The Ice Lands

by William Dickey

  “We’ve been spotted. Quick, we need to make sure he doesn’t have a chance to report us,” said Rose as she launched a fireball. Zelus didn’t need any telling and launched a lightning bolt as well.

  The beastman deftly dodged behind the tree’s main trunk before popping back out on a branch on the other side.

  “It is too late. I have already signaled the village and more will be here soon. All of you just stand there and wait. You wanted to come to Doraga and we’ll bring you all in. I’m quite curious what two Xebryan mages, a Fallen, and a New Fallen are all doing here.”

  Ch. 17: Reunion

  The cold has many stages. At first, it is a simple annoyance, a tingle on the skin that your body’s internal fire can easily stave off. But as time passes, that internal fire starts to run out of fuel, the heat dims and your body starts to shiver in the hope that it can spark something back up. The shivering worsens as all of your nerves start to flare with pain. To some extent, it feels as if the cold has somehow reversed itself, like it is replaced by the agony of a recent burn. For a while, this agony feels like it’ll last forever, but eventually it recedes. It feels like your body accepts the cold and the cold accepts your body. Your shivering stops and you feel the most comforting warmth spread. You start to relax and begin to feel drowsy, as if your body has just endured a long struggle and since it has passed, all it wants is rest. If you let it continue, you would drift further away until all vital functions in your body ceased.

  Several months lay between the Blood Moon and when our expedition could begin. As I waited for winter to end, I spent much time exploring all the stages of cold save for the last. During that tenure, my Low Temperature Resistance had reached level 14, making the effect the cold had on me reduced by seventy percent. I would have thought the skill would have grown faster, but as it grew, the skill became increasingly difficult to improve.

  While I was out in the cold, I didn’t just sit there. I trained up my Shapeshift and Murlimp Physique as well.

  Shapeshift improved as I regularly transitioned between forms. As its level increased, the process became quicker and less painful though not to a degree where I was comfortable with the process.

  On the other hand, Murlimp Physique improved with time spent in that form. It was fortunate that the Doragans were able to point me to a place where I could get coal. It provided my murlimp form with far greater sustenance than standard fare and without it, I wouldn’t have been able to train either skill significantly.

  I was in one of the last patches of snow in Doraga, continuing my Low Temperature Resistance training, when I was interrupted by a chilly strike to the back of my head. My eyes flashed over my shoulder and immediately spotted the source of the disruption.

  “Who dares disturb the mighty Daemonheart?” I roared as I got to my feet and stomped in the direction the snowball had come from. I saw them immediately, a pair of small heads slightly poking up over a stack of firewood, but I pretended to ignore their giggles as I slowly searched for them. After about thirty seconds of randomly walking around, I finally turned the corner of the firewood stack and confronted a pair of six-year-old boys conspiratorially curled up.

  “Oh, so it was you two. Don’t think you can hide from Daemonheart. Now, experience my wrath,” I said in my deepest voice as I bent down and my arms worked together to heave a snow boulder over my head.

  “No, it wasn’t us,” one of the boys insisted as the other tried and failed to stop giggling.

  “Don’t try to lie to the almighty Daemonheart. He cannot be fooled,” I said as I dropped the snow boulder on the pair. I hadn’t packed the snow like a snowball, so it hit relatively softly and just half-buried the boys. The boys laughed even harder than before, enjoying how foolish I was pretending to be.

  “Haven’t had enough, have you? Then I will show you something special. Prepare yourselves for the bestest, most ultimate technique of the powerful Daemonheart, the maleficent Ice Avalanche,” I said as I bent down and scooped up a snow boulder double the size of the previous one, large enough I had to struggle to get it over my head.

  “Wooh,” both boys’ eyes boggled at the size of the snow boulder.

  “Quick get ‘em,” said one of the boys as he hurriedly scrambled to form another snowball.

  I slowly stomped forward, the snow I carried was a lot heavier than the last batch, so I wouldn’t be able to give it much horizontal motion, I knew I needed to get closer. I took it easy, letting the boys pelt me several times. An idea flashed into my mind, bringing a knowing smile to my face. I waited a few seconds until one well-aimed snowball struck my face.

