The Jungle Tomb of the Ice Queen (The Flying Tooth Garden Book 1)

by M Harold Page

  Millicent bellowed, “Silence!”

  She blushed and looked around.

  Perhaps it was time to take one of her pills?

  The problem was that the pills would make her woozy, and woozy would just not do for what she had in mind.

  Millicent frowned. Was the portal truly hidden amongst the ruins crowning that stack? Was it worth the risk?

  She unrolled the chart and pressed it to a handy slab of granite.

  Another gull soared up over the cliff edge and hovered in the onshore wind.

  Millicent used one hand to clamp the chart to the rock and the other hand to wave her hat at the bird. “Shoo! Off with you.”

  Unlock Virago, Intimidate Beasts?

  “And off with you too!” This really was not the time for her Voice to disturb her sanity.

  The gull screamed and dived away, leaving the chart safe from its droppings, and her head cold from going hatless. A pang of conscience interrupted Millicent’s thoughts. Should she, a librarian after all, really be taking such a precious item out on her perilous adventures?

  Why not? It had come to her by luck, tucked away in an antique desk, but it was hers, and carrying it felt right.

  You are Self Hating.

  Test of Will 3. You have resisted acquiring an Issue.

  “How very nice of you to say that. I really do not want to waste more time and money on more sessions with Dr Joyous. Now, go back to being repressed!”

  Still with one hand on the chart, she slipped on her reading glasses.

  The parchment was covered in dozens of little circular maps, all webbed together by portal lines. The inner portals connected to a crudely-drawn central crown. This next portal would take her to within two portals of that prize, whatever it was. She could at least take a quick look before giving up.

  Just how certain was she?

  The tiny map of the island certainly depicted a tower projecting into the ocean, and this was the only arrangement remotely fitting that description. She’d read that seas like this could turn a headland into a stack in a matter of centuries, and, judging from the age of the ancient script, her chart was at least 500 years old—though the Here Be Dragons was in Modern Gorlakian Runes, implying a whimsical annotation by a more recent traveller from Beyond the Pale.

  Besides, it felt like the location for the portal, as if her years of pathfinding had given her a nose for the things.

  A spray of rain spattered her spectacles.

  Quickly, she rolled away the chart and tucked it and her spectacles into her shoulder bag. Squinting into the wind, heavy skirt rippling against her legs, she strode along the cliff top.

  A few blustery minutes of walking and there was the natural bridge, dipping away before her. It was steep, but not so steep that she couldn’t treat it as a flight of steps…albeit dangerous ones.

  A sensible Lady Spelunker would turn back at this point. If she fell and broke her leg, there would be no chance of natives rescuing her because there were no natives. Nor could her friends come and find her because there was no second copy of the chart—for some reason it did not photograph well—and besides, she had somehow neglected to inform anybody where she was going…a strange oversight, now she came to think about it. Her host might eventually inform the authorities that she had not returned, but it was normal for explorers of the Great Northern Nest to vanish for weeks or even months as they wandered the maze of portals left by the hypothetical wyrms.

  She shook her head. “Never mind all that!”

  Millicent—sensibly!—checked the lacings on her boots, buckled up her shoulder bag, tied her hat down with her scarf, then buttoned the deep pocket containing her father’s old service revolver. For scaring off wild animals, she told herself, and tried not to imagine using it as an alternative to dying of exposure.

  Her heart hammered in her chest as if it wanted to tear free of her corset. Holding her arms out like a tightrope walker, she stepped down onto a ledge, then got her right boot into the angle between two rocks and took a long pace down onto a sloping natural step.

  Just as she landed, the wind rose under her skirt, making the fabric billow.

  You have Disadvantage “Hampered by Long Skirts”.

  Millicent lost her balance, flailed her arms, then somehow managed to right herself. “Damn you.”

  Form 3. Performing Skill Mountaineering at level 6. Cost 1 Potestas, 5 of 6 Remaining.

  Result = 6 (Performance) +0 (Luck) -2 (Hampered by Long Skirts) -4 (Challenge) = 0.

