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By Michele aka Ygraul Verdemorte |
Chapter 46. Disappearing Man |
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fter a long descent from the dangers of Ice Dome, they arrived in the rocky woodlands of the Frozen Forest. The forest sat in a bowl surrounded by towering peaks, an almost perpetually icy hinterland of spruce and alder thickets. The air swirled with the prismatic fairy dust of ice crystals as they forged a path over the crusty snow. The dolyak trundled along with dour snorts, untroubled when they loaded their packs and Stone Summit disguises upon its broad back. Unburdened, they trotted along at the beast’s lumbering pace and made good progress. For most of the day they saw little sign of Stone Summit but did run into a small pack of ice imps that Zenaida enthusiastically pursued. Between she and Armand, the creatures never breathed a spell and taking them down was laughably easy. They skirted the lumbering shapes of foul tempered tree creatures, and did not encounter their first pack of azure spirits until they were curling down the flank of a steep hill. The beasts came at them as they curled down the first switchback, the path growing narrow and slippery as they rounded the bend. Taken by surprise as the evil things hissed like vapor from the icy ground, the dolyak bellowed and swung around in a rage as the creatures released the energies of signet and spell. Brigit tumbled to her knees and crashed into the angry yak while the blazing sting of the attack lashed the wooly beast. She managed to strike one of the spirits hard across its translucent arms and prevented another such attack. Zenaida halted the guttural incantations of a second. It was a miserable but short fight, every strike of her blade causing the pale blaze of the creature’s enchantments to burn her flesh. They were weak and foolish monsters, little more than animals and did not flee from combat when fire, arrows and blade laid them low. The last one faded away with a snarl and she realized she had not heard the sharp incantations of Armand nor seen the violent surge of his perfectly placed spells. Frida and Asuna were currently trying to get the dolyak under control. It had stumbled halfway over the ledge and was now stuck. Zenaida helped to toss some rope around its broad backside and the three of them finally got the animal back on firm ground. “Armie?” Brigit cried, “My gods, where is Armand?” Frida’s heavy brows collided upon her serious visage while Asuna cast about anxiously. Zenaida frowned. “The last place I saw him was there near the dolyak. I was trying to keep those signets interrupted; I assumed he was doing the same.” “Two of them rushed me and Armand. I was too busy running to notice what he did,” Asuna murmured, “After that, I don’t remember seeing him.” “He can’t have gone far,” Frida said. Brigit felt sick with fear for him. What if he was hurt? He could freeze or bleed to death before they found him and he might be unconscious and unable to answer. A dozen gruesome scenarios ran through her head. She blinked away tears, the thought of losing him unbearable. Seeing her panic, Asuna squeezed her hand to reassure her. “He’s a clever fellow, I’m sure he’s fine. Don’t fret, dear.” Zenaida scanned the trampled path and gazed down the steep side of the track. “I’m almost certain he fell down there. The dolyak likely pushed him over the edge during its fit of anger and panic.” Brigit swore. She opened her mouth to call for him only to have Zenaida frantically wave her hands and shake her head. She followed the ranger’s trembling hand when she pointed further down the slope and saw the slowly advancing forms of a herder and a pair of smaller figures. They were little more than creeping ants at this distance. “They haven’t seen us yet,” Zenaida whispered, “and I prefer to keep it that way. Let’s high tail it back to that outcropping of spruce on the other side of the ridge.” “There are three of them and four of us!” Brigit snapped, keeping her voice low, “I’m not leaving until I know what happened to Armand.” “From here we can see three. I don’t know where they came from, do you? I’d rather see how many there are from a safe distance off the path.” “She’s right,” Frida said grimly, “Stone Summit are like lice. If you see one, you know there are more hiding elsewhere.” Brigit took a deep breath, forcing herself to remain calm. What if he had hurt himself during the fall? What if he had been run through by a sharp branch or was tangled up and exposed to the cold. She could not leave him. Stone Summit or not, she had to find him now. “Brigit!” Asuna said, “We have to go. Don’t be a fool.” She ignored them, gripping her axe and shifting her shield onto her shoulder. He was down there alone without food or blankets. He was alone in one of the most forbidding and hostile places in all of Tyria and she loved him, that very love now an unbearable ache of grief. “Listen to me, dwarf friend,” Frida said in her native tongue, its strangeness somehow reaching past the fear and grief that were overwhelming her mind, “Though you are brave and your love makes you dragon-fierce, your eldvard is… trained in grace. If he survived that fall, he will await us there, if he did not, you risk for naught. Would he have you die needlessly for him or put all of us in peril?” Brigit shook her head, biting her lip as tears flowed silently down her cheeks. Asuna and Zenaida were already trudging up the slope with the dolyak in tow. Frida fell in step beside her and she marched after them, head bowed. They moved swiftly, unburdened as they were, the dolyak responding to Frida’s request to move quickly. She bid them grasp the felt padding of its armor and it hauled them along, easing their climb as it steamed toward the ridge. Zenaida led them over a field of exposed stone that would conceal their tracks and soon they wove into the embrace of a thin spruce forest. After nearly half an hour of steady travel, they stopped. Frida got the dolyak to kneel behind the shelter of the abundant boulders that littered the icy landscape and rummaged through the pack, bidding them eat and drink to retain their energy. The dolyak happily devoured eight of the biscuits. Zenaida