It was expected that when they approached the Frozen Mountains the temperature would drop. What Arianne was not prepared for was how sharply.
As they crossed the Torn Lands, named so because of the great chasms in the ground that were created during the Primordial Wars, the iciness in the air continued to grow the deeper into it they travelled. Leaving Angarad behind after crossing the Safrie River, the lush green of the land was soon replaced by brown grasslands, and the forests of full, leafy trees had vanished in place of tall, well-spaced conifers.
Even with the warmer clothes Celene and Melia had bought in Horwyck, the biting cold invaded the warmth of their cloaks and pierced their skins as the ground become harder with frost. Despite it being autumn, the weather took on a decidedly wintery turn and Arianne wondered if it had to do with just their proximity to the mountains or if something else was at work.
Arianne also noticed something more sinister the deeper they went into the Torn Lands and that was the scarcity of any sort of wildlife. She supposed the harsh terrain could have driven them south, but even so there would be at least some animals left here. The air was still with only the sounds of their voices and the horses to break the silence. There was no singing of birds and no chirping of insects, and at night even the owls remained silence. The whole landscape seemed abandoned.
Eventually the others noticed the silence too, and although they did not speak of it, Arianne knew they too were uneasy. Their rest periods became shorter since none of them were overly eager to close their eyes. When sleep did come, it was under one of their watchful gazes.
Through this ominous atmosphere, Arianne watched the path of the moon in the sky with growing alarm that the time between its reaching fullness was dwindling rapidly. The journey here had taken almost three weeks and Arianne knew that they would reach the Enemy with barely enough time to spare or formulate the strategy to kill him.
They saw no evidence of the threat that Syanne had warned them against, but there was no doubt that it existed. The woods they crossed reeked of death and desolation. Something unnatural had seized the land and was unrelenting in its deathly grip. Arianne could feel its tendrils clawing up her back, cold to the touch. The babe inside her stirred as well, perhaps feeling the threat to its existence she trying so desperately to prevent.
No one spoke of their fears, but Arianne sensed their anxiety for Celene and Melia’s guard was almost always up now, with the two soldiers watching constantly for danger. Keira did her best to keep things light, but the fear they felt was becoming palpable with every step they took towards the mountains.
The situation did not improve when they came across the ruin of a settlement that appeared dwarven in origin. Due to Balfure hunting them across Avalyne, the dwarves had been forced to find new homes beyond the reach of Abraxes. Some had settled in Angarad, while others had sought refuge in the Jagged Teeth. It made sense that others might choose to travel even further than that to escape the Shadow Lord. With its infamous reputation, the Torn Lands may have appeared to the perfect place for them to rebuild their lives without interference from anyone.
The town they happened upon had experienced some form of calamity, but it was of a kind that none of them had ever seen before. Whatever the dwarves had chosen to name this settlement, they would never know. What they found when they rode through the settlement along the frost-covered ground was that the entire town was buried ice. To look at it, one would be forgiven in thinking that some mad artist had embarked upon the laborious task of sculpturing a representation of the town in ice. Every structure was encased in ice, just as the dwarves who lived in it.
‘What in the name of the Celestial Gods happened here?’ Celene asked rhetorically as she gaped at what was in front of them.
They dismounted their horses, leading the animals through the town so that they could investigate what had taken place here in the hopes of avoiding the same fate. Anything that had not been buried in ice was brittle to the touch. Melia’s efforts to kick away a doll that had been lying on the ground had resulted in the complete disintegration of the object. It crumbled around her boot as if a blast of cold had turned it into glass. The Watch Guard’s shock was obvious, and after that no one was terribly eager to touch anything that was not covered in ice.
‘A sudden blizzard perhaps?’ Melia asked her three companions. She came from a land that did not experience winter, and though she had some experience with it after years of living in the west, this was beyond her understanding.
