The men all breathed heavily as exhaustion from a sleepless evening due to the winds, a day of marching, and battling these creatures was beginning to take its toll on them. Their labored breathing could be heard throughout the tunnel as they continued to put more and more distance between them and the creatures behind.
The tunnel forked up ahead of them and they stopped for a brief rest. Through his labored breath Gudlaug was the first to speak. “Never seen anything like that. We are completely lost!”
The echoes of his voice continued long after he stopped speaking into the deep darkness all around them.
“Whisper man. Whisper.” Devyn said very quietly but forcefully. “Which way to go? Our two torches won’t last forever and then we will be meat for the slaughter.”
“It doesn’t matter, we are lost!” Gudlaug said more loudly than the rest of them appreciated. “Those things are behind us and they will find us!”
Gudlaug’s bravery had been shattered. Devyn understood, he was barely hanging on as it was. The only thing making him fight through any of this was the faint hope that he would see Rana and his girls again. As long as he had that hope behind him, he would continue fighting through any of this.
“Wonderful, the man’s cracked.” Eskor stated in a frustrated and exhausted voice.
Distant footsteps could be heard approaching from where the men had come and all of them knew what it was. Dorm and Devyn helped the injured Hermund up and all of them started down the same passage they had started from. A loud screech could be heard again coming from where they had come and the deep pain that none of them could explain erupted inside of them. Gudlaug’s already shattered will broke even further and he began sprinting down the passage ahead of them.
“Stop!” Shouted Devyn as they raced to catch up to him.
Gudlaug did not exactly have the wrong idea as the foot steps of the creatures behind them became very close at that moment. The scent of the men was driving the blue skinned beast into a frenzy by the sounds that echoed down the halls. Askel raced ahead of them to try to catch Gudlaug. Devyn’s muscles began to ache as the weight of Hermund and the running began to take its toll of him. His heart rose as a light could be seen up ahead. Perhaps it was the way out, perhaps they had gotten lucky enough to find a tunnel which went out into the open air. They rounded a bend in the passage towards the light and Devyn’s heart sank. The light did indeed open up into the open air, but what stood there was from his nightmares. It felt a million years ago to Devyn, but the bridge they had seen days ago stood before him and Gudlaug with Askel in close pursuit were charging right towards it.
The sun shined brightly on the camp as Hrodny took a deep breath. Despite a terrible evening and the loss of one of his crews, the mining team was making excellent progress on their work and had already brought home two chests of gold and jewels. Why these valuables were just laying within a cave brought a bit of concern to Hrodny, but he ignored that worry as this was the first promising event since they defeated Rakgar’s men at the beginning of the expedition. He gazed down at the ancient wood of the chest that lay at his feet, the deep layer of gold shined brightly in the sun. Even though dirt had dimmed the luster of the gold, it still shined beautifully when Hrodny ran his fingers through it. Bola would give him a large percentage of this find, he knew, and he would be able to finally leave his service and become his own man. Hrodny had plans for the future now, as Thane he could be recognized as a land owner and would purchase land from Bola to protect it with his own men. That is until he had amassed enough men, he would then overthrow Bola and take his place. As the lord of three towns and six keeps, his legacy would continue for generations. It would continue for generations because Hrodny would know better than to trust men like himself.
He traced his fingers along the engravings on the chest and wondered what age they were from. The coins were roughly cast and appeared to be nothing more than flattened melted metal. None of the coins possessed any insignia or face upon them, but it did not matter, gold was gold. But deep inside Hrodny wanted to know, legends had always told of ancient civilizations coming to light within the ice that rumbled through the waters of the Isindril, but never told of what civilizations lived among these glaciers.
Hrodny’s concentration of this was only broken by a third chest being dropped before him. The loud clatter of gold and metal woke him from his trance and he looked up at Koll standing over the chest.
“It’s done. That’s all of them.” Koll stated proudly. “Any word on Thorolf and his men?”
Hrodny only shook his head as he gazed at the new find. He noticed for the first time on the edges of each of the chests stood deep marks as if the chest themselves were clawed by a bear.
“What are these marks Koll? Did your team scratch them?”
“No. Actually the ice was surprisingly soft and we broke through with little problems. I don’t understand why Asvald’s crew had so much trouble.” He leaned down to inspect the chest. “These chests are barely holding together being so old. I wouldn’t worry about a few marks.”
Hrodny looked up at Koll just in time to see, in the corner of his eye, a soldier waving to them from the top of the canyon. The men below began waving to the scout Hrodny had posted where his tent once stood. The sentry approached them quickly.
“Trouble?” Hrodny asked.
The sentry shook his head. “Don’t know. They’re asking for you up there, sir.”
“Very well.” Hrodny stated as he rose stretching his stiff back. “Come Koll. Let’s see what we got, perhaps its our lost crew.”