  “Ughh, no. You got me,” I grunted as I pretended my hand slipped, dumped the ice avalanche on myself, and fell to the ground.

  “Mercy? Mercy? The great Daemonheart surrenders. You two are just too much,” I exclaimed as I wallowed in the snow with an agony ridden grimace. The two boys continued throwing more snowballs.

  “No mercy? I guess you two don’t do that,” I sighed.

  “Well, beware because your actions have spurred the great Daemonheart’s wrath. He returns from the dead and forswears vengeance on the two imps who’ve wounded him,” I said as I slowly lumbered back to my feet.

  “Oh, no. He’s back,” said one of the boys.

  “Run away,” said the other as both jumped to their feet and ran. I let them go, weirdly satisfied at acting like a child for a few minutes, as I returned to my spot to continue my training.

  While not exactly common, such disruptions had occurred a number of times since I’d acquired a beastform and not only by children. Grown men stopped by asking to see my murlimp form perform various feats of strength. Old ladies came by, scolding me for remaining out in the cold, warning that I was bound to catch some dreadful illness that would kill me before I even set off for the Ice Lands. I think I even saw a few young ladies sneaking peeks at me though none directly approached.

  All of these interactions served to underline a single point, I had been accepted and for the first time since Mill Valley, I was at peace. I felt a bit strange, even a little guilty, about feeling this way. Izusa and other Doragan clansmen had been responsible for the destruction of Mill Valley and I had sworn vengeance for the atrocities that had been committed there. But seeing Doraga and all the daily struggles its people had to go to survive, I also felt that I had been childish. I had thought the world as black and white. I had thought the beastmen as pure savages, as evil incarnate, and I had made myself to be the noble hero going to save the day. But the world is all grey. This supposed evil was just trying to save their families and the noble hero had only created rivers of fire and blood.

  Both were just shades of grey and while there might be objective lighter and darker shades and while I might see myself possessing the lighter shade, I also knew I was hopelessly biased and could never be entirely sure. One would think that as you grew older, experienced more of the world, and learned from it you would acquire greater certainty, but I just seemed to be filled with more and more doubt. Perhaps the only thing I learned was to do my best. At this point in time, that was going to the Ice Lands and investigating the Permerine Shrine.

  I didn’t know what I would do if the expedition turned out to be a bust. Would I return to the fight and if so, which side? I did my best not to think about such things, they were problems for the future and all I could do was hope I’d never need an answer. Perhaps that is the superpower bestowed by age and experience. You might be bombarded by an endless stream of unresolved questions and problems, but you got better at ignoring them.

  I’d just settled back into my spot in the snow when I was interrupted again.

  “Hey, Isaac,” Izusa waved as she walked over to me.

  “Who am I meeting this time?” I asked.

  Izusa handled most of the preparations for our pending expedition to the Permerine Shrine, but Izusa continually sought my input on one facet.

  Several times, she had me meet potential expedi
tion members. Team unity was important for any large undertaking. Of course, with our departure only a few days away, I’d thought we were done interviewing.

  “I am not here for that. I am here because my father wishes to speak with you,” said Izusa.

  “Really, what for?” I asked.

  “I do not know, I was just told to find you. Though it is probably related to a disturbance this afternoon,” said Izusa.

  “Disturbance? What sort of disturbance?” I asked.

  “Visitors? Not sure, I was asleep at the time, not everyone is an early bird like you,” said Izusa. Since the beastmen were mostly nocturnal, I was considered an early bird because I got up around two in the afternoon.

  “I assume Jutmaek is in his tent,” I said.

  “Yes,” answered Izusa.

  Message delivered I got to my feet and headed over. It wasn’t as if the chief’s yurt was far and Jutmaek wasn’t the type to disturb me for no reason. In fact, I hadn’t spoken to him in nearly a month. After I acquired a beastform and declared myself a member of Doraga, Jutmaek spent a couple days introducing me to some of the more influential members of the clan while making sure they backed his plan to send a squad to the Permerine Shrine. Everything went smoothly so the clan chief didn’t need me much after that and he let me make my preparations in peace.

