Cataclysm, p.47
Cataclysm, page 47
part #1 of Rebirth Series
Tic sat back and forced himself to relax, allowing his mind to wander freely. In Tic’s case however, that was putting his thoughts into the hands of whatever entity it was that ruled in Riverhouse. He didn’t know what it was, it could be the house itself or possibly a super powerful magician hidden deep in the bowels of this place, but he doubted it. He also doubted that it was god or even a god, as its focus was so singular to the point of being narcissistic. It didn’t really matter, it was the power here and for some reason it needed him. He was the catalyst of its physical manifestations or it would exist as nothing more than a thought or whim. He hadn’t realized it at the time, but this thing or whatever it was, had summoned him from across the sea. He didn’t know how nor did he know why, but he did know why it needed someone. The weaves that held it together were in a poor state of repair and the house was in a position where it would have been considered sick by all human standards. So, it summoned him and gave him the keys to repairing and strengthening all that was deteriorating within so it could be ready for what came next. Tic knew that it wasn’t simply happenstance that brought him here at this exact time, it had known what was building and the trouble that was coming this way.
These were all answers that simply came to him as if they were his own thoughts, but Tic knew better. These were not his thoughts. The deductions of those thoughts were his, but the ideas themselves were from someone or something else entirely. Yet all they did was create more questions, the big one being that if Riverhouse knew so much of what was going on…why did it allow anyone that could be considered a soldier to leave? He visualized the walls of the house splattered and painted in the blood of dwarfs and the water tinted red from the lost souls of innocents as the muridai and halfmen invaded, which at this point seemed inevitable.
Evil stood upon the threshold of the greatest achievement of the combined races and there was nothing standing in the way of their advancement to overtake this marvel of the known world, and there was nothing being done about it, but what, in truth, could be done? Riverhouse is as good as lost.
Tic slowly but purposefully fell into a trance where he released the constraints on his mind, allowing himself to become one with that which ruled. His mind was assaulted with visions of spectacular horrors that no one should ever witness inflicted upon the few hundred who were still in the House struggling to keep it functioning. He saw a group of orphans, his orphans, savagely torn apart by trolls who ate them raw as they moved through the crowd. Frodeg, the noble Sheriff chopped into four large chunks before being fed to a giant who was intent upon smashing every structure in the house. Nigel with his wings cut off and strapped high on a pole so that he could be sliced and diced as he slowly bled to death and then there were the women. The majority of the population left in Riverhouse were the women and children, and the atrocities intended for them was beyond reproach. The slaughter was going to be savage and complete, the only thing left would be the blood stains and those whose wombs could be utilized in the rat nursery’s. The visions sickened him, he could not believe that such atrocities could even exist. Yet he knew they did… and he of all people could affect that.
Why is it always the women and children who have to pay the price? Tic’s mind raged at the thought, but then there was more. Something important niggled at his brain, but he just couldn’t put his finger on what it meant.
A different dream or vision entered his mind showing Nigel, Frodeg, and all of the women and children rushing toward a place he had never seen before. A place with the remnants of abandoned forges and wells unattended from before the beginning of the here and the now.
It wasn’t the answer, but it might be a solution and he reached out for it…
45
War
Then tension and the wait must have been too much for the kings, for on the third day after Drick’s arrival the kings formed up their troops and cantered toward the small mouth between the glacial walls, which was the only entrance and exit to their haven within the ice. Lancers of their highest caliber lead the force their features set in grim determination as chargers high stepped toward their inevitable doom. They knew of the thousands that awaited them as well as their savagery.
The Har Karoome sat upon his adopted steed next to his leader, the Karoome, as they watched the procession, both knowing that they were going to be witness to the greatest slaughter in elven history. The valley from Pine Hold to the glacier was filled with tens of thousands of adversaries just waiting for the kings to come forth. Both had hoped that the group in the glacier could have held out until help arrived from Riverhouse which was at least a day away, or Lilieack which was more than a week out, but they were out of food. To wait for help would have left them too weak to defend themselves so they had to move now, and the two elves on top of the ice knew it.
“It’s is time for us to do what we can, Har Karoome,” Juin said to his commander.
