The stretch of mountain shoulder that Deya, Geon, and Oren crossed was not yet at the elevation where snow accumulated, but they could see the start of it a few miles away as the shoulder stretched on and upwards in the distance. This gravelly strip was only about twenty yards wide; plenty of room for walking, but not enough to maneuver comfortably if they got into a fight. At least the grade wasn't so steep, though there was one part that looked somewhat precarious, but they should be able to keep grip on it with the ground made up of gravel and rocks.
Off the edge of the cliff to their left, they gazed out across the forests below, rolling along the hills. In the distance, over the hills, they could see the dark and obsidian crags of the Demon Lands peeking up from the distant horizon.
When they were about halfway through, Oren temple glowed with Sight, and he held his hand up.
“Targets ahead.”
Small shards of glittering blue skittered down onto the other end of the shoulder in the distance. They moved on lanky icicle limbs, small pointed heads scanning the rocky ground ahead of them. Oren had a rune to see father, and he was able to zoom in close enough to get a rough estimate of their numbers.
“There's around fifteen of them. Small ice golems. They don't see us yet.”
Deya unslung her crossbow. “What do you think, use it as a shooting range? Snipe them off? I don't know if those things can control Ice like the queen can.” She pulled the sleeping bags off her shoulder and placed them by a large rock to the side.
Oren waggled his hand in response and placed the tent with the sleeping bags. “You can damage them with ice, but unless it's a kill shot, you might turn them into bigger golems.”
Deya dropped the muzzle of her crossbow into the dirt and stepped into the end, still looking out at the approaching group, a still a few hundred yards off. Then she shrugged, and reached down for the string.
“Going to shoot them from this far off?” Geon asked.
“Well, we either start shooting them now and kill a few before they get close, or we let them get close.” She pulled the string back and loaded regular steel-tipped bolt. She didn't want to waste the good ones unless she knew she needed them.
Geon nodded. “I get it. I appreciate the confidence. I think you'll miss.”
Deya smiled as she found a shoulder-height rock to prop the crossbow on. It really was too big for her.
“I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss, too. At least a couple.” She dropped the bolt into the runner and sighted, then pulled the trigger.
The bolt fired off along the rocky ledge, and was carried off to the left by winds before it reached them. The golems didn't even notice the shot.
“Saw that one coming.”
“Quiet. I was hoping I might be able to compensate for it, but that was too much for this distance. I have one more idea though.”
She drew the string back again and placed the crossbow back on the rock. This time, she placed a crystal bolt in the runner next.
Geon shook his head. He supposed some things you have to learn through failure.
She cycled Ice mana through her piercing rune, steaming runoff Ice mana that ran down the rock and pooled around her feet. The bolt glowed yellow, then with a click, shot off into the distance with a bright flash.
It flew perfectly straight.
The shot slammed into a grouping of the golems, flinging ice up into the air, and they scrambled for a moment as they tried to determine where the sudden shot had come from, before locking eyes with Deya and the group, and rushing forward.
Geon watched them approach, slack-jawed. “I definitely thought the physics of that would work differently.”
Deya pulled her crossbow off the stone. “Ok, that was good, but it's too draining, I'm going to need all my mana if the two of us are going to take the rest of these guys out.
Oren stepped up. “I'm going to get ahead and make a barrier. They'll group up going around it. Don't shoot me!” Oren moved ahead, and Geon and Deya walked slowly behind him.
“Ok, Deya. You have better range than I do. Try to shoot them when they're grouped up like he said, I'll move up and go for any that get past your shots.”
Deya shrugged, bouncing on her heels, both nervous and excited. “Yeah, sounds fine to me.”
Oren raced forward, until Deya called out that he was far enough. Oren raised a hand in answer, and waited for the golems to get near.
They charged forward without thought. A few of them turned towards Oren, since he was closest, sharp limbs stabbing into the ground as they threw themselves at him. But then they were close enough, and Oren's left hand glimmered light blue swirling with white.
A swirling wall of translucent blue appeared, spanning nearly the full width of the mountain shoulder, leaving only a small gap left open near the ledge. Deya took her pitcher's stance. Eyes ready for them to walk around.
The golems proved simple for a few moments as they scratched and jabbed at the wall, trying to climb it without the ability to gain purchase, trying to break it even though it was reinforced with a source of mana. A couple broke their own arms in struggle.
