Valkyrie's Shadow

Winter's Crown: Act 8, Chapter 5

Winter's Crown: Act 8, Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Themis watched helplessly as two more duels went by, both ending in defeat for the Adventurer Guild. It was, as Moknach said, a good way to buy time if they were all going to die anyway. Participating in this savage, tribalistic ritual, however, was not something she had ever expected from an expedition, nor was it an activity that she enjoyed in any way.

There were a growing number of Demihumans living in E-Rantel, but none of them ever did anything remotely resembling this. The scene was reminiscent of one’s childhood nightmares after hearing about other races and their inhuman ways: where humans were caught and forced to fight to the death in a bleak and lightless hellscape just to satisfy the uncivilized practices of a barbarous people. Maybe they would eat them after this, too.

With Moknach down, the last of their Fighters who could possibly stall the Frost Giants to any significant degree was gone. The Giants on the other side of the path were either not aware of this, or they were following some incomprehensible order to the proceedings. It was probably the latter since they had their own Rangers who should be able to gauge the rough strength of others at a glance. The row of towering beings awaited them silently, their beards and hair being tossed about in the blowing snow.

What do we do now?

They had gone through their three strongest Fighters – the others probably wouldn’t last more than a few seconds. Vincent stepped forward with a tentative expression, clearing his throat.

“You’ve defeated our three strongest warriors,” his voice rose above the moan of the wind.

Several of the Giants looked past the Bard, and Vincent turned to follow their gaze. Themis took a step back.

“M-me?”

“Ah, ehm,” Vincent turned back to address the Giants. “She’s not a warrior, she’s a Cleric. A Priestess…a Shaman?”

“Then it is settled,” a Giant encased in black plate armour said.

“Um, right,” Vincent replied. “Can we go now?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Your champions have lost. The rest will be taken as slaves.”

“But…but…our kind can’t survive here!”

The Frost Giant nodded solemnly, pulling his axe off of the ground.

“I suspected as much,” he said. “Prepare to meet your ancestors.”

Penn raised her hand.

“?Fireball?!”

A bright orb of flame, followed by three others, streaked towards the Frost Giant line. Shouts rose from both sides as the narrow clearing turned into a brilliant inferno.

“Scatter!” Josin shouted.

The Adventurers fled, fanning up the snow-covered trail northeast around the chokepoint. Darkness spells appeared in the air to obscure their escape, then several more Fireballs disappeared into them, filling the air with the sound of their explosions. Boulders came flying through in return, but the blind attempts at retaliation failed to find anyone.

“Do we have any other spells to slow them down with?” Josin asked.

“Maybe,” Blair said. “A lot of Druid spells we’ve learned don’t work under all this snow or on bare stone. They can see through this weather, too, so summoning fog or the like probably won’t work.”

“Web?”

“Temporary, at best,” Blair replied. “We’re using fire spells too, so it’s best to time it with their appearance.”

“I guess it’s down to when they charge, then,” Josin let out a sigh, “how much time did we give the other group?”

“Thirty minutes, give or take. It’ll be close, so we should make it count.”

Themis and Blair cast what enchantments she could over Josin, who would be most likely taking on the brunt of the charge. A great roar sounded over the storm just as they completed their spells, and the ground started to tremble under unseen steps. Penn leaned out from her cover, extending her arm again.

“?Fireball?!”

The other mages joined her again, and the globes of flame disappeared into the fields of Darkness. This time, they erupted a split second after entering. The plate-armoured Frost Giant exploded out from the smoke and flames, his icy axe raised high.

“?Grease?!”

“?Web?!”

An oily film slicked the stones of the trail, followed by a spray of sticky webbing. The Frost Giant ignored the webbing, but the poor footing caused him to slip and stagger. Josin dashed forward to take advantage of the opportunity, and Themis barely cast her next enchantment in time.

“?Freedom?!”

The spell allowed the one it affected to move normally when subjected to having their movement impeded. While it covered a broad range of magic that made movement difficult or entangled others like Grease and Web, it also worked against Paralysis effects, Martial Arts and Spellsongs that crippled their target. Attempts to grapple or hold onto an individual were also thwarted, and it even worked for movement and attacks underwater.

