Within the Ice

by LaPolla, C. J.

  The man averted his gaze and suddenly tried to knee Hrodny forcefully. It struck Hrodny hard in the groin and he roared into the sky and threw the man into the icey ground. Immediately the cracks were heard when the man touched the ground. His fearful eyes caught Hrodny’s just as the ground gave way and opened up into a boiling mass of the minions. All of the men rose quickly to try to help the man but it was too late. The hungry creatures tore him to shreds in mere seconds and immediately shifted their eyes with gnawing jaws towards the living men above them. Their moans echoed behind them as they ran from the terrible sight.

  Hrodny jolted awake with his face pressed against the frigid ice. The moans from the dream still echoed in his ears. No matter how much he rubbed his face and shook his head the moans continued. He froze in place as he realized the moans were not in his head. It was dark but by the light of the moon Hrodny could easily make out the light gleaming off of their blue skin. He gripped his dull short sword and the shovel head, which still sat snuggly tucked in his belt. The end was likely as he watched the creatures approaching, with his weak weapons and numerous amount of them entering the small outcropping he found. He knew he could run, but could not muster the will to try to evade these creatures anymore.

  Just as the first three entered the ice that shielded him, Hrodny heard a disturbance from outside of it. The creatures immediately changed direction after the sounds of a scuffle could be heard behind them. Hrodny shivered where he stood as the thought of one of the gray wrinkled creatures entering his resting spot filled his mind. It was strange for Hrodny, for all of his life he had never been afraid to die, and now the feeling was overwhelming. He waited silently, holding a white knuckled grip on his pitiful weapons.

  With a deep sigh of relief, long after the grunts and fighting noises died down, a blood covered Devyn entered into view. Hrodny let fly a strained and uncomfortable laugh. Devyn stepped into the opening like a hero from the myths of old, his sword covered in thick, black blood as one of the heads of the minions rolled past his feet. Hrodny’s smile quickly transformed into a frown as the sword which was raised in combat with the blue skinned creatures never lowered and the point was directed dangerously at his chest.

  “You may forget I am not here by choice.” Devyn’s voice was hard and Hrodny knew there was no debate in his voice. “Listen carefully. We will get out of here together and when we do you will forget Northspire and let me return to my family or so help me I will cut you down where you stand.”

  Hrodny would normally be affronted at such a statement. That was before he was the broken man that he had become. Hrodny felt a small pang of that former self-confidence but it was quickly squashed at the sight of the creatures laying dead all around Devyn. He nodded his consent at the terms Devyn provided and the sword was lowered.

  “Hungry?” Devyn asked.

  “Famished. I’ve been on my own for two days.” Hrodny saw no sense in ruining this new found trust and truce with the truth of how most of them died. Or why they were separated in the first place.

  Devyn dug some dried meat and a hard roll from his backpack and tossed them to Hrodny. Both men sat together as they nibbled on their meager meals.

  “Where did you manage to find the food?” Hrodny asked.

  “Dead men don’t need it anymore.”

  Hrodny’s look made Devyn smile. “Don’t fret, I only grabbed the pieces not covered in gore.”

  That did not seem to make Hrodny feel better, but food was food. Hrodny chewed silently for a few moments and then continued the conversation. “What happened to Asvald and the rest of the crew you were with?”

  “They were all lost. Things happened down there that I will never forget, terrible things.”

  Hrodny nodded as he worried over a piece of dried meat. “Including your friend? What was his name? Drem? Orm?”

  Devyn caught him with a deadly stare. “His name was Dorm. And yes, even he.”

  “He was a fine soldier. What’s with the book?” Hrodny finally asked.

  “Something I found down in the caverns.”

  “Can I see it?”

  “No.” Devyn said pointedly.

  Hrodny lowered his face to hide his flushing cheeks. He was not accustomed to people treating him like this but he knew he was at a disadvantage. He decided not to push the issue, there would be plenty more chances for him to view the book and perhaps this was just not that time.

  Devyn was the first to speak again. “How far are we from Northspire?”

  “Less than a day. I’ve had enough of this blasted ice. I am ready to leave when you are.”

  Devyn nodded. “Finish your meal and then we’ll leave.”

  Before long they were under way again. Devyn with his confident strides, more so than Hrodny had remembered, lead the way into the windy night where a light snow had just begun to fall.

  Chapter XIX

  Northspire had been quiet for a long time as Rana lay awake again staring at her makeshift ceiling. Sleep was hard to come by these days. The enemies’ camp still lay on the outskirts of the town but the strange sounds erupting from the glacier called many of them away. Rana, along with Reitz, who was a family friend, had rebuilt their house that was destroyed by the wave that washed over Northspire. Much of the wood was salvageable and the house was still barely livable, but served as a good shelter until proper accommodations could be built.

