The Winter's Hunt

by R. K. Rickson

  The mercenary captain, shocked by such a move, tried to pull his arm free, but Jeff’s grip and reaction were far too quick as Jeff tucked his hammer hand to the right side of his ribs, then swung hard to his left in an arc. The captain instinctively went to block with his free arm and a sickening crack was heard as metal hit flesh, followed by a scream of agony.

  The Teroskin Kite vessel captain staggered back in blinding pain and gripped his left arm, broken from the impact. Jeff was quick to stay on his pursuit of the retreat, then threw a haymaker right, which connected clean on the jaw and sent the mercenary down to the deck in a heap.

  Jeff quickly turned around to make sure no one could flank him and took an update of how the battle was going; he saw that his men had taken fight with no hesitation as the cries of The Raging Hammer crew were those of fury, excitement, and thrill. His men were well-trained and seasoned from their generous shares of battles as a supply and transport ship, to which no shortage of pirates or brigands were found.

  The last member of the mercenaries saw his comrades were fallen and kneeled with hands up above his head. The crew then began to gather the members up and bound them in rope. Two of the crewmates went down the topside hatch into the lower decks of the ship to give a sweep of any potential remaining mercenaries, while the rest finished with tying up the Teroskin Kites.

  The sweep team that went down to the lower decks arrived a few minutes later, with nothing but a rolled-up paper in hand.

  “No more enemies, captain, ship is clear. We did find the contract along with some other neat things in the captain’s cabin, however,” one of the crewmates explained.

  “Then the victory is ours!” Donnie cried out, as the crew yelled and roared their cheers of victory, with hugs, backslaps, and smiles aplenty.

  “Ya louts! Get to freeing this ship up so we can sail back into port!” Jeff barked, which snapped the crew to attention. After a moment of silence, Jeff looked over his crew, then a grin cracked his upper lip as he shook his head and added, “Dammit boys, I was trying to stay serious, but I’m so proud of you. Another fight well done!”

  The crew went from scared, stiff apprehension back into joyous applause and immediately split the crews up to man both ships.

  Chapter XVI: Conflict at Icestorm Reach! Kaito and Leila vs Erik and Isolda

  “Gunnir, do you have their scent?” Leila said to the large wolf that sniffed the snow. After a moment, Gunnir barked in response and led the two through the mountain pass towards the downward path that led to Icestorm Reach.

  “Have you always had your friend out here?” Kaito asked as the two made their way down the path.

  “Oh yes, he doesn’t come around the village all that much, as I’m afraid the hunters will attack him on sight. I go to visit him out here so he’s safe from the group,” Leila replied.

  Earlier in the chase, Leila had called for the wolf near where the forest trail had led to the mountain pass path, and had promptly joined the two for the search. Together, the trio would follow the trail of tracks that Erik and Isolda had left behind in the snow. In the distance, dark clouds rolled from the north and slowly drifted over the reach.

  “Looks like the reach will be getting more snow,” Kaito pointed out.

  “You’re going to see why it’s called Icestorm Reach,” Leila responded, and her face scrunched a bit in a hint of worry and dread. “Let’s get in and out of there as soon as we can with both of the traitors.”

  As the two made their way down with a hurried pace, two humanoid figures were seen at the tree line of the forest below.

  Leila pointed in their direction for Kaito and said, “There they are! Going into the woods, they probably think they have the normal advantage of their knowledge of the locale. Gunnir is going to prove them wrong.”

  The pair continued down the mountain path, which was less steep than the one from Tervaskr Peak but took more time to traverse. Fortunately, Leila knew the trails well enough to navigate some off-trail areas and avoid the dangerous footing paths.

  The way down didn’t take terribly long for both, and soon the two were at the base of the ridge. Leila and Kaito covered the stretch of snow-covered ground while Gunnir took the lead and trotted in the direction the scent of the two led. The overcast sky had darkened by the presence of the large gray clouds that loomed overhead and settled over the forest, which gave Gunnir some pause, before he had resumed his delve into the forest.