Josin closed the distance in a second, leaping up into a flying kick. The Giant, on one knee, reached out to snatch the Monk with his free hand, but Josin phased right through the attempt. His blow landed squarely in the centre of the Giant’s breastplate, leaving a good dent, but not much else. Josin landed between the Giant’s legs and ducked behind them to avoid being swatted by an open hand.

Two more Frost Giants appeared as Josin continued to keep the first occupied. The first slipped to crash onto the stony path, but the other only slowed to pick her way carefully across. She unleashed the boulder in her hand as she went, smearing one of the Adventurer mages against the mountainside as she prepared to cast another spell. The Giant stooped down to pick up one of the many loose boulders cast from the other side of the clearing, and her cold gaze fell upon Themis.

“?Grand Power Strike?!”

“?Iron Skin?!”

In a spray of blood, Josin spun across Themis’ field of view in two halves. The first Giant’s attack had been too powerful for the Monk to stop, even with a defensive skill active. The sounds of combat with the other Giant on the ground rose in the air. Her gaze returned to the Frost Giant raising the boulder to throw in her direction. From out of the Darkness spells, two more Giants entered the fray.

There was too much going on at once. Themis raised her hands in a panic to cast a protective spell, then her body seized up entirely. Looking across at the Frost Giant huntress, the spectre of a deep, primal fear overwhelmed her senses. In her unblinking vision, she only barely registered that the huntress stopped her throw. It was not only her but everyone in the battle – Adventurers and Giants were both frozen in mid-action.

A huge, white shadow swept down out of the storm, and the huntress vanished. Unable to move, Themis could only stare at the empty space where a seven-metre tall Frost Giant once stood. The plate-armoured Giant shook himself free from the blanket of fear that smothered the mountainside, then the others shortly after. Several of the Adventurers had broken from what Themis decided was an area effect ability, fleeing aimlessly over the mountainside or cowering on the ground where they were.

Themis regained control of her body, stumbling backwards and away from the four Giants. If they noted her movement, they paid it no mind at all. Instead, they were looking up and all around them.

“Fimbul–”

“Shh!”

The first Giant hushed the one that had spoken, and he continued looking around from where he knelt.

Fimbul?

She wasn’t familiar with anything that sounded like that. Was it a legendary monster? Some Elemental that came with the storm? Watching the Giants before her as she continued to carefully back away, all she could see was that they were wary. Whatever it was, the Frost Giants considered it a threat far above the Adventurer expedition. Their heads turned with every gust of wind, and they gripped their weapons until she could hear their fists creak from where she stood.

Sounds of battle filtered through from the other side of the obscured clearing, and the Giants turned to move as one. As they did, the ground erupted beneath the plate-armoured Giant, and a sinuous figure rose to coil around it. It was a Frost Dragon.

The Giant’s arms reached up to grip the long body that held him, but the Dragon wrenched it to the ground. It moved with unbelievable speed, unwrapping itself from the Giant as he toppled over to pounce upon the next nearest Giant, whose back was still turned. It fell forward with the force of the blow, and dark blood sprayed as the Dragon vaulted off of the Giant towards the next in line. In contrast to the Giants, who let out great roars and battle cries as they fought, the Dragon did its bloody work in complete silence. It was eerie and terrifying all at once. If Themis closed her eyes or looked away, she probably wouldn’t have known that it was there at all.

Though possessed of their wits again, the Adventurers could only gape at the scene playing out before them. They had no right being here – no, their being here only meant they were prey. The strains of the rumour from a month previous echoed in their minds. It was a battle that had repeated itself since time immemorial: the ancient war for supremacy over a savage and frozen realm.

“?Grease?.”

The first Giant slipped and fell down with a thud as it tried to get back up to its feet. Penn grinned down at it from up the slope. The Sorceress’ expression brought Themis back to her senses. What were they doing?

Themis came forward within spell range of the Dragon as it slashed and snapped at its adversary, drawing on her remaining reserves of mana.

“?Armour of Faith?.”

“?Protection from Evil?.”

Penn jogged back down beside her, and Blair joined in as well.

“?Haste?.”

“?Blessing?.”

“?Barkskin?.”

“?Lesser Strength?.”

“?Freedom?.”

“?Greater Magic Fang?.”

“?Lesser Dexterity?.”

