Within the Ice

by LaPolla, C. J.

  “What is going on Devyn?” Eskor asked frantically.

  Devyn could not find his voice he only tried his best to suck in the cold air to calm his racing heart. Munin just stared at his sword blade where it had struck the hand, there was no blood, only a fine dust covered where he had struck.

  “What I want to know is, what was that attached to?” Munin said calmly.

  Devyn, who was now covered in the gore of the room wiped his hands on the icy wall trying to remove whatever he could. He finally found his voice again. “I don’t know Munin, but I don’t think we should wait around and find out. Let’s go.”

  They began to get up with all of their nerves finally calming down but in the silence of the moment a soft scraping noise could be heard. It was a very slow and steady sound but it was growing closer. They all looked each other in the eyes and knew what it was, calmness faded and they ran full speed back towards their team. They ignored the soft cracking beneath them as they ran and after a short time of running and shouting they could see the light from the torches above.

  “Up! Up! Pull us up!” Eskor shouted through a winded voice.

  The rope still hung from the opening and Dorm was the first to reach it. The men above began to mull about as they looked down at the men in the hole. Asvald quickly appeared.

  “What did you find? Why is Devyn covered in blood?”

  Eskor pleaded with him. “Story when we get up.” He took a few gasping breaths. “For now pull us up! We need to go!”

  Anger flashed on Asvald’s face. “You will tell me now or I will leave your asses down there to rot!”

  “Dead! They’re all dead. We found their bodies!” Dorm shouted.

  “Where? How do you know?” Asvald asked causing the men in the lower cave to begin looking behind them waiting to see the hand or whatever it was attached to behind them.

  “Asvald, the men are dead, we found them in a cave torn to pieces, pieces of them were everywhere!” Eskor added trying to catch his breath and remain calm, but his eyes kept dancing from Asvald to the darkness that seemed to be encroaching on them from behind.

  “And there was a hand, still moving. It chased us!” Devyn knew how stupid his words sounded but he blurted them out without thinking.

  Asvald began a deep belly laugh at the statement. Dorm and Eskor gave him a stupid look. And they were right, it sounded absolutely foolish when it was spoken out loud to those who were not present to see it.

  “Men grab the ropes, I’m coming down. I need to see this monster hand!” The rope grew taut and Asvald began to descend while continuing his deep laugh.

  At that same moment Munin screamed. “No!” And he began climbing up the rope.

  Asvald screamed at him to get down. There was so much noise and screaming and yelling from the men above who were struggling with the ropes and Asvald yelling at Munin to stop climbing that no one heard the very subtle sound. A sound that would be more terrible than the undead hand if only their ears would hear it. A sharp cracking sound began beneath Devyn’s feet told him this expedition was about to get much worse than it had been so far. Eskor stopped shouting and looked down solemnly. Devyn could see the same look on Eskor’s face that he knew he wore.

  The cracking grew more sharp sounding, the ground lurched under their feet and spread up into the upper cave. Cries could be heard from the cave above them as the ground gave way beneath their feet and all of the remaining men came tumbling down to the lower cave’s surface. Asvald came crashing down flat on his back with a growl and the remaining men crashed into Devyn and the men in the lower cave. Everyone fell to the ground in a large heap of bodies.

  Dorm caught Devyn’s eyes and had just enough time to say. “Oh shit.”

  The ground beneath them shattered, revealing a black inky abyss below that swallowed them whole.

  Chapter XIV

  Devyn lost all sense of direction as the mass of bodies rolled past him, and on him, and away from him. It was a mix of confusion and pain and disorientation as they slid down a massive tunnel that opened up underneath them. The team had long since lost their torches, which flew far ahead of them giving them sight as to how far the tunnel was sending them into the depths of the glacier. An eternity passed before they landed in a heap on the ground, the dim light from the flickering torches revealing they were in a large cavern with many exits.

  “Just lovely. Just wonderful.” Cried Gudlaug as he dusted himself off and picked up the two torches on the ground.

