Lowering the spear to his side, the young Isorian quieted his breathing and pulled Clanny close. He made sure she was tucked into the stones as he whispered, “You must quiet your breathing. They’ll hear you. They’re upon us.”
With his eyes peeking through a crack, Medolas held onto his spear and watched as the three snowhounds finished their climb and stopped at the first pelt. He could hear their heavy panting as the largest sniffed at the first pelt before he continued beyond it to sniff the impressions that had been left behind by Medolas’ feet.
Exhausted, the beast’s drool fell freely to the snow as its snout found the trail of blood. The wolf looked up and scanned the area as if it was deciding which trail to follow. His growl amplified before he snorted and lowered his snout back to the ground. The other hounds followed as their leader made his decision as to which scent to pursue.
Medolas’ eyes widened as the beasts started to walk toward their camp. The pack leader kept his snout next to the ground as he sniffed one footprint and then the next. It was not long before all three wolves were examining the base of the stones of their camp.
Medolas was forced to roll quietly to the side of the crack as the pack leader’s snout penetrated the hole from the other side and sniffed. He could hear the beasts’ growls intensify. A moment later, a large paw started to scratch at the crack.
Sensing the danger, Clandestiny grabbed a large pebble that sat on the ground between her legs and then tossed the rock up and over the boulders. The stone landed behind the beasts, near the trail of blood. It worked. All three hounds whirled around and rushed to sniff the pebble as it rolled to a stop.
Medolas peered through the crack. His heart sunk as the pack leader lifted his snout from the pebble and looked in the direction of the boulders surrounding their camp. The wolf sniffed the air and then snorted again. A moment later, the beast lowered his nostrils to the ground. It was not long before the hound’s snarls amplified.
The young Isorian closed his eyes and quietly thanked Helmep as the hounds began to follow the icejacks’ blood toward the second pelt. It was not long before the trail led the pack to the point of the ledge where the tree protruded not far below. The head wolf licked his chops and snarled at the vision of the meat hanging from the branch at the end of the tree.
The trail of blood Medolas had left behind stopped on the trunk where the last of the pelts and the pouch sat waiting. The lead wolf jumped off the ledge and landed on the trunk. Upon reaching the final pelt, he snatched it from under the pouch and discarded it, causing both objects to plummet to the ground. As the pack leader moved further onto the branch, the others grew anxious as their desire to devour the meat intensified.
The next largest of the three jumped onto the tree. His weight shook the trunk and caused the pack leader to crouch to secure his balance. The lead wolf twisted his head back over his shoulder and growled a warning. The second hound snarled in defiance and took three steps forward as the third wolf leaned over and pressed his front paws against the face of the ledge to size up the jump.
Seeing that the third wolf’s rear haunches were raised and pushed back to maintain his balance, Medolas grabbed his spear and quietly started to creep over the rocks. Clanny tried to stop him, touching his free arm, but Medolas ignored her, and put his finger to his mouth, ordering Clanny to remain silent. It was now or never. The offensive had to be taken.
Lowering to the ground, Medolas ensured his steps were silent as he crept toward the rear of the final hound. He was counting on the pack’s snarls to mask any sound that his approach might make, and with the distance almost closed, the final wolf was about to jump when the young Isorian lunged the remaining four paces and kicked the beast in the rear.
The third wolf fell forward, its weight landing on the trunk in an awkward position. Its paws were spread too wide and with each falling to opposite sides of the tree, it made it impossible for the beast to soften the impact. The hound’s head turned to the side as the rest of its body rolled over the top of its mass and stopped only after it collided into the back of the second hound. With a broken neck, the third hound rolled off of the trunk and began its descent toward a crunching end.
Because of the impact, the second hound’s back legs had been knocked off of the tree. The beast tried to claw his way back onto the trunk, but his best efforts to save his life’s source failed. He, too, would tumble end over end toward a terminal impact as the pack leader used the girth of the final branch near the end of the tree to turn around and face Medolas.
Seeing Medolas raise his spear, Clandestiny shouted from behind the stones. “Be strong, Meddy! Be strong!”