“Yes, my prince,” Drick said stoically as they turned and headed down the slope to where the fighting would be the most fierce. A smile over took the elf’s face as he came around the bend and saw Spunk all dressed up in his battle tunic, Drick guessed he would call it, though it was no tunic that a man could wear. The donkey fell in beside Drick with a tense step and his ears perked forward looking for their target. He was in the game and he knew it. Juin shook his head incredulously.
“Are you sure about him?” he asked.
“Oh yes, my prince, he will give more than a fair accounting of himself, you’ll see and you will be amazed I assure you.”
“Only you, Drick. I knew when you became Har Karoome that the position would never be the same. I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just that you have a different way about you…but this? Who could have ever foreseen this?”
“Not I, Karoome, that is for sure. I was as skeptical as you up on the northern shore, but then I saw Spunk in action and…well, it is quite hard to explain, but I think that you will be impressed with his savagery,” Drick said with a tone that implied that he might be getting tired of this discussion. He saw Bobbick approaching him from the tree line at the bottom of the ice flow and reigned his horse in.
“Bobbick, is something amiss in Pine Hold?” Drick asked of the dwarf whom they had set to watch the city for another influx of troops. Up until this point, the city was filled with foul folk of all makes as they waited for the right time to attack the trapped kings.
“No, Har Karoome, quite the opposite actually. The city has emptied, completely.”
“Emptied? Have they headed toward the glacier?” Juin asked knowing that the masses of trolls and muridai encamped in the city would obliterate the tiny force trapped within the walls of ice.
“No, Karoome, there are only a few hundred left in the entire area. We have searched all morning and only found the contingent of halfmen and giants at the ice pass,” Bobbick said causing Drick and Juin to look at each other in puzzlement.
“Something is very wrong here, Karoome,” Drick said.
I agree, Har Karoome. Let’s go find out what,” he said and forced their mounts into a gallop. Spunk seemed to have no problems keeping up with the sleeker beasts, and only seemed to get more eager as they approached the small mass of foul folk.
Drick, Juin, and the Ranger pulled up a hundred yards from the back of the halfmen and giants where they could see the lancers approach at a canter with their lances held high. Spunk, however, knew no such restraints, causing Drick to run after the donkey trying to slow or even stop the mass of muscle that was heading right into the fray that had yet to begin.
Horns sounded from beyond the giants and the lance tips dropped as the chargers were spurred into a fast, but controlled gallop. A wall of ten giants stood before the elven lance-men, yet they never hesitated other than to pull their points a little higher to go for a more vital strike, but the giants were stoic in their wall of flesh, refusing to waiver. That is until the screaming and howling behind them started up.
A whirlwind of shod hoofs and massive jaws of teeth flew into their ranks from behind followed by a crazy sword-wielding elf on a suicide mission. Halfmen and trolls were suddenly flung or kicked into the backs of the giants causing them to stumble. They looked around in confusion, which is when the lancers impacted with the main body. Drick was suddenly back peddling his horse to escape the mountain of meat that was falling down on top him as he fought troll and halfmen alike. He became an island in a sea of foul reeking bodies where his sword was hard pressed to cover every angle of attack. Suddenly, Juin was beside him cutting his defensive position down to a one eighty circumference, which lessened as Spunk made his bucking, kicking maneuvers outside their ring of defense.
Spunk landed both of his back hooves on the outside of a knee of one of the remaining giants, causing it to crumple right next to the prince who quickly cut its throat. He sank his donkey teeth into the shoulder of a troll and pulled him down from behind until Drick disemboweled the creature from horseback. The two elves fell into a pattern of cleaning up what Spunk damaged and Drick heard the prince laughing at the absurdity of it. Soon there was nothing but elves surrounding them and Juin looked upon the Har Karoome with a huge smile on his face.
“I never would have imagined that, Har Karoome.”
“It is quite spectacular, isn’t it, my prince?”
“Above and beyond.”
