy, Nolan came up from behind and brought his axe around in a hard swing at the beast’s legs. Tega took a deep breath and let it out as the thing yelped and turned and swept both of its paws at Nolan. The man managed to duck away, but fell on the ice as he did so. He was surely as good as dead, might have died right then, but Maun and Stradly threw their spears and hit the thing. One shaft sank into the creature’s bare abdomen and the other caught it in the shoulder. It turned to them and limped forward as it fell to all fours. The spear wobbled in its shoulder and it moved that limb with less strength, but still it charged. Blood fell from its hind side, but still it came at a frightening speed.
They were not prepared; it was as simple as that. The men had been trained to fight men, not monsters and the Pra-Moresh did not stop. It came for Maun and Stradly and they drew weapons and held their ground though she could see how desperately they wanted to flee.
Maun and Stradly were in front of Tega when it came for them. The thing looked so big already but grew at a horrible, sickening pace as it lumbered closer.
Tega concentrated and made herself remain as calm as she could. It was not easy. Calm went against her nature at that moment. What she wanted was to run from the unholy thing coming at her.
She said no words. They were not necessary. Instead she summoned the energies she had been studying for several years and forced her will upon the world.
And the world responded with a roar.
The Pra-Moresh exploded. Flesh and bone and fur and gristle went in every direction. The ground beneath the thing bulged and rippled and snapped in a violent wave, and Maun and Stradly, who were standing closest to the Pra-Moresh, were hurled aside and bounced and skittered as they tried to recover from the unexpected force.
The sound of the magic was as terrifying as the sight. The air roared with a force like thunder, loud enough to nearly deafen Tega. The air whipped from the center of the explosion and a few seconds later the remains of the thing rained down across the terrain.
She stared in horror, knowing full well that she had done that.
Past the ringing in her ears she heard the others calling out, looking around and trying to take in all that had happened. Maun lay on the ground, holding his stomach and grimacing. Stradly crawled over to him, looking at the spreading red stain on Maun’s belly. Nolan March walked toward them, barely even aware of the axe he dragged behind him, and Darus tried to sit up. Tried and failed. She could just make out the sound of his moan.
Nolan turned to the other soldier and started looking him over. Tolpen came closer, moving with extreme care, his eyes wide and worried. He did not understand what had happened, but only that the Pra-Moresh was gone in a wave of gore and violence.
Vonders understood well enough. He came up behind her and looked at her with horror in his eyes. “What did you do, girl?”
“I stopped it. It was going to kill them.”
Before she could say more the ground beneath them roared. The air above them followed suit a moment later and the sound was so loud that thinking became impossible. It was all she could do not to simply fall down and scream. Heavy vibrations rattled her eyes in their sockets, her teeth in her gums and the flesh on her bones. Beside her, Vonders did fall down, howling into a noise that made his anguish silent.
They had heard the roar of the Mounds before, but always from a distance, from as much as a day’s travel away. Now the sound came around them and shook the world. The ice that they had spent time trying to hack through shattered, in some cases falling away and in others sticking doggedly to the surfaces where it had adhered for who knew how long.
Tega turned in every direction trying to understand the nature of the noise, the source of the cacophony that dominated her senses and her ability to think. There was no one thing that she could see; there was only the sound.
And then the noise ended and she could breathe again and the pain faded to a tolerable level.
Vonders looked up from where he was laying on the ground, his eyes wider than before and a pained expression on his face. He was not injured, that she could see, but likely just overwhelmed. Aside from storms there had been nothing in their time traveling across the Blasted Lands and now all of this in only moments.
Within a few minutes they were assessing their situation. Darus had broken his left arm, and had several substantial bruises from being knocked out of the Pra-Moresh’s way. Additionally, his left leg was either sprained or broken. He could stand but he could barely walk at all.
Nolan was unharmed. Vonders was unscathed. Tolpen remained uninjured as well, though he was still extremely shaken. She did not think he’d been as prepared as he’d thought he would be for the actual sight of a Pra-Moresh. Certainly she had not been ready for it. Stradly Limm was bruised across one half of his body. His right side had been facing the monster when the explosion occurred and his skin on that side was mottled and looked as if he’d been struck with a hammer across every inch of flesh. He was able to walk. He was able to stand. He did not look as if he was able to think clearly and his speech was slurred.
Maun was the worst of them. She did not think he would live through his injuries. One of the Pra-Moresh’s teeth, a massive thing as big as her hand, had been blown into his stomach by the explosion. And while she watched, Nolan and Volpers did their best to pull the bloodied thing from his insides without tearing him up any further.
For almost an hour they worked at sewing his insides back in place, neither of them speaking more than in single words, mostly communicating in gestures for one item or another from a small surgical kit.
Maun was a quiet man, but he screamed a great deal as they worked on mending him. Eventually he fainted from the work and the silence was
almost worse.
The horses were gone.
Darus doubted they would return. There was nothing for them in the Blasted Lands and they likely had only stayed because they were well trained, but now that they had broken free there was little to make him believe they would come back to the area.
By the time they were done with the surgery and had recovered from the madness of the moment the sun had slithered its way down toward the west again. The darkness would come back soon and none of them were in a state to attempt the Mounds.
Ultimately Tega decided they needed warmth and safety more than anything else. Though it was cramped in the extreme, all of them slept in the wagon that night.
Maun was still alive in the morning. The work that Nolan and Volpers had done was clean and efficient. Tega checked the wounds herself and used what ingredients she had to make a poultice to keep the wound clean from infection and to aid in healing.
None of them said anything. None of them blamed her, but she blamed herself. She had lacked the proper control. She had failed to restrain the power she wielded and when she could stand it no more she apologized.
“I’m so sorry you were injured, Maun and you, Stradly. I did not mean to do that.”
Stradly had recovered a great deal from his earlier shock. He shook his head and winced. “Sorry for saving us, then?”
“What?”
“We were there, Mistress Tega. We saw the thing coming. We was as good as dead. Nothing to be done for it but to watch that evil thing eat our guts out. You saved us.”
Maun nodded and spoke more softly than usual. “Aye. Might have been a trifle rough in the saving, but that you did. Only a fool would think otherwise.”
Nolan nodded his head. “You were a ways off. I know how large the thing looked to you, but from where we were it was a lot bigger.”
Vonders nodded. “Seen the head of one of those in the Duke’s palace once. And saw the corpse of one that died of old age I guess. We’d have taken it back for the possible prize, but it was too rotted and too heavy and we had enough salvage. The one we saw yesterday was bigger than either. I pray they don’t make them any bigger.”
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