‘I could believe a snow storm could cause some ice, but nothing natural could have done this,’ Arianne declared as she paused at a seemingly unaffected bush and touched one of the leaves on its branches. The leaf crumbled in her hands as easily as the toy had disintegrated beneath Melia’s foot. The fragment of green in her hand felt like sand or ash—she could not tell which for sure, only that it frightened her. It was no small thing to destroy life in this fashion and she shuddered at the thought of meeting the thing that had done it.
It was a sentiment mirrored by Celene, who stated, ‘We should keep going. I have no wish to encounter what did this while we are here. We have more important matters to attend.’
‘Yes,’ Keira nodded in agreement, her eyes scanning the dead town. ‘We’re not accomplishing by remaining here. I say we just keep riding through and not look back. Besides, we don’t have time to waste,’ she reminded.
Melia gripped the reins of her horse tight. Her nails were digging into her palm but she hardly noticed it. This place frightened her more than Berserkers or any other evil she had encountered since leaving her home in Nadira. She wanted to run away from this place, to ride back to the safety of the woods the Baffin, but knew that she would not. She had made a pledge to the Queen and she would see it through.
However, it was more than just obligation that kept her at Arianne’s side. During the course of their travels, she had gotten to know all three women and felt the bond of friendship between them all. Here were women with whom she shared a great deal, who waited for no man to decide their fate and who knew what it was to remain true to themselves instead of complying with what was expected of them. It spoke to Melia’s own choices in life.
‘I too wish to ride away from here and not look back,’ Melia looked at them. ‘But what did this awaits us ahead on our journey. The only thing we will accomplish if we ride hastily forward is run headlong into what did this.’
‘You are right, of course,’ Celene frowned, despising the logic of Melia’s words because she felt similar anxiety being in this icy graveyard. ‘However, I do not think that there is anything to find. What levelled this place has moved on, assuming that some manner of evil did this.’
‘This is no aberration of weather,’ Arianne declared. ‘Something or someone wrought this destruction. I am certain that the way is being cleared for the Enemy.’
‘Cleared?’ Keira exclaimed, staring at her puzzled.
‘Yes,’ Arianne nodded, taking another long look at the town because it was only the prelude to what was coming. ‘This is the work of the Enemy—I am certain of it. He seeks to ensure that no one knows of his existence, and this means destroying those who might be able to carry the word of him to the rest of Avalyne.’
‘To ensure that when he does emerge, he will do so to the complete surprise of those who might be able to stop him,’ Celene concluded.
‘Your child might be the first step,’ Melia pointed out. ‘If what you tell me is true about the Enemy attempting to infuse your child with Mael’s spirit, then it is possible he intends to take Avalyne, to prepare it for Mael when your babe grows to manhood.’
Arianne closed her eyes at the horrific plan and knew that both Melia and Celene were right about their suppositions. The Enemy would create a kingdom worthy of Mael, and when her son grew up to be King, he would inherit that dark empire. It would also mean that the Enemy would have to eliminate all those she cared about who were still left within his reach in order to achieve his plan.
‘We won’t let that happen,’ Keira assured her. ‘We’ll get there in time and stop this.’
‘We have to,’ Arianne declared after she was able to look at them again. ‘We must keep going. Our best hope of averting this terrible thing from happening again is to find face the Enemy and defeat him.’
The others seemed to agree with her and as they mounted their horses, preparing to leave the town behind. Arianne prayed that hope would be enough, because failure was unimaginable.
*******
As Celene had discovered in Horwyck, much of the Torn Lands remained uncharted, save for a few geographical landmarks that were passed down from the elves during the Primordial Wars. After the Immortals had retreated into the Veil it was not known if the realm was peopled. With rumours that many of the creatures created by Mael had survived him to continue their existence in this land, it seemed unlikely that anyone would wish to live in here.
As they approached the Frozen Mountains and the blizzard conditions that assailed them at the Splinter returned with even more intensity, they learned that the dwarf town was not the only village in the Torn Lands. Throughout their journey they saw other smaller settlements overtaken in similar fashion, and even the alpine woods they travelled through to reach the mountains were completely encased in ice. It was almost impossible to make a fire when they camped at the night, owing to the wood being too damp or too frozen to burn.