* * *
The elven kings and their small force that had been on the verge of being consumed, avoided the twice invaded city of Pine Hold. Choosing instead to go a few miles west where game was found and they could settle down for a few hours and discuss exactly what was happening, for they all knew, their predicament wasn’t over. It was Juin who sat next to Drick, who had a matching rasher of spitted boar on a hand hewn shingle of oak as they tried to decide what the next move should be. All knew that getting the kings to a safe place was paramount right now, but in which direction was safety? Nobody knew where the bulk of the army that had attacked them went or where they were now. If their intent had been to lure them out into the open and away from the icy prison it had worked.
The Karoome and his second in command, the Har Karoome, had once been great childhood friends though they had drifted apart in later years they still had one thing in common, they were elves and as elves it was their duty to protect and serve the elven people. Unfortunately, neither knew what their next step should be. They watched the crowd before them which held Juin’s father, the king of Lilieack, Lindren, as well as Drick’s father and the king’s personal body guard as well as his lifelong friend, Diedrick. He was the highest ranking general in Lilieack and he was staring directly at the two young men for a long time in thought before he approached them with his own shingle of food.
“You boys have had quite a time of things up here recently, haven’t you?” Diedrick said forgoing the formalities of rank while addressing his prince, something that only the highest commander in the kingdom could do without permission.
“Well, it was no trip through Riverhouse for you lately either from what I understand,” Drick replied to his father.
“No, it hasn’t been. We’ve been getting second-guessed and outmaneuvered every time we turn around. Goblins and stumps have never been able to think past the end of the spear before today. These so called muridai seem to have added some intricate elements to their game, if I have surmised correctly.”
“I don’t think you have,” Drick and Juin said as one, causing them to look at each other in surprise before turning back to the commander. Juin, being the prince, spoke first.
“There is a man, human I believe ,but definitely an albino, and he is ugly, physically ugly in a bookish sort of way. When I saw him, he was in a dark cloak and wide brimmed hat. He tried to bargain with me using Juil, except he wasn’t bargaining, not really…he was mocking us and our plight, as if we deserved it.”
“Well?” Diedrick said irritated at his cut off. “Was he a man on a hill or off in the forrest? Come on, lad, out with it.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Dos Karoome. He was surrounded by his own army, front and center on the amphitheater of Pine Hold. Then he ordered the attack and disappeared for all I know, it was shoot and run from there on.”
“Hmm, does this collaborate with what you saw, my son?”
“No, my journey strayed from that of the prince as I was in pursuit of the princess,” Drick said, having almost forgotten the reason why they split up to begin with.
“And yet…the princess isn’t here. You all went out on the yearly reconnaissance through the Rachis and you lose more than half your forces, most of your horses, and fail to be in an area to assist here!” he said sternly, knowing he had every right to reprimand Juin even though he was of a lesser rank. The fact was that Diedrick had his father’s ear, especially now.
“Surely you can’t blame us for what happened at Pine Hold?” Juin protested.
“You are to blame, Karoome, let’s face that fact. You and your sister went too far out. Hell, you were miles into Noril territory, led along like a cat chasing string, weren’t you?” Diedrick said scolding, just like the father he had been to both boys their entire lives.
Their mouths were agape at his comments, but they knew that in a way…he was right.
“So tell me, how many times did you chase them just a bit further because you could see them and their activities just ahead of you?” He paused for a second. “I know, I’ve been there…we’ve all been there. The terrible thing for you is that something really bad happened while you were doing it.” He continued to glare at the young men who were feeling very much like boys right now. The accusation and disgust in his features had softened just a bit to one of sympathy, for this was a burden they would have to carry their whole lives. “Now, tell me your story, Drick.”
“Well, I was marooned, I guess you’d say, on the back of the princess’s horse and was forced to go where it wanted as it pursued the princess until their connection broke about five days later. We found ourselves way to the North West in the western foothills of the Rachis when the link broke. Two nights later, late in the evening, I heard a train of slavers go by though I didn’t know what they were. From the distance I was at they looked like sheep or steppes cattle herders. I continued west because I saw a town I knew nothing about, but it turned out to be a trade center for Riverhouse named Follock. It was there that I heard about the slavers so we caught the group and slaughtered them, freeing their slaves who turned out to be dwarfs from even farther west.”
“Get to the point, boy.”
