Icy Quest, part III: The Fate of Fronigtalle (Sam 22nd)

[saskia]

Of course the icification of their Captain created some excitement in the enemies camp, but there was no large-spread panic, yet.

As soldiers gathered around him, and others scanned the horizon for the source of the arrow, another commander came running to the group, gesturing the soldiers to their position.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Ashilda nodded to herself as the second leader began ordering the confused soldiers back to their places. So, he had some spine after all, it seemed. Not that it will do him any good...

She wondered if she should shoot immediately, or give him time to examine her earlier handiwork. It might unsettle him a bit. Then again, they didn't exactly look like friends when we saw them yesterday. Her eyes went to the soldiers who were looking outside their own encampment to find the source of the arrow that had taken their first commander. He might get them organised to come looking, though. Better take care of him quickly.

Her arm drew back as she sighted along the arrow shaft. The lack of panic was actually working in her favour for now - she didn't have to try and pick him out of a milling confusion of soldiers. Once more she ran through the list of compensations she had to make, still too new to all this to be able to trust herself to make them automatically. When she felt confident of her shot, she held her breath and let the arrow fly.

Instead of standing frozen until it hit its mark, this time she waited only until it had sped well clear of her bow before lowering her weapon and drawing back into the trees. Hit or not, the chances of discovery were greater now that two arrows had flown from the same place. She hurried back to her two companions. "Let's move," she murmured. "They're almost edgy enough to come looking, and they've probably worked out where the shots came from by now. I'd rather be further around the ridge when they get here."

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex rolled her tongue out like a happy dog at the impact of the first arrow. eagerly she waited in her cover for the outcome of the second arrow.

Looking to the Guardian she tried to understand how he felt about the early outcome of this engagement. As Ashilda moved back into cover Hex watched once again the rising panic that was unfolding before her. Motioning for Ashilda to get into cover with the two of them, Hex knew that it was movement that gave away ones position from cover.

Hex watched as her plan unfolded.

[saskia]

The Goddess must have been with them, clear as a ray of sun, the second arrow hit its target.
And again a commanding officer toppled slowly to the ground, his skin the colour of snow in the night.

Now a strange kind of organised panic broke out. There were shouts and running soldiers, but not real panic, desertion or screams.

Most of the soldiers tried to find some kind of barrier to hide behind: backpacks, treestumps, baggage whatever they could find.

For now, no-one came to look for the warriors, but quite a few scanned the trees the party was hiding in.



Both Irmgard an the Guardian were doing nothing: Irmgard clenched her knife and watched Ortus, who was still praying, his eyes closed, his white lips moving.
The Guardian was staring into the valley, his eyes locked on the foreign soldiers, shining with a fierce hatred.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Ashilda glanced at Ortus, still deep in prayer. What sort of deity would demand such obliviousness to the world around them? she wondered. Or is he just naive enough not to realise how much danger we're in? Although it was common to use meditation to seek communion with the Goddess, none of Trothgard's hardy, practical folk would sink themselves into a deep trance when there was battle in the offing. In fact, as far as she knew it was rare to use such a technique outside of the settlements or the privacy of Fronigtalle during the Rite. The land was simply too hostile not to keep at least a certain level of awareness of it at all times.

Wrinkling her nose, she said to Irmgard, "Keep an eye on what's happening below. If they start heading up the slope, grab Ortus and run - he can talk to his god later, or he can go and meet him. I'm preety sure he'd prefer the first option." She gave her cousin a wry smile. "I'm going to head around the ridge a little and see if I can stir them up a little more."

Giving the woman's shoulder an encouraging squeeze, she slipped through the trees for a burn or two. The idea she had was to make the soldiers think they might be up against a larger force by shooting at them from different places around the ridge. It would also help to draw them away from where Irmgard and Ortus were hidden - her cousin, she knew, was even less of a warrior than she was. It was a shame that she could not fire from more than one place at a time, but she would do the best she could. She also decided that she would use normal arrows for now. It would still hurt them, and her precious runed arrows would be saved for where they could really make a difference.