  She squinted against the wind. Something black loomed up out of it, like a skinny tramp in an old rain coat.

  Test of Potestas 5. Disadvantage, "Surprised” avoided.

  She reached for her revolved, but of course she had buttoned the pocket. All she could do was huddle down on her precarious perch.

  Current Form 3. Disadvantage “Untrained.” Performing Warrior at Level 1.

  Unlock Warrior, Unarmed Proficiency?

  “No! Shut up! Be silent!”

  Result = 1 (Performance) +0 (Luck) +4 (Full Defence) -2 (Untrained) -2 (Challenge) = 3.

  Effect = Successful Evasion.

  The thing wailed as it hurtled by.

  Two more black shapes appeared out of the ruins; man-sized things of wings and claws…vaguely familiar things of wings and claws, actually…

  Scholar 4. Performing Scholar at level 7.

  Dragon heads and wings. No forelegs. She’d seen them in an old bestiary. “‘Here be dragons’, indeed. They’re wyverns you ignoramus!”

  They sailed the wind towards her, trailing their clawed feet like eagles fishing.

  This was not the first time she had encountered supposedly mythological creatures on the edge of the Pale. “I do hope you are not endangered.”

  With cold fingers, she fumbled her pocket open, pulled and yanked at the revolver until it tore free.

  The wyverns were on her.

  Millicent turned away, huddled low but there was nowhere to duck to. Worse, one pace right or left would have her plummeting hundreds of feet into the ice water of the bay.

  Claws raked her walking coat, snagged on the bones of her corset.

  She flinched and hunched into herself.

  Result = 1 (Performance) +1 (Luck) -2 (Untrained) -2 (Challenge) = -2.

  Effect = 2 (Result) +0 (Claws) -2 (Armour) = O.

  “Pardon? Armour?”

  The corset covers your torso so works as Level 2 armour against thrusts, missile weapons and flying attacks, and Level 1 against anything else.

  Millicent rose and sure enough, though her back felt bruised, there was no sense of blood. “You ruined my damned coat! It came from Cromerton and Frisbie!”

  Black against the slate-grey sky, the wyverns soared overhead, battling the wind back out to sea.

  With shaking hands, Millicent checked the cylinder had bullets in it, thumbed back the hammer. She felt rather than heard the reassuring clunk.

  The wyverns wheeled over the ruins and came at her again along the line of the rocky arch. They spread out to present an intimidating wall of wings. However, only one could now attack her at a time.

  Millicent extended an unsteady arm, considered kneeling to brace herself, rejected the idea because she wanted space to duck into…

  The wyverns rushed closer.

  Test of Potestas 5. Disadvantage, "Rushed” avoided.

  Pistol takes effect first.

  Millicent picked the one that was coming right at her. There was no time to think, just pull the trigger.

  The revolver thumped like a slammed door, kicked.

  A great invisible hand seemed to yank the wyvern past her. It struck the rock where it rose to the cliff top and lay there like a badly displayed moth.

  Current Form 3.

  Using Skill Shooting 4. Cost 1 Potestas, 4 of 6 remaining.

  Performing Shooting at Level 7

  Result = 7 (Performance) -1 (Luck) -2 (Challenge) = 3

  Natural Armour 2 (Halved by
bullet) Negated.

  Effect = 7 + 3 (Revolver) = 10.

  Wyvern killed.

  The two survivors screamed past.

  This time they soared left and right. They would attack from either side, and Millicent could only shoot one—if they weren’t more circumspect, if she managed to pull the trigger on time.

  She ran across the natural bridge, breathing hard as she hopped between lumps of stone.

  Far below, the ocean surged. In the corner of her eye, the whale breached.

  The wyverns stooped.

  Manoeuvring.

  Current Form 3. Performing Mountaineering Skill at level 6. Cost 1 Potestas. 3 of 6 Remaining.

  Result = 6 (Performance) +1 (Luck) -2 (Hampered by Long Skirts) -2 (Challenge) = 3.

  Effect = Successful transit + Tactical Advantage.