“I am, it just takes a while. So after the battle, we followed the trail and sent out other parties to do the same from different points. We followed a trail right to some old mines, Bobbick can tell you the name. It turns out, they were collecting slaves for a long time, there were thousands of them from all races including elves. I don’t know what they were using them for as they were all chained together as if awaiting something.”
“Were they really slaves, or was that their bloody pantry?” His father scowled.
“You aren’t the first to mention that. The people, dwarfs and breeds mainly, that we helped escape, claimed that there was a woman of sorts that visited the mine several times.”
“What do you mean a woman of sorts? She either was a woman or she wasn’t.”
“Well, she was dressed more like a showgirl or high-end tavern wench with lots of skin exposed, but her skin and hair kept changing colors. They would say that as soon as their eyes focused upon her, she would shift from yellow to black or black to red and her hair would shift as well, but not only in color but in length and texture. To me it sounded like a fanciful children's tale, but there was no doubt that the people she had imprisoned feared her to the point where some wouldn’t even talk about her. She would take some of them with her only to return within hours, but those she took never came back.”
“You’re right, she does sound like a campfire tale. I think it is this albino that we have to focus on. He was seen and spoken to by Juin as well as the kings,” Diedrick said. “Everyone says that he is very dangerous, but he is not mad. Quite the contrary actually, reports say that he is in complete control of himself and his actions.”
“I agree,” Juin added. “However, there is something behind him, something or someone that he answers to.” The three men sat silently for a bit in contemplation when Diedrick spoke up.
“We can’t keep letting them dictate our actions.”
“Excuse me?” Juin replied.
“Everything we have done, every action we take is in reaction to their actions, even ones as young as you two know what that means.”
“It means that they are dictating our moves,” Drick said as a commotion broke out among the camp, a ragged sprint, battered and beaten, trying to catch his breath so that he could speak.
46
Ice King
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” Nigel said sarcastically as he looked at the hole in the roof of the aerie where he was raised. He set a plate of food down for Tic who seemed to be lost in thought and only acknowledged him with the slightest of nods.
“Hi, Nigel, I did some work on your leathers and replaced some slats in your skirt,” Tic said and pointed at the folded pile on the table.
“Thank you, Master Rowe, it looks cleaner than I have ever seen it… ever in fact, looks like you have put some of your silly scribbles on it…how quaint,” he said with a dour tone. “People are starting to ask questions about you, you know. Wondering where you have been, what you’ve been up to and why they have to handle the infiltrators that have started to creep into the tunnels when they got some wizard here.”
“I’m not a real wizard. Infiltrators, are there a lot of them?”
“No, scouts mainly, the rest will be coming soon and people are more than a little panicked, especially since they haven’t seen their friendly neighborhood cobbler in the last day and a half.”
These were all answers that simply came to him as if they were his own thoughts, but Tic knew better. These were not his thoughts. The deductions of those thoughts were his, but the ideas themselves were from someone or something else entirely. Yet all they did was create more questions, the big one being that if Riverhouse knew so much of what was going on…why did it allow anyone that could be considered a soldier to leave? He visualized the walls of the house splattered and painted in the blood of dwarfs and the water tinted red from the lost souls of innocents as the muridai and halfmen invaded, which at this point seemed inevitable.
Evil stood upon the threshold of the greatest achievement of the combined races and there was nothing standing in the way of their advancement to overtake this marvel of the known world, and there was nothing being done about it, but what, in truth, could be done? Riverhouse is as good as lost.
Tic slowly but purposefully fell into a trance where he released the constraints on his mind, allowing himself to become one with that which ruled. His mind was assaulted with visions of spectacular horrors that no one should ever witness inflicted upon the few hundred who were still in the House struggling to keep it functioning. He saw a group of orphans, his orphans, savagely torn apart by trolls who ate them raw as they moved through the crowd. Frodeg, the noble Sheriff chopped into four large chunks before being fed to a giant who was intent upon smashing every structure in the house. Nigel with his wings cut off and strapped high on a pole so that he could be sliced and diced as he slowly bled to death and then there were the women. The majority of the population left in Riverhouse were the women and children, and the atrocities intended for them was beyond reproach. The slaughter was going to be savage and complete, the only thing left would be the blood stains and those whose wombs could be utilized in the rat nursery’s. The visions sickened him, he could not believe that such atrocities could even exist. Yet he knew they did… and he of all people could affect that.
