^^Temru says stay. He let you know when can not-stay. This is Jargul, can you hear?^^
Yes, I’ll stay behind these logs until told otherwise. Valgrin waited for a moment, but didn’t get a response. He looked down at Skwilly, “How are you holding up? That quickly put-together fur vest doesn’t seem to be keeping you warm,” Valgrin asked.
Skwilly looked up, puffs of faint white fog coming from his snout with each breath. “Freezing. My tail’s gone numb,” he said, tucking it closer to his body. “What I wouldn’t give for whatever magic keeps your blood running in this. You just have a tunic, a heavy one, but no fur other than your boot lining.”
“The kher-terghuun’s still back there.” Valgrin nodded toward the distant shelter. “Not fancy like the one we rode in after the conference, but no snow inside.” He pressed his back against the log. “See any gaps down there? I need eyes on that cave without catching another ice ball to the skull.”
“Making me move,” grumbled Skwilly, “almost as bad.” He shuffled around then sighed, “Found one, good view of the cave entrance.”
“Keep watching, I didn’t get a good look at where we got attacked from.”
^^Temru asks if you have way of stopping sky attack of ice? If no, should we stop tok-la and talk more.^^
Skwilly and I are trying to figure out a way to stop the ice balls, so I’d say let’s not stop the tok-la, yet. I do have some questions for you, Jargul.
^^Ask, Jargul answer.^^
From what I understand, this cave showed up about two weeks ago, and the snolves scouted it. Correct?
^^Yes. New cave come to our territory. Snolves best scouts, snions best fighters, so snolves scouted.^^
The snolves who scouted this didn’t get attacked at all, even when they sniffed at the cave opening?
^^No attacks.^^
Thank you Jargul. If I have more questions, I will reach out.
^^Done.^^
“Abrupt, but efficient. According to Jar…”
“I heard, he allowed me to hear, just not participate,” Skwilly interrupted. “You may have to stand and get attacked, with no targets—no attacks.”
“Fair point. Can you talk to Jargul?”
Skwilly looked up at Valgrin. “I can. He’s not the most talkative, but we can communicate.”
Valgrin leaned closer to Skwilly. “Tell Jargul I’m going to make myself a target—draw their fire. Everyone needs to watch the mountainside near the cave entrance. We need to pinpoint exactly where those ice balls are launching from. My gut says it’s the cave itself, but betting our lives on a hunch…” He shook his head grimly. “Not a risk I’m willing to take.”
Skwilly chuffed, “That might be too much for Jargul, but I’ll give it a go.”
Valgrin tugged at the hem of his tunic where it had bunched uncomfortably against his lower back, then bent forward until his fingertips grazed the tops of his snow-crusted boots. His muscles protested with a dull burn as he held the position, eyes fixed on Skwilly’s furrowed brow and distant gaze—the telltale signs of mental communication happening just beyond his reach.
“Message sent and given to Temru, the sevles, snolves, and snions will watch the cave.” Skwilly shared.
Valgrin nodded at Skwilly, then exploded from cover in a spray of snow, his boots kicking up white plumes as he charged around the logs. He sprinted straight toward the cave, veering sharply around the occasional boulders that stuck up from the ground. Eyes locked on the treacherous ground, he missed the launch of three deadly spheres until they sliced through the air above him. He wrenched himself sideways at a ninety-degree angle, his momentum nearly toppling him as five more spheres screamed past where he’d been standing. Without slowing, he hurled himself into a snowbank, praying it didn’t conceal jagged rocks. He slammed into the powder, tucking into a desperate roll as ice balls pummeled the surrounding snow, sending up miniature explosions of white. He scrambled to his feet and bolted back toward Skwilly, only to have an iceball crash between his shoulder blades. The impact to his back felt like a sledgehammer, driving the air from his lungs in an agonized gasp. He lurched forward on rubbery legs, hurling himself behind the logs where he collapsed.
“That hurt,” he wheezed.
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“Might help ease the pain to know we got great views of where the ice balls got launched from, four spots just above the opening, two of which were past the width of the opening.” His eyes narrowed, scanning Valgrin’s face. “Your breathing’s still shallow.”
“Yeah.” His gasps for air were less frantic. “I need to try something, which you’ll like.” Valgrin closed his eyes and concentrated on the snow around himself and Skwilly. Within a minute, the air warmed, and the snow got slushy. He shifted his focus, and ice in the shape of a wall grew from the slushy snow. “It works! I can borrow from my other ice magic to create and shape ice from a liquid source. So that means I can go past amount limitations. Not sure how far, but should be able to go far enough. And not sure how much is needed, I can create a hollow wall and draw up the slush to fill it, which will freeze.”
“Huh?” Skwilly grunted.
“I can make an ice barrier that should block the ice balls. With the changes to my ice magic, I should be able to make more ice than before.” Valgin gestured wildly as he spoke.
Skwilly pressed his eye to the narrow gap between the logs. His breath fogged against the frozen wood as he squinted, ears flattening against his head. “Think that would work?”
