“So, Isaac?”
“Ah,” said Tosvig, a smile growing on his face. He affectionately ruffled my hair. “Isaac right!”
“What mean?” said Harrien, looking at Malin who shrugged his shoulders.
“Hellgre is blind,” I said. “Or poor eyes. Humans are his eyes. Look how they stand, what they do.”
“Yap, see now,” said Harrien.
“Hellgre doesn’t see!” said Malin.
“Weak to ice and poor eyes,” I said. “We have chance with big red boy.”
I checked my spells to see what I could work with.
Spells:
Chare
Levita
Barrer
Of those spells, only barrer might help, but I guessed this was the kind of fight where if I had to resort to using a shield, I had already lost. I had no idea how effective my barrer shield was against things like fire.
It killed me that I couldn’t experiment with it, but the only way to get the data would be to use elementals casting barrer, and that was a waste. Damn it. I needed to find a better supply soon.
There was a spell missing from the list; eisre. I had figured out that forming the opposite movements to my hrr-chare fire spell would create a spell with the opposite effects; so, a fire spell became ice. I hadn’t actually cast it yet, so I hadn’t earned the spell.
But…I was confident I could do it. I checked my elementals to see what I had to work with.
Elementals
[Fire] x4
[Human] x2
[Ice x4]
[Speed] x1
[Mapping] x2
[Sight] x1
Okay. Four ice elementals, two human elementals. This meant I could cast hrr-eisre six times. Course, I hadn’t practiced this one as much so my speed wouldn’t be as great as with hrr-chare, but I had Siddel’s Medallion. Eisre would be a projectile spell, so the medallion would help me cast it better.
Now, what items did I have that could help me kick this red dude’s ass?
I had three sets of robes, but none of them gave a combat bonus. I didn’t know what the wolfbane, wolflust, and harelust tinctures did. Likewise, I had no idea what the function of dried nightwolf eyes was.
Then, there was my bow and arrow. If I could use the damn thing, it would have helped. But Now? I bet I would something end up shooting an arrow in my own gut if I tried. I needed practice.
I took the tinctures and nightwolf eyes out of my inventory and showed them to the others.
“What do?” I said. “Purpose?”
Harrien pointed at the tinctures. First, there was the wolfbane tincture. “Make wolf run away. In fight, put on weapon, make wolf weak.”
“Ok. And wolflust is opposite?”
“Make wolf very pleased to see you,” said Malin, grinning.
“So it’ll attract wolves to me. And the harelust does same for hares. Yap, okai. Thankie, guys.”
The purpose of the tinctures made sense given that I’d gotten them from Siddel the hunter’s bag.
“And nightwolf eyes?” I asked.
Harried shrugged. “Na,” said Malin.
“See,” said Tosvig. He picked up one of the nightwolf eyes. It was like a large raising. “Eat. When eat, see like nightwolf. See light when dark.”
“They give night vision.”
“Yap, see in night.”
This was all coming together now. I had the basis of a plan, and I just needed to tie the loose ends.
“Harrien? Malin? Know ice spell?”
“Ya,” said Harrien. “Hrr-eisre. Easy spell even when toddlers learn.”
That showed me for thinking I was so clever for figuring out how to cast eisre without having a guidebook.
“I never learn eisre,” said Malin.
“Okai. Plan, if you like to listen?”
Tosvig tapped his ears, giving me the Lonehill signal to continue talking. Harrien sat cross-legged and listed, while Malin seemed apprehensive.
“Here is how we kill hellgre easier than killing a barn full of hellkittens.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. Listen.”
We waited until nightfall and changed from our white snow robes into traditional dark brown Lonehill ones so that we blended into the darkness better. We had spent the last few hours of the afternoon watching, waiting, and preparing stuff for my plan, and the hellgre hadn’t left his post even for a minute. That sold it for me; he was definitely a sentry of some kind.
To me, that meant that the ogres expected someone to come this way. Otherwise, why leave a sentry?
And that meant the route beyond the hellgre was dangerous. For all we knew, the Tallsteep clan was compromised. Either the ogres had got to them, or they were in league with them.
We’d have to go carefully after this, but first, we needed to make sure there even was an after.
So, while it was still light, we headed west for half a mile and then went down the incline. The first ten feet were almost a sheer drop, and it involved much care and gave me the peculiar sensation of my balls retreating into my body in fear. I hate heights.
Luckily, Tosvig was practiced in navigating terrain like this. We followed him, and after the uncomfortable ten feet, the incline became more of a steep hill. It took thirty minutes to reach the bottom.
This put us level with the hellgre and his naked sentries, but half a mile west of them. That was a good enough distance.
“Hier,” I said. “Yap? Ged spot. We dig.”
“How far dig?”
“How far to fit?”
It wasn’t long before we were all sweaty and tired, and night had settled upon the forest now. Feeling it was finally time to do this, I realized my pulse was pounding.
“Know plan?” I said.
Tosvig gave a grim nod. “Bye-bye, hellgre bastard.”
Harrien nodded.
Malin looked lost in his own thoughts, and it was only when Harrien nudged him that he nodded.
“Okai,” I said. “Eat.”