Medolas did not respond. Instead, he taunted the pack leader with his spear as the beast approached the ledge. The blue in his palms faded as his grip tightened. A moment later, the wolf crouched and then launched into the air.
Closing his eyes, Medolas thrust the spear forward. The snowhound howled as it was impaled by the end of the weapon. The weight of the impact caused Medolas to step back with his right foot to reclaim his balance, but before the young Isorian could react, the mass of the hound fell below the edge of the cliff. Medolas’ failure to release the spear would be his undoing. The weight of the hound pulled the Isorian off of the ledge.
“Nooooo!” Clandestiny screamed.
Bounding over the rocks, Clanny ran to the edge of the cliff and looked over. Medolas was gone. “Meddy! Meddy! No, no, no, no, no! Meddy!”
Moments Earlier,
Shiver, Blandina and Darosen’s Camp
The Southernmost Entrance to
The Caves of Carne
“It matters not how you feel, Shiver,” Blandina argued as she reclaimed her seat to the right of the Frigid Commander. She looked at the child-king who stood outside the circle of ice-blocks that surrounded the camp. “Your birth was commanded by my father. Like you…” she paused and pointed to Darosen, “…and like your father … I was born to fulfill a calling. The three of us live to bring about the fruition of my father’s dream to conquer the Isor.”
A look of determination appeared on Shiver’s face. “I won’t betray my friends.” The young king’s voice was calm and solid as he reiterated. “I won’t wrong them.”
Blandina shook her head. “You’ll do as you’re told. You cannot stop what has begun.”
“You lie!” Shiver shouted. “I’m King of the Isor. I can do as I wish. I can even surrender my throne. This would stop what you’ve begun.”
Before Blandina could respond, the Frigid Commander cut in. “Perhaps the boy is right. The wilderness is vast. We could live out our Peaks as a family. Happiness would find us. Your father doesn’t need to know our location.”
Blandina’s eyes turned cold as she turned to face the Frigid Commander. “Your words are treasonous against the Tormal, Darosen. Do you wish to suffer the same fate as the last traitor who stood before my father?”
Darosen remembered how the Tormalian king’s sudwals had feasted on the pieces of the elderly impostor. The dogs hid below an altar while Blandina’s father methodically dismembered the retired officer during a scream-filled series of moments comprised of 2,000 cuts.
“My apologies, my love,” Darosen conceded. “I exist only to ensure your happiness.”
Shiver crossed his arms. “As for myself, Mother, I cannot say the same. I have no knowledge of this Tormalian king you claim as a father. I’ve never laid my eyes upon him. My loyalties shall forever remain with the ones I love and know as my own.”
Blandina stood and stepped outside the circle of blocks. She walked around their circumference and took a few paces toward the harugens. Stopping next to Shiver, she turned to reclaim his eyes. “My son … you’re destined to lead the Tormal into the uprising of the ages. Your children’s children shall speak of your greatness, because you will be the one to unite the kingdoms.”
Blandina pointed at the book that sat at the center of the circle. “Do you not desire to be studied as Klidess
is studied? Scholars 4,000 seasons from this Peak shall speak of you as they read from the Scrolls of Old.” She extended her right hand to touch Shiver’s left cheek and then smiled within at the way the child-king flinched. “Don’t fret, my boy. I don’t wish harm to befall you.”
Shiver walked back to the circle and claimed a seat two places to the right of Darosen. “You said your king—”
Blandina stopped him mid-sentence. “Our king,” she corrected.
Scoffing, Shiver continued. “You said your king wants to conquer the Isor. You also said that I was destined to unite the kingdoms. I fail to understand how conquering any being can be called unification. Please, Mother … enlighten me. How can a conquered people stand unified with those who enslave them?”
Realizing Shiver’s logic was sound, Blandina took a new approach. “How dare you defy me!” The sorceress whirled in the direction of the harugens and lifted her hands. She commanded her thoughts to invoke her magic. Fire erupted from the ends of her fingertips and engulfed three of the four harugens. The heat seared the ice beneath the beasts, and the pain inflicted by the flames caused them to cry out as they thrashed about.