After a moment, Oren clenched his teeth. This was actually not good for his mana consumption. He'd assumed they'd go right around, instead of sticking to going over or through the barrier.
Geon saw the issue and saved Oren's mana pool by throwing a slow-moving ball of flame 'at' them, chucking it right past the wall and showing them that there was an opening. Most of the golems finally got the message, and dragged the ones that didn't, until they all rushed around the wall together.
Deya greeted them with penetrating ice.
She pitched an icicle right to where they bunched up on the corner, blasting a glittering wave of glassy body parts backward. The rest scampered over them, veering towards Oren, farthest up in the group.
“Hell,” Geon muttered, and ran towards Oren. He threw two shots forward, one pulverizing a golem, the other missing.
Oren dropped the barrier as soon as they started towards him and he ran back towards Geon. He quickly waved Geon back, once he realized the boy was headed towards him, and he slid to a stop and spun around. Oren cast another barrier that jutted out from the mountainside, blocking off their movement again. Deya smiled and lined herself up with the new wall's edge as Geon and Oren ran towards her.
Behind them, the piles of broken golems quivered. Arms lashed out, snatching at air, grabbing limbs and dragging each other together. With their shots, Geon and Deya had reduced the group to seven golems. Now four more hobbling constructs pulled themselves out of the bodies, some with four arms and no legs, crawling like spiders, others shoved lifeless heads into shoulders, using whatever they could hold.
As the group passed around Oren's barrier, Deya launched another piercing icicle into the group before starting to retreat alongside the others. Oren dropped the second barrier.
“You have one more?” Geon asked Oren.
“Two, probably. But you'll want shields.”
Geon thought and made his decision. “One more. I'll stay out front. Shield me the best you can.”
Oren cast the third barrier. Geon and Oren both spun around, Oren back-stepping, waiting for the golems to get into range.
Deya again covered the corner with an icicle as the golems raced around it, but this time, Geon whipped blue fire back and forth in an 'X' pattern as well, grinding escaping golems to pieces. Six stumbled through the melee and chased after Geon.
Geon quickly pulled a mana potion out and gulped it down, as the Shield hummed into place around him. Golems swarmed the bubble, stabbing into the solid mana like tiny picks as Geon whipped his wand around, puncturing ice with blue fire, breaking the small bodies apart. His core nearly ran dry again, but had just enough in him to shatter the last couple of golems. The Shield faded, and Geon shoved his wand back into his sleeve. Cycling, he willed the world to give him more mana as he pulled dregs through his nearly empty channels.
Geon looked over at Oren. “How close?”
Oren shook his head. It didn't look great. Still breathing heavy from mana strain, he turned back to the ridge and waved them all onward. “Let's go. I don't want to get trapped in here again.”
Deya remained quiet, the only one not short of breath, as she touched the token on her neck again, pinging the Scout.
They trudged ahead, Oren and Geon only at around half mana by the time they reached the first thin layers of snow crusting the ground. They looked up the incline, the slope only growing more steep as the snow got deeper along the inclining ridge. Geon shook his head. This part was going to suck.
They started a long trudge up. The plateau was ahead.
----------------------------------------
There was a old ruin on the plateau, visible from where the trio clambered up off the shoulder and onto its snowy expanse. The winds caught drifts of sparking white in its clutches, whisking them in sheets across the stony silhouette in the distance. Deya squinted through the snow, the reflected light blinding in the late morning sun, trying to see exactly what the ruin was.
Geon pointed it out. “Is that where the queen is?”
Deya shook her head. “Didn't say anything about any buildings in the contract. It implied that she was out in the open. That's why I figured we could call the Scout, they should know where she is if the contract isn't specific enough. ” Deya gestured to the ruins. “That's kind of on the way, anyway. It looks tall. Maybe we could get a vantage point of the plateau, get an idea of where the ice queen should be.”
The others nodded agreement, hands shielding their eyes the best they could manage.
The hike over to the collapsed tower took a while given the snow, but the way was largely free of enemies; they saw a few distant parties of golems as they made their way, but the plateau was a wide expanse, and Oren's Sight rune made staying away from hostiles much easier. Oren kept flicking his empowered eye over the shadow of the tower beginning to loom over them in their vision, checking for any hint of movement that couldn't be made by wind and snow. Nothing showed itself.
