Draith
patreon
Chapter 75 - The Ice Calls
🕑 Added 2025-04-14 14:00:15 +0000 UTCIt was impossible to confirm the storm's origins, but when it settled in place, hanging over my domain, any doubts I might've had about it being unrelated to us disappeared.
I hadn't seen Vaserra since we'd parted ways at the edge of her lands. It hadn't felt urgent.
Now I was regretting that choice.
Was also a little chafed that the storm would keep me from testing the glider designs. A person would have to be insane to use an untested glider in the middle of a blizzard.
The memory of my final test in Memory Palace made me shudder as I moved inside. I wanted to check on the refugee valley, though I stopped by Keeper on my way down, and confirmed it still hadn't recovered. It seemed recalling the shards took a lot out of the being. Or maybe it'd been the rib bone with the spells.
Either way, it remained silently fixed in place and I moved on.
My next stop was the refugee valley. The moment I stepped through, I found my teeth chattering. Mount Aeternia was completely isolated against the weather, and unless there was a fierce storm, Tetherfall felt remarkably temperate.
Not wanting to waste my time getting strapped into my cold weather gear when I only intended to check on the village, I grumbled about not having time to adjust my shield spell then stepped outside the cave.
It'd only been a day since my last visit, yet the valley had changed yet again.
The biggest change was the amount of lumber that'd been brought through. Neatly stacked to the side of the path, yet still beneath the bows of the tree network, piles of logs lay in neat rows. They were just the branches of the great trees, yet even the smallest was thicker around than my torso. The Tethered had been busy. It was all green wood, which was kinda terrible to build with if you didn't have a spell like Bloom, or a way to rapidly dry it.
Green wood. That meant, despite the massive stockpiles, the refugees had very little in the way of burnable fuel.
After all, it took time for wood to dry enough to be good for burning. Something I'd only learned after we'd had to start making the fires ourselves during our journey along the high road.
Reaching the end of the path, I came on the valley. There were paths already getting beaten into the earth where hundreds of feet had moved between the cliffs and each of the halls. There were only a few refugees awake, and they were all standing around a fire, huddled against the cold as they occasionally checked their surroundings.
Even with their lackluster supplies, they were still dressed better for the cold than I was. Thankfully, it wasn't too cold, yet. But the temperature was steadily dropping. Already, I could see frost forming all over the valley.
The fact I'd spent the morning building a frost-enchanted storeroom only for a cold front to get dumped on our heads wasn't lost on me.
Retreating back to Tetherfall before I could freeze, I returned to our temporary home. I stopped just inside the entrance, pressing myself against the warmth of the rock. Water dripped down my hands, pooling on the floor. I lifted my hand, curling my fingers as I contemplated what the giant cold front meant.
Had Sarpit decided to get rid of us before we caused him trouble?
I honestly couldn't think of anyone else who could summon so much winter. Or why they’d want to. As the shivers finally left me, I pushed away from the wall and made my way towards bed. Suddenly, I was feeling exhausted. It was still the middle of the night, and getting knocked out by the backlash from Memory Palace clearly hadn't been restful.
It felt like I'd barely closed my eyes when Calbern woke me. As had become habit, I worked on my Astral form as I ate breakfast. Was getting close to my third slot. A few more days at most. Now that I'd gotten some sleep, I wondered about the storm. It hadn't been heavily laden with mana, like the last one. Which implied there was less holding it together.
"If I may say, master Perth, you may desire to dress warmly today. Quite the chill in the air," Calbern said as he collected my dishes.
"Probably for the best. Didn't look like it's gonna pass over," I said even as I let him help me get dressed.
"You already saw the weather?"
"Last night, when I woke up."
"And you did not go to bed?" Calbern asked, a note of concern in his voice.
"Was only half an hour or so," I said, giving him a shrug. "And it doesn't look natural. Was thinking about the refugees. Are they gonna be able to stay warm?"
"I believe young Selvi was organizing the provision of additional clothing today," Calbern replied.
"Probably gonna need more than-"
A loud clatter from outside interrupted our conversation. Calbern beat me to the door, pulling it open.
I cursed, only half-dressed as I followed him.
On the floor in the main room was one of the new sentries. It looked like he'd slipped on one of the many pages Bevel had left scattered on the floor.
I recognized him. Dethi, I was pretty sure.
"Rotten, blighted, ropeburners," Dethi muttered as he pushed himself off the floor while rubbing the back of his head. "Who leaves fraying pictures lying all over the place."
"Ahem," Calbern said, clearing his throat as he offered the young man a hand up.
"Ah. Sorry 'bout that Magus, sir," Dethi said. "Just got a bit mussed with this whole mess."
"Did you need something, guardsman Dethi?" I asked, not really wanting to deal with this before I'd even dressed for the day.
"Right. Selvi wanted me to get you. Said she needed you," Dethi replied, still rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head. "Said they spotted something coming up the old trade road."
I nodded, sending the young man on his way while Calbern helped me finish getting dressed. I didn't leave the ridiculous laces to him alone though. Using Tie Rope, I managed to do all but the trickiest parts, saving nearly five minutes of effort.
Once that was done we hurried up the nets. I realized the spell might've gotten the boots on quicker, but it definitely lacked Calbern's finesse. They were already chafing my ankles as we climbed.
On level ground, I barely noticed my boots. I joined Selvi atop the tallest of the storehouses, looking south.
"See 'em?" Selvi grunted out, nodding her chin to the southwest. And I could. There was a group gathered just across the canyon, all of them next to frost wolves. Eagle Eyes did its duty, bringing Vaserra's braided brown hair into focus, where she was patting Frost Lily’s snout while gesturing to the others around her. She had over a dozen with her, including her companions, Intelid and Engrid. None of them looked especially happy.
