Hammerhold Tales: Thrallborn Read online

  The others followed suit, some shooting nervous glances at the food and shelter left behind. Sawain followed in the back so he could keep an eye on everyone in the convoy. Jatharr made good on his word to keep a lively pace. Sawain could feel the strain on his legs twenty minutes in.

  The others were struggling on the snowy ice as well. Some were slipping and stumbling, dropping armfuls of meat or blankets. Sawain ushered them along, urging them to leave behind their spilled cargo in order to keep up the pace.

  Sawain tried to keep his mind off of the frigid water beneath the ice and on the ones above it. Marta awoke an hour into the excursion and blinked the morning sun out of her sable eyes. She looked up at Sawain again. Sawain noticed her moving and gave her an assuring smile.

  “Good morning, miss Marta. Fine day for a walk across the lake, isn’t it? How are you feeling?”

  She furrowed her brow and tried to squirm around. Sawain held tight so he would not drop her. After a moment of squirming, she settled down and answered Sawain.

  “I’m feeling better, will you put me down and let me walk with my husband?”

  Sawain shook his head, “I can’t. We are moving fast and I don’t think you should push yourself right now. We will be over the ridge by nightfall and safe in Alfhaven Forest. Then we can slow down and see how you handle that.”

  “Please, Master Sawain, I’m fine, put me down!”

  Sawain was determined to keep her safe. He remembered what happened to him when he tried to jump up and wander around after being unconscious for days. He shook his head.

  “I can’t do that. I have to make sure you stay safe.”

  Marta squirmed and argued with Sawain for the better part of an hour. Sawain was beginning to wonder if it was worth the waste of energy when the far ridge was still quite far. He contemplated letting her down, just to prove to her she was not ready, when the ice under his feet shuddered. Everyone must have felt it too. A cacophony of shouts and cries of alarm rang out from the refugees. They were all scanning their feet for cracks when Sawain heard Jatharr’s voice call out in a yell to get everyone’s attention.

  “Don’t panic! Don’t panic! The ice will hold fine! It’s nothing to worry about! The glacier is probably shifting! It does that sometimes. No need for alarm!”

  Sawain prayed to Turin that Jatharr was right. His word was enough to calm the others down enough to keep the convoy moving, though now murmuring could be heard amid the crunching snow under their feet. Another hour passed and the winter sun was reaching its zenith. Sawain had his eyes trained on the large mountain of ice that rose up from the flat, white surface beneath his feet. It looked to him like a slumbering giant keeping watch over a vast, empty domain. It grew larger and larger as the next hour passed.

  The sun was sinking again after several hours on the ice and Sawain’s muscles were aching from the fast pace, coupled with the cold. He checked on Marta again. She was asleep and shivering. He placed a hand on her forehead. She was hot to the touch again. Her sickness must have taken hold again. This ill turn made Sawain push through his stiffness.

  Sawain noticed that he was walking on an incline. The flat ground was slowly rising up in a slope around the massive glacier ahead and to the right. Sawain also noticed that Jatharr led them in a gentle arch around the main body of the glacier. He wondered why Jatharr would go through the effort to avoid the jutting icy crag. He guessed it would be too much for the others to handle.

  The sun was setting and the far ridge was finally growing larger. Sawain was growing tired from carrying Marta and himself across this frozen wasteland. He let his mind wander to scenes of elegant banquets set in the warm halls of the elven lords and the sheltering warmth of Alfhaven. He felt the ground rumble beneath his feet. He ignored it. As he kept walking and daydreaming of the wild beauties of Alfhaven, the rumbling grew stronger, more constant.

  His mind snapped back to reality when he noticed Jatharr stop after checking behind him. Sawain turned to see what caused the sudden halt.

  A force greater than the winter chill froze Sawain’s blood in its veins. The ridge line where their camp was left was set ablaze. Black smoke poured into the crimson sky. On the icy horizon of the lake, still a good distance off was a writhing black mass that was wider than the glacier it was approaching at a quick pace. Sawain noticed torchlight punctuating the ensuing mass. Fear gripped him and froze his feet to the ground. Jatharr’s voice snapped him back to action.

  “It’s the Grey King’s forces! They’re on the move towards Alfhaven! We have to run! NOW!”

  Panic broke out among their ranks as the refugees slipped and staggered on the slick ice. The stretch of lake between them and the ridge was devoid of snow. The bare ice was thinner here, as well. Sawain looked at his feet and could see the blue depths too well for his liking. He kept a quick, even stride, trying his best to keep from slipping. It was not an easy feat.