  One wyvern managed to cone in from Millicent’s left, while the other was still wheeling. She dropped to her haunches.

  Test of Potestas 3. Fail. You have been “Rushed”.

  Performing Warrior at Level 3.

  Result = 3 (Performance) +4 (Full Defence) +2 (Tactical Advantage) -1 (Luck) -2 (Untrained) -2 (Challenge) -4 (Enemy Full Attack) = 0.

  Effect = Tie.

  Enemy Grapples.

  Once again, wyvern claws tore her coat, flapping its huge wings.

  Millicent tried to bring the revolver to bear, couldn’t, settled for twisting and using the weapon as a club.

  Result = 3 (Performance) +0 (Luck) -2 (Untrained) -3 (Challenge) = -2.

  Effect = -2. Wyvern maintains hold. You have disadvantage "Grappled.”

  The second wyvern belatedly swooped in from the right.

  Millicent elbowed the first beast, then with a prayer to Minerva, tugged on the trigger.

  She hadn’t recocked the pistol, so it took strength to rotate the cylinder, bring back the hammer.

  The pistol banged, bucked.

  Pistol takes effect first. Close Range.

  Current Form 3.

  Using Skill Shooting 4. Cost 1 Potestas, 2 of 6 remaining.

  Performing Shooting at Level 7.

  Result = 7 (Performance) +1 (Luck) -3 (Grappled, Pistol Uncocked) -2 (Cautious Approach) -2 (Challenge) = 1

  Natural Armour 2 (Halved by Bullet) applies.

  Effect = 1 (Result) + 3 (Revolver) -1 (Armour) = 3.

  Target Toughness 1 Negated. Target has Hindrances "Stunned”, "Debilitated” and "Wounded”.

  It flailed at her, trying to catch her with its claws.

  She clouted it with the barrel of her revolver.

  Performing Warrior at Level 3.

  Result = 3 (Performance) +0 (Luck) -3 (Grappled, Untrained)- 2 (Challenge) +2 (Enemy was Cautious) +3 (Enemy Stunned, Debilitated, Wounded) = 3.

  Effect = 3 (Result) + 0 (Improvised weapon) -2 (Natural Armour) = 1

  Enemy Unconscious.

  The wyvern tumbled away. The wind caught it, swatted it into the heaving ocean.

  The third creature still had her by the coat. It picked that moment to flap and tug at the fabric. Buttons popped.

  Millicent found herself stumbling backwards toward the edge.

  Result = 3 (Performance) +0 (Luck) -2 (Untrained) -2 (Grappled) -3 (Challenge) = -4.

  Effect = -4 Dragged.

  Test of Potestas 3. Prompt Action has advantage.

  She twisted toward the wyvern.

  The screaming beast flapped harder, tore the coat free of her right arm.

  Millicent plucked the bag strap from her shoulder and over her head, then turned the other way to let the wyvern take the whole garment.

  Result = 3 (Performance) +1 (Luck) +2 (“Prompt Action”) -2 (Untrained) -3 (Challenge) = 1.

  Effect = Coat abandoned.

  It sailed into the air, taking with it her torn coat, leaving her in just her cardigan, blouse and corset. Already the tendrils of cold clawed her arms.

  Millicent cocked the hammer and aimed.

  Medium range. Human sized target challenging at 3.

  The wyvern rose rapidly, but at the greater distance she could account for that with a slight raise of her hand.

  She fired.

  Current Form 3. Performing Shooting Skill at level 7. Cost 1 Potestas, 1 of 6 remaining.

  Result = 7 (Performance) +1 (Luck) -1 (Half Target Challenge) = 7. Bullet on target.

  Hit Quality = 2.

  Natural Armour 2 (Halved by bullet) negated.

  Effect = 2 (Quality) + 3 (Revolver) = 5.

  Target Killed.

  It fell out the sky. The coat detached itself from the claws and blew onto a rock at the base of the cliffs. A foam-marbled wave caught it and dragged it back into the black water.

  The wind picked up. The sky darkened. The rain grew heavier, plastering her blouse to her arms, leaching the warmth from her limbs.