"Don't think they're hostile," I replied even as I slid down the roof. Inertia was standing nearby, Tresla in her shadow. Inertia nodded to me, and I nodded back.
It was weird seeing her standing still. Didn't last long, the second I stepped past her, moving towards where Vaserra was camped out, she started clanging along behind me.
Was reassuring to have her there.
With Inertia at my shoulder, Vaserra noticed my group's approach immediately. She hopped up onto Frost Lily, then yelled something at her companions. Several of the others seemed to disagree with her, but she silenced them with another yell before coming towards us.
Frost Lily broke into a bounding run, and then, without breaking stride, leapt over the canyon. It was only twenty feet, but it was still an impressive sight. I hadn't been sure at first, but as they closed the last fifty feet towards us, I was certain Frost Lily had grown a great deal. She still wasn't as large as her father, but she was at least half again as large as she'd been the last time I'd seen them.
Vaserra hadn’t been idle.
"Magus Dominus," Vaserra said, sliding down from Frost Lily's back the moment the wolf came to a stop.
"Vaserra," I replied, stepping forward to clasp her hand. "Don't suppose you know why we've got this storm hanging over our heads?"
"Aye. That'd be my fault," Vaserra said, turning to the side and spitting. "My father has proven even more of a coward than I thought. He wishes to eliminate you before you are too strong."
"How's that your fault?" I asked, as I stepped back.
“Made the mistake of celebrating where one of his nibblehumpers could hear me. Mentioned my plans to enlist you to help keep things fair, when the time came for my challenge. I’ve grown so much these weeks. If I'd focused on hunting instead of trying to save the sheep from every little danger, I could've been stronger than him by now," Vaserra said, clutching her fists.
"Personally, I'm glad you put people's safety over power," I replied. "Though now that you're here. Maybe you can do both."
"What did you have in mind?" Vaserra asked, her expression lightening slightly, her fists clenched less tight.
"Well, let's just say the vale I've got here is a bit less friendly than the ones you've got back home."
There was no way I was leading a dozen frost wolves down the nets and through the Waygates to Mistvale. Not only would it terrify the Tethered, whose only interactions with the Frost Riven in recent years were when Grivis sold them to Sarpit, it wouldn't be easy on the wolves either.
Vaserra and Frost Lily probably would've been fine. I remembered how smoothly Vaserra and her companions had moved along the cliffs when we'd gone hunting the drakes.
But most frost wolves weren't that agile.
Which meant we were taking Fang.
After the improvements Inertia made, I hadn't been out on the bike again. Calbern had more than put it through its paces though. He'd spent every minute he could exploring the nearby mountain ridges. He’d even taken Bevel out with him a few times.
His explorations served us well, cause he'd found a way into Mistvale that didn't require climbing the cliff. It was a windy road, and would take way longer on foot. But the gradual incline was easy for Fang and the Frost Riven to speed along.
The great wolves easily matched our speed over the still rough terrain, Calbern having to slow consistently as we made our way up.
By the time we crested the final ridge, I'd resolved to install even more padding in the passenger seat. Despite the new suspension, it had been an incredibly rough ride.
"This is good land," Vaserra said, Frost Lily sitting down beside us with her tongue lolling out.
"Yeah. Few too many monsters here for us to make use of it right now," I said, gesturing towards a herd of raptors that were trailing so much mist they looked like they were on fire.
"An excellent hunting ground," Vaserra said, giving a toothy smile as she turned towards her companions. "The Ice Calls!"
"The Ice Calls," the riders around us cheered back.
"We shall hunt. If the bond favors me, I will be able to break this curse a week from today," Vaserra said, reaching over to pat Fang's side. "In exchange for allowing us to hunt your lands, we shall bring our spoils to your village to share our bounty."
I nodded down the slope, towards the forest. "We have a camp setup near the heart of the forest. See that big patch of broken trees with the bend in the middle?"
I waited for her to look over and nod.
"That's where we're set up. You can bring your prizes there."
"Very well," Vaserra said, pulling a bow from her pack. "We shall visit this camp first, hunting that which stands in our way." As she strung the bow, she looked towards me. "And what of you, will you join us on this hunt?"
"I…" I looked down the path leading back to the village. And I thought of how rough the ride up had been. And how rough it had been to ride a horse. Really, ever since we'd left Nexxa's domain, it had become more and more clear to me how uncomfortable it was to ride anything on Ro'an. Still, I suspected the ride to the Waygate would be a lot shorter than the trip back on Fang. "You know what, I think I will come with you. Calbern, you'll be okay to get back on your own?"
"Fang will keep me safe, master Perth," Calbern replied, patting the carved bone frame just ahead of him.
"Excellent!" Vaserra called, turning to her people who'd gathered just down the hill. "The Magus rides with us!"
The strength of the return cheer surprised me, though it was only as strong as their earlier cheer.
"Up," Vaserra said, reaching over and extending her hand. With a single tug, she pulled me up behind her. Then she waved to Calbern, "May your Ice fly true!"
"May your Ice fly true, Lady Vaserra," Calbern called back. Then without hesitation, he put Fang into motion, steam billowing out the sides as the bike leapt forward, the front wheel lifting off the ground. As he turned it down the hill, it didn't take long for me to recognize how much he'd been holding back. He'd probably be back in Tetherfall before we'd made it halfway into the valley.
It was only as I shifted my attention forward that I realized Frost Lily had no saddle.
I felt it in her legs as she gathered the energy to jump. And not so different from how Fang had sailed down the ridge with Calbern at the controls, Frost Lily dove into Mistvale.
Comments
Noah
Could we get a drawing of Fang? I can’t really picture it in my head. The four by four seats made me think it was more of a buggy/atv than a motorcycle.