We split one nightwolf eye into four pea-sized pieces. I popped it in my mouth.
“Isaac,” said Tosvig. “No chew. Just swallow. Bad-”
Too late.
He could have told me that earlier!
I had already bitten into the piece of nightwolf eye, and a rush of utter foulness filled my mouth. It felt like I’d punctured a carton of month-old milk and starting drinking.
Waste not want not, I told myself. Just get through it. Don’t waste a precious item just because it tastes bad…
I fought with the nausea and swallowed it, and then I took a jar of water from my inventory and drank it all. That was one good thing about the weather these days – you don’t have to go thirsty when everything is covered in snow.
“Nothing occurred,” I said.
“Give time,” said Tosvig. “We leave now?”
I nodded. “One minute. Here.”
Now, I focused on a pile of stones that we had collected that afternoon. I took the harelust tincture from my inventory. I had thought about using wolflust, but I remembered what Siddel said; most wolves left the forest in winter.
I opened the tincture, getting a punch of dried dung aroma in my nostrils. Using it sparingly, I rubbed some of the tincture on each stone.
“Okai,” I said. “Five each. Take, and spread out. Yap? Everyone happy?”
“Happy to kill red bastard,” said Tosvig.
The boys nodded.
“Remember most important step of plan,” I said.
“Remember.”
“Yap.”
“…yap.”
“And Tosvig can make signal?”
“Yap.”
“Sure can do noise of owl?”
“Does Tosvig ever lie?”
And that was that.
The four of us split up and we took separate paths in the night, each of us heading in the direction of the hellgre, but taking different routes.
It was then that I felt a glow in my
belly, like I had just finished a delicious mug of hot chocolate. The forest around me brightened as if some sky god had just turned on the lights. I could tell it was night, still, but I could also see everything.
Good. Splitting the nightwolf eye still let it work. I just guessed that the smaller the piece you ate, the less time it would last.
Hurrying while trying to be quiet – no easy feat – I soon reached my mark. That meant the others would be getting to theirs, too.
Then came the noise of an owl somewhere north of me.
Huh. Pretty realistic. Tosvig was a talented owl impressionist.
Tosvig’s position was the furthest away of all of us, and when he made the owl noise, it meant everyone was where they needed to be.
And then I felt it.
My heart racing. My stomach tightening up and calling for the bathroom. Weird how a person’s body can mutiny when they need it most.
I took a deep breath, settled my thoughts, and picked up a stone.
One by one I threw all of my stones, aiming at various points in the forest ahead of me. The stones were small enough that they made little noise when cushioned by the snow, and I didn’t hear a single trace of the others throwing theirs.
Throwing all five of them took a few seconds, and now we had to rely on the tincture.
I waited.
I shivered.
I worried the nightwolf eye would wear off, and I waited some more and I shivered some more, and I dreamed of a warm bed and a soothing bath.
Then, I began to think this was a washout. When Tosvig’s nightwolf eye eventually wore off, he’d give the owl signal in a different way, and we’d abandon the plan and retreat, because we weren’t taking any risks that could be avoided. After that, I had no idea what we’d do.
As those thoughts weighing on my mind, I heard a scampering sound. Tiny little footsteps crunching over forest snow. Faint, but there.
And then I heard the rattling of chains. A sudden, quick rattle.
More footsteps. More chains.
Voices, now.
I peered into the forest and watched, and I felt a smile grow on my face. I could see it now; way ahead of me, a hare was scampering through the forest, sniffing the ground.
It was searching for a fellow hare. For a potential mate.
Pity all it would get is a stone with some tincture cream.
But there wasn’t just one stone; no, there were twenty in total, all scattered through the forest.
And now, another hare appeared.
Then another!
Soon I heard louder sounds, those of chains rattling along the ground, and it wasn’t long before a naked guy crawled forth, walking on hands and knees out into the clearing.
This was the part that made my stomach tighten even more.
On a practical level, I knew what I needed to do. On a moral level, I felt sick. But what other option was there?
I didn’t want to do it…but I knew from experience back in the gully that although these guys were human in appearance, they didn’t think like me. I had already tried reasoning with them, and I got a rock thrown at me in response.
So, it was my survival or theirs. That was a black and white question, with an equally straight forward answer.
Gripping my hunting knife, I slowly moved through the forest, taking a wide berth, sneaking the way Siddel had taught me. My nightwolf vision meant I could see the ground perfectly, and I could move any twigs or bracken before I stepped on them.
I did this until I was level with the human, and only eight feet away from him. Hares scampered around us so quick that they were blurs, each sound drawing the human’s gaze here, there, and everywhere but in my direction.
I had surprise on my side. Also speed, since I didn’t have a chain around my neck and wasn’t on all floors. Finally, vision, with the benefits of the disgusting wolf eye working through me.
And a deep, deep thread of sickness coiling in my belly.
Survival, I thought. That one word that made this…not okay, but reasonable.
I rushed him, tearing over the ground as quick as I could.
The man turned to face me, drawn by the noise. His chain dragged on the ground.
I reached him, grab the chain, and pulled him close, and I stuck my knife in his neck.