Why is it always the women and children who have to pay the price? Tic’s mind raged at the thought, but then there was more. Something important niggled at his brain, but he just couldn’t put his finger on what it meant.
A different dream or vision entered his mind showing Nigel, Frodeg, and all of the women and children rushing toward a place he had never seen before. A place with the remnants of abandoned forges and wells unattended from before the beginning of the here and the now.
It wasn’t the answer, but it might be a solution and he reached out for it…
45
War
Then tension and the wait must have been too much for the kings, for on the third day after Drick’s arrival the kings formed up their troops and cantered toward the small mouth between the glacial walls, which was the only entrance and exit to their haven within the ice. Lancers of their highest caliber lead the force their features set in grim determination as chargers high stepped toward their inevitable doom. They knew of the thousands that awaited them as well as their savagery.
The Har Karoome sat upon his adopted steed next to his leader, the Karoome, as they watched the procession, both knowing that they were going to be witness to the greatest slaughter in elven history. The valley from Pine Hold to the glacier was filled with tens of thousands of adversaries just waiting for the kings to come forth. Both had hoped that the group in the glacier could have held out until help arrived from Riverhouse which was at least a day away, or Lilieack which was more than a week out, but they were out of food. To wait for help would have left them too weak to defend themselves so they had to move now, and the two elves on top of the ice knew it.
“It’s is time for us to do what we can, Har Karoome,” Juin said to his commander.
“Yes, my prince,” Drick said stoically as they turned and headed down the slope to where the fighting would be the most fierce. A smile over took the elf’s face as he came around the bend and saw Spunk all dressed up in his battle tunic, Drick guessed he would call it, though it was no tunic that a man could wear. The donkey fell in beside Drick with a tense step and his ears perked forward looking for their target. He was in the game and he knew it. Juin shook his head incredulously.
“Are you sure about him?” he asked.
“Oh yes, my prince, he will give more than a fair accounting of himself, you’ll see and you will be amazed I assure you.”
“Only you, Drick. I knew when you became Har Karoome that the position would never be the same. I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just that you have a different way about you…but this? Who could have ever foreseen this?”
“Not I, Karoome, that is for sure. I was as skeptical as you up on the northern shore, but then I saw Spunk in action and…well, it is quite hard to explain, but I think that you will be impressed with his savagery,” Drick said with a tone that implied that he might be getting tired of this discussion. He saw Bobbick approaching him from the tree line at the bottom of the ice flow and reigned his horse in.
“Bobbick, is something amiss in Pine Hold?” Drick asked of the dwarf whom they had set to watch the city for another influx of troops. Up until this point, the city was filled with foul folk of all makes as they waited for the right time to attack the trapped kings.
“No, Har Karoome, quite the opposite actually. The city has emptied, completely.”
“Emptied? Have they headed toward the glacier?” Juin asked knowing that the masses of trolls and muridai encamped in the city would obliterate the tiny force trapped within the walls of ice.
“No, Karoome, there are only a few hundred left in the entire area. We have searched all morning and only found the contingent of halfmen and giants at the ice pass,” Bobbick said causing Drick and Juin to look at each other in puzzlement.
“Something is very wrong here, Karoome,” Drick said.
I agree, Har Karoome. Let’s go find out what,” he said and forced their mounts into a gallop. Spunk seemed to have no problems keeping up with the sleeker beasts, and only seemed to get more eager as they approached the small mass of foul folk.
Drick, Juin, and the Ranger pulled up a hundred yards from the back of the halfmen and giants where they could see the lancers approach at a canter with their lances held high. Spunk, however, knew no such restraints, causing Drick to run after the donkey trying to slow or even stop the mass of muscle that was heading right into the fray that had yet to begin.
Horns sounded from beyond the giants and the lance tips dropped as the chargers were spurred into a fast, but controlled gallop. A wall of ten giants stood before the elven lance-men, yet they never hesitated other than to pull their points a little higher to go for a more vital strike, but the giants were stoic in their wall of flesh, refusing to waiver. That is until the screaming and howling behind them started up.