The mountains themselves were stretched across the horizon. Their peaks were covered in white and seemed perpetually shrouded in a fog of swirling arctic winds. The frosted ground had turned into a glacial plain that that was broken by the dead trees scattered across its expanse. They would have to cross these mountains to reach the chasm known as Mael’s Pit. The Pit had been created when the Gods drove Sanhael deep the earth, ridding Avalyne of the city where he had created an entire host of vile creatures to plague the world.
Creatures that might still be lying in wait for them.
*******
At nightfall, Celene stared at the moon above her head and was barely able to see through the falling snow that its crescent shape was wanning. The sight of it filled Celene with an apprehension that she took pains to keep hidden from her companions. Their time was growing short and she estimated they had only days left for them to reach the Enemy. Worse yet, what had destroyed the settlements and turned the lands around it into an icy wasteland had yet to show itself.
Celene did not know whether or not this was a good thing or not.
Once again, as she took the first watch, Celene finally let down the walls she had erected around her heart to see the quest through. She was the strong one, the one who would drive them onward despite all calamity and reservations. Only when the others could not see did she allow herself to feel, and what she felt was a deep yearning for home and her husband.
She missed Ronen so much it almost hurt.
Although she had spoken nothing of her need for him because a warrior had to remain focussed when embarking on a mission such as this, she missed him terribly. When she indulged them, her thoughts drifted to his wry smile and the manner in which he would soothe her when she was raging at one injustice or another, because between of the two of them he was the thoughtful one. He took everything in stride because by Ronen’s reckoning, if they could survive Balfure, they could survive anything.
Everything after that, he often said, disarming her with that damned smile of his, is easy.
Until now, Celene had not realised how terrible it would be to die without seeing him again, and yet now that they were on eve of reaching their destination, Celene knew that it was very likely that one if not all of them might not survive the quest. She drew in her breath to dispel such thoughts, because losing hope before reaching the Enemy would help no one. Celene had to believe they would survive or else they were doomed before they even started.
A warrior who believed she would die would often find a way to make it happen.
Through the howl of the wind that lashed at her partially exposed face, she was still thinking on Ronen when she heard something moving.
At first she thought it might be one of the sleepers tossing and turning., She, Keira and Arianne had come to learn during this journey that Melia did not sleep well. The Watch Guard was often plagued with nightmares that forced her awake, wide eyed and panting in fear. She did not explain what she had frightened her so and they respected her silence on the matter. Besides, as they drew closer to the mountain, Melia was not the only one to experience nightmares, because Arianne too seemed to be entertaining a few demons herself in her sleep. However, in this case, they all knew what was the cause of Arianne’s nightmares and did not pursue the matter.
At least Keira slept well.
When she heard the sound again, Celene knew that it was neither the wind nor her companions. It seemed alien against the night and did not feel natural. As it drew closer, Celene still had difficulty identifying it. If she did not know better, she would have thought someone was dragging something across the ground. Without clarity of vision thanks to the snow falling about them, Celene stood up slowly, unsheathing her sword as she scanned the dark woods surrounding them.
They had not left the campfire burning because firewood was scarce and they were attempting to conserve what wood they could. Now that she heard the horses neigh their disquiet at the edge of their encampment, Celene regretted the decision, for they needed the light.
‘Everyone. On your feet now!’ Celene barked, waking them all with that one sharp demand.
Melia awoke first, her Watch Guard instincts bringing her swiftly out of her slumber as she reached for the crossbow that lay within easy reach of her sleeping place. Rolling onto her feet, she stood up ready to face whatever danger Celene had discovered to raise the alarm. Not far from her was Arianne who reached for the hilt of her sword, her eyes watchful of the danger now that she was aware of it. Keira was the last to rouse and her eyes darted about in fear as she tried to see what was coming at them.
