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Winter's Gate
She stepped into the cavern, her foot sinking into the layer of frost which covered the entire floor. Stalagmites and stalactites of ice built glistening pillars around the room. Crystals frozen deep within the ice walls glowed pale blue and pink, illuminating the cavern of ice.
She walked slowly, torch in one hand, a blade of cold steel in the other. Behind her another young woman, her younger sister, followed close behind, a second torch held in a white knuckled grip.
“Will we really be safe here?” she asked, taking another step toward her older sister.
“The lord's men won't follow us here,” she reassured her younger sister. She didn't look back, though. Instead, her eyes scanned the walls for movement or magic.
“Because they are scared of frost elementals?”
“Well… I mean…” What could she say? If the rumors were true, this was the home of frost elementals and lesser spirits of winter. It would be a lie to say the soldiers of the castle didn't give this area wide berth just to avoid this cave of ice and monsters. “No one has seen a frost elemental in nearly ten years.”
“Hasn't it been ten years since the last time the lord tried to have this area developed?”
She sighed. “That may be true.”
It was, in fact true. Ten years ago, the lord, the man whose men now hunted them, had wanted the region outside this cave cleared and a manor built. Before the first tree had even been felled, frost elementals, primordial spirits of ice, had rolled out from this cave as a freezing mist. The mist had slipped into the lungs of the workers before any realized. Over half the work force suffocated, their lungs frozen solid, before any of the overseers realized what had happened. As panic spread through the remaining workers, the spirits manifested as men, eight feet tall, with clubs of ice for arms. They smashed any too slow to run away into frosty, bloody piles.
But, recounting this story to her already trembling younger sister was hardly good for moral. Besides, if the lord got them, they would hardly fair any better. The possible death and dismemberment of the cave was far better than certain demise they faced if any of their hunters caught them and dragged them back.
“We just need to hide here until nightfall,” she added. “His men won't go out in the forest after dark. We can slip away then.”
Her sister nodded meekly, but she could tell she wanted to point out why the soldiers wouldn't enter the forest at night. Whether her sister was thinking of the direwolves...
She walked slowly, torch in one hand, a blade of cold steel in the other. Behind her another young woman, her younger sister, followed close behind, a second torch held in a white knuckled grip.
“Will we really be safe here?” she asked, taking another step toward her older sister.
“The lord's men won't follow us here,” she reassured her younger sister. She didn't look back, though. Instead, her eyes scanned the walls for movement or magic.
“Because they are scared of frost elementals?”
“Well… I mean…” What could she say? If the rumors were true, this was the home of frost elementals and lesser spirits of winter. It would be a lie to say the soldiers of the castle didn't give this area wide berth just to avoid this cave of ice and monsters. “No one has seen a frost elemental in nearly ten years.”
“Hasn't it been ten years since the last time the lord tried to have this area developed?”
She sighed. “That may be true.”
It was, in fact true. Ten years ago, the lord, the man whose men now hunted them, had wanted the region outside this cave cleared and a manor built. Before the first tree had even been felled, frost elementals, primordial spirits of ice, had rolled out from this cave as a freezing mist. The mist had slipped into the lungs of the workers before any realized. Over half the work force suffocated, their lungs frozen solid, before any of the overseers realized what had happened. As panic spread through the remaining workers, the spirits manifested as men, eight feet tall, with clubs of ice for arms. They smashed any too slow to run away into frosty, bloody piles.
But, recounting this story to her already trembling younger sister was hardly good for moral. Besides, if the lord got them, they would hardly fair any better. The possible death and dismemberment of the cave was far better than certain demise they faced if any of their hunters caught them and dragged them back.
“We just need to hide here until nightfall,” she added. “His men won't go out in the forest after dark. We can slip away then.”
Her sister nodded meekly, but she could tell she wanted to point out why the soldiers wouldn't enter the forest at night. Whether her sister was thinking of the direwolves...
