by Jeramy Goble
Korden bowed, officially. No sooner had he straightened up again than he turned sharply and marched off.
A torrent of feelings tore through her veins. Regret. Anger. Guilt. And, for a moment, possibly even love. But she drew in a huge breath and sighed out the possibility of such silliness. She watched Korden turn a corner. Then she snapped her fingers at a nearby Spire.
“Sound the departure.”
***
Jularra's company made quick work of the stretch of Catahba Road between Morganon and Brinnock. While it hadn’t been completely tended to yet, many of the least hospitable sections had been addressed in the weeks following the Acorilinian invasion of Torguria. Within a few days, Jularra had arrived at her newly acquired city and taken on fresh supplies. At sunrise on the day following their arrival at Brinnock, Jularra and her group set out for Yubik.
The Moidpent Foothills—the area between Brinnock and the slopes of the western Yubik mountains—was still the most overgrown portion of the journey, and had Jularra’s group been much larger, they would have been slowed down considerably. As it was, they were able to travel easily enough so long as they rode in a narrow configuration.
A week and a half later, the group prepared to cross the Torguria-Yubik border. The mood had been light and the conversation plentiful up until that point in the trip. But that morning, a quiet yet tangible uneasiness lay over the camp. The uncertainty of the days ahead chipped away at the Acorilinians’ confidence.
Though uncertainty loomed, Jularra felt good about their progress. Only six of the group were down due to injury or sickness—three Bedrock and three Spire—and they had been sent back to Brinnock to recuperate. With the final preparations made to begin the slow and steady climb into Yubik, Jularra and her company set out to enter her former territory.
As the group ascended, the mountain roads grew increasingly steeper, with switchbacks becoming more commonplace. It always surprised Jularra how little the road narrowed along with the terrain: the slope of the mountain was so broad as to accommodate an uncharacteristically comfortable road, with room enough at its widest points for ten horses to ride abreast.
The seemingly unending mountain slope eventually gave way to unobstructed sky, and just before sunset the Acorilinians reached the temporary reprieve of a plateau. Jularra gave the order to set up camp. As night approached and her people tended to their horses and fires, Jularra walked over to the side of the trail, stretching her back as she went.
Her attention was drawn by a pair of stone obelisks. One stood on each side of the trail, their dissipating shadows casting doubt on the quest ahead. Jularra had forgotten about them until seeing them, but remembered them as being old border markers. But where the obelisks were once decorated with Acorilinian imagery of mountains and forests, they had since been reworked, chiseled into totems with Yubik glyphs and lore. Only slight remnants of the original carvings remained.
She ran her fingers along one of faces. Though the core of the totem was still solid and dense, the fragile outer edge crumbled a bit at Jularra’s touch. She jerked her hand away. As she did, a shout rang out.
“Eyes out!”
A Spire’s warning from the far side of the camp stung the air. Jularra quickly returned to the group, unease forming in her belly. Wona and Vischuno met her halfway. Before they could speak, a Bedrock blasted out another warning.
“To the queen!”
Bedrock and Spire alike rushed to Jularra and formed numerous protective rings around her. Daylight was fading fast, and Jularra couldn't see what had caused the concern.
“What is it?” she asked. “What do you see? You, there! What is it?”
A nearby Spire turned to confirm Jularra was speaking to her, but looked back out to the tree line as she answered.
“Footsteps in the woods, Your Majesty.”
Jularra turned slowly to examine the trees on both sides of the trail. She reached into the air with both arms, and as she began to mime the gesture of drawing back an arrow, a great recurve bow of blue light and its associated arrow flashed into her hands. She brought it to her cheek as the bright blue energy gave way to solid black.
“Bear? Deer?” she wondered. “I don’t see any torches.”
Vischuno reached behind him, ready to draw his swords.
“There’s still just enough light to not need them,” he whispered. “If it’s an ambush, they'll be using dusk to their advantage.”