‘What is that?’ Keira demanded, trying to see through the darkness and snowfall.
‘I don’t know,’ Celene answered with a frown. She did not know what was out there, but it was closing in on them.
Arianne listened closely. Now that she was awake, she could feel the peril closing in on her. ‘They are near,’ she said to no one's surprise.
‘They?’ Keira asked, her voice cracking in fear. ‘There’s more than one of them?’
‘They’re all around us,’ Celene stated because she could hear it without the benefit of Arianne’s elven senses. ‘Arianne, light the fire and remain close to it.’
Arianne did not protest because Celene’s orders had kept her alive this far, and she knew her limitations now her pregnancy was entering her fourth month. She could feel her son acutely now, as such was with the way with elves, and her fears for his life made her pay heed to Celene’s need to protect her.
‘Keira, go to the horses. If you have to get on and lead them away from here, do it. We cannot afford to lose them,’ Melia said.
Keira nodded and hurried towards the animals, now stamping their hooves in desperate need to be free of the place. Meanwhile, Arianne hurried to the centre of their campsite to light the fire as Celene had demanded. The Queen worked quickly and felt the first hint of warmth from the newborn fire when the radiating glow of amber spread throughout the campsite. It lit just as the first of their attackers came into view.
It was almost the size of a horse and it moved with as much agility. All three knew exactly what they were dealing with the moment they laid eyes upon the creature. Its long body was covered in scales that glimmered with iridescent colours while its head was decidedly serpentine. It slithered across the snow covered ground and glared at them with ruby red eyes. When it opened its mouth, two large fangs stood out from the smaller serrated teeth. It reached Celene first.
‘It’s a wyrm!’ Melia shouted as she took aim with her crossbow and fired.
The bolt from the weapon struck the creature below the jaw and it turned sharply in her direction, hissing furiously at Melia in pain. The angry screech that tore through the air prompted Celene into action. She dashed forward, struggling not to slip on the snow as she rushed at it from the rear. Celene's unsheathed sword led her charge and she came up along the side of the beast and swung. The blade sliced through the air before striking flesh. It took every ounce of her strength she had to penetrate its skin even with the force of the blow, because wyrms were the young of wyverns. Had she faced it fully grown, there would be no way to penetrate its thick hide.
Nevertheless, this beast was young, and Celene saw its blood spraying in all directions when she took its head from its body. The creature's cry of pain was cut short as its large body tumbled to the snow, blood pouring from the severed neck.
Unfortunately, its death cry brought the others.
Melia turned around to see another wyrm emerging behind her and she could hear another one approaching as well. Firing her crossbow, the bolt struck the oncoming beast in the face and forced it to rear up in pain as steel tore through its muscle. In the rear of her vision she saw Arianne being stalked by the wyrm she had heard but not seen. The Queen showed herself to be no novice in defending herself and she quickly took the offensive, stabbing at the creature with her sword while moving with elven agility to avoid the snapping of its jaws. Her blade struck flesh. Although the wyrm howled in pain, it did not retreat and held its ground, preparing to lunge at her.
‘Get out of its way!’ Melia shouted, prompted by a sudden flash of inspiration.
Arianne reacted to her warning by attempting to do just that when the wyrm reared its head and widened it jaw to spit something at her. Arianne retreated, assuming the ejecta would be fire or even venom, but what escaped the beast's mouth was a blast of icy cold air. She jumped out of its path and saw that it not only extinguished the fire, but it froze the fire solid like a sculpture.
At least now they knew what had overcome those settlements.
Celene rushed forward attempting to help, slashing her sword about wildly to clear a path to Arianne. However, the wyrms were encircling them, trapping them in the middle of the campsite as they unleashed their icy breath upon the three women like they were casting a net. Celene dropped down to her knees, trying to keep out of the path of the creatures frozen breath, but even without being assaulted directly she was feeling its effects. The cold pierced her skin like needles and she was shivering beneath her cloak. Her fingers stiffened around the hilt of her sword.