Finding a vantage point beneath another old tree, she nocked an arrow and aimed at a soldier trying to hide behind his backpack. Well that's a silly idea, she thought scathingly. He's bigger than it is! She lined up the shot and fired, then was instantly moving again to repeat the process. As she did, she wondered when Hex and the Guardian would make their attack. Once they did, she would stop hers and head back to her companions - she wasn't sure enough of her skill to want to shoot into a group that contained friends.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex cocked her head to the side and let out a low "Ahh" sound as the second arrow found its mark. She was pleased with Ashilda and her resolve. Hex now wanted to up the level of fear.

Hex had a new weapon to use, the power of the queen. She had told the others of the plan but had not included the fact that she was going to try and freeze these men where they hid. Her goal was to leave a a reminder to others their corpses cowering in the muck. Reaching out with the power Hex whiped up a few flakes of snow to swirl around the men, as she had in her minds eye upon the wall. As she gained control of the flakes Hex started to make it cold, real cold, freezing of flesh cold, little flakes of death to fall upon the men.

Under her breath she quietly spoke to the men she was going to kill...

"Feel the Queen's embrace outsiders, her touch is cool death and I am her messenger. Welcome to Trothgard." Hex concentrated on her weave of the power, adjusting as required to bring pain and death to those below.

[saskia]

As the soldiers took the interval between Ashilda's attacks to get organised, Hex tried to reach the power of the IceQueen.

Doing so, she could feel a sudden cold nausea, deep down in her stomach, connected to this place. She could feel the struggle of the goddess, the taunt the invaders brought, and even the revulsion of the sacred place itself.
Giving all she had, Hex reached for the cold, the wind, the snow and felt it slowly reacting to her power:
A small blizzard formed itself, spinning in circles, going faster and faster. She felt that if she would try very hard, she would be able to maintain it for a while, and ever direct it with her will...


Ashilda was a victim to the changing of the winds, her arrow was blown of course, and hit not the soldier, but his backpack, which immediately turned to loose snow, and fell apart.
The soldier only stared at it with his eyes bulging, and his lips moving in a curse, or maybe a prayer to his foreign god..


the other soldiers had organised themselves in four small groups, three of which were running towards the rim. The fourth group covered them, arrows ready to fly.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Watching her arrow go astray in the rising winds, Ashilda bit back a curse. Moments later, however, she was biting back a laugh instead as she saw the dumbfounded expression on the soldier's face as the backpack he had been attempting to hide behind crystalised and fell apart. She may not have hit her intended target, but it wasn't an entirely wasted shot: putting the fear of the Ice Queen into these traspassers was a noble cause.

She looked across the rest of the soldiers and hissed a sharper curse. Most of them had organised themselves and were heading up the slope towards the ridge. With this wind, I'm not likely to get in any decent shots now, anyway, she decided. Sitting here until they find me seems like a stupid thing to do. The group was approaching quite rapidly, so she made sure she had a firm grip on her bow and clapped her other hand over the quiver to keeps the contents from rattling to much before she turned and slipped quickly back through the trees.

She angled back towards where she had left Ortus and Irmgard, wanting to be sure that they were also moving away from the edge. If not, she would get them moving and lead the group away from the ridge as quickly and quietly as she could. As she ran, she remembered the two dogs they had brought with them. They had been left further down the slope, and she decided she would collect them on the way through as well. Having once seen a sled-dog take on a bear, she liked the idea of having two of the powerful beasts at her side right now.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Illness...Hex felt it deep in the pit of her stomach, nausea started to wash over her like the illness had washed over the land. What is is here that causes the taint to be so strong?.... Hex did not wait for the answer.

Falling to her knees she dug her hands into the earth and concentrated on her cyclone. She saw the three advancing through bleary eyes but knew that the Guardian would see them too.

Deeper she dug into the earth and into the power. A new wave of nausea sent vomit spewing from her mouth to the forest floor. Hex looked down on the vomit and equated the vermin in the clearing to be not unlike a vomit upon the land. Bile dripping from her chin, Hex could still smile as the cyclone bent to her will.

Images of women of Trothgard striking ships and villages and training for combat...Strike hard and fast..., images replaced with the here and now.