  She had been unable to sleep for any significant amount of time since Devyn’s departure, even when she did, she was tortured with memories of the past few days. The battle had raged all around their home and a few fires had broken out where houses had been raided. Rana clutched her daughters tightly as they were hysterical from the noises all around them. Rana clutched a knife in its sheath at her back, ready for any man who broke into their home that threatened them in any way. These raiders would quickly learn that women of the north were not the delicate flowers the southern folk believed them to be. The battle outside raged. Suddenly, an eerie silence fell over the battlefield. Sound seemed to seep from the world as nothing could be heard. It was as if the world inhaled deeply and held its breath, and when the world finally exhaled, silence became chaos. A massive rumbling began and the walls all around them shattered with water rolling towards them. She squeezed her daughters to the point of crushing them but promised to herself in that moment she would not let them go until they were safe. The wave, unlike the war band, was indiscriminate in how it treated everyone it touched. They were thrust from their broken home and pushed into the town. The salty, freezing waters filled her nostrils and her mouth as she was smashed against multiple objects. She squeezed her daughters more tightly as they were pushed through the town. The greedy tendrils of the Isindril attempted to rip them from her hands at every moment, and when she was forced into the side of a building she all but lost them. She felt the boards behind her bend and shatter against her back and their tumbling began once again. It was then that all went black.

  She woke with a start as she felt hands pawing at her dress. The sky above her was no longer the murky, frigid waters of the Isindril but the clouds of Isiir. She shifted her gaze to see a toothless, ragged man pawing at her dress for valuables. She slowly shifted her hand behind her and felt the solid grip of her knife still in its sheath. Rana ripped it from its scabbard and plunged the knife into the man’s neck as she saw him moving onto her daughter to continue his search. His confused, bulging eyes stared at her as blood began to trickle out of his mouth. He tumbled from the mound of rubble they laid on gasping for breath. Rana did not care if he was a man of the army or of Northspire, the gods only knew what his final intentions were. Rana took in the devastation around her for a moment before looking to her daughters. The girls breathed shallowly as they both bore cuts and bruises over their faces and arms. But they were alive and that was all that mattered.

  Rana woke in her bed with a start. She was no longer out in the open air, but safe within her bed in her ramshackle house. It took a brief
moment for her brain to register her safety as she waited ready to strike out. Once her eyes adjusted she relaxed back into her furs. She wondered whether a good night’s sleep would ever find her again. Staring at the darkness above her, at the featureless ceiling she passed quietly into another fitful slumber.

  Mayor Barowyn stood in front of them discussing their circumstances. “We have all suffered. But we must rebuild our homes.”

  No one spoke, but Rana could stand it no longer. She clutched a heavy hammer in her hands and screamed at the Mayor. “Open the harbor stores. They are solid stone and should contain some salvageable food or at the very least shelter!”

  The crowd took up with her, but Mayor Barowyn raised his hands. “We cannot, if we pillage the stores the merchants will leave us and then…”

  Mayor Barowyn was not allowed to finish his thoughts. Rana charged past him and slammed her hammer against the iron lock of the gates. Once the dam of compliance was broken, the crowd burst forth to join her. When the doors burst open, the smell hit them. Mayor Barowyn lowered his gaze sadly as the rioters fell back in disgust. The harbor stores had two entrances, one from the town, which was sealed off to the population of Northspire when the docks were not open. The second entrance was a wide gap that faced the water. The larger of the two entrances was unable to be reached due to the fact the docks had been destroyed. The bodies that were pulled from the city had collected within the stores and the Mayor obviously knew this. Barowyn lowered his head sadly, at the people now knowing the fate of hundreds of citizens and soldiers. Rana ran her gaze at the horrors before her, bodies bloodied and twisted at odd angles. Many of them were dismembered and shattered. Some of the faces were familiar and she sought to make sure Devyn was not among the fallen. There was no way to tell though, the dead were too numerous and the nightmare within was sealed off. The rowdy crowd dispersed to return to their broken homes, disheartened by the final resting place of so many of their friends and family. Rana knew this was the end of Northspire as she knew it.

  She woke, this time with a scream, and the night wore on while Rana continued her nightmare filled slumber. She continued to nod off for a few moments only to be awoken by a dream about Devyn laying dead in the snow, or watching the bodies float by her in the street. She knew she would never forget the horrors of the past days. While laying, enjoying the soft chirps of the bugs outside of her home, Rana heard a loud knock on the front door. This had happened many times before, one of the men from the camp would come drunk to their door looking for company. Reitz would answer the door and chase them off. Even were he not there, Rana clutched a knife with her at all times in case one managed to get through. If they attempted anything with one of her daughters, or herself, she swore she would gut them. Rana trusted Reitz, but even that trust had its limits. She knew she must always be prepared to defend herself. Reitz seemed to always have an eye for Rana, and she worried that with her husband disappearing into the wilds that he merely saw this as an opportunity. Reitz had already been captured by Bola’s army, but had been allowed to return to the town with dozens of other men. With the town in ruin and their families removed from their homes, Bola had made the call to allow some men to return to assist with the repairs while the army remained. This was not wholly out of the kindness of his heart, the men of Northspire were in open revolt over watching their families suffer while they were trapped a few hundred yards from them. Bola would have lost more than he wanted if he allowed the small upheaval to continue.