Deya pinged the necklace again when they reached it, weathered stone still reaching high, although the bulk of the structure lay crumbled behind it, fallen hundreds of years back and all filled in with dirt and snow. Ancient lettering, indecipherable after the damage of ages, ringed the lowest floor at eye level. The long stone staircase that led up to the front door was still intact – or else they might not have been able to reach the entrance – but the doors had long since fallen in.
They stepped over the rubble, finding the state inside much like that outside. Multiple floors had collapsed in, forming a pile of scrap metal and stone in the middle of the ground floor and smaller piles around. Looking up through the floors, beams of light filtered in from the windows and cracked walls, lending the place on odd, decrepit sort of majesty.
Deya grumbled and pointed out the walls, at worn stone in the shape of staircases. There was no way up to see out.
“Well,” Oren said, “I'm already regretting coming in here, let's go.” He turned to leave, but stopped when they heard the sound of scraping on stone.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Geon pulled out his wand and turned in the direction of the sound. I am getting so sick of being ambushed!
But instead, it was only a man. Short, slender and the runes on his legs dimming. He was breathing hard, like he'd been running a while to get here.
He raised a hand when he saw Geon's wand up and glowing. “Hey, wait, hold on. I'm the Scout.”
Deya pinged her own necklace, and as confirmation, a light hanging from the Scout's wrist glowed three times. Deya nodded and sighed in relief. “I was worried you'd gotten killed or something.”
The man shook his head. “No, I was checking on another contract location that's on the other end of the plateau. Farther north. Rank 2 stuff. Someone just accepted the job, so I was making sure everything was still where it's supposed to be. My name's Nik.”
There made the rounds, introduced each other and made small talk about their recent fights before getting to the heart of it.
“So. The ice queen.” Deya prompted.
Nik waved all of them to the door and outside, around to the back side of the tower from where they had approached. The plateau dipped in elevation in that direction, allowing them to see fairly far, if not quite as much as they would have if the stairs were still intact inside, but it was enough to get some bearings. Nik pointed at a spot where a spire of rock jutted up from the ground. Out in that direction is the ice queen. Fair warning, she's started to gather a few subjects. That wasn't on the last report. A family of hawks lives there with her, they've been attacking me when I go by to make sure she's still there. There's something else in there, too. It sounded like a golem, but a big one. I didn't see it before I got chased off by the birds.”
The party exchanged glances. “Can we still do it?” Deya asked, chewing her lip.
Geon nodded. “I think so. But I think we're going to try and rely on your sniping. I might be a distraction for them to chase, or something.” Geon nodded in question as Nik. “What do you think, any way to get a shot at her from outside?”
Nik nodded. “Yeah probably from the front. It's not a very complicated cave that she's living in, it's wide open. There's perhaps one other room in there; that's where I heard the golem-thing.”
Geon nodded to the others. “I figure we camp out in front of it and snipe it or its friend, whichever we see first.”
Oren shook his head. “I mean, it's a plan. We don't really have the range of powers to able to do too much else. Maybe if Deya can kill one of those things in one hit, then we won't have to worry as much about the other one. Maybe the brawl will be even enough at that point.”
Deya spoke up. “Question is, which one do you feel more confident about? We've already killed a few of the smaller golems in order to get this far, is the big one just going to be a large version of that? If so, we might have to worry about its ability to pull itself back together, especially if I'm using my uhh...crossbow power.” Deya trailed off, not wanting to give secrets to the Scout, but she was also very bad at being subtle.
Geon nodded. “I think taking the golem out first is our best bet. We don't know what this queen's powers are yet, do we?”
Oren looked over at them. “I mean, golems on the mountain, big golems in the cave. If I had to guess, I'd say she can make golems. It's not unheard of for the souls of old kings and queens to make minions and monsters, instead of attracting them from their surroundings.”
With that, Nik led the others down the ramp to the cave in the distance of the plateau.
As they moved towards the cave, Deya made small talk.
“So Nik, what's the other contract you're covering?”
“Hmm? Oh, well, like I mentioned, it's a Rank 2 job. I guess there was an imp camp over the ridge that filled up, now there's around twenty imps, as well as a pack of wolves and an ogre.”
Geon's eyes bulged. “Lord, that feels awfully far in to have an ogre.”
“Yeah, that camp's been sitting there for a solid month and a half. It's just that nobody wants to come out and do them. This plateau is a big ask for a Rank 1 imp clearing.”