A whirlwind of shod hoofs and massive jaws of teeth flew into their ranks from behind followed by a crazy sword-wielding elf on a suicide mission. Halfmen and trolls were suddenly flung or kicked into the backs of the giants causing them to stumble. They looked around in confusion, which is when the lancers impacted with the main body. Drick was suddenly back peddling his horse to escape the mountain of meat that was falling down on top him as he fought troll and halfmen alike. He became an island in a sea of foul reeking bodies where his sword was hard pressed to cover every angle of attack. Suddenly, Juin was beside him cutting his defensive position down to a one eighty circumference, which lessened as Spunk made his bucking, kicking maneuvers outside their ring of defense.
Spunk landed both of his back hooves on the outside of a knee of one of the remaining giants, causing it to crumple right next to the prince who quickly cut its throat. He sank his donkey teeth into the shoulder of a troll and pulled him down from behind until Drick disemboweled the creature from horseback. The two elves fell into a pattern of cleaning up what Spunk damaged and Drick heard the prince laughing at the absurdity of it. Soon there was nothing but elves surrounding them and Juin looked upon the Har Karoome with a huge smile on his face.
“I never would have imagined that, Har Karoome.”
“It is quite spectacular, isn’t it, my prince?”
“Above and beyond.”
* * *
The elven kings and their small force that had been on the verge of being consumed, avoided the twice invaded city of Pine Hold. Choosing instead to go a few miles west where game was found and they could settle down for a few hours and discuss exactly what was happening, for they all knew, their predicament wasn’t over. It was Juin who sat next to Drick, who had a matching rasher of spitted boar on a hand hewn shingle of oak as they tried to decide what the next move should be. All knew that getting the kings to a safe place was paramount right now, but in which direction was safety? Nobody knew where the bulk of the army that had attacked them went or where they were now. If their intent had been to lure them out into the open and away from the icy prison it had worked.
The Karoome and his second in command, the Har Karoome, had once been great childhood friends though they had drifted apart in later years they still had one thing in common, they were elves and as elves it was their duty to protect and serve the elven people. Unfortunately, neither knew what their next step should be. They watched the crowd before them which held Juin’s father, the king of Lilieack, Lindren, as well as Drick’s father and the king’s personal body guard as well as his lifelong friend, Diedrick. He was the highest ranking general in Lilieack and he was staring directly at the two young men for a long time in thought before he approached them with his own shingle of food.
“You boys have had quite a time of things up here recently, haven’t you?” Diedrick said forgoing the formalities of rank while addressing his prince, something that only the highest commander in the kingdom could do without permission.
“Well, it was no trip through Riverhouse for you lately either from what I understand,” Drick replied to his father.
“No, it hasn’t been. We’ve been getting second-guessed and outmaneuvered every time we turn around. Goblins and stumps have never been able to think past the end of the spear before today. These so called muridai seem to have added some intricate elements to their game, if I have surmised correctly.”
“I don’t think you have,” Drick and Juin said as one, causing them to look at each other in surprise before turning back to the commander. Juin, being the prince, spoke first.
“There is a man, human I believe ,but definitely an albino, and he is ugly, physically ugly in a bookish sort of way. When I saw him, he was in a dark cloak and wide brimmed hat. He tried to bargain with me using Juil, except he wasn’t bargaining, not really…he was mocking us and our plight, as if we deserved it.”
“Well?” Diedrick said irritated at his cut off. “Was he a man on a hill or off in the forrest? Come on, lad, out with it.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Dos Karoome. He was surrounded by his own army, front and center on the amphitheater of Pine Hold. Then he ordered the attack and disappeared for all I know, it was shoot and run from there on.”
“Hmm, does this collaborate with what you saw, my son?”
“No, my journey strayed from that of the prince as I was in pursuit of the princess,” Drick said, having almost forgotten the reason why they split up to begin with.
“And yet…the princess isn’t here. You all went out on the yearly reconnaissance through the Rachis and you lose more than half your forces, most of your horses, and fail to be in an area to assist here!” he said sternly, knowing he had every right to reprimand Juin even though he was of a lesser rank. The fact was that Diedrick had his father’s ear, especially now.