Despite his malaise in rising, Hrodny and Koll picked up the pace as they moved towards the path up the canyon. The wind blew intensely against his face, but he was kept warm by the promise of the gold that waited for him. They approached the canyon walls and worked their way up the winding path that brought them to the top of the glacier. The sun glare was unbearable up here and immediately both Hrodny and Koll covered their eyes while they adjusted.
The man in charge of the watch, Inar, approached them. “We see shapes coming. Hard to make them out, but we see’em. I counted about ten of them but there could be more.”
“Thorolf?” Hrodny asked quickly.
Inar shrugged. “Don’t know. Hard to see with the glare. We are lucky the men aren’t snow blind.”
Hrodny shielded his eyes and watched the blurry dark figures walking slowly in their direction. It was impossible to determine who these men were from this distance and their approach was painfully slow. His thoughts wandered back to the three chests of gold that were sitting near his bed roll then drifted to the farms and keep he would soon control that could all be attributed to this find.
A bitter wind sliced through his clothing and ripped him from his fantasies of his future. The glare hit him full force as he had been standing with his eyes closed receiving odd looks from the men that stood around.
“Inar, send some men out there and see who they are. We need to know if these are friend or foe. If it is any of Thorolf’s men bring them back with haste.”
Inar said something that could be construed as a “yes sir” but came out as a grumble. Inar quickly pointed to three men and ordered them to go investigate the figures moving sluggishly towards them. This entire trip had finally begun to wear at the men and many of them did not care about the fate of their comrades, they simply wanted to be out of this dreadful place. Wind howled constantly and brought with it a freezing cold that bit through whatever protection they wore. For the men protecting the canyons from an attacker, it was even worse as there was no relief from the constant wind and their minds were slowly beginning to crack. The three men who Inar selected walked slowly towards the approaching meandering dark figures in the distance. Hrodny found it difficult to make out the men the further they got due to the sun glaring off of the ice.
Hrodny went back to his daydreams of when he would return to his current home, Lord Bola’s Keep. His dreams drifted between where he
would start forming his own army to day dreaming about the fall of Bola, with Hrodny himself grasping Bola’s head high in the air as a trophy to his victory. Hrodny had no issues with Bola, he was a fine commander. But he grew tired of always being the underling and the enforcer and wished he held a higher station in life. Soon he would. Hrodny lazily gazed out into the sun soaked glacier watching the men appear and disappear out of the glares. The sun created an odd effect of shimmering against the ice and at times made the men appear as if they were only half formed. His eyes watched the scene before him but very little was retained, his thoughts continued back to the world that was to be.
“Archers!” Koll bellowed loudly for all the canyon to hear.
Hrodny came to as he watched the dark figures converge onto the three men they had sent out to investigate them. He squinted his eyes to see in the distance at the men being torn to pieces by these unknown figures. There were very few men at the camp, with Asvald’s crew looking for Thorolf and many other men just now returning from the mining expedition. Nonetheless eight men with bows came hustling up the canyon walls while seven more were already in position in front of Koll who had obviously taken charge while Hrodny had lost his senses.
The terrible slaughter in the distance seemed to be ebbing as the murderers had sated their blood lust and were beginning to work their way towards the men standing on the edge of the canyon.
Hrodny took a few steps to stand next to Koll. “What is going on? Those men were armed, the ones out there appear not to be, how could they have overpowered them?”
“Not sure. The archers will make short work of them when they get closer, they don’t seem to be in any hurry. What on earth was wrong with you back there? The men were yelling at you to make an action and you sat there staring into the sun?”
Hrodny glared at Koll. “Not your concern. Finish these bastards off.”
Hrodny turned away from Koll and took up position behind them all to watch the barrage. An icy rock sat near the canyon wall with a perfect flat spot for a seat, which Hrodny happily occupied. The dark figures slowly approached as if they had not just slaughtered three men. Hrodny could not figure out who these men were who would do such a thing but it did not matter, soon they would be dead and they would begin preparations to get off this wretched block of ice.
“By Oray…” Koll’s voice could barely be heard over the howling wind.
“What? What is it?” Hrodny hopped up from his cold seat and saw immediately what Koll was referring to. The men who appeared to have been killed started to rise on the horizon. The men that rose stumbled to their feet, with a lazy stumbling gate they turned to the expedition and began a slow pace towards them. Something rose up within Hrodny that he was not accustomed to feeling, fear. One of the men was missing an arm and he didn’t seem to mind one bit. Another man clearly had his stomach torn asunder, with his entrails spilling out as he walked. These men were men no longer.
Koll and the remainder of the men could see the exact same thing at the exact same time. A collective gasp went up among the men as the figures who initiated the slaughter came into better view. Their pale blue skin gleamed in the sun light. It was clear that this is what befell the enemies that escaped the battle of the mist.