Geon shrugged. “I guess. But it seems weird having it that close to Vane Gloria.”
Nik shook his head. “Nah, take it from me. Vane/Gloria's gets a lot of work done, but it's because a lot of contracts go through that place. But the mercenaries there aren't necessarily anything special, y'know? They aren't militia caliber, but there's a lot of them. Trust me, I work with your girl often enough to know that a lot of tourists go through your boards each day.” He looked over at Deya. “Gotta say, I expected you to be one of those. I saw you getting haughty at Glory over somethin' the other day, generally that sort aren't the type to come all the way out here for an honest job.”
Deya gave him a flat look. “Happy to prove you wrong.”
----------------------------------------
The cavern loomed large over them as they approached it from behind cover of boulders.
Oren was flashing his Sight rune, trying to see any movement. He turned to Deya and nodded.
“She's in there.”
Deya squinted at the opening, but they were too far away for her unaltered eyes to see. She peered around to find a place under better cover, but the best one she could see was across a wide open stretch right in front of the entrance. Deya pointed it out anyway.
Nik scrunched his nose. “I don't think that one's going to work. Remember I said they've got a family of birds keeping watch, too. I'm surprised they haven't spotted us yet.”
Oren kept his gaze on the cave opening, and rested a hand on Deya's shoulder. “Here, I'll keep an eye on them and tell you when to make a run for it.”
Oren peered into the opening. He could see the figure moving within, though it was still too far away to make out the fine details. He saw pallid flesh stretched taut over old bone, and that was in keeping with what he'd heard about the souls of old kings and queens that came back from death like this. And then there was her size, too. Perspective could be playing tricks on him from this far away, but the woman looked huge, twice the size of a person. He grimaced in focus, waiting for her to turn away.
The four of them heard a deep rumbling moan emanating from the cave. The figure inside the door stood suddenly, then moved off to somewhere else inside. Oren tapped Deya on the arm. “Go.”
Deya sprinted across the snowy clearing, eyes locked on the ledge she would have to climb to find her vantage point. Fortunately, there was a climbable outcropping on the other side, craggy enough to give handholds up to the top. When she got up there, she unslung the crossbow and locked the string back.
Nik tapped Geon and Oren on the arm, and thumbed over his shoulder, telling them that he was getting way away from the fight. As Scouts typically do. Wind runes lit up his legs and he dashed back towards better cover to watch.
Then Deya heard the screeching birds. They descended from crags over the roof of the cave, three of them, flapping furiously towards her. “Crap, Oren!” She looked over the edge of the rocks and saw him down there, looking up at her worried. He pointed his finger up at her, his hand glowing with a Shield rune, but it did not activate around her. Deya pointed out the way she'd climbed, then quickly reached down to grab a crystal bolt and set it in the runner. She looked up and saw the birds, practically in her face now. Startled, she lit her Ice rune and threw a spike at the nearest approaching bird. It struck a glancing blow on the wing that caused it to spin out of the air, away. One of the others was upon her then, and she swatted it away as she desperately looked up at the cave entrance..
A pair of eyes stared at her like daggers, icy blue and vibrating in silent rage.
Deya grabbed her crossbow in her hands, forcing her Ice mana to cycle into Piercing mana as quickly as she could. She bent low over the stock of her weapon, trying to ignore the feeling of claws scratching into her, of a beak ripping into her back and neck, the eyes of an angry giant streaking out of the cavern, face contorted, screaming. Then, she felt the Shield activate, forcing the bird out of her personal space as it pecked and struck the solid mana bubble. Blue gaseous mana pooled at the bottom of the bubble. The bolt glowed yellow in her weapon and she sighted down it's length.
She fired.
The bolt streaked yellow through the air, striking the ice queen in the shoulder. It reeled back as the bolt made contact, and the arm continued on past the rest of her. Deya forced down a smile as she grabbed the next bolt. That wasn't a good hit you dummy, it isn't dead.
She locked the string back again, as Geon's fireballs whipped around her, fending off the birds attacking her. She almost slammed the crossbow back onto the stone she was using to prop up the device, slapping the bolt into the runner and starting the second charge. Come on, come on. She forced mana through her runes again, willing the charge to finish.
The ice queen finished screaming and locked eyes with Deya again. Just a little more charge. The queen lurched forward, right in the path of her shot, mouth agape.