  “We had best hurry before this storm comes down on us,” Kaito noted as they entered the woods and followed Gunnir through a winding trail that seemed to snake around the trees in an odd pattern.

  Leila looked at how the footprints weaved around and looped and figured Erik and Isolda did so as a means to further throw anyone off finding them. It wasn’t a bad idea, for Leila even knew that if anyone had the most knowledge of navigating the dangerous wilds, it was Erik. She laughed to herself at the irony that their most cowardly and seditious advisor had the best navigational ability of the most dangerous part of Hjaalren as the trio were led to a clear path, one that headed to a thicker gathering of trees.

  The temperature began to drop significantly as the group continued on, and Kaito wrapped his winter clothes tighter around him while he followed Leila and Gunnir.

  “Is it getting uncomfortably chilly for you?” Leila asked, having watched Kaito adjust his clothes.

  “I’m not very accustomed to colder weather in general. My home island is much warmer year-round, but I’ll manage as long as we keep moving,” Kaito answered as he rubbed his gloves together.

  “Don’t worry about it too much, the weather will suddenly drop out of nowhere out here. Even the hardiest of us have limits in the reach or during terrible blizzards.”

  Gunnir’s ears perked up and then sped up his pace down the trail, which Leila and Kaito followed with a quickened pace. The trio moved along through the woods, and despite the temperature having seemingly dropped further as they pressed ahead, the woods grew quieter with less breeze as they did. The trail opened up to a clearing, Gunnir halted with his head up right, and ears pointed up.

  “What is it, Gunnir?” Leila asked her wolf companion. Gunnir let out a short low growl, and his snout pointed to a group of bushes to their right. Leila knew by Gunnir’s reaction they had found their two targets and were hiding in the area Gunnir focused on. Kaito watched Leila give him three pats and whispered something to him, then Gunnir bolted for the bushes and began ferociously barking, his stance on his rear haunches with his body low to the ground, and his fur stood up on end.

  “Ah, what in the world?!” a man’s voice cried as the familiar forms of Erik and Isolda tumbled out of the bushes and quickly got up to their feet.

  Leila crossed her arms and said to the two, “The traitors. Thought you would escape, huh? Erik, you’re a shrewd one, but you are far too overconfident in your intelligence.”

  Erik scowled and shot back, “Yes, well even the brightest of us can misstep from time to time. But even now, your father’s jarldom falls into peril with the approaching mercenaries. You may catch us yet, but will your father and the others last through the oncoming assault?”

  Leila retorted proudly, “You underestimate the power of the people of Hjaalren. Your entire time here has clearly been lost on you if you think the people here would fold to such a thing easily. Between them, the other jarl’s people, our own, and our friends in the Frontier Okami and The Raging Hammer, they will see things through!”

  Isolda drew a knife and started for Leila as Erik smirked and replied, “Oh ho! Such unwavering faith! Very well, then if we’re to be driven into a corner here, we’ve no chance but to fight now.”

  Leila drew the blade Gerald had given her for the time, and the ring of steel was satisfying to hear as the blade flew out of the scabbard. The weight of the sword was lighter than the greataxe she wielded, yet still felt heavier than a normal sword. She wasn’t unaccustomed to wielding a sword by any means and knew the basi
cs and she stood ready for Isolda’s approach.

  The woman was somewhat hesitant to approach, Leila’s blade had a far longer reach than her knife, and she tried to find an opening. When she thought she had one, Isolda lunged in with her weapon, only to be swatted away with the flat of the sword Leila wielded, which knocked her to the snow with considerable force. Leila could immediately tell Isolda was not suited to combat and turned to face Erik, a growing amount of fury towards the treasonous advisor of Torga’s council.

  “Why in the realms are you so stubborn?” Erik sighed as the jarl’s daughter approached. Isolda stood back up and went for Leila with her back turned as a swift arm caught her from behind and locked her elbows behind her back. Isolda turned to see Kaito as he quickly wrested the knife from her grip and let it fall to the ground. He then promptly put a foot over the handle and held the woman in place.