Breaking free of the ice-totems they were tethered to, the injured harugens skittered north not more than a few paces before they collapsed to the ice. As each perished, the nerves within their bodies convulsed. The pointed tips of their 100 legs tore at the ice, sending chunks flying in all directions.
Frightened, the fourth mammoth-centipede also broke free from its totem. As he scurried away, Blandina was forced to snare its large, undulating body with her magic until she could settle the harugen down.
With the harugen’s cries filling the evening air, Blandina spun around to face Shiver. The power she had invoked caused blood to drip from her nose while she hissed, “You’ve been given a gift, Shiver. You will use it to unite the kingdoms.”
Blandina wiped the blood away and continued to speak in a firm but softer tone. “You will play the part of the Isorian King. And you will not fail me … or your true king … my king … Darosen’s king.” The sorceress pointed to the deceased harugens. “For if you do, your Peaks upon the ice will be shortened as theirs were.”
Darosen stood from his block. “You speak to our son as if he’s a slave. Has your love for the boy vanished?”
Hearing the concern in the commander’s voice, Blandina’s face softened again. She walked back to the circle and reclaimed her seat before she responded in a normal tone. “You’re not witless, Darosen. I treat you and the boy as I must. If slaves you must become to fulfill the will of my father, then slaves you shall be.”
Tears rolled down Shiver’s cheeks as he stood from his block. “I know you not, Mother. If I must, I will choose to end my life’s source before I betray the Isor. I won’t serve a king who wants those I love to be enslaved.”
Laughing, Blandina stood from her block and sauntered across the ice toward her harugen. Before she finished her fourth stride, she vanished and reappeared atop the mammoth’s saddle. With a wave of her hand, the reins lifted off the ice and settled into her palms. After releasing the beast from her magic, she turned the abominable centipede back in the direction of the camp and commanded it to charge. Shiver and Darosen were forced to dive clear of the circle as the mammoth’s sharp legs smashed the camp into hundreds of pieces.
The sorceress stopped her harugen and turned at the waist to face both Tormalians as they lay looking up at her. “You have 60 Peaks to return to Hydroth. If you fail to concede to my father’s will upon your arrival, your lives will be forfeit ... just as Shamand’s life was forfeit.” Without waiting for a response, Blandina turned toward the front of her harugen. The beast would skitter 75 paces toward the setting sun before they vanished.
Shaking his head in disgust, Shiver looked at Darosen. “She ended Shamand? Did you know this?”
The Frigid Commander walked back to the destroyed camp and kicked at the chunks. “I told Shamand of your mother’s trap before he went into the cave. It appears my warning did not save him.”
A look of despair appeared on Shiver’s face as his eyes dropped. Amidst the ice, the tale of Klidess the Mighty laid torn apart from the weight of the harugen. The beast’s underbelly had shredded the book as it scraped across its binding.
The young king looked up at Darosen again. “If only Klidess was with us. What greater counsel could an impostor king seek?”
Darosen put his hand on top of his son’s head and rummaged his fingers through the boy’s hair. “We should leave. Our journey back to Hydroth will be treacherous.”
Meanwhile, Back at the
Mountain Pass of Tedfer
Sitting on the path directly above the trunk, Clandestiny hung her legs over the edge of the cliff. With the sun tucked behind the mountains that sat beyond the valley below, the crystallizations in her skin were unable to activate. This lack of light would not allow the color of her cheeks to turn green beneath the streams of yellow blood-tears as they strolled down her face. Between sobs, she babbled Medolas’ name again and again. At one point, the force of her exhale caused a bubble of snot to escape from her nose and pop.
It was not much longer before Clanny’s ears perked up. “Meddy … is that you?”
From beneath the trunk, Medolas hung by his left arm from a branch that grew out of the bottom of the tree before it curled to the side to join the other branches on the left side of the trunk. “When you’ve finished sniveling, perhaps you’d be gracious enough to offer me some assistance. My grip weakens, and I can wait no longer.”
Clanny stood on the ledge and moved to her left. With this new angle, she could now see Medolas. His grip was fastened to the end of the branch, and his free arm was dangling toward the ground with the spear in his hand. “How…?” was all she said.
