Ben's NaNoWriMo Log

Chapter 11 added Sep 23, 2005
They rode slowly up into the mountains. Now that there was no active pursuit behind them, it was safer to let the horses go at a more sedate pace. The pass was still mostly covered with snow, though they crossed a few small trickles of melt water from higher slopes that caught the sun. Now that she had gotten used to it, Sarah was starting to appreciate the majestic beauty of the mountain country. She decided that reaching higher altitudes slowly and gradually was far superior to being magically transported to them from the sea coast. The first night in the Gap, Syphar repeated his performance from the Skytooth road. He built an ice shelter large enough for the three of them and their horses. The horses lay down together for warmth, and Molly slept nestled against Lightning's flank. Sarah and Syphar used their saddles as pillows and were kept quite comfortable by the cloaks they had taken from Skytooth. It was a restful night for all, all things considered, but they still rose early the next morning. They were no longer in immediate peril from human agencies, but they still had a hard and dangerous trek before them. "Elizar's Gap isn't used very often," explained Molly as they led their horses up a steep incline still knee deep with snow. "It saves almost two weeks over going around the mountains, but it's only clear enough for wagons for a few months each year. And if something unexpected happens," she indicated the silent peaks with a broad sweep of her hand, "there's not exactly a convenient wainwright nearby. Still, there are always a few people greedy or desperate enough to try it." Sarah looked up at the snowy slopes. The midday sun gleamed brightly, making her squint to keep from being blinded. A pair of hawks circled slowly overhead. Their cries echoed from the peaks on either side of the trail. "I think it's lovely," she said. "You don't have to worry about keeping warm, though," said Syphar. "And we haven't had to deal with any rock slides or avalanches yet." He grinned. "At least not natural ones." Molly pulled her heavy fur cloak tighter about her shoulders. "He's right. It's almost more dangerous now than in the dead of winter. The weather's not quite so cold, but the thaw can make for treacherous footing beneath the surface." Sarah nodded; she had stumbled more than a few times when the ground she had expected to step on had turned out to be an empty hole. "The cold weather drives wolves and wild cats down from the higher slopes as well, and if they're hungry enough they can be dangerous." She paused for a moment, then added: "There are stories of... other things, as well." Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What sort of things?" Molly was silent for a couple of heartbeats, then shook her head and smiled. "Oh, just stories, you know. Tales to scare little children and keep them from wandering out into the wilderness. Probably just exaggerated accounts of bears and such." As the morning went by, the slope of the trail gradually lessened until it became nearly flat. The border between Jal Kufri and Ahandria was impossible to define out in the wilderness, but Sarah felt like she was nearing the end of her journey. The quiet was broken by a high pitched scream from up ahead. Sarah looked up to see Molly tumbling from her horse's back as the mare pitched forward into the deep white powder. The horse continued screaming as it thrashed in the snow, causing the other two to dance and toss their heads anxiously. Molly was on her feet almost as soon as she hit the ground. She rushed to the horse's side as fast as she could through the knee deep snow. "Lightning! Blast it, she must have hit a void." Sarah was having trouble controlling Brand, and scrambled down out of the saddle. As she started toward Molly, she felt something grab her ankle beneath the snow. "Molly!" she screamed, "Something's got me!" She tried to pull her leg free, but whatever was holding her would not yield. Drawing her rapier, Molly went to Sarah's aid. Sarah cursed herself for forgetting she had a sword as well, She pulled the blade free of its sheath and plunged it into the snow near her feet. She felt the hold on her loosen slightly, and managed to pull her foot free, stumbling backward through the snow. Syphar managed to gain control of Raven, guiding the horse toward a shelf of bare rock standing above the snow. As he was climbing down onto the stone, the horse jerked and bucked as something pulled at one of its hind legs. Syphar managed to get to his feet and turn around just as several creatures burst up through the snow. The six forms that leaped up looked like men, but their skin was a blotchy blue-gray. Frozen clothes hung from their limbs in tatters. Their clawed fingers reached toward warm flesh as they set their milky white