  I hadn’t gone more than a dozen steps before Izusa rushed to catch up. “I think I will go as well,” she said. “I am curious.”

  It didn’t take long to walk to Jutmaek’s centrally positioned yurt and after only a few minutes, Izusa and I arrived.

  “Hey Rotimer,” I nodded to the old scout standing outside Jutmaek’s place. Rotimer was in charge of overseeing Doraga’s scouts, who kept guard of the village during the day when everyone was asleep.

  “What is going on?” Izusa asked. “I heard something about visitors. Is it more messages from the southern territories?” There were a couple months during the depths of winter when the clan was mostly cut off from the rest of the world, but in the last couple of weeks, there had been several messengers from other clans requesting additional soldiers for the war. Jutmaek had done his best to delay his response and conceal where the clan was directing its sparse resources, but he wouldn’t be able to do so forever. It was a good thing that we wouldn’t be staying much longer.

  “No, it is something… not anticipated,” said Rotimer. He rubbed his temple as if to massage a headache as he struggled to find the right words. “Go in, you will see.”

  Rotimer opened up the flap to Jutmaek’s yurt. Izusa and I entered. I immediately spotted Jutmaek and Truant discussing something in the far corner. Jutmaek looked weary and Truant looked even more upset than usual. I was about to ask Mai to enhance my hearing so I could listen in but I was interrupted by a familiar voice.

  “Voo hoo, Izaac. Long time nein lookie loo,” said Albert as he hopped in his seat on the ground on the other side of the tent. As he bounced, I couldn’t help but marvel at the jiggle of his gut and chin. I would have been disgusted at the sight if it didn’t come with the view of the others around him. Rose, Titania, and Zelus were all seated around him similarly bound.

  It was all my friends from Crystalpeak. I just stood there stunned for a few seconds. It was like there had been two worlds in my mind. The Xebryan world may have been magically altered but otherwise felt familiar, like something from a historical film. Next to it, the Othan world was utterly bizarre, it held an almost inverted respect for technology yet societally was perhaps even more progressive than Earth. Their leader was an elected one and they were far freer in speech and dress than I was accustomed to. I guess I expected I’d eventually return to Crystalpeak and see them all again, but I had been so preoccupied with what I was doing, I hadn’t put much thought towards any of them.

  “I-I-I-I…” Rose stammered as her head snapped towards me. Her face grew red. She went silent as she struggled for the right words. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one in shock.

  “Isaac, see I could say it,” said Zelus his voice faintly depressed though I doubted it was because of his current position, tied up and lying in the dirt.

  “What are you all doing here?” I asked.

  “We came after you of course,” said Rose, finally finding her voice.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “What do you mean why? We were worried about you. You were kidnapped and forced into slavery,” Rose explained.

  A profound sense of guilt filled me. I’d barely thought about any of them after the first few days of my captivity and they’d travelled for months through a thousand miles of enemy terrain in terrible weather conditions.

  ‘Wow, sometimes you can really be a jerk,’ said Mai, somehow making me feel worse.

  “Who are these people?” Izusa asked. Since I had been speaking to Rose and Zelus, the interface had translated my speech into Xebryan so Izusa couldn’t follow it.

  “These people are my friends. They somehow managed to track us all the way from Crystalpeak. They’re here to rescue me,” I told Izusa. “How did you manage to find me, by the way?” I asked my human friends.

  “We found the place you were taken from…” Rose began before I cut her off.

  “Maybe Albert should be the one explaining,” I said. Rose seemed to fume a bit at this, her eyes narrowing and her face growing a tinge red. I knew what she was aggrieved about, she’d come all this way for me, yet I was ignoring her. A slight glimmer of panic hit me as I rushed to explain. “There are other people here who don’t speak your language and would like to hear what happened. If Albert is the one who explains it’ll be automatically translated for them.”