One of the wyrms slithered forward, lowering its head so that it could envelop her in cold. Using the sleet on the ground, Celene threw herself forward, sliding past it and driving her blade into its side as she moved. Ripping open its flesh, its hot blood hissed against the snow as it bellowed in agony and tumbled to the ground, its elongated body going slack.
Arianne saw Celene’s efforts to reach her and soon realised that the Lady of Gislaine was busy enough trying saving her own skin without coming to her aid. Recovering her balance after she had avoided the attack of the wyrm nearest her, she remained on her feet without slipping across the sleet thanks to her elven nature. The creature had lunged at her and missed but was determined to her. Twisting around on its slithering belly, it sidled toward hers, leaving circular groves in the snow. When it neared her, it flicked its massive tail like a whip, trying to knock her off her feet. Instead Arianne jumped up, allowing it to pass beneath her.
Before she could land, however, the beast lunged again and Arianne found herself retreating in order to escape its fangs when something snagged her foot. She fell heavily on her behind and saw the wyrm closing in on her. Scrambling backwards desperately, she raised her sword just in time to see its jaws widening for the kill. Forcing her weapon between them, she held her blade poised between its jaw and her body.
She could see down its gullet and knew that all it had to do was blast her with its icy breath and she would die just as the other poor unfortunates in those frozen villages. The wyrm regarded her for a second, its eyes glaring at her malevolently, when suddenly something drew its attention from her. It retracted its head from before her and screeched angrily.
It was Keira! The lady of the Green was waving a flaming piece of branch before her. In the darkness of the night, the light from the amber flames seemed to fill the whole world and Arianne let out a sigh of relief as she recovered her senses. Taking advantage of the distraction provided, Celene came out of nowhere, jumping on a small boulder in the middle of the campsite to make a running leap onto the wyrm's back.
Once astride the beast, Celene's legs coiled around its serpentine body to keep it from throwing her off. Like any unbroken horse the wyrm bucked hard to dislodge her, but Celene remained seated. Raising her sword above her head, she gave the creature no quarter as she drove the blade into its skull. It uttered a short scream of agony before it went limp and fell lifeless to the ground.
Arianne would have thanked Celene, except she was running towards Melia.
Melia’s skill with the crossbow almost rivalled Aeron with the long bow, Arianne thought as she saw the Easterner fire bolt upon bolt at the wyrms stalking them. She had managed to keep two of them at bay but she was fast running out of projectiles. Arianne could see the worry in her face as she continued to strike near fatal wounds in the wyrms coming at them. Soon she would be forced to rely upon her sword, and Arianne remembered Melia saying she was nowhere as proficient as Celene in its use.
One of the wyrms covered in bolts was still determined to have the Watch Guard, despite its companion writhing in pain from the numerous wounds. The wyrm blew its deadly breath at Melia who barely avoided it, and while a rock had served Celene well, another behind Melia gave her no advantage. It bore the full brunt of the wyrm’s breath, freezing so quickly it shattered, sending jagged shards in all directions. Fragments of tiny shards sprayed over her and Melia fell, landing on her side trying to avoid the worst of the barrage.
Her crossbow tumbled from her hands as she fell and Melia scrambled quickly towards the sword within reach to defend herself. The wyrm prepared to make its kill as it slithered towards Melia and Arianne had only a second to act before it took her life. Throwing her sword like a spear, Arianne watched the blade fly through the air and pierce the beast in what would have been its neck. Driven by the force of her throw, the sword did not stop travelling until it was buried to the hilt in wyrm flesh.
The wyrm attempted to screech, but could not manage it since what passed for its vocal chords were severed. By this time Melia had recovered enough to thrust her own sword into the belly of the beast, and it spilt its innards onto the permafrost-covered ground when she retracted it.