  Erik quickly drew a dagger out from the small of his back, that was tucked in his trousers, and pointed it to Leila, then said with a changed expression, “Very well. I’m no powerful warrior, but I’m no stranger to violence.” The expression was a surprise to Leila, for Erik had always worn an airy face of knowledge, poise, and subtlety mixed with a carefree, dismissive attitude. His face was that of a man with his back against the wall than one of composed desperation and intent to fight.

  Erik feinted forward with a step, which drew Leila into an opening attack that missed, an overhead cut that sliced down into the snow. Erik rushed forward with the dagger and swung wide while Leila returned the sword to a neutral ready position, and just in time to defend the attack as metal met metal. Erik took to a series of quick thrusts, and kept the distance much shorter than Leila wanted, and crowded her use of the blade she wielded.

  Leila ducked under a thrust of the dagger, spun around, and slashed at Erik’s legs. The advisor was much quicker than Leila was prepared for as he hopped over the cut and drove the dagger forward. Leila, still in a crouch, made a desperate move to stand but saw Erik already was upon her, and dropped the sword to catch the attack as a last-ditch effort. Her gamble paid off as Leila’s hands firmly gripped Erik’s wrists, and the two tumbled to the snow, which Leila wanted.

  Erik was quick, but he was weak in terms of physical prowess, and had long prided himself on his wits alone. Panic set in for the traitor as he felt Leila’s strength start to overtake his. The jarl’s daughter maneuvered from the tumble and atop the advisor, then wrested the dagger from his hands. Leila then felt the zenith of her anger towards Erik peak. For all of the months of suffering he had helped orchestrate on the village, all of the grief and trouble he had caused her father, all of the conspiring; she now had the coward in her grasp and was ready to deliver punishment by her own hands. The idea of mercenaries taking everything they loved on Erik’s behalf only added fuel to the fire for her and let it rage on the treasonous advisor in her grasp.

  Leila threw a hard right and smashed it right on Erik’s nose, which crunched under her fist and made the advisor’s eyes water up. A left followed and hit his arm as Erik desperately tried to deflect the blow, which only further enraged Leila. A series of blows came down, without mercy or reservation, which found their marks on Erik’s face.

  “Stop it, you’ll kill him!” Isolda yelled out as she watched the violence undulate before her, but Kaito held her fast.

  Leila turned to the woman with a red face and screamed back, “After all he did?! He deserves worse!!!” She huffed and continued the assault on Erik, and one of the punches hit his jaw hard enough where the treacherous advisor went slack, his eye rolled up in the back of his head, unconscious. Leila only saw red; the bruises, swelling, and blood from Erik’s face only kept her going for more. Her fists were growing heavy and registered some pain from the hits, but adrenaline and fury overrode the sensations. Isolda was screaming in the distance, Leila figured, as she could hear a woman’s voice cry out through a haze of anger.

  One of her fists suddenly froze mid swing and felt stuck as she yanked hard at whatever had it bound. Leila turned to see what or who had stopped her punch, and saw her arm was grasped by someone else’s. Leila then looked up to see the arm belonged to Ryland, and Leila felt the world slowly come back into view at the sight of a friend.

  “I see you got him good. Your father’s going to be proud,” Ryland said with a grin.

  Leila gasped and huffed for air; the exertion of her efforts having caught up to her. Her fists were bloodied and starting to hurt as she collected herself. Ryland helped her to her feet and let Leila regain her composure as he looked down at Erik and whistled, then said, “You really let him have it, huh? Come on, let’s get him tied up too and we’ll head back.”

  Leila turned to see Kaito with Isolda in binds, tied off with another rope, and he gave her a nod then said, “Very harsh punches. The technique leaves much to be desired, but I can help with that.”

  “What about the battle at Hemmigatr? Is everything okay there?” Leila huffed.

  “When I took off, two of the jarls joined the fight with Gerald. I don’t think they’re going to have much of a struggle. I almost feel bad for the mercenaries,” Ryland answered as he finished tying up Erik.