  Gudlaug was lucky compared to a few, he had no injuries to show. Hermund appeared to have broken his leg and many others had sprains and cuts. Hermund tried to stand but only cried out in pain as he fell back to the ground.

  After many expletives he yelped, “Leg is broken. Bloody hell.”

  Bakli and Armod went to help Hermund as he lay on the ground clutching his broken leg and a growl came from the mass of men. It was not a monstrous growl of a creature of the deep, it was the growl of Asvald slowly rising. His deadly glare fell on Devyn and he snarled his words out. “This is your fault.”

  His arm reached back to his ax and he yanked it clean from the sheath. Eskor stepped in to intervene with the raging man but he merely swiped him away with the blunt end of the ax sending him sprawling on the ground. Eskor did not move.

  Devyn drew his sword just in time and deflected the first lightning quick attack towards his head. Devyn backed away.

  “I did not cause this.” Devyn pleaded with Asvald. He did not want to fight him, not here. They needed every man to get out of this alive, including their deranged leader.

  Asvald’s eyes were dark and his ears were deaf with the only sight in front of him red. His rage bubbled out in wild attacks, with the men screaming all around attempting to get them to stop. Devyn did not attack, he only blocked the mad man’s strikes. They were wild and out of control, but he was extremely strong and Devyn knew it would not be as easy to take advantage of the man’s wild methods. He had fought this way his entire life and had lived a long life for a warrior, Devyn would not under estimate that. Devyn continued to block and dodge the man’s attacks and he could quickly see it was having the desired effect, Asvald was growing extremely angry.

  “Stand and fight!” Asvald screamed with a frothing mouth. He continued his unyielding attacks, Devyn blocked low and almost lost his sword when Asvald caught the blade in the edge of his ax and pulled. If he were to drop his sword that would spell his doom. Asvald would finish him within seconds of losing his weapon.

  Devyn and Asvald locked their weapons together in a deadly embrace, Devyn could not believe Asvald’s strength as he yanked him downward and thrust a knee into his forehead. Devyn sprawled backward and lost his sword. Even with his blurry mind, Devyn could hear the men yelling their disapproval and the triumphant laughing of Asvald.

  “You all see! He is not a great warrior like Asvald. He is only slime that crawls on the ground.” Asvald raised his ax high in the air in a triumphant manner and then turned his wrist to turn it into a deadly strike. Just as he was about to bring his heavy ax blade down on Devyn the blurry vision of Dorm slammed into the side of Asvald. Asvald flew through the air away from them both, Devyn shook his head and regained his footing. Moving his hand to his forehead he felt the welt already forming.

  They eyed Asvald as he slowly gained his balance once again. He reached down to his side and pulled his hand away furiously. It was covered in blood, Dorm had charged sword first and punctured his armor. Blood dripped on the ground beside Asvald, but the wound did not appear life threatening. That did not matter to Asvald, his eyes bulged and his face turned red with rage.

  “You cut me. Before I was just going to hurt you. Now I am going to kill you both!” Asvald screamed at the top of his lungs.

  Any hope Devyn had to stop him from this endless assault were ruined, the rage had taken him over and there was nothing left but for one of them to die. Devyn was happy his friend had come to his rescue, as Asvald would have su
rely split him in two, but felt a pang of guilt as Dorm had been forced into this situation. Dorm could not stand before Asvald, and the man could easily kill him.

  Fury made Asvald even stronger and faster as he assaulted them both. Even outnumbered he attacked furiously without a plan, but still the two men were unable to find an opening. The sounds of their weapons clashing rang out loud into the black halls beyond the cavern in which they stood.

  Devyn and Dorm ended up shoulder to shoulder and a winded Dorm said. “The man, he won’t tire!”