They waited, listening, with only the occasional snort of a horse to interrupt their concentration. The trees were still, and only the most impatient of crickets had begun their performances for the night.
But then the woods crunched, and the crickets stopped. The sloshing of leaves initially sounded like deliberate steps, but then quickened. More than one something was sprinting towards the Acorilinians. Towards Jularra.
“Swords on shields!” Wona shouted.
The alternating rows of male and female warriors bent slightly at the knees and squared their shields in front of them. They rested their swords on the tops of their shields, flat side down.
“Ready!”
The noise of running footsteps swooshed and swelled in the darkening shadows of the trees. The Acorilinians stood resolute in their defensive formation, ready to stand against whatever emerged.
The shadows stirred. “Steady!” Vischuno ordered.
More movement disturbed the tree line, and figures broke out into the open. Some were the height of men, while others appeared to be the silhouettes of riders.
“Be ready for horse!” warned Wona. “On my signal!”
“Wait!” a voice shouted from amongst the shadowed figures.
Vischuno erupted out from the center of the assembled Acorilinians. "That you, Denyon?"
“Identify yourselves!” Jularra called into the darkness.
“Your Majesty! It’s Sergeant Denyon, Bedrock of the Third Chain!” the approaching shadow shouted.
What the fuck? They should be in Messyleio by now!
“Stand down, stand down!” Jularra shouted. “Let them pass.”
The Acorilinians stood, parting but not yet sheathing weapons as their fellows approached.
“Make way, make way,” she barked, agitated at seeing the group so far from where they should have been. “Let them through.”
As they passed into the torchlight of the camp, Jularra confirmed the strangers were indeed two supporting Bedrock and eight Spire, most on horse. Around her, the other guards relaxed at the sight of their comrades.
“Come here. What happened?”
Those on horseback dismounted at the edge of the group and rushed in while those on foot doubled over in exhaustion.
“Okay, okay,” she said to those gasping for air. “Catch your breath. You,” she said, signaling at one of the riders, “tell me what this is all about.”
“Yes, of course, Your Majesty. Apologies for startling you all—”
“Never mind that,” she interrupted, impatient for information. “What happened? Where’s the rest of the scout group? Why are you all the way up here?”
“We were headed around the southern tip of Yubik when we were caught in a mudslide. Dislodged a fucking nightmare of boulders. There were fifteen of us towards the rear that didn’t get caught up in it, with five wounded sent back to Morganon. We spotted you from the ridge a few days ago and have been working our way over to meet you here.”
Jularra stared at the exhausted Bedrock while trying to process his words and their implications.
“What about the others?” Jularra asked. “Did anyone make it through?”
“I don’t know, my queen. The trail washed out in front of us, and past that, the mud and boulders sealed the pass shut.”
If no one made it through, I’ll be going into Messyleio blind. Fuck!
“Why did none of you accompany the wounded back to Morganon?” she asked.
“We wanted to make sure someone delivered word that there may be no one arriving
ahead of you.”
Jularra patted one of the wheezing foot soldiers on the back. The initial storm of worry that had brewed within her was clearing just as quickly.
“We need to press on regardless. There isn’t enough time to—”
The forest rustled again before Jularra could finish her thought. The sound grew rapidly, and unlike before, this noise was much larger, and was clearly coming from both sides of the trail.
Jularra turned to the recently returned Bedrock spokesman. He shook his head.
“Prepare!” Jularra hissed. Wona and Vischuno repeated her order as she reached once more for her power.
As the Acorilinians reformed into defensive positions along the trail, a powerful voice trumpeted from behind:
“Queen Jularra!”
Jularra spun around. Mounted ranks of torch-bearing Yubik slipped out of the trees into the open grasses on the edges of the trail. The Acorilinians were easily outnumbered by at least three to one.
“Welcome to Yubik!” the speaker called. As he continued speaking, his voice slid into obvious mistrust. “You should have told us you were coming.”