The sensation of poking metal through skin and gristle made bile rise in my stomach but I pushed the knife further. He made a noise; maybe an attempt to scream in pain, but I’d torn a hole in his throat, and only a dull gurgle came out.
The fight left his body immediately, and I pushed him to the ground. He was still now. A deep, dark stain left his throat and covered the snow around him, and a pile of dust appeared on his lifeless chest. I took it.
[Human] elemental received x1 [Total: 3]
Done. It was sick as hell, but it was done. I pushed back any feelings I had about it, because the hardest part was to come.
I heard an owl hoot now. Once, then again, giving us the sign that Tosvig had also killed a human. This left two; either they had gone to investigate the hare sounds in different directions, leading them to where Harrien and Malin were waiting, or they had stayed with the hellgre. Either way, the big, red bastard had two fewer sentries.
The forest around me flickered now, turning black just for a second, then lighting up again. It meant the wolf eyes were wearing off. Better act fast.
Knowing that two owl hoots meant Tosvig would be heading toward the hellgre, I went in that direction, too.
I moved faster now, since this part relied less on stealth. I covered a further fifteen feet, and then I saw it; there, not far ahead, was the hellgre. Alone, turning in every direction to try and see what the noises were, and where his humans had gone. Plumes of steam rose from his mouth.
Another owl hoot.
I looked to the northeast direction, and then I saw Tosvig. West of me were Harrien and Malin.
Holy hell, this was working!
We each knew what we had to do now, and it seemed ridiculously simple.
Snowballs.
Who’d have thought, huh? The way to take down a hellgre was by using snowballs.
I gathered a fistful of snow and pressed it in my hands, feeling the cold tease over my skin. I formed it into a ball, and then waited.
Another owl hoot. Man, Tosvig was good at this!
Hearing the final signal, I aimed and threw my snowball, and I didn’t even try to hide the feeling of joy I felt when it smashed right into the hellgre’s stupid face.
It didn’t hurt him, of course. None of us had expected that; being a fire beast didn’t mean a snowball would take him out.
But he let out a great roar now, one that cut deep through the forest, making hares flee at the noise, sending a few birds up from where they’d been nesting on nearby trees.
And then the hellgre moved. He tore off through the forest and toward us, toward where he guessed the snowballs had come from.
He headed in my direction, and a momentary fear flickered inside me until I did my best to bury it. I retreated twenty feet behind, back toward where we had started, all the while hearing his great footsteps crunch over snow and wood.
I gathered another snowball and threw it, missing him this time.
I ran another thirty feet. Another snowball, this time splattering it on his chest. Snowballs rained at the hellgre from different directions, and I saw Tosvig, Harrien, and Malin heading my way.
The forest flickered again, tuned black. It lasted for longer this time, before lighting up once more. The wolf eyes would wear off soon.
Together we led the hellgre toward us, and he displayed a real stupidity in following the direction of the snowballs. He must have lost his head, I guessed. Even being a hulking red fire beast didn’t give you an unending supply of courage, and he sure as hell didn’t have wisdom on his side.
The four of us kept running back, until we saw the marking we had left in the snow; a branch I had wedged into it. There, our paths converg
ed, and we gathered together.
“Okai?” I said, my voice hurried and showing more fear than I’d wanted.
“Yap,” said Tosvig.
Another roar tore through the air, and the hellgre was there, not far ahead of us.
“This is it,” I said.
And together we hurried another few paces away from the stick marker, taking care to walk a safe distance around it.
There was a good reason for that.
Another volley of snowballs led the hellgre toward us…
…and then straight into the hole in the ground that we had made that afternoon. Harrien had used a fire elemental to hrr-chare the ground, and that had thawed it enough so we could dig.
It was almost comical, the way the great beast suddenly fell, disappearing into the hole and flailing its arms while roaring in surprise.
“Quick,” I said.
Harrien nodded, and his medallion glowed as he began to cast hrr-eisre.
I looked at the hellgre. It was trying to reach the top of the hole, but we had made it just deep enough that it would struggle.
“You need to cool off,” I told it.
I’d been saving that line. I was proud of it.
But Tosvig, Harrien, and Malin didn’t seem impressed. Oh well; you can’t please everyone.
With that, I focused on the trapped beast. Watching a giant, red ogre-like creature flail around in a hole is an experience I would recommend to anyone.
It has that subtle blend of comedy at seeing such a brute struggle so much, yet with a lurking danger that it might manage to climb out. A mix of excitement and fear that is the emotional equivalent of a sweet-and-sour meal.
Cruel? Maybe. But this thing would have killed all of us without hesitation.
But since I wanted to stay alive after going to the trouble of digging the hole and leading the hellgre into it, I needed to cast hrr-eisre. Now.
The hellgre was stuck, sure, but it was wild. As soon as it recovered even a semblance of its wits, it would blast us with fire breath. We needed to stun this mother.
I performed the movements for hrr-eisre, and a gust of cold air blew back into my face, and a great whooshing sound burst from me. I felt energy trembling in me, and after I shouted the spell words, something left my hands.
Everything Is Worth Killing- Isaac's Tale Page 23