eyes on Sarah and Molly. Sarah yelped as the thing before her extended its icy claws toward her face. She thrust the point of her blade at it, but the rapier barely chipped the creature's frozen flesh. Molly had similar ill luck with the blue skinned thing that had burst through the snow behind her. She changed tactics, delivering a overhand chop that sheared off the side of its face in a shower of glittering ice. "To me!" cried Syphar from his position on the high ground. He held forth his fist, and his ring flared a brilliant blue. The air warped and shimmered around him, and blue lightning arced toward the two creatures menacing Molly and Sarah. They opened their mouths in silent howls, backs arched in pain as patches of frozen flesh boiled away. Sarah and Molly pushed their way through the snow toward the bare rock. The ice creatures were less hampered than their prey, however, and the women were forced to constantly fend off their flailing claws. Molly grunted as icy fingers raked across her cheek; Sarah, despite her best efforts, received several slashes across her arms and back. Her cloak and dress were shredded and spotted with blood. Four of the creatures were occupied by the rending of the two fallen horses. The pristine white snow was quickly becoming a morass of slushy, steaming blood. Brand had wisely turned around and put as much distance as possible between himself and the slaughter. Syphar loosed another forked bolt of eldritch lightning, this time into the faces of the two creatures pursuing Sarah and Molly. As they clawed at their bubbling, steaming countenances, the two women they had been chasing scrambled up onto the rocks next to the wizard. The ice creatures still came at them, only slightly impaired by the loss of most of their heads. Now that they had the high ground and were free of the deep snow, it was easier for Sarah and Molly to dance away from the swinging claws. They rained blow after blow on the abominations, chipping and cracking away at their hands and arms. Soon, they had destroyed the creatures' arms entirely, though the walking torsos still tried to reach them. Meanwhile, the other ice creatures were still wallowing in the cooling blood of the horses. Syphar began collecting stones from nearby, placing them one at a time into the pal of his outstretched hand. He set each one spinning as he had done before, then loosed them like stooping eagles into the bodies of the blood soaked aberrations. Heads, shoulders, and hips shattered one after the other. Whether the things still moved or not was immaterial, as they lacked the ability to do any harm. Molly and Sarah had reduced their attackers to a similar state, though by more mundane means. As the last of the creatures fell beneath the snow, Sarah collapsed, panting, onto the flat stone that had become their fortress. She could feel the cold seeping into her flesh; the rending of her cloak must have shredded its magical weave as well. Molly jumped back down into the snow and picked her way through the mess that had once been her beloved horse. She retrieved the saddle bags from both Lightning and Raven, rooting through them for bandages. Syphar went after Brand, trying to calm the horse enough to bring him back. Guiding him through what was left of his old stable mates would be another challenge entirely. Molly squatted down next to Sarah. "How are you doing?" "C-cold," she replied, shivering. "That's not good. Are you feeling light headed?" Molly looked at the meager pile of bandages in her hands with concern in her eyes. "No, n-not bleeding t-to death," said Sarah, managing a grin. She showed Molly the holes ripped through her cloak. "Magic c-cloak's b-broken." Syphar had managed to retrieve Brand and make his way back the the flat stone. He put a handful of oats on the edge of the rocky shelf, which was incentive enough to keep the horse to remain despite the smell of blood. The wizard hopped back up next to the two women. He took off Sarah's ruined cloak and handed her his own. "As soon as Molly gets you patched back up, put that on." "W-what about you?" asked Sarah. Syphar took the brooch off of the blood stained cloak, and produced a couple of wool blankets from one of Raven's saddle bags. He draped them over his back and fastened them together at the shoulder with the brooch. "Not high fashion," he said, "but it'll keep me from freezing long enough to get down off this rock." Molly finished applying bandages to the worst of Sarah's cuts. Fortunately, most of them had been fairly shallow, calculated to bleed, not kill. She stood up and surveyed the ghastly scene. "I guess they weren't bears after all." She picked up the saddle bags and draped them over Brand's back. "Let's get moving. The further we are from this place, the happier I'll be."
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