Hex bore down with the power. She wanted these men dead, and wanted them dead now. Vomiting again as she went deep, Hex bore her now forming cyclone on the group of invaders. She could only imagine the look on their faces as soft little snow flakes began to swirl faster and faster, and when they landed turned flesh to ice. What a pleasant thought it was.

[saskia]

Suddenly, like someone had blown a whistle, or wave a flag, the battle started for real.
And a strange battle it was: a mismatched group of adventurers against a force of invaders not used to fight in this weather.

One group was moving towards Hex, the direction were the first arrows had come from.
Fighting to keep control of herself and of her magick, Hex managed to steer the small blizzard towards the men approaching her.
They were caught in the strom, their cries of fear told her they knew this was not a natural storm.
Hex had to use every bit of concentration she had to keep up the storm, she knew she was defenceless to all other attacks as long as she upheld this spell.

Ashilda ran to were Irmgard and Ortus were, and were also the second group of soldiers was headed, their bows and swords ready, a battle cry to their strange god on their lips.
She reached the top of the hill just in time to see Irmgard stumble behind a tree, her clothing stained red.
Ortus just stood there, his face even whiter, frozen like one of Ashilda's arrows had hit him. He did not move, just stood there and stared, oblivious to the soldiers rounding the top of the hill.

And of course at this exact same moment, one of these moments created by the gods, instead of plain coincidence, The Guardian choose to attack.
He gave a great howl and run towards the third group of attackers, the one still in the valley...

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex could not see what was going on at all points in this now forming battle, she could hear though. They had come in two groups into the woods and left a pocket in the middle. What plans?....

Hex looked to the group decending on her and bore down with the magic. She wanted to freeze this group where they stood. Keeping one eye on them and the other to the woods, Hex kept up her little storm.

Her glaive was close by and after watching the Guardian run into the frey she knew the day would see the ground turn red with blood. After killing this advancing group she would begin the hunt in the woods.

Snowflakes of death The thought made Hex laugh out loud, spittle dripping from her chin as her laughter mixed with the howl of the Guardian.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Seeing Irmgard injured, Ashilda's heart lept into her throat. Her cousin was no match for these soldiers - she wasn't even sure that she was. As she pulled an arrow from her quiver and set it to the bow, she spoke the word that would activate her amulet of protection. As she drew, aimed, and fired at the nearest of the soldiers, she spoke the words to activate Irmgard's and Ortus' amulets. It would do no harm if they had already been activated, but if they had forgotten in the surprise of the attack it would at least afford them whatever small amount of protection the Queen could grant.

As the first arrow sped towards its target, she was already fitting the next into place and preparing to fire again. She risked a glance at her position first, however. Was she close enough to their original camp? The dogs had been left under the 'Stay' command, and they seemed to be obeying it despite the noise the soldiers were making. I'm close enough for them to hear, she decided. Team leaders, more so than other dogs, were selected for their keen hearing as much as anything else, allowing them to hear commands shouted over the roaring winds of Trothgard's frequent storms.

As Ashilda loosed the second arrow, she raised her voice in the call that would summon the two powerful dogs to her side. As she ran a bit further around the slope, deeming it best to keep moving, she noticed Ortus still standing frozen to the spot in front of the oncoming soldiers. It was a wonder that he hadn't already been hit, but she couldn't in all conscience leave him there. Taking up a new station beside a tree, she drew another arrow and shouted, "Ortus! If you won't fight, run!"

She had no clear idea of what she was going to do. She knew that she had to keep moving, and needed to stay concealed as much as possible so that they couldn't get a clear shot at her with those strange, powerful bows they carried. She wanted to protect her cousin, and Ortus if he was sensible enough to get out of the open like that. Most of all, she wanted to avoid getting injured herself - she would be of no use to her Goddess or anyone else if she lay dead.

[saskia]

The sight of Hex was enough to stop the soldiers, even if her spell would not. She was deadly pale, with a greenish cast to it, her clothes and face were soiled and her eyes bloodshot. But the most scary was the almost mad gleam in her eyes.

The group of soldiers froze to the spots, their cries getting stronger first, when they realised they were trapped, but soon they grew silent, until their voices died.
As Hex released the spell, all that was left was a small group of white shapes, as if children had passed and left a group of snowmen. The soldiers were dead, or would be very soon.

