Stephen

Just as it had when I was desperate to save Ann, back when the Neidyr found us, the air in front of me rippled with power as a sonic boom permeated the enclosed space. The ripple continued forward and landed, not on the Wraiths pouring in through the front entrance but on the ice just above their heads. Snow and ice rained down from the contact point and, just as predicted, the shelter began to fracture.

A network of cracks spread out from the impact point above the entryway, all along the base of the shelter, the place which had been weakened the most. The entire edifice gave one last long groan, and it began to shatter. The weight of the upper portions of the shelter crushed the compromised lower portions and the full upper piece came crashing down on the ground in an enormous BOOOOOM!

The impact caused everyone’s teeth to shake as the earth itself shook from the collapse. Numerous Harai were crushed from the impact and many more we buried under the cloud of snow that was kicked up from the massive structure’s impact. This all happened extremely quickly, such that those of us who remained could only stare at the carnage we had created. Even the Harai who hadn’t been buried seemed to look around in confusion. And then, cracks began to spread across the surface of the shelter that remained, starting from the impact point, and moving up towards that ceiling. That shocked all of us back to our senses.

“RUN!”

Both the old man and I screamed at the warriors still within the confines of the shelter, before turning and taking our own advice. Ann shot back through the tunnel like a Wingen with its tail on fire. The Maegar and I scooped up the old man in our arms and started dashing after her. Ann probably wouldn’t have been much help with carrying him, and this had been part of the plan, but I did envy her a bit as she raced ahead of both of us. I heard the shouts of the Maegar warriors right behind me as they reached the entrance of the cave, but they were soon drowned out by the rumbling of the collapsing shelter.

And what a rumbling it was. The whole cavern shook like it was being toyed with by an enormous giant, the sonic feedback like ten thousand boulders falling from the sky. The sound was a living thing, pushing us onwards and further up the tunnel where we scampered like mice trying to avoid an oncoming landslide. I ran as fast as I could but, due to our burden, both me and my new friend were soon overtaken by the other warriors, who sprinted heedlessly past us. I couldn’t blame them as I knew what was coming.

Frigid debris rushed like a river through the exit tunnel, the oncoming tide an endless stream of white. I moved away as quickly as I could, but I knew what was about to happen. Bracing myself, I closed my eyes and held my breath.

The shock of the cold struck my body in a full sensory overload. All thoughts were driven from my mind and my muscles spasmed in pain from the piercing cold of the glacial wave. I only managed to hold onto my burden from sheer instinct. I lost my bearings entirely as I was tossed by the current of the snowy river, my entire world nothing but frozen darkness without the light of a lantern. The rumbling wouldn’t stop either, the shaking of the underground cavern a constant and hellish companion in my disoriented state.

My back smashed against something hard, and it was all that I could do to protect my charge. I couldn’t remember who it was. I could barely remember who I was. But I instinctively protected the person I was holding from any impacts as we tossed and turned in the brutal current. The seconds ticked by like hours, but eventually we slowed to a stop. That ever-present rumble had been relegated to a dull and only faintly heard thunder in the far distance. It only barely permeated our new icy prison.

As I got over the shock of the cold and being tossed around like a ragdoll, I slowly began to think clearly again. We were buried under a ton of snow, trapped in a lightless realm from which no cry of help would escape. The cold would kill us eventually, but the lack of air would work faster, and I already felt my lungs burning from the effort of having held my breath for so long. I forced down the panic and began to drag myself and the old man through the snow. The pressure and weight of our frozen tomb was suffocating, but it proved a small gift in a strange way. The snow was mostly coming from the direction of the now-ruined shelter. That meant that the weight was the most intense when moving in that direction. If I searched for the path of least resistance, I should be able to find my way back towards Ann and the others.

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After an eternity of shifting and testing, I found it was slightly easier to turn around and move “backwards”. Praying that my assumption was right and that I had just been turned around by the current, I slowly fought to spin around and forge my way through the darkness. I dug my way through the avalanche step by aching step, my lungs now totally on fire. My chest refused to expand from the pressure all around me, such that inhaling and exhaling was a futile prospect. I ran into something hard and realized that it was the stone of the cavern wall. Fighting through the urge to panic, I started inching my way along the wall, moving in the direction it felt the easiest to move in.