Medolas frowned. “Perhaps you would allow me to offer an explanation once you’ve ensured my safety?”
Without hesitation, Clanny jumped down onto the trunk. After lowering to her belly, she extended her left arm while holding onto a branch that protruded from the right side of the tree.
Medolas lifted the spear. “Pull.”
Clanny did as instructed. It was not long before Medolas’ right hand managed to grab onto another branch. He used this new handle to swing his right leg up and over the trunk while his left leg pressed for leverage against yet another branch. Releasing the limb he had used to stop himself from falling, the branch snapped back in line with the others. Eighty-seven heartbeats later, Medolas and Clanny were once again standing on the ledge embracing for a long series of moments with their eyes closed.
Clanny’s ears snapped to attention as another growl penetrated the night air. Medolas pulled his arms free and snatched his spear off the ground. He reared back and was about to hurl the weapon at the approaching snowhound when a smile appeared on his face.
Seeing the threat was no larger than her old sudwal, Clandestiny sighed, “Oh, Meddy, it’s a pup.” She walked over to the snarling cub and lifted it off the ground. Frightened, the baby snowhound tried to nip his way free as she rolled it onto its back to check between its legs. “It’s a boy. He must have fallen behind when the others gave chase.” She grabbed hold of the beast’s snout and kept it closed so she could snuggle it. “Oh, Meddy, he’s adorable. Helmep has sent me a replacement for Sajeen.”
Medolas rolled his eyes. “Perhaps he can be trained to bite you since I cannot.”
Ignoring Medolas’ snide comment, Clanny moved to the edge of the cliff and looked in the direction of the three splattered masses that stained the rocks below. “I wonder which one was its mother.” Clanny lifted the snapping cub above her head. “Strange,” she said as she stared into its eyes, “I wonder why one so young would fail to stay in its den.” She secured the hound’s snout again and pulled the pup to her bosom. “Perhaps you were hungry and could no longer wait for the return of your mother.”
Medolas grinned. “Or perhaps he could smell your scent,
Clanny, and determined you were a morsel of choice.”
“Bah!” Clanny huffed. “Become productive, Medolas. Retrieve the meat. I want to feed him.”
Medolas stood with his mouth open as Clanny walked back to the camp and climbed over the stones before she lowered the cub to the ground. A moment later, another grin crossed Medolas’ face as he heard Clanny yelp.
Medolas shouted, “You deserved that!”
Peeking her head back over the rock, Clanny chastised, “Meddy! I said, retrieve the meat! Make haste!”
After watching Clanny lower back behind the stone, Medolas turned toward the ledge. He shook his head and whispered, “‘Make haste, Meddy. I said, retrieve the meat.’” He put his hand over his heart. “Why, Meddy, thank you for saving my life’s source … AGAIN. I thank Helmep for the gift that is you.” Medolas continued to grumble as he lowered onto the trunk. “No one can replace you Meddy … no one.”
Above the Under Ice City of Gesper
That Same Night
Now, fellow soul … if you don’t remember, I told you at the beginning of this tale that the architecture of Gesper was grand, though in a different way than originally planned. The Tormalian architects made a critical error in judgment when they surveyed for the perfect spot to build their city. They convinced their sovereign, King Meerum Bosand, to allow the city that was to be filled with beautiful spires and elegant cathedrals, to be constructed on the floor of an enormous crater.
This decision would later alter their lifestyle as the Great Thaw weakened the walls of the crater. Fissures appeared in the ice—fissures that extended south toward the Sea of Gesper. As a result, saltwater worked its way north toward the crater and filled it to the rim, which in itself was not a problem since the Tormal had the ability to breathe through their gills while they lived beneath the water.
The real problem began when the Great Thaw gave way to the Great Freeze, a storm that moved in after the gods changed the climate. The Tormal had no other choice but to abandon their homes and seek safety inside the Caves of Carne until the devastating cold ended. When the Tormal returned eight seasons later, their homes were frozen beneath an expansive block of ice. They would spend the next 10 seasons creating a series of tunnels to hollow out each structure in an effort to make the city habitable once again.
The Tear of Gramal Page 11