Hex felt near death herself. The combination of the spell and the taint put on this sacred place had left her exhausted. She fell into the snow and could do nothing but breath and count the stars swirling in front of her eyes for a while.


Ashilda's next two arrows hit their goal, might they be guided by the hands of the Goddess? Did the amulet call to her? There was no way of knowing, but Ashilda felt a sort of calm settling inside of her. It took the raw edges of her fear, and cleaned her mind for a bit.

It also gave her the time to look around for cover, and she could see a path she could take, always having at least a tree to run to for cover.

The dogs responded to her calls, running towards her with waggling tails and gaping fangs. Ashilda knew they were not trained to fight, but since the enemy did not posses any knowledge about these dogs, they might not realise this.
Ortus did not respond to anything, though maybe her voice did pierce his panic, since he slowly fell to his knees..


The Guardian ran into the group of soldiers below. Crushing into them, mowing them down like toys, hitting, tearing kicking. A huge monster released against those small humans. He did not seem to be in much trouble, although his fur might hide any wounds he was bound to take.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Unable to see Irmgard from where she stood, Ashilda had to trust that her cousin had hidden herself away safely. Ortus was more of a concern - having gone to his knees, it was obvious that he would do nothing to avoid the oncoming soldiers. She felt a coldness settle over her. These men would kill one of their own, for no better reasons than that he had the misfortune to be captured alive and the sense of self-preservation to want to stay that way. That the appearance of his countrymen seemed to have sapped that sense filled her with anger. What sort of people are these men? They destroy our land, our sacred places. They destroy their own for no good reason. They destroy everything!

She had to stop them, but she was unsure if she would be able to shoot them all before they overran her. Besides, she had few runed arrows left, and normal arrows did not ensure a quick kill. The dogs had almost reached her, but they were not battle-trained. They would certainly stir things up, but as soon as someone had the presence of mind to shoot at them they would not last long. Then she realised: she needed to stop them, not necessarily kill them.

I deliver myself into your hands, my Queen, she thought.

She paused for a flicker or two to let the anger fill her. She thought of the sense of wrongness she had felt when she first entered the Valley. She thought of the way something had prevented the Ice Queen from giving her attention to the Rite. She thought of the look in Ortus' eyes when he admitted that his own people would probably set him on fire. She thought of the dead and butchered hippogryphs in the clearing below. She thought of Irmgard covered in blood, staggering to the dubious safety of a tree.

Eyes blazing, she nocked an arrow and stepped out from behind her tree so that she could be seen. In a voice pitched to carry across the other sounds of the battlefield, she shouted to them, "Drop your weapons! This is sacred ground, and the ice you tread on is thinner than you know! Drop your weapons, lest you all be destroyed!" The dogs had reached her by now and stood at her side. The small part of her mind that wasn't consumed by fury acknowledged that it must have been an impressive site: a wild woman with anger blazing hot enough to colour the air, flamked by two impressively powerful beasts. She hoped the effect was not lost on the soldiers.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex lay in the snow, a flicker in her eye as she watched flakes of snow flutter down around her. A cool smile crept to her lips as she thought of the frozen soldiers in the valley. The snow beneath her felt warm, comforting, as if it was holding her in an embrace. She looked to the sky, the trees and watched the cool flakes fall.

Fall, would the others fall? Hex had heard the Guardian charge into combat and knew that her friend would be in glory. She pictured him ripping these fools from limb from limb and throwing their blood around their camp. She pictured Ashilda notching arrows and shooting down her attackers.

While she lay in the snow. Lay in the snow?.

Hex groaned and rolled to her knees. Her head felt heavy, her vision blurred and all that was coming up now was dry heaves and bile. She was not going to die on her knees though, no would she allow these men the opportunity.

Hex grabbed her Glaive and using it as a suport, pulled herself to her feet and wiped her mouth with the the back of her mit. Bleary eyes looked over her new battlefield.

[saskia]

For just a second, the soldiers halted, surprised by Ashilda's action.
Unfortunately, this did not last for long.
One of the soldiers also nocked an arrow, and shouted back:

"Yes, sweety, we know we are on holy ground, we came here on purpose, to desacrate all that is holy for you, and teach you the One and true religion!
Convert to the One now, and you will not be harmed"

It was only a flicker, but maybe a flicker of distraction was all she needed?