Jularra stepped out slowly to the front of her group.
“Please, allow us to escort you and your people to a more hospitable location,” he continued.
“That is an incredibly generous offer,” Jularra replied, intrigued by his choice of words. “I was actually hoping to speak with your leader. There is a matter of great urgency that I would like to discuss.”
“And what matter might that be?” the Yubik captain asked.
“That is something I would trust only to your leader,” Jularra replied sternly.
The Yubik captain laughed deeply.
“You speak of trust within minutes of us tracking your group of spies on their way back to you?”
Jularra's eyes widened innocently. “No, no. You have it wrong. They were on a different path with a different objective, but were cut off and came instead to find me.”
“To what end?” the captain asked again.
Jularra repeated herself with stubborn insistence.
“As an official request of state, and as the Queen of Acorilan, I would ask you, loyal and dutiful Yubik captain, to bring us to your capital for an audience to discuss exactly that.”
The captain sat silently atop his horse, staring down at her. The light of his comrades’ torches bobbed and splashed his face with random waves of light and shadow. He leaned over and said something to a subordinate, and then beckoned her to follow him.
***
Jularra, Vischuno, and Wona rode slowly on the road heading north, along with their accompanying Bedrock and Spire. The trail had narrowed, with space only for two to ride abreast. The Yubik escorts rode at the front and rear of the group. To their left was an almost vertical incline, and to their right was an equally steep slope down to the surface of the Crystal Expanse’s glacier. Jularra and her people had no option but to follow the Yubik as they had been instructed. While Jularra successfully fought the urge to verbally assault their escorts, she had to frequently look back to Wona and Vischuno, glaring at them for the vulgar complaints mumbled under their breath.
The incline leveled off as the glacier’s surface grew higher, and after about a mile, the group came to a halt. There were low mutters between the Yubik at the front, but Jularra couldn’t make it out. The queen leaned towards Vischuno.
“Does any of this look familiar to you?” she whispered.
Vischuno shook his head, but turned in his saddle to look again.
“I don’t think so. I was good up until that first fork, but then we started branching off. Too many new trails.”
“I haven’t been to Yubik for years,” Jularra replied. “Not since I gave it back.”
Wona cleared her throat. Jularra and Vischuno looked over their shoulders to see her pointing back the way they came.
“See that tallest ridge to the south? You lose sight of it just about the time you cross over into Waunapawtik. So, we’re probably close to the old Acorilinian border.”
Vischuno turned back to Jularra with a playful sneer.
“Well, my queen. We can’t all be…” He waved his hand at Wona as he searched for the right word. “…geographers, can we?”
Wona leaned forward in her saddle with a grin. "You're right, Visch. We can't all spend years leading scouting missions all across this continent. Don't worry, though. All that time spent in Morganon sharpening your sword will surely come in just as useful someday.”
Vischuno opened his mouth to retort, but the Yubik started to move again. Wona winked at Jularra as she turned back to face the trail.
The group resumed their trek, and the trail opened back up soon afterwards. After a gentle bend around a large outcropping, the Yubik riding in the front sped up and grouped up. The Yubik in the rear signaled at Jularra and her people to move faster. They were then corralled and grouped in front of a man-made trail that cut down into the glacier itself.
The Yubik captain waded through the others and approached Jularra.
“Please continue following us down into the glacier, my lady.”
“Down into the glacier?”
“Correct.”
Jularra didn’t understand. “What’s down there?”
“Over the years since our lands were returned to us, we have used the glacier to our people's benefit.”
Jularra looked at Vischuno, and then to Wona. Both shrugged. Jularra looked back at the Yubik captain. He was smirking as he spoke again.
“If you hope to see Annutsik, we must take this path. It is perfectly safe.”
Annutsik. She pondered the name.
Jularra wasn’t so much concerned for their safety as she was confused as to what could actually be done with a glacier. Was this simply some kind of stall tactic, or a trick? She considered refusing, and demanding to wait for Annutsik where they were. But time was already short. Besides, if the Yubik wanted them dead, then they would likely already be so.