  Rose maintained her frustration, but kept silent. It made sense.

  “Okay, go ahead, explain it Albert,” I said, flicking my head towards Izusa to let him know he should be speaking to her.

  ‘Do you want me to fix Albert’s accent like I did with the Othans?’ Mai offered. Since the Othans didn’t have many personal identifiers like I, me, he, or she, the interface didn’t automatically add them in when translating. After interacting with the beastmen so much, I told Mai to add them in so their conversations were easier to follow. She was now asking if I wanted to do the same with Albert.

  “No, not for now,” I whispered back. “Albert doesn’t have much dialogue anyways. I’ll let you know if I change my mind in the future.”

  Albert explained how Titania found the spot near Crystalpeak’s inner wall where I had been taken from and how they’d used the signs to lead them to Doraga. I wasn’t surprised that it had taken them so long to catch up to me. Most of the journey I had been travelling by wolf and winter set in shortly after I arrived, stalling my friends for months.

  “Zorry, ve kind of bamboozled zee end. Now, I guess ve’ll be made into slaffes as vell. How bad is it? From zee look of you it’s going to be bad,” Albert finished.

  To Albert and the others, I seemed to be in bad shape. Pale and thinly dressed for this weather served as their proof of my mistreatment when it was simply because I had been training my Low Temperature Resistance just before coming there. Naturally wearing a lot of clothing would work counter to this and I needed something easy to remove because of my occasional practice at Shapeshift, so I was only wearing a loincloth. As for my pale skin, it was a side effect of Low Temperature Resistance.

  “I think you misunderstand,” said Izusa. “Isaac is not a slave. He recently participated in the Blood Moon and earned his place as a clansman of Doraga.”

  They couldn’t understand what Izusa said or at least most of them couldn’t. Titania looked sad with a touch of envy, confirming some of my suspicions about her.

  While Izusa and Titania didn’t speak the same language, not that I could tell since the interface translated it all into English, both spoke with similar grammatical structures. Titania might have learned Xebryan vocabulary but her mother tongue still held great influence over her speech patterns. It also didn’t help that Titania was freaki
shly tall. From there it was obvious. Titania didn’t come from Xebrya, she was Othan.

  At first, I thought Titania might have been a spy, but when I learned of the Fallen, another more plausible explanation came to light. The look of envy on Titania’s face was all I needed to confirm my suspicions. Titania was one of the Fallen, one of the few who failed the Blood Moon and survived. Sometime afterward, she must have ended up in Xebrya.

  “What did she just say?” Rose asked.

  Albert relayed Izusa’s comment.

  “What do you mean he is a clansman of Doraga?” Rose asked.

  “The Othans have a process called the Blood Moon ceremony which they make all their young people go through to acquire a beastform and gain proper status,” I began.

  “Yes, yes,” Rose waved me on. “Titania has already explained how all that works. But how did you convince them to make you a clansman?”

  That told me that Titania had already told her origins to the rest of the group, probably had to in order to explain how she could navigate through the territory.

  “I was of the proper age, and since I wasn’t really Xebryan, I was allowed to participate. I acquired a beastform and declared myself a member of Doraga,” I explained.

  “Wow, that’s classic. We spend months coming to rescue you from the bad guys, only to find that you already decided to join up yourself. Ditch the traitor and stick with a true and loyal man,” said Zelus as he tried to extend a hand to Rose, which didn’t look as suave as he intended with his hands bound behind his back.

  “Isaac can’t be a traitor. He isn’t really Xebryan. Besides I bet he has a really good reason for doing what he did,” said Rose as she turned her gaze towards me expectantly. I blushed slightly under that gaze, unsure about how I was supposed to react to Rose’s advances.

  “What I’m doing will help Xebrya,” I nodded as I took a moment to explain the Permerine Shrine, its potential relation to the war and weather, and the expedition that would soon be sent to investigate. None of the information was a secret within the clan and it wasn’t as if my four friends could leak anything while they were all prisoners.