I spared a thought, in a frantic second, for the body I was dragging along with me. Why wasn’t the old man using his fire powers? Was he dead? Unconscious? I wanted to drop the dead weight so badly but couldn’t bring myself to do it. My back throbbed with an ever-worsening ache. My muscles were starting to go limp, the exhaustion from the technique use and the ever-decreasing amount of breath in my body starting to catch up with me. Forging through the snow would be back breaking work even when healthy. I was on my last legs. My progress slowed from a steady crawl to a stuttering shuffle before I could finally move no further. Crushed deep within the mountain, I finally let my breath go and tried to grasp another but there was little relief to be found. My inhales were shallow and fruitless, the merciless crushing force of the snow and rock around me granting no reprieve. My head swam with stars as I felt myself slipping at the edges of consciousness.

As I teetered on the brink of death, my frozen and frostbitten ears picked something up. In my fugue state I heard the distant muffle of shouting and urgent voices breaking through my suffocating cocoon. Then, just as I began to process what I was hearing, relief came in a flash of fire. My world changed from cold and dark to warm and bright within an instant as a light bloomed from the direction of the voices. It melted through the snow surrounding me, allowing me to finally take a full breath.

I promptly inhaled as good deal of water from the melting snow and was sent into a fit of coughing and blinking. Things got hotter and hotter as fire burned through my icy confines. A half dozen hands scraped the snow surrounding us away and grabbed at my clothes in an attempt to extract both me and the venerable Maegar elder. After my fit of coughing, I rubbed the last of my disorientation out of my eyes and stared in surprise at our rescuers. Ann’s was the first face I saw, my sister uncharacteristically emotional as she helped drag me out of danger. I also noticed some of the other Maegar warriors who we had rescued, shouting as they created fires to melt the vestiges of their shelter which now buried some of the very people it was meant to protect.

The old Maegar in my arms was gently taken away and given further medical treatment. I saw that there were a few others who had been wounded from the river of snow, as well as some who were still being dragged out of the ice. With no small relief, I witnessed our young Maegar friend being pulled out of the snow not far from me. When I asked about his health, the warriors told me that he would likely be okay. In fact, they informed me that none of the warriors caught up by the snow were killed, with only a few sustaining serious injuries. This was thanks to the fiery powers of the rescuers and victims, with only the fighters knocked unconscious put in any danger at all.

The young warrior, the old man, and I were some of the last to be rescued. I saw, now, that the old man had sustained a nasty head wound, so I sidled over and took the time to feed him a couple berries to ensure he survived. I noticed a few odd looks from some of our newfound allies when I did, but I chose not to think too hard about that for now. Once that we had ensured that no one was in immediate mortal peril, we set off as a group down the tunnel for the final time. I was so exhausted from our recent ordeal that I could barely manage more than a brisk trot, but many of the other warriors were similarly, if not more, tired out so we made a slow and steady pace toward the cave exit.

Once we finally reached the exit, we joined the civilians mulling about in the clearing where our skirmish had taken place. Before I could get my bearings, a red-haired blur crashed into me, smothering me in an eager hug. Julia, it seemed, had just woken up and she sobbed in relief into my already soaked outer layer. The warmth of her relief and happiness soaked into my bones, and we held each other like that for a few comfy minutes, basking in the simple joys of being alive.

We couldn’t stay long, though. The old man, back in good shape thanks to the berries and his doughty constitution, was back to calling out commands for our ragtag group. The Harai knew where we were, and even if most of them had been buried in the collapse, we were still in danger. I couldn’t understand his words, but I easily discerned their general meaning: “We need to leave. Now.”

The more gracious Maegar noncombatants took some time to help us dry off, but once that was taken care of, our group was organized and on the march. We were too exhausted and fearful to say much, regularly checking over our shoulders for Harai pursuers. But after more than six hours with no sign of the enemy, we all began to relax a little. Smiles could be seen on civilian and warrior alike as we all dared to hope that we had managed to get away. Julia and I exchanged grins as well and I whispered to her under my breath:

“These mountain people really run hot and cold, don’t they?”

It was a terrible joke. It really was. But we both chuckled much too hard at it. Even Ann couldn’t suppress a smile when she overheard.

We made the long journey back to safety with a slight spring in our steps.