“This is Rakgar’s men, Koll! Where are the rest of them?” Hrodny asked as if summoning the remainder of his forces into view. The sun shimmers had hidden the bulk of the force but now they came into full view.
A terror stricken Inar shouted. “Fire! Fire!”
Koll screamed for them to halt but it was too late. The volley was sent sailing into the air towards the creatures who were clearly out of range. The arrows fell harmlessly onto the ice far in front of the approaching horde.
“Hold your fire you idiots!” Koll screamed at the top of his lungs and slapped Inar to the ground. “You speak again I cut out your tongue. On the line!” He shoved Inar towards the line who tumbled and fell onto the ice.
Hrodny gaped at the scene in front of him, this is not how this was supposed to end. They were to walk off of this glacier triumphant with the gold and a new life for Hrodny was supposed to begin. He watched as the swell of blue skinned beings marched in a slow, stumbling manner into range of their archers.
Koll raised his arm for the archers to take aim and draw their bows. A moment of silence fell over the area as his raised arm seemed to hang there for eternity and was only broken by the loud call. “Fire!”
The silence erupted in a sound of bow strings and the hum of the arrows hissing through the air. Even the howling wind could not lead the men’s focus away from the flight of the arrows as they rose in an arc and slowly turned downward. The tip of the arrows began their descent into the approaching enemy. Most of the arrows hit their marks biting deep into the flesh of the approaching monsters. But none of them faltered, the arrows protruded from their chest and legs and shoulders but not one creature seemed to care. Their approach continued uninhibited.
“Keep firing!” Koll called out and ran to Hrodny. “Get all the men up here! We need everyone! I’ll stay here, you get everyone else!” Koll drew his sword and ran up to the line.
Another flight of arrows could be heard as Hrodny began his descent down the hill calling out to the men. “Weapons men! Assault above the canyon! To arms!”
The exhausted men at the bottom of the canyon looked up at him with tired eyes. Not one man among them seemed ready for anything but rest. A line of men started up the canyon walls with weapons in hand and hollow eyes. After a morning of vigorous mining and very little sleep the night before, these were exhausted men that went up to defend the camp. Their dark eyes and glazed stares proved to Hrodny they would not last long. Hrodny stood at the bottom of the path and clapped each man on the back as they walked by. When only five men remained Hrodny placed his hand on the chest of the first one in line and halted them.
“Today is your lucky day, you are going to help me with a much more important task.”
The men looked at him confused, when Hrodny began to walk away they sheathed their weapons and fell in behind him. They were guided to the location of the three chests that lay open on the ice. Shouts could be heard from above as the battle began in force and he knew they had very little time.
“Two on each chest. We need to take the other passage out of the canyon to the east. We’ll go behind the fighting and get the chest out.”
A dirty, fat man covered in grime from mining all day looked perplexed at the plan. “Shouldn’t we be helping the men above? Men are fighting up there.”
“Koll and I hatched this plan together. Sure we will lose a few men, but you are not one of those men. For your service here you will be rewarded a portion of this gold. Koll will be expecting us to make our way up the passage shortly.”
The man did not seem convinced but walked up to one of the chests anyway and hefted the heavy load. It was slow going even with two men per chest, but the path away from the fighting was before them and they began their slow ascent. Hrodny felt not a pang of guilt deserting the men fighting, he swore to himself he was not about to die on this blasted glacier while he was so close to his dream. It was very slow progress and the fighting on the other side of the canyon appeared to grow more intense as they reached the top of the glacier. Hrodny peered out towards the fighting and watched as a thick wave of those creatures crashed into the line of men. How can there be so many? Hrodny wondered to himself. The men placed the chest on the ground for a moment relaxing their tired arms, the chests were extremely heavy.
“It was three days hard march to get here from the town. How do you expect us to get there with these and with enemies?” The same fat man from earlier spoke up.
Hrodny growled furiously and pulled a dagger and put it to the man’s throat. “Because if you do not, I will cut out your heart.”
The man’s eyes widened with fear and there was a loud explosion of ice behind him. A large creature with gray wrinkled skin rose up from the ice behind the man
Hrodny had threatened. The man’s eyes went from fear to confusion as the creature punched its fist into the man’s back. Blood trickled from his mouth as the creatures jaw unhinged, widening to a horrifying size and clamped down over the man’s head. It twisted sickly leaving a huge gap where the man’s head and shoulders once were. The red blood looked dark against the bright white ice as it flowed towards the men who backed away drawing their weapons. The milky white eyes of the blood soaked creature locked onto the men before it, the utter silence of the moment was only broken by the sound of Hrodny’s voice.
“This can’t be. This can’t be. This can’t be!”
Chapter XV
Within the Ice Page 17