  “Stop running you cowards!” Asvald hefted his ax high in the air and arced it downward towards Devyn’s head. Dorm jumped aside and slashed at the man who ignored him all together. His blade only met the thick hide and chain armor and didn’t even make Asvald hesitate in his assault on Devyn. Devyn dodged and rolled behind Asvald and made a deadly cut towards the weak part of his armor in his leg. The blade bit into him and he let out a cry of pain. He staggered back, knowing Devyn could have caused a much worse cut. Devyn stood in stance away from him beginning to feel light headed, while he had not been seriously injured in the battle, he had taken multiple small injures as the blade scraped and nicked him.

  “You fight like a woman. Running and hiding and attacking a man from behind. You are a coward and would have fallen to me were it not for your pet behind you.”

  It had been a long time since there was a moment of silence. Between the ring of steel or the shouting of men it was impossible to take in their surroundings. In a brief moment of silence between Asvald’s insult and everyone taking in a brief moment of peace they heard it. A scraping sound and a rhythmic thud. Thud. Thud. Every man among them turned their eyes towards the distant caverns that surrounded their position now. The thuds grew in number and were coming from multiple entrances.

  “Uh oh.” Dorm said in a winded and shaky voice.

  Gudlaug and Armod assisted a now conscious Eskor from the ground who had a large welt forming on the side of his head. He still appeared very shaky on this feet as he wavered a few times while glaring at Asvald. He obviously did not hear the incoming thudding noise as he blurted out. “Asvald, I am taking over this expedition. Men take his weapons.” All eyes fell on Eskor as he heard the noise coming. “What is that noise?”

  It entered through one of the further caves, a thing that no man among them could possibly explain. Its skin was gray with thick wrinkles creating deep divots within its ashy colored flesh. It walked with its arms and legs contorted inward and staggered as it walked in a stuttered manner. It had hands much like the hand that they had found in the cave above, but both of its hands were still intact which brought a more terrible thought to Devyn. There are more than one of these things. Its clouded, white eyes locked on the men and its maw, a gaping hole of jagged brown teeth, chomped up and down in anticipation. All the men, even Asvald, began to back away from the sight of this thing. From the shadows behind the creature, which staggered its way towards them, came the men Devyn did not find, including Thorolf. But they were not the men they all remembered. Their skin was a light blue color and their eyes were blank, they staggered with much less purpose than the creature in front of them. Thorolf was the first among them, his white hair and long beard were covered in ice and possessed a huge gaping wound that shredded what was once smooth flesh. A brown liquid poured from their mouths and dripped on the ground as they stepped clumsily forward. Behind the man that Devyn had been forced to serve came creatures of all shapes and sizes. Even though they were of a species Devyn had never seen before, it was very obvious that they suffered the very same fate as Thorolf and his crew.

  Devyn looked behind to find that there was no escape from the way they came, the only way out of this cavern was one of the many dark caverns that the creatures were marching out of. Devyn eyed Asvald cautiously as he stood next to him, blood still trickling from the wound on his leg. Given the current events, it was unlikely that their battle would continue, but Devyn was not about to lower his guard regardless of what exited the darkness of the caverns ahead of them.

  “Plan?” Askel asked with a terrified quiver to his voice.

  Asvald was silent as he stared at the creatures walking towards him. His eyes were fixed on the first creature to enter the room. Its jaws continued to open and close slowly as its milky white eyes locked onto the men.

  “PLAN!” Askel asked more forcefully.

  Eskor jumped in where Asvald had faltered. “There is no plan Askel.” He looked around at the men with a weak smile. “Stay alive.”

  More creatures approached from other caves, their blue skin calling them out as minions of the strange creature before them. All of the men drew their swords, even Hermund who still lay on the ground with a broken leg. Asvald’s eyes never left the wrinkled gray creature that approached him, but when it came into range, he hefted his great ax into the air and swung down hard at its elongated head. With unimaginable speed the creature reached up and caught the ax as if it were weightless. Exposed gray muscles could be seen flexing in its arm as it squeezed the ax and shattered the haft into a thousand pieces. Asvald let out a very unmanly and uncharacteristic scream as the creature, with another burst of speed, leapt forward taking a large bite from Asvald’s throat. Warm blood spurted and steamed as it rolled down the creature which was now on top of Asvald. Its jaw seemed to unhinge as it took another bite tearing through flesh and bone as if it were warm bread. Asvald’s terror stricken eyes fell on Devyn as they went dim and the creature crouched down on its knees to continue its bloody feast.