  The noise persisted as whomever was outside continually banged on the door. Rana could hear Reitz rising and saw him approach the door with a large cudgel in hand. He was armed with a sword but did not want to kill the man. It was easy to explain that he had beaten back a man who was trying to rape a woman of the village. It was much more difficult to sell that story if, in fact, Reitz had killed the man.

  Reitz held out a hand towards Rana motioning for her to remain quiet. The door of the house was nothing more than a board nailed haphazardly to the entrance and served its purpose well. They had enough trouble opening it themselves, let alone someone trying to sneak in through it. Reitz placed his cudgel beside the door and placed his ear against it listening intensely.

  He snatched the cudgel up quickly as more fists seemed to be pounding at the door. One of the remaining chairs was pushed up against the door just as Lil and Frida walked from their room.

  “Mama. What’s going on?” Frida asked.

  At the sound of her voice, the slamming against the door became more frantic and more hands began to hit it.

  “This is not like the other times.” Reitz said with a shaky voice. “There seem to be a lot of them.”

  In a voice only a mother could have Rana commanded her girls behind her. She held the knife in one hand and her other hand was behind her protectively guarding Frida and Lil. Reitz dropped his cudgel no longer concerned whether he killed the group of men or not. He drew his broadsword, the low light entering the house from outside glimmered off of its edge as he shook openly. More and more fist slammed against the weak wood and it began to splinter with every strike.

  “Stay behind me, I’ll keep you safe.” Reitz said with a shaky voice that did not fill Rana with confidence. He was visibly shaking as the fists striking the door caused it to creak dangerously.

  Rana rolled her eyes, this was just another rabble of drunken soldiers looking for a good time. This group had gotten a bit more rambunctious than the other groups, but that was nothing that one of their comrades being bled by a woman wouldn’t solve. Her confidence began to wane quickly as the pounding on the door continued and the sharp sounds of cracking wood could be heard.

  Both of their eyes shot wide as the door buckled, shattered inward and the blue skinned creatures burst forth. Their milky eyes were visible even in the gloomy darkness and they locked immediately onto the living morsels across the room. Reitz reacted quickly despite the quivering blade in his hand. He whipped his blade around in an arc and caught one of the approaching creatures in the shoulder, a black ooze seeped from the wound, but the creature did not seem to fret the wound. Reitz yanked his sword out from the approaching monsters and backed away. Rana thrust past Reitz and plunged the knife blade directly into the eye socket of the creature. At first it stopped in its tracks, when she twisted the blade out it fell lifeless to the ground.

  “Strike them in the head!” Rana shouted as she could hear the screaming girls behind them.

  The onslaught continued as more creatures boiled into the room. A total of six creatures entered their home, five of them lumbered their way towards Rana and Reitz. Reitz’s blade flashed from the bits of moonlight that entered the home as he struck out towards his attackers. Two more of the men who were not men fell to the ground with large gashes oozing a thick, black fluid. The unyielding assault continued and Reitz was unable to strike another before he was tackled to the ground. A struggle ensued as their gnawing mouths snapped at Reitz who frantically tried to get them off of him. The remaining three creatures all toppled on top of him crushing him to the ground.

  Rana jumped into action and drove the knife hard into the head of the man on top of Reitz and kicked him off with a bare foot. Her foot came away black as she had punctured into his flesh. Reitz managed to push the two men off of him but not before one of them latched onto his forearm and tore a large chunk of flesh. It fell back knocking over the table chewing on the skin that it held within its mouth. Reitz yelped in pain but held his sword aloft waiting for the next onslaught.

  “Thank you. Let’s finish them.” Reitz breathed heavily as he smiled at Rana with blood oozing out of the wound in his arm.

  In a smooth motion Reitz struck down the creature chewing on the chunk of his arm and Rana stabbed deeply into the second one while it was rising from Reitz knocking it over. Once all the creatures lay dead is when the sounds from outside could be clearly heard. This was not an isolated case, the entire town was in absolute chaos all around them. Outside o
f the small ransacked home the town writhed with the creatures as screams of the townsfolk and soldiers alike rose into the air. Reitz lifted the door that lay in pieces on the wooden floor and pushed the table against it to give them a small amount of security.

  “This won’t hold them for long, but we’ll know they’re coming.”

  Rana grabbed a dress she had against the wall in her bedroom and tore a piece off the bottom of it and beckoned Reitz over to her. He winced as she tightened the piece of cloth around his forearm and it immediately turned a deep crimson from the wound.

  “Keep pressure on that.” Rana demanded as she walked into the other room to the two small crying children huddled in the corner. “Girls, get dressed. And not in your dresses, in your travel gear Papa always had ready for you. Understand?”

  “Yes, Mama.” The girls said at the same time.

  Rana used the same dress she tore to wipe off the black, oozy blood that covered her hands and then found her own travel clothes. Devyn had always been very aware of the constant threat of attack living in a free city and felt that his family should always be ready to leave at a moments notice. Devyn also always insisted on Rana being trained in how to defend herself without him. As she dressed she remembered back to that warm day fondly.