departed to see what the Stone Summit were up to. Within an hour she returned, a grim expression upon her pale face. “Good thing we left when we did. They’re heading toward Ice Dome. I counted at least three score of them.” “Did you see Armand?” Brigit asked, afraid of the answer. “If he was with them, then he was well hidden. Or they left him.” Brigit knew Zenaida was trying to spare her feelings by not being explicit. The Stone Summit used slaves, preferably young, fit and strong ones. Armand was a magician, lithe and graceful, a build far too light to long endure the rigors of working in the mines. Not to mention, troublesome. A warrior could be chained. An enemy mesmer was best left for dead or robbed of his tongue. “I think we can proceed now,” the ranger said calmly, not looking at Brigit, “We should be able to reach the valley floor before nightfall. We’ll find Armand.” “If he’s there,” Brigit thought, “If he’s alive.” “On the positive side, those Stone Summit will have cleared the azures and imps out of the way,” said Asuna, “We can rush a little.” “We can ride, too,” said Frida, “The dolyak could easily carry twice our weights and they are surefooted.” Brigit looked appraisingly upon the beast, imagining them all bumping along on its back. They were all tired after a long day of marching and she was open to anything that would get them where they needed to go quickly. She nodded and approached the beast, taking her place behind the saddle’s flat cantle as Frida and Asuna squeezed into the seat together. Zenaida folded her arms and shook her head. “I am not tired and I can move swiftly on my own two feet. Unburdened, I can scout ahead and steer us clear of any danger that may lie ahead. We do not know if more Stone Summit lie in the valley below and I certainly do not wish to run into them on the crowded back of a frightened animal.” With that, Zenaida trotted on ahead of them and Frida gently coaxed the beast onward into a lumbering trot. The ranger had not been boasting, her skill in running was impressive and she dodged easily ahead of them hardly pausing to catch her breath. A few times she signaled them to wait and Frida gave a slight tug on the reins to stop the snorting beast. Then their travel resumed and they wove down the switch-backs to the stamped snowfield that had once been the camping place of an enormous dwarven gathering. Brigit shrieked with delight, nearly falling off of the dolyak when a familiar figure strode casually from the shelter of the trees, his golden hair fluttering in the wind. “What took you so long?” he chuckled. Zenaida snorted in amusement as Frida tapped the dolyak’s flank with her heel to coax the beast to its knees. Brigit leaped down and ran to him, holding herself back a little so that she did not crush him. He was trembling and cold as he clung to her and she saw the cuts and rips in his heavy fur coat and blood matted the back of his head. “You’re hurt,” she cried, relieved when Asuna rushed toward them and prayed over his injuries. Brigit realized he was leaning all of his weight into her and was standing by will alone now. “Nothing that a fire, some warm food and some sleep won’t fix,” Asuna said, smiling at them. “Nice of the Stone Summit to leave us some fuel and a fire pit. There’s a camping place over this way in the shelter of the trees. Should serve us well tonight,” said Zenaida, always practical. Brigit guided him gently toward the ashen fire circle, helping him settle on a knot of stone. “I was so scared, Armie. Thank the gods you’re alive. I think I’d go mad without you.” He kissed her wearily and she realized he shared her sentiments but was far too exhausted to voice them. The fall must have been terrifying and then to be surrounded by all of those evil dwarves. He pointed toward where he had fallen and it was barely twenty paces from the nearest fire pit. It was a miracle he had survived and gone undetected. As they gathered around the fire, thanking Frida for her fortifying concoction and bowls of hearty stew, Armand described how the dolyak had whipped its head around and accidentally sent him flying into empty air. There was a painful crash into branches full of spiky needles and then those gave out and he continued down, grasping and rolling until he landed in a drift, narrowly missing a cluster of boulders. He described lying there as the Stone Summit came to investigate the noise, putting it down to a bear and finally leaving him alone within the mound of snow. There he stayed, cut and bruised in a score of places and nearly freezing to death encased in snow. He only dared to move when things grew quiet and he discovered the dwarves had gone. Armand described his fear that they would encounter the massive gathering for he saw them climbing the very trail that they had been traveling upon during their fight with the azures. Brigit refilled his bowl of stew and draped another blanket around him. The thought that he had nearly been lost to her by accident was almost too much to contemplate. Now she nestled against him and he draped a loving arm around her shoulder, pausing in his meal to kiss her forehead. “We’ll reach Moladune in the morning,” Zenaida said with a smirk, “We might be able to find you two a private cabin.” Brigit giggled and her face burned with embarrassment. Of course, part of her very much wanted that. “You want to see me naked?” he whispered, aware of her thoughts and teasing her. “Well… except for… that mask.” Now Armand blushed. How could she explain the appeal, that it made his beautiful blue eyes stand out like sapphires on black velvet and emphasized the delightful turn of his lips. Just when she thought he could not be any more beautiful than he already was she had glimpsed him wearing it and melted. “I don’t look even a little menacing in that one?” he asked, sounding disappointed. She shook her head vigorously. “If your intent were to beguile every woman within a mile, I’d believe it,” she laughed, “but then I’d have to kill you, too.” “Provided you were not already under my spell. I command you to kiss me now.” Which she did, falling into his embrace with abandon and neither of them noticing that Frida had taken away his uneaten food before ushering the others away. |