Hex managed to stand up, and after a while the trees stopeed their little dance, the sky took its normal place and the earth stopped moving.
Then she could see the Guardian, as she had visioned him, literally tearing up the invading army.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Ashilda take a stand against five soldiers, with only two sled-dogs to back her.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex was grateful that the illness had left her for now. The taint was strong and the deeper into the power she went the deeper the taint. These filthy vermin would be killed and the land would heal.

Hex saw Ashilda's predicament out of the corner of her eye. The soliders words drifter on the wind towards her. Hex could only smile. Speaking the word to empower the amulet of protection that Ashilda had made, Hex turned to trot towards the small group, she could not contain her laughter though as she made her way to them.

"Who shall teach us the way of this fool the one? You little solider? I have killed your priests, smashed your ship and killed your friends. You five should be the ones surrendering here, not she. Your words are empty threats and your arrow will not kill us. I bring nothing but your death and the apprentice priest of the one Ortus will bare witness your destruction."

Just a touch, Hex brought up a little breeze about them to cause the snow to swirl in an unnatural way. Hex did not want to weaken herself again for she needed her strength for the burst of speed she was about to perform to bring her into close combat with the small group.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

At the soldier's words, Ashilda felt a tide of rage sweep through her. How dare they! One true religion indeed! She was about to make a tart reply, but noticed Hex moving up the slope behind the soldiers. Hoping to give the warrior more time to reach them, she arranged her features into the expression of innocent confusion that she often used when discovered doing something she shouldn't be. She figured it was likely to work better here than it did at home, since the soldiers didn't know her. Her aim relaxed as well, letting the point drop slightly - with any luck her show of hesitation would keep them from noticing that she hadn't relaxed her draw. She could have the bow back into position to fire in an instant.

It was difficult to keep from fixing her gaze on the figure heading towards them, but as Hex neared the woman's laughter drew attention to herself anyway. As she called out her defiance, zeal and a touch of madness in her voice, the young woman felt a similar wild laugh bubble up inside her. Here they were, two trained fighters and herself, taking on the remnants of a legion by themselves. What were the odds that they could pull this off? We have the Queen on our side, she reminded herself, her lips curving into a grin as she felt the brush of the wind that set the snow to dancing.

A knot of tension in her eased as her fear of dying here vanished on the wind. When she lifted her own voice, she heard in it a hint of the madness that had been in Hex's: "This land will always belong to the Ice Queen; will always be a sanctuary for her creatures and a gift to her people. And if you think you can just come in here and take it from us all, then the ice take you all!" Her bow snapped back up and a rune-laden arrow was flying towards the man who had threatened her even as she threw herself back into the shelter of the tree to escape any retaliation that may be heading her way.


OOC: I'm heading home for Christmas, so while I'll probably still be able to post I don't know how frequent it will be. If I don't catch you beforehand, have a great festive season!

[saskia]

They did surprise the soldiers. In their home-country, women were no warriors, and they were most certainly not used to women who did not give up, when confronted with a group of trained soldiers.
But they were trained enough not to be surprised for long, so when the realised their two opponents were not surrendering, they drew their swords, and attacked.

They spread out, getting ready to surround Hex and Ashilda, as Ashilda let go of her arrow.
This really signalled the attack: They yelled a battle-cry, and three moved to Hex' side, while the others ran towards Ashilda.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex rolled her shoulders and spit out the bile from her mouth. This whole encounter had left a bad taste in her mouth. They should have sent four to me..

Hex knew in that they did not expect her to be that good so she gave them the comfort that they wanted and held her Glaive high, as if she were inexperienced. Ignoring their insults and threats Hex concentrated on what was to be played out. They came as she thought they would tight at first and they fanning out. Their speed was a little fast, as she had planed for.