“Surely you can’t blame us for what happened at Pine Hold?” Juin protested.
“You are to blame, Karoome, let’s face that fact. You and your sister went too far out. Hell, you were miles into Noril territory, led along like a cat chasing string, weren’t you?” Diedrick said scolding, just like the father he had been to both boys their entire lives.
Their mouths were agape at his comments, but they knew that in a way…he was right.
“So tell me, how many times did you chase them just a bit further because you could see them and their activities just ahead of you?” He paused for a second. “I know, I’ve been there…we’ve all been there. The terrible thing for you is that something really bad happened while you were doing it.” He continued to glare at the young men who were feeling very much like boys right now. The accusation and disgust in his features had softened just a bit to one of sympathy, for this was a burden they would have to carry their whole lives. “Now, tell me your story, Drick.”
“Well, I was marooned, I guess you’d say, on the back of the princess’s horse and was forced to go where it wanted as it pursued the princess until their connection broke about five days later. We found ourselves way to the North West in the western foothills of the Rachis when the link broke. Two nights later, late in the evening, I heard a train of slavers go by though I didn’t know what they were. From the distance I was at they looked like sheep or steppes cattle herders. I continued west because I saw a town I knew nothing about, but it turned out to be a trade center for Riverhouse named Follock. It was there that I heard about the slavers so we caught the group and slaughtered them, freeing their slaves who turned out to be dwarfs from even farther west.”
“Get to the point, boy.”
“I am, it just takes a while. So after the battle, we followed the trail and sent out other parties to do the same from different points. We followed a trail right to some old mines, Bobbick can tell you the name. It turns out, they were collecting slaves for a long time, there were thousands of them from all races including elves. I don’t know what they were using them for as they were all chained together as if awaiting something.”
“Were they really slaves, or was that their bloody pantry?” His father scowled.
“You aren’t the first to mention that. The people, dwarfs and breeds mainly, that we helped escape, claimed that there was a woman of sorts that visited the mine several times.”
“What do you mean a woman of sorts? She either was a woman or she wasn’t.”
“Well, she was dressed more like a showgirl or high-end tavern wench with lots of skin exposed, but her skin and hair kept changing colors. They would say that as soon as their eyes focused upon her, she would shift from yellow to black or black to red and her hair would shift as well, but not only in color but in length and texture. To me it sounded like a fanciful children's tale, but there was no doubt that the people she had imprisoned feared her to the point where some wouldn’t even talk about her. She would take some of them with her only to return within hours, but those she took never came back.”
“You’re right, she does sound like a campfire tale. I think it is this albino that we have to focus on. He was seen and spoken to by Juin as well as the kings,” Diedrick said. “Everyone says that he is very dangerous, but he is not mad. Quite the contrary actually, reports say that he is in complete control of himself and his actions.”
“I agree,” Juin added. “However, there is something behind him, something or someone that he answers to.” The three men sat silently for a bit in contemplation when Diedrick spoke up.
“We can’t keep letting them dictate our actions.”
“Excuse me?” Juin replied.
“Everything we have done, every action we take is in reaction to their actions, even ones as young as you two know what that means.”
“It means that they are dictating our moves,” Drick said as a commotion broke out among the camp, a ragged sprint, battered and beaten, trying to catch his breath so that he could speak.
46
Ice King
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” Nigel said sarcastically as he looked at the hole in the roof of the aerie where he was raised. He set a plate of food down for Tic who seemed to be lost in thought and only acknowledged him with the slightest of nods.
“Hi, Nigel, I did some work on your leathers and replaced some slats in your skirt,” Tic said and pointed at the folded pile on the table.
“Thank you, Master Rowe, it looks cleaner than I have ever seen it… ever in fact, looks like you have put some of your silly scribbles on it…how quaint,” he said with a dour tone. “People are starting to ask questions about you, you know. Wondering where you have been, what you’ve been up to and why they have to handle the infiltrators that have started to creep into the tunnels when they got some wizard here.”
“I’m not a real wizard. Infiltrators, are there a lot of them?”
“No, scouts mainly, the rest will be coming soon and people are more than a little panicked, especially since they haven’t seen their friendly neighborhood cobbler in the last day and a half.”