Under the effects of so many beneficial enchantments, the Frost Dragon’s assault against the three weaker Giants was overwhelming. At the last, the Dragon turned to face the first Giant, who had finally regained his feet. He hefted his shimmering greataxe as his voice boomed out against the cliffs.

“It figures you’d appear like this, you honourless lizard.”

“Honour?” The Dragon replied lightly, “What’s that? Can you eat it?”

Themis frowned up at the Dragon. Her feminine voice seemed almost familiar. Before she could pin it down, the Frost Dragon rose into the air.

“You bitch!” The Frost Giant fumed, “Get back down here and fight like–”

“An idiot?” The Dragon filled in.

With a roar, the Giant picked up a boulder and hurled it up at the Dragon receding into the skies above. The Dragon only laughed and swatted it out of the air. The boulder crashed down near several Adventurers, and an ‘oops’ drifted down as she vanished out of sight.

Visibly fuming and entirely disregarding the Adventurers nearby, the Giant picked up another boulder. He craned his neck upwards, turning in place as he stared up at the pitch-black skies.

“Come and fight me, you coward!” The Frost Giant roared up into the swirling blizzard.

After several moments, the Dragon streaked by overhead, and the Giant pivoted to launch the boulder after her. Then another Dragon leapt out from the wall of Darkness spells.

With a shout, the Giant twisted back towards his new adversary but was bowled over when the Dragon smashed into him. The second Dragon was far larger than the first, and nearly twice the length. From how their fight was progressing, it was more than strong enough to overpower the Giant that had so easily cleaved Josin in two. This fact did not stop the Frost Giant from struggling mightily, however, and it took several minutes before his shredded form fell to the blood-soaked snow.

Overhead, the skies started to clear as the winds whipping around them fell. Two more Dragons poked their heads through the Darkness spells, and the first Dragon landed lightly to perch herself on the edge of the trail.

“Can we go now?” The first Dragon said.

“Not yet, dear,” The largest Dragon replied in a distinctly female voice.

She cleared her throat and turned her glowing turquoise gaze over the Adventurers.

“Ahem. Good evening – do you require any further assistance?”

The Adventurers stared up at her speechlessly.

“Hello?” The Dragon prompted.

Blair started at the word, perhaps realizing that he was now the senior member of the expedition with the death of Josin.

“Er…there aren’t any other Frost Giants around, are there?” He asked.

“There are always Frost Giants around,” the Dragon answered. “If you are headed to Feoh Raizo, however, the way is clear.”

“That’s where we were going,” Blair said. “Um, thanks.”

The Dragon gave them a nod of her head before looking behind her at the others.

“See? I told you.”

“That policy is old, mother,” the first Dragon said. “We were supposed to help anyone in trouble during the Dwarven migration. That was two months ago!”

“I believe the instructions were to lend our assistance to anyone travelling on the roads,” the Dragon’s mother replied. “Those instructions have not changed, as far as I’m aware.”

“How can that be possible? Are we to help every Human and Goblin on the roads everywhere we go? How do we even figure out which side we’re supposed to be on?”

“The Sorcerous Kingdom’s side, of course.”

“Oh sure,” the first Dragon seemed to roll her eyes. “The next time you see some Humans murdering each other on a highway somewhere, go ahead and ask them which side you should slaughter. I’d like to know how that goes for you.”

“Don’t they have something to mark themselves with?”

“The caravans might,” the first Dragon turned her attention to the Adventurers, “but do you see anything recognizable on these ones?”

The Dragon’s mother looked towards them as well. The two other Dragons peeked around her.

“Well, no. I suppose it’s just lucky that we were flying around home. They should really do something about that.”

“They don’t need to do anything! Like I said: it’s an obsolete policy. We can get in trouble for following out-of-date laws, as well.”

“Policy this; law that. I swear you’re acting more and more like them with every passing day. Whatever happened to my adorable little wyrmling?”

The two Dragons rose into the air as their back and forth continued, followed by the other two. Themis’ gaze followed them until they disappeared over the peaks above, then she turned to look westwards. With the skies once again clear, the light of the sun dipping below the mountains could be seen again.

Themis released a long sigh, dropping limply to her knees as the tension seeped away. It felt like an eternity, but, between the first signal and the unexpected intervention of the postal service, less than two hours had passed.