As they closed to within range Hex moved into action. Moving to feint at the one in the middle Hex wished to swung low to catch the outside exposed knee of the one to her right. The heavy pole arm would dig deep and hopefully all but sever the lower leg. She wished to maintain her surprise and jab with the but towards the fighter to her left to force him back. She exspected the middle man would want to take advantage of her open position but Hex would be ready to dodge the blow, hopefully allowing it to harmlessly roll off her armor. She would be bruised but then this is combat.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Since she was already moving away when the soldiers began their rush,
Ashilda decided that it would be wiser to keep going in that direction. The part of her mind that wasn't yammering at her in fear decided that she was glad they had put their strange flat bows aside and drawn their swords - it meant they couldn't hurt her until they reached her. Now I just have to stop them from reaching me, she observed with a grim smile.

She doubted that she could outrun them for long. Fit as she was, if their
training was anything like that of the warriors and hunters of Rimehold they
would have endurance far beyond her own. She wasn't carrying anything she could use to defend herself in hand-to-hand combat, either. As she dodged between the trees, dogs at her side, she decided that what she really needed was to find a place where she could stand and shoot at them without letting them get close enough to grab her.

The trees! she thought, the insipration coming to her as she ducked around a particularly large one. She had spent much of her childhood climbing: trees, rocks, rafters, anything that would help her get into a good position to listen to the runecrafters discuss their work. Now she ran with purpose, circling around and keeping an eye open for any tree she could easily swing herself into. She also spared a glance over her shoulder to see how far ahead of her pursuit she was. If they were gaining, that meant ti was time to send the dogs back to distract and slow them.

[saskia]

Ashilda's plan worked...At least she thought it did: The soldiers following her kept on doing so, chasing after her into the group of trees nearby, following at about 15 paces.

She did spot a huge fir-tree standing at the edge of the small group of trees which she would be able to climb. This would leave the dogs to face the soldiers though.


The other invaders clashed with Hex, and collided with her in a blur of swords, limbs and snow.
They feel for her diversion, and her glaive bit deep into one leg, drawing this fights first blood.
The manoeuver left her guard down and her sword-arm low and another soldiers sword hit her shoulder. It slid of her chainmail, but left her right arm feeling heavy.
With one of them down, the other two closed in on Hex, crouching low, their short swords in front of them, each coming in from a different angle.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Not pausing to think, Ashilda put on an extra burst of speed and jumped. One arm was outstretched to catch the lowest branch of the fir, which would allow her own momentum to swin her up amongst the branches. It was a risky move, but the alternative was to stop and secure her bow out of the way so she could use both hands. She didn't dare to take the time, with pursuit so close behind her. As she sailed through the air, her only thought was: My Queen, grant me luck!

If all went according to plan, she would secure herself on a branch high enough to keep her out of easy reach so that she could shoot at the soldiers as they approached the tree. She would have to trust to the dogs to keep them distracted for just a little longer.

[saskia]

Ashilda managed to use her momentum to hoist herself up into the tree, but only to the first branch where she was faced with the dilemma which hand to use to pull herself to the next branch.
Her hair was painfully entangled in the tree and her bow poked into her ribcage.

The dogs stood below the tree, insecure, abandoned. They howled and then turned to the soldier, growling with fear.
As the soldiers came to them,their swordssparkling int the light they turned and fled with their tails between their legs.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

As she swung up onto the branch, Ashilda gave a grunt that held as much surprise as it did pain. The bow was an ungainly impediment to her usual smooth progress, thumping her in the ribs as well as preventing her from using her other hand. Her hair had caught on something, too, and felt as though it were being pulled out by the roots.

Her soft curse was followed by another more heartfelt bout of swearing as the dogs ran off in the face of the oncoming soldiers. I should have expected it, she told herself. They're not bred for fighting, and they don't have a close enough bond with us to want to protect. She wished for a moment that she had been accompanied by her own family's dogs, dogs which she had helped rear from tiny pups. They would have given their lives to protect her, she knew, although it would have been harder to bring herself to risk them in such a fashion.

Abandoning this line of thought as not getting her anywhere useful - certainly not getting her out of range and into a position to fight back - she wrenched her head around in an attempt to free it from the entangling branches and slipped her arm between the bow and the string. It wasn't a good way to carry a bow, but it would do well enough for a few flickers and allowed her the use of both hands to pull herself into a more secure position on a higher branch.