“You tell Jarqul to let everyone know to wait for my signal. I’m going to sneak a little closer to make sure I’m in range. May need to have Jarqul follow behind me so I can communicate back to you and Temru.” Keeping low, Valgrin slipped from cover to cover, using the logs and boulders as shields while he edged his way along the perimeter toward the cave entrance. Several minutes later he’d gotten close enough to the cave entrance to see the four quarter sized holes above the opening. I guess the spheres must expand after they are launched from there. Seems to be enough snow to work with. He focused on raising the temperature in that area. Encouraged by his success, he pressed on. Jarqul, are you there?
^^No, I am close enough to hear, but not there.^^
Sorry, that’s what I meant. Let them know they can start heading to the cave. Tell them to make haste without exhausting themselves—we’ll need reserves for whatever awaits inside.
^^Am too far away to communicate with anyone other than Temru. I will tell him.^^
Valgrin’s ears rang with sevle battle cries that tore through the frigid air. A high-pitched whine drew his attention back to the cave. It grew louder with each passing second, shifting from a whine to a cracking noise. The mountain itself seemed to scream as massive chunks of rock tore free from the cave mouth, crashing down with ground-shaking force that sent snow exploding upward in blinding clouds. Ice balls shrieked from their launchers, careening wildly—some rocketing skyward, others smashing into the ground. Heart hammering, Valgrin lunged from cover and sprinted toward the entrance. The snow before him erupted with violence, whirling into a humanoid figure that materialized with terrifying speed. Its snow-forged saber glinted with deadly promise mere feet from his face. Valgrin’s katar flashed into his hand, his muscles coiling as he braced for the clash of steel against ice.
The snow creature’s blade whistled through the air, a blur of crystalline death. Valgrin’s heart hammered as he twisted sideways, steel meeting ice with a sound like shattering glass. His counter-slash carved chunks from the creature’s weapon, but horror flooded his veins as frost exploded from the ice-sword, encasing his katar and joining it to the icy blade. The monster wrenched with inhuman strength, nearly dislocating Valgrin’s shoulder. Pain shot up his arm as tendons stretched to breaking point. Desperation surged through him—two ice daggers materialized and flew from his free hand, punching through the creature’s skull with a sickening crunch. It exploded into a blizzard of particles, freeing his weapon.
All around, chaos reigned—sevles locked in mortal combat, snolve fangs ripping through snow-flesh, sions’ massive claws shredding enemies into glittering mist.
A fresh monstrosity erupted from the ground before him, its faceless head swiveling with predatory intent. Valgrin slashed savagely across its torso and sprinted for the cave, heart hammering as footfalls crunched behind him. The creature lunged—and shattered into nothingness as it crossed onto the rocky threshold. He pressed his back against stone and looked into the cave. Seeing no other threats, he turned back to the snow-covered clearing in front of the cave. Few of the creatures remained standing. “They can’t cross into the cave!” he bellowed, his voice cracking with urgency.
His eyes darted frantically through the chaos, searching for Skwilly’s familiar form. Panic clawed at him when he couldn’t spot his friend. Then—a whisper of movement. A flash of white. The snow arrow punched through his chest with such force it drove the air from his lungs. White-hot agony exploded through his ribs as the crystalline shaft buried itself deep. Skwilly’s anguished scream tore through the battlefield as Valgrin crashed to his knees, the world around him detonating into blinding, searing white.
<
Valgrin’s brain swam through fog, the Structure’s message flickering like a distant light. The world jolted back into focus as hands gripped his shoulders, shaking him. He blinked away the haze to find three faces hovering above—Altayna, Temru, and Skwilly looking down at him.
“You okay?” Skwilly’s voice cracked, worry tangible in his voice.
Valgrin accepted Altayna’s help in standing up. “Fine, a little shaky, but fine. I absorbed the magic of a snow arrow, and it knocked me out, according to the Structure. Did everyone make it?”
Temru nodded. “We didn’t lose anyone, though a couple took injuries. You seemed to be the closest. I saw the arrow hit you and then disappear. May not be the place or time, but I think that was proof enough that you could be the Syl-Aith-Ria.”
“I would agree.” Altayna clasped his forearm. “Even if not, you are welcome in any battle I’m a part of.”
“Thank you both. I wonder how much of a dungeon crawl awaits us here. Like you both mentioned yesterday, if this just appeared here a couple of weeks ago—it’s most likely something like that.”
Temru turned to the group of sevles watching from along the wall of the cavern. “Khuradan, have you examined this room and ways out of it?”
A sevle with a beard fanned out across his chest, clumping where melted snow had refrozen, stepped forward. “I have Noyark, Noyarks,” he corrected himself with a quick nod to Altayna. “There is only one other way out, and it leads to a smaller chamber than this one.”
Aren’t the sions and snolves coming with us?” Skwilly asked.
Temru shook his head. “They will remain outside the cavern unless called in. Neither is the best at this type of exploration. Lead us, Khuradan.”