Chapter 8
"Can they see us?" He asked and I looked at both of us. Dressed in dark gray/white parkas with gray fur, we shouldn't stand out in the moonlight and shadows.
"You were wearing white when you found me," I stated.
"Yes. Long-range reconnaissance gear. Might I remind you, we have neither weapons nor communication devices on us and I am too far from the observation tower to access Security Command."
"Surely you have some kind of perimeter warning that notifies you when strangers approach?" I was sure they must have, it was number one on any defensive position no matter how strong your holding.
"Alarms will have been triggered by our descent from the observation deck and the techs will read it as normal," he said. "How many can you see? Do you know who they are?”
From the distance, I couldn’t see colors or standards and their tents were white to blend in with the ice. I didn’t see any horses or sylphs– there was nothing up here to feed either animal for melting enough water for livestock would be a time-consuming chore. I did see however, a tall black-cloaked figure standing on a hummock of ice that put him above the surrounding army. I could even see the folds of Blackfin’s cloak ripple in the wind.
He raised a fist and a ball of blue shot up to explode like a meteor shower lighting everything over our heads to near daylight. “Don’t move,” I hissed as Cabor started.
“What was that? Pyrotechnics? Explosives? I was not aware that the lowland cultures had explosive capabilities.”
“That was magic,” I said flatly, each shooting sparks that remained bright and viable long after a torch would have gone out. When the flares finally drifted to the ground and faded out, only then did I move. Towards the camp. Cabor tried to urge me to return to the safety of the city but I shook my head.
“We need to see how many and in what composition his forces. He means to invade your city and you and your guards are not prepared for his magics,” I argued quietly. “He’s here after me too.”
“He knows you’re alive? How? No one has ever survived the glacier for more than two days and you’ve been gone months.”
“He can sense me, somehow. Like I can smell their blood. Human blood. Now, be quiet or they’ll hear us.” I slid down into a narrow cleft that looked solid, almost like a deer path in a ravine and followed it towards the camp. We slid close enough to count the huts constructed of shiny material that was white, thick yet smooth to the touch. Poles hold them up in a rigid boxlike construction, complete with chimneys and stoves.
There weren’t any sylphs or horses but strange four-legged white-furred creatures that looked like dogs but four times the size with jaws that slobbered. Drool hung in icicles from their dewlaps and they watched me with curious red eyes they as I slipped silently around the camp.
Men were not huddled outside guarding their perimeter, it was too cold for a human to endure but I soon realized they were not unguarded. Blackfin had brought ice thralls–demons I had only heard about in story tales but here they were in the flesh. Five-foot tall, covered in white skin as pale as marble, they were ferocious fighters who did not fear the snow and ice but only fire and heat. If he’d conjured them, he had become more powerful than any human magician I had ever heard of in the New or Oldlands rivaling only Lyr Averon.
They ignored Cabor as if they knew he wasn’t human either and I stepped quietly through their ranks, even pushing them aside when they crowded too close. “They seem to like you,” Cabor grinned as one stuck his black nose in my armpit. I grunted. It was like being hit with a very large sledgehammer.
“I wish I could see what kind of weapons they’re carrying,” I said frustrated and then brightened as a thought came to me. I stared at the tents with my other sense, saw those occupied with live bodies and stoves glowed red-hot where the others remained cold. There were many cold ones towards the center of the encampment and I headed for them.
The fabric wouldn’t tear or lift under my fingers so I was forced to use the front flap. It unsealed like a zipper and the two of us squeezed inside the boxlike tent. It was dark but my eyes could make out the details. Boxes lay stacked neatly and I used my fingers to pry open their covers. Rifles loaded with silver, crossbows, swords and strange tube-like things that I didn’t understand. But Cabor did.
“Laser wands. High technology,” he mused. “These are strong enough to cause severe damage to the city doors, maybe even to open them. Your culture should not be able to develop this type of weapon.”
“Well, they did,” I said grimly and tucked one into my pocket along with crossbow, rifle, ammo and a sharp knife. “Now I don’t feel so naked. Let’s check out the rest.”
By the time I had satisfied my curiosity, we had found conventional weapons and a few new ones that had the security and med-tech worried. Battering rams, explosives and cannons, all-powerful enough to crack the massive door into their city or so he said.
I led the way back towards the tower but before we turned for the city, I stopped. “You go, Cabor. Warn them. I’m going to try and kill the wizard.”
He argued with me but I was adamant. “If I die, he might just give up and leave. If I win, well, then he’s dead. Go on and warn them.” He left me finally and just a few minutes later, he was out of sight.