  The others kept slipping and falling on their backsides, each time getting up a little slower. Sawain helped pick them up when they fell as he hurried across the rumbling ice. He glanced behind him and noticed the encroaching army was drawing nearer, as if the icy terrain was nothing to them. They were close enough now for Sawain to make out vaguely the individuals that composed the mass of the army.

  Their thunderous march shook the icy plain Sawain and the refugees were desperately scrambling across. The solid land Sawain sought was not far away now. He estimated that they could make it there in ten minutes, but he was not sure if they could out-climb the undead army that was closing in on them every second. The ground shuddered violently. Sawain heard the cracking of ice beneath his feet. His unchecked fear forced him to look down into the depths.

  The water beneath the cracking ice grew darker. Something was rising from the deep. A spine covered serpentine body brushed the surface of the ice. Sawain watched for half a minute as the scaly, shimmering body swam quickly beneath him until it vanished again. He knew what was coming and crouched down, trying to brace himself as well as possible.

  The icy plain erupted several hundred yards behind Sawain. He chanced a look over his shoulder. Dozens of ice boulders soared high into the sky. A gargantuan geyser of water shot up just as high. Sawain saw the shimmering serpentine creature gleaming in the geyser. Then he looked down and saw the shock wave of shattered frozen lake rippling toward him. His voice found its courage.

  “Brace yourselves!”

  The shock wave hit them hard. The ice Sawain was standing on was upturned with great force. He used the momentum from the icy platform to leap to another large chunk of ice that was being pushed along by the ice wave. He held onto Marta with one hand and the slippery ice with the other. His grip on the ice was virtually useless, but the speed of the frozen raft kept him planted firmly.

  He ventured a glance around the chaos to try to spot any of the others. He saw Jatharr clinging to a chunk of ice with one arm wrapped tight around Timneas and his other hand gripping the handle of the axe that he thrust into the ice. He also saw a few of the others being tossed around in the deadly churn. There was nothing he could do for them. He looked away to assess the rest of the situation. Solid land was approaching quickly. As long as those able to hold onto their solid ground did so, they would safely wash up on the dry ground shortly. He felt a small degree of relief and checked Marta. She seemed to be breathing still.

  A loud crashing boom shook Sawain’s ice raft and nearly threw him off. A large splash not far from him counteracted his smooth ride and nearly flipped him into the frigid depths. He held on well enough to stop at the edge of his ice platform. He quickly scooted back up some and pulled the dagger he had in his belt from skinning wolves the other day out. He slammed it into the ice and looked up in the sky. The large boulders the lake creature threw into the air when it emerged were raining down all across the lake.

  Sawain held on for all he was worth as the crashing ice fell all around him. He glanced at the last place he saw Jatharr and Timneas. H
e was relieved to see his friend still holding strong against the torrent of ice slabs. He caught Jatharr’s eye. Jatharr smiled broadly at him and nodded. Sawain smiled and nodded back. Sawain took a deep breath and opened his mouth to yell at Jatharr.

  A boulder of ice roughly the size of the Anvilheim gate slammed into the lake, catching the edge of Jatharr’s ice raft. He was wrenched from his axe and flung thirty feet into the air, splashing into the ice filled water beyond the slab.

  “JATHARR!”

  Sawain’s heart leaped into his throat as terror gripped him again. The wave caused by the slab’s impact rocked his own raft and nearly tipped it. He held on to the knife as tight as he could while the ice platform turned vertical. He looked above him and saw the snowy ground approaching. He planted his feet on the wall of ice and kicked off as it hit the ground.

  He hit the ground on his back and skid for about twenty feet as the upturned ice tilted over, threatening to crush him. He tucked himself into a ball and slid to safety as the once safe haven smashed into the ground where he was moments before. Icy water crashed over him as the shock wave broke on the dry land. He coughed and sputtered in an attempt to clear the frigid liquid from his lungs as he clambered to his feet.

  Marta was lying unconscious not far from him. He ran to her and scooped her off of the wet ground. She was as soaked as he was. He stood there shivering as he scanned the shoreline for any survivors. He did not see any. He stumbled across the broken icy debris in search for his friends.

  “JATHARR! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

  He looked toward the source of this chaos and saw a massive, silvery serpent with two massive fin-like wings spread wide rising about sixty feet above the lake’s surface. It had a very snake-like head decorated with rows of blue spikes along its brow. Its roar was unlike anything Sawain had ever heard before. It was spewing a jet of the same blue water as the contents of the lake at the approaching army. As soon as it hit the oncoming forces, it froze solid, trapping those it hit inside a frost-bound tomb.