  The sky above grew darker as the group looked up to see a thick gray cloud roll over the forest. The temperature dropped even more, and the air grew heavy as Ryland felt a strange feeling, as if someone were watching them.

  Gunnir whimpered and trotted over to Leila, which gave her cause for concern and said, “This isn’t good. If Gunnir is uneasy, something must be in the area.”

  The wind blew through the path, and there was something in the air that Ryland couldn’t quite place but felt familiar in a subconscious way as he turned to face it down. A soft blue glow lit up the end of the trail in the distance and caught the attention of everyone.

  “Leila…is that what…or who I think that is?” Ryland asked.

  Leila nodded and answered with an unsettled tone, “The lady of the reach? The one I told you about at Tervaskr Peak? It could very well be. Even I have never seen her before.”

  Ryland felt almost entranced by the glow, and said to the group, “Why don’t we go check it out?”

  “I refuse. Gunnir is not having it either,” Leila answered.

  Kaito said to Ryland, “Check it out if you want, but don’t spend too long there. I don’t like the feel of the air myself, and there’s not much that spooks me except the supernatural. This seems to be just that.”

  Ryland turned to face the end of the trail, and started to walk ahead alone, and the air grew bitterly cold. Something deep inside him told him to go and see what the glow was, something almost instinctual. The thing about it that bothered him most was that there was a feeling of normal fear, like how the others felt, and yet a deeper feeling of familiarity on a more primal level, like he had known it all his life.

  The snow grew deeper as he continued down the path, and the forest grew quieter. Ice had begun to form on the tree trunks as Ryland continued down the path, only more curious with each step. The path opened up into a small clearing, one completely blanketed in white. There before him, was a large slab of ice, roughly the size of a small boulder. The ice almost thrummed with some strange power as it glowed even brighter. Ryland slowly moved closer to the slab and saw the outline of a human within it.

  “There is…actually someone in there,” Ryland whispered to himself in great awe and surprise at such a sight. He dared to walk even closer, right up until he was but inches from the outside of it. Within, he could see the woman much clearer as the ice glowed and illuminated her features. The woman looked no older than her mid-twenties and had long silver-looking hair that ran down to her waist. She wore a dress with embroidered lace on the hem that ran down to her knees, and was upright on her feet, while her head was tilted down, eye closed, and hands clasped in front of her chest, as if she were frozen while in prayer.

  Ryland felt a sense of recognition in his being at the glow of the light around the
woman. He had never seen her before, but something deep within his gut told him that she was something akin to an old acquaintance.

  “Can you…hear me?” Ryland asked, as the air grew heavier. Snow had begun to fall from the sky as the cloud was directly atop the woods and the area of the reach the group was in. Silence was all Ryland got in return, save for the light within the ice that glowed brighter. Ryland peered in and saw the light was soothing, even comforting in the harsh climate he was in. Ryland drew his axe with some apprehension and decided to try his hand at breaking the ice open. He took a solid stance and brought his weapon down in a chop, to which the blade of the axe simply bounced off the slab of ice. A small spread of blue light scintillas arced off the blow, but the ice left no visible remnant of having been struck. Ryland gave two more swings, and each one brought the same result as before.

  The snow had begun to fall even harder, and a blizzard looked imminent as Ryland withdrew his axe and looked at the great frozen crystal before him.

  “I’m sorry…I can’t break through,” Ryland apologized to the woman in the ice. “I don’t know how to free you, and a storm is coming. However, I can tell the jarl that you’re here and need help.”

  Ryland turned around to head back when a voice within his head echoed faintly, “We are…the same kind…linked by our birthright of inheritance…” Ryland immediately froze on the spot, as he frantically looked around. He turned back to see the woman in ice still frozen, and the glow smaller. A faint outline of a glowing woman appeared before him, which caused the young man to jump back in apprehension.

  “Is…that you, ma’am?” Ryland asked, his wits on high alert.