Jularra held out her hand to the Yubik captain. After you.
***
The path was surprisingly wide. The ground was dark gray and black with centuries of deposited sediment. As the group descended, the path veered diagonally to the right—to accommodate the gradual movement of the glacier, Jularra presumed, and to minimize the need to carve out additional sections from it. The horses hesitated frequently at the foreign environment.
The last few hundred feet of the trail were shadowed by an imposing portion of the glacier hanging overhead. Once they reached the lowest point, the ceiling lowered even more until those on horseback were obliged to dismount and continue on foot.
Everyone soon collected in a cramped cavity facing three even smaller tunnels, one to each side and one ahead. Jularra took in their surroundings, again fighting off the instinct that this was a trap. Before she could voice a question, a figure appeared from the tunnel straight ahead.
“Queen Jularra. Welcome. You are requesting an audience with Annutsik. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Can you take us to—”
“We will need your weapons before the audience can be granted,” interrupted the lone Yubik standing across the chamber.
Jularra sighed and rubbed her temples. “Is that necessary?”
“It’s for the safety of our leader,” the Yubik replied. “Surely you can appreciate that.”
She scoffed in frustration. “Do you know what my last interaction with the Yubik was?”
The Yubik stared at her, expressionless.
“The Treaty of Itirriok?” She added, “When I gave you your lands back?”
“Yes,” their guide broke in sharply. “When you gave us back the lands your ancestors stole from us with blood and terror!”
Jularra turned to Wona and Vischuno in disbelief, then back to the nameless Yubik. “Do you also know that we've been to war with the Torgurians? They won't be raiding your lands anymore.”
The Yubik captain laughed. “You attacked them for their supplies. Do not try to claim you did it for us!”
Jularra swung a leg around and shoved angrily off her horse.
“I am the sovereign queen of Acorilan, seeking an audience with my counterpart within a neighboring nation. Is that audience granted, or not? Do we need to leave—or fight?”
The Yubik speaker stood calmly.
“That still depends on whether you will surrender your weapons. You requested this unannounced audience. We did not.”
Jularra bit her tongue as she considered her response. After a moment, she furiously fumbled for her sword belt, undid the buckle and slapped her sword on the ground, prompting the Bedrock and Spire to do the same. She held up her hands at the Yubik and asked impatiently, “What now?”
The Yubik wasn’t in a hurry to respond, though. He peered around Jularra and waited for the rest of the Acorilinians to hand their weapons to nearby Yubik guards. Jularra examined the back of her hand, feigning boredom.
“Wonderful, thank you," said the Yubik finally. "Now, allow me to lead the way to Annutsik.”
Jularra looked up from her hand. “That would be lovely,” she said, her voice coated with exaggerated pleasantry. The Yubik captain bowed and turned towards the tunnel.
Jularra was expecting to arrive in another cramped cavity with a low ceiling of ice and the blue of frozen glacial walls, but after fifty paces or so, the group climbed a dozen frozen steps into something entirely unexpected.
Jularra’s jaw plummeted.
The area they stepped up into was an expansive hall, with sights and sounds to rival those of Morganon on its busiest days. With no discernible end, the massive city under ice had been hollowed out over what must have been years, and made structurally secure by leaving frequent, massive columns of ice between the floor and tall ceiling. Jularra guessed that the floor of the city was still some distance above the bottom of the glacier, which meant it was in little danger from being damaged as the glacier moved.
Cut into sweeping sections of the underground walls were doors and windows of homes. Merchant shops, as well as civil and defensive structures such as walls, obstacles and spikes, meant to direct possible invaders, flowed seamlessly, shaped up from—and out of—the ice floor. To maximize space, and to minimize harm to the glacier, other structures sloped down from the ceiling, seemingly floating above the other buildings and with ice staircases leading up to them.