  Sawain turned away from the catastrophic violence in order to continue his search, deeming the lake monster too dangerous to deal with. He kept stumbling along the shoreline until he saw a small body draped across one of the pieces of frozen lake. He ran to check on the victim. It was Jatharr.

  Sawain flipped him on his back with one hand and then shook him roughly. Panic and fear choked his words as he spoke to his friend.

  “Come on, you lazy old bum. Get up. We are almost home free. Wake up. Wake up! WAKE UP!”

  Sawain shook him harder and harder until his eyes fluttered open and he reflexively vomited water all over the ground. He coughed and shivered for a few seconds, looking dazed. Sawain was relieved he was alive, but did not see Timneas.

  “Jatharr where’s Timneas?”

  Jatharr blinked at him. His countenance was the most wretched and pitiful one Sawain had ever seen. When he spoke, it was in a devastated whisper.

  “I lost him.”

  Sawain’s legs gave out beneath him and he fell to his knees, facing Jatharr. Big tears welled up in Jatharr’s eyes, spilling out onto his pale cheeks. Sawain felt his own hot tear roll down his face as his heart broke more painfully than it ever had before. The pain was more than he could bear. His arms grew numb as he placed his head on Jatharr’s knee and wept bitterly. Jatharr joined him in his weeping. They cried for what felt to Sawain like an eternity for each of their comrades that were lost to the frigid tide, but especially for Timneas and Dendie.

  It’s not fair. They were only children. It’s not fair.

  He cried and screamed his primal scream of fury as the tears splashed on the ice below, making a crackling sound. He hugged Marta’s unconscious, cold body tight as his scream kindled like an inferno, returning the blood to his limbs. His vision filled with red, but all he could do was scream. His legs would not work. He screamed until his voice was hoarse and cried until his tears would not come anymore. He felt Jatharr’s hand on his shoulder and looked up at his tear-stained face.

  “We have to let them go. I know it’s hard, but you can still save one of them. Don’t let your legacy die here. We must get Marta to Alfhaven. Come now, my friend. We are almost home.”

  Jatharr’s words soothed the rage in Sawain’s chest. The pain was still heavy on his heart, but he wiped the tears from his face, took a deep breath and willed his legs to work again. He pulled himself to his feet and glanced again at the monster that was still ravaging the Grey King’s forces. He heard Jatharr’s voice behind him speak in a low, grim tone.

  “Odd, That wyrm you see over there is Hoskreln, the Sea Tyrant. He must have been hibernating in the lake since the summer. Strange place to find that one, still. He prefers the warmer waters of the Southern Sea usually. Hmm, either way, we should be on our way before he runs out of things to kill.”

  Sawain nodded and silently turned to the last obstacle between him and Alfhaven. The small mountain was an almost sheer rocky cliff made even more hazardous by the ice layer settled on it at the bottom from the Sea Tyrant’s destruction. Sawain strode toward it, looking for footholds and safe places to stand. This would not be a problem, except he could only really use one hand to scale this cliff, he was exhausted, and it was dark. Though he could see fine in the dark, he could not see the ice as well in the dark.

  He put all fears aside and began to climb. He worked his way up slowly, methodically, trying not to think of the titanic sea dragon not nearly far enough away that was happily thrashing the undead abominations and making all sorts of commotion. He grabbed a rock above his head and pulled himself up. The rock he was holding broke away from the cliff. He fell only for a split second when he felt Jatharr’s hand brace his back from the fall.

  “Watch where yer throwing rocks, lad! I’ve had quite enough of falling boulders for one lifetime!”

  Sawain sighed and found another rock to grab. Marta was growing colder and her breathing was weaker than ever. Sawain grit his teeth and kept grabbing ledge after ledge, rock after rock, working his way up the mountain until every muscle in his body burned in agonizing pain. He tried to ignore it, but he was slowing down. He was cold and hungry. He walked all day with no food at all and was loosing consciousness. His parched tongue clung to the roof of his mouth and felt like sand in his throat. He was ready to give up.

  He lifted himself up onto a large flat rock. The cliff flattened out at this point. Jatharr pulled himself up behind Sawain. They made it to the top. The ridge line on the other side sloped gently down until it met the edge of what Sawain could only think of as a great sea of trees. The leafy canopy stretched as far as his eyes could see in every direction. Sawain’s jaw dropped at the sight of the great expanse. It was more beautiful than anything he ever laid eyes on. His tongue loosened and he found he voice again.

  “We made it. We’ve reached Alfhaven!”

  END OF BOOK ONE