  The men all around screamed in terror and the sound of metal hitting the ice echoed through the cavern.

  Devyn screamed at them. “Pick up those weapons! Charge the blue ones, slow them down and make for the cave! Dorm with me!”

  Dorm looked at him with a look of disbelief. “We should run!”

  “I’m not leaving Hermund to these things!” Devyn retorted back forcefully. Dorm gave a sigh of acceptance and fell in behind Devyn.

  Making a wide arc around the creature that devoured Asvald the men charged the line of blue men with a half-hearted roar. Their swords bit deeply into the approaching blue monsters but their advance never ceased. As Munin ran past the creature devouring Asvald, it reached out with lightning quick reflexes, grabbing him with its large bony claw. Munin, caught completely unprepared, stopped dead at the strength of the beast and his sword slid across the ice away from him. He let out a bone chilling scream as the creature pulled him forward into his gory gaping maw. Munin’s body went limp as the creature bit down hard onto his head, it then patiently began to devour him.

  Devyn and Dorm grabbed Hermund by the arms and hoisted him up. Hermund screamed in pain but put his one good leg on the ground as they hobbled past the gory feast. Devyn watched as the man that was once Thorolf, despite the many new wounds that covered him, fell onto Bakli and began tearing into his chest burying his blue face deep into the cavity.

  “By the gods! By the blasted gods, this isn’t real!” Dorm screamed at his side.

  “Quiet and move!” Devyn shouted as they pulled Hermund who tried to hobble on one leg a bit faster.

  The line of the remaining men, Eskor, Gudlaug, Askel, and Armod began to fall back as they watched a screaming Bakli get surrounded by creatures who began to devour him.

  “Move quick we’re losing ground!” Eskor shouted at Devyn.

  Bakli’s screams ceased as more and more of the blue creatures came lumbering out of the black caves. The cavern was becoming full of the walking blue skinned corpses as Devyn took in the scene. There were so many, where did they all come from? The burning question dissipated quickly as the screams of another man rang out into the cave. Armod swung his sword mightily and removed the head of one of the frigid creatures and it fell to the ground. His small victory was soon for nothing as the press of the beings continued over their fallen comrade and pushed Armod to the ground. His sword dropped with a clang that couldn’t be heard over the din of moa
ns in the room, he reached out his hand desperately as he was pulled into the surge of blue skinned creatures.

  With the line broken where Armod once stood, the creatures moved uninhibited behind their lines. The remaining men began to fall back quickly, hacking frantically at the creatures, attempting anything to slow their progress. The men turned and began running towards one of the caves they hoped were empty but the push became too much. Gudlaug and Askel were toppled over and enveloped by the surging beast. Devyn caught the look of terror in their eyes as the ice around them quickly became crimson as the monsters feasted upon them.

  A white faced Eskor turned to all of them screaming. “RUN! RUN INTO THE CAVE!”

  As fast as they could, while lugging Hermund, they picked a random cave that seemed quiet. Devyn held a torch he had plucked up in his off hand while holding Hermund with the other and could see deep into the cave they entered. It was clear as far as any of them could see, so they entered to get away from the horrible scene behind them. Devyn and Dorm carrying Hermund took the lead while the three others brought up the rear. They could hear the foot steps of the creatures falling into the cave behind them and a shriek that could only be from the gray creature rang out into the tunnel. The shriek hurt, Devyn could not explain the pain, but it hurt into the very core of his being. If asked he could not explain how the pain felt or where it came from, but the feeling coursed through him and almost made him drop Hermund who writhed in their arms.