  Millicent shuddered.

  1 Vitality lost. 3 of 5 remaining.

  She shouldered her bag and slipped the revolver inside.

  The first portal would lead her back to a temperate Realm of rice fields and the guest room of a farmer’s cottage.

  However, she was already at the foot of the rocks where the natural bridge rose up to the stack proper. The path back to the cliffs was in gloom now, the bumps and edges faded together into the grey of twilight. Behind the rush of the wind, the ocean splashed and slapped the rocks.

  Millicent fished in her bag and brought out her new “flashlight”—a Mr Simmons’ Patent Always Ready Explorer’s Electrical Torch, no less —    and pushed the switch forward.

  Nothing happened.

  Not exactly nothing.

  Rather than projecting a beam of light, the heavy tube had become wreathed in luminescence, as if the electricity were leaking…which she was sure wasn’t supposed to happen.

  Moreover, sparks were dancing across the surface, whirling and forming fleeting patterns.

  Millicent held it at arms length so she could see it properly without taking out her spectacles.

  The sparks resolved into tiny demonic figures cavorting across her expensive flashlight.

  She blinked. They were gone, but her flashlight was still broken.

  “Poppycock and superstition! First voices, now I’m seeing things.”

  Specifically, seeing the mythical Gremlins that were said to assail the products of engineering and industry if you left the Pale.

  Millicent harrumphed. It was just too easy to become suggestible in such an isolated place. The revolver and the canary had both worked fine, so this island was within the Pale and that was that.

  Besides, she had other more pressing problems to worry about. Even if she still had not lost her coat, this was no place for a lady to camp out. She should backtrack while there was still a little light…

  Except…

  Except, for reasons she could not quite articulate, it still made far more sense to turn seaward and scramble up the rocky slope where the natural bridge rose to the summit of the stack.

  Somewhere below, the ocean crashed against the rocks.

  Chapter 11: Thirteen Skeletons

  Thirteen skeletons rattled and shuffled behind the bars at the other end of the Practice Vault.

  Torstag’s heart raced. It wasn’t the presence of the skeletons. They were too stripped back to their function to tug at his empathy. Rather it was—

  Form 3. Performing Necromancer at Level 3.

  Once again, the vault filled up with ghosts.

  Wrestling with Horror of the Despairing Dead 2/6, cost 2 Potestas, 6 of 4 remaining.

  Potestas loss overcomes Will, 2.

  You have Hindrance “Disquieted”

  “Bugger,” muttered Torstag.

  “What was that, boy?”

  “I said, ‘Brother, I had better get on with it’,” said Torstag. He glanced at Ingar, who avoided making eye contact.

  Torstag sighed and edged toward the protective chalk line.

  Brother Neutrality shoved him between the shoulder blades and
he stepped over it. “Now!”

  A chain rattled. The bars at the other end of the vault lifted.

  The skeletons ducked under, shook out into a line, and advanced down the hall. Each carried a wooden club.

  Test of Will 2. Hindrance “Disquieted” continues.

  Meanwhile, the vault’s ghosts carried on as if nothing was happening. Two transparent acolytes kissed in the corner, one rolled around the floor billowing phantom fumes from his burning robes. The others wandered aimlessly, or huddled against the walls.

  Torstag licked his dry lips. There was plenty of space for one more ghost.

  Brother Neutrality prodded Torstag’s back with his cane. “Make haste, boy, before they focus on you.”

  “Of course, Brother,” said Torstag. “Just let me settle my thoughts.”

  Buggered, he thought.

  And it was too late to fall back on his Cleric vocation—it had literally gone, leaving him with just Meditation as a skill.

  One-by-one, the ghosts turned to look at him. Mouths worked mutely.

  The skeletons rattled closer, passing through the ghosts. They seemed intent on reaching the main group of acolytes. When they discovered the protective line, they would double back and focus on Torstag as the only available target.

  “Acolyte?”

  Go to Hell, Smelly Newt.

  Test of Will 2. Hindrance “Disquieted” shaken off.