Not the teeth!
At the last instant, exactly as the bolt flashed yellow, she whipped the crossbow up and dove backwards off the ledge. The queen's hand smashed into the rocks, scattering the top of the outcropping but missing Deya as she fell backwards to the snow.
The wind was driven out of her as her back hit the rocks; even cushioned by the snow, it was still a longer fall. Woozy, she tried to keep focus on the queen. She stared at the crossbow clutched to her chest. Oh wow! She'd managed to clap the bolt in place on the runner, keeping it from falling out when she hit the ground. Now she had to lift... it... up!
Muscles and lungs both straining for oxygen, she got the weapon aimed roughly toward the top of the outcropping as a large face came into view over it.
Deya smiled. Had the angle this time. Click!
The crossbow sang, the yellow bolt burst forth.
It collided with the queen's neck and passed right through. Skin and tendons tried and failed to hold her head in place, but it tore free with the force of her shot and rolled down the hill.
Deya gasped a rattling breath, trying to force air into her lungs. She pushed down the elation that bubbled up within her. A good kill. A fantastic shot! It wasn't the time. Her breath felt like it was rumbling, like a groaning, like a screaming...
Deya coughed, rolled over, and scampered to the side of the outcropping, trying to see the cave, because-
The golem. It took up the entire cave opening, a solid twenty-foot-tall icicle giant. It stared at the dead body of the ice queen, shaking, the sound of it's icy limbs jingling as it's gaze turned from a sorrowful stare, to a hateful, vitriolic gaze.
Then it burst from the cave.
Deya scrambled back behind the rocks, pulling the crossbow to her. Geon lurched ahead, flicking blue flames into it's head. It sounded like a pick chipping a glacier.
Oren roared as the golem approached, and a blue barrier appeared in front of it legs. It ran into the barrier full-force, tripping and being thrown right into the rocks that Deya used for cover. The impact shook her footing, and she slipped. She moved to stand back up, but came face to face with the golem wrapped around the outcropping. In a shock, she threw piercing ice at it's face, resulting in that same ice pick sound.
She back-stepped up the bank as the golem started clamoring for her, as more of Geon's fireballs whacked the back of it's head. Each hit made the creature recoil a bit harder, but she couldn't tell if it hurt more or just more annoyed.
She put the rocks between herself and the golem again, and locked the crossbow string back. Then she grimaced. She'd left the quiver on the other side with the golem.
Oren saw what she needed and formed a new, taller barrier to make space by the quiver. He pointed at Deya and yelled “Potion!” before running in towards the quiver, Shielding himself on the way.
Deya fumbled at her belt for a mana potion, popping the cork and downing it, then stood back, watching for Oren.
Oren dived at the quiver, releasing his barrier after the golem ran into it, and ducked between its tree-trunk-thick legs, around the other side of the rocks. The golem turned and lurched for him again, but another short barrier at its ankle tripped it up, making it stumble onto its club-arms and roar in mounting frustration. Two more blue fireballs struck it in the tip of its pointy face, left-right, and the golem lashed out at Geon for the first time.
With it distracted for a second, Oren was able to get around and throw the quiver to Deya, who caught it and slung it back over her shoulder. Then she slapped a crystal bolt onto the crossbow and started to charge it as she walked back around to get an angle.
The golem crawled at Geon, slamming fist over fist and dragging his legs to get at him. Geon dodged back the best he could but he took a glancing blow from one swing, sending him tumbling back end over end.
Oren cursed for not getting him under a Shield in time, watched the snow kick up from the impact, saw his body fly backward as though limp.
For a second, it was four months ago. For a second, he watched the boy dying.
Then Geon hit the snow, and flipped over, in pain but alive. Oren shook himself, and threw up a barrier, wincing from mana drain as he did so. The golem struck out, making Geon fling himself backwards as the barrier appeared and took the hit. Oren winced again as his core dried up. The golem struck again, shattering the barrier.
Then a bright yellow streak crashed into the side if its icicle head.
The shot punched through the ice like cheap glass, and the front of its face spun out into the snow. The rest of its body collapsed backward into the snow with a thwump.
The three of them cheered. Geon a little more painfully than the others.
“How's that, Miss Wrong-party-for-this-job!” Deya yelled at the sky, fist raised.
Oren pulled himself up and trudged over to Geon, not