For a few seconds no one spoke as they stood amongst the carcasses of the creatures that had almost killed them. All were still stunned by the fact that they had survived the onslaught. Celene had dispatched the wounded beast that had attempted retreat when Arianne was saving Melia’s life. Just as Keira had returned after securing the horses some distance away to save Arianne's life in turn. Somehow they had repealed this latest attack and they had done it together.
For the moment at least Arianne sensed the danger had retreated, even though it was not entirely gone. It still loomed over them, but she knew it emanated from the darkened mountain range they would soon be required to enter.
‘Are they all dead over there?’ Celene asked Melia, as the duty of ensuring the wyrms were dead, not merely wounded, was concluded.
‘Yes,’ Melia answered as she retrieved her crossbow bolts from the dead carcasses. It was grisly work and she had no wish to be any closer to the fledgling wyverns, but there was no other way for her to replace them and she needed them now they were nearing the end of this quest. ‘They will trouble us no more.’
‘I heard of these wyrms when I was a child,’ Celene declared, grimacing as she scanned the grisly scene in front of her. Already the snow was starting to cover the bodies and in an hour or two they would be little more than buried mounds of white. ‘I thought they were long dead!’
‘The last time these creatures were seen was during the Primordial Wars,’ Arianne explained. Now that the danger was over, she was just as astonished by the presence of these wyrms. ‘They were thought to be destroyed with Mael!’
‘However they have come to be here,’ Celene declared, ‘these wyrms have been born recently. We should not have been able to penetrate their hides with our weapons. If what I remember of wyverns is true, wyvern scales are harder than iron. The only way to kill a wyvern is to pierce its belly, because it is the only place it is vulnerable.’
‘The Enemy is responsible for this,’ Arianne said softly. ‘He is drawing out these creatures from the deepest depths of the ancient world.’
‘Well, at least we know what became of those towns,’ Keira sighed as she went to a shrub that had been treated to the wyrm’s deadly breath and crushed a branch in her hand. It broke as if it were a dry leaf, turning to powder in her hands. The lady of the Green dusted her palms of the fragments, clear disgust in her face as she did so.
‘I suppose,’ Arianne replied before coming to Keira and giving her a hug. ‘I have you to thank for my life. If you had not intervened…’
‘We all saved each other,’ Keira said, accepting her thanks and hugging her back. ‘I could not simply leave you all behind. The horses are safe so we will be able to leave this place.‘
‘Let us move now,’ Celene suggested, having no desire to remain here. ‘I do not know what else is out there but it certainly knows where we are.’
‘It is trying to stop us,’ Arianne announced.
‘Stop us?’ Keira looked at her puzzled. ‘Why would it do that? Does it not need you for this plan to resurrect it?’
Arianne took a deep breath and revealed the only thing Lylea had told her that she had not revealed to anyone in her company. Her mother had told her that secrecy was paramount, and though she trusted her friends who had proved time and time again they had only her best interest at heart, the knowledge might place them in jeopardy. However, now that they were in the final leg of their journey, it was important to tell them what came next.
‘There is something in the Frozen Mountains I alone can retrieve. It has been waiting for me since this quest began and if we are to defeat the Enemy, I must claim it first. My mother showed it to me when we were in Carleon. She ordered me not tell anyone of it because to do so would expose you to danger.’
‘What is it?’ Melia asked, wiping blood from one of the bolts and looking none too happy about it. She assumed that if the Queen was telling this to them now, she must be ready to confide in them.
‘Because the Enemy knows this thing is here in the Mountains and it knows that only I can retrieve it. It places its guards around to keep us away from it because if I find it, I will be able to defeat him once and for all. I believe this is why the wyrms attacked tonight. They wish to keep this beyond my reach.’
‘Beyond our reach,’ Celene corrected her, making sure Arianne knew she was going nowhere without them, particularly to retrieve this mysterious weapon that could save them all. ‘Do not tell us Arianne what this thing is. If Queen Lylea feels that it is necessary for silence then we will escort you to its location. Do you know how to get there?’
‘Yes,’ she nodded. ‘I do.’
‘Then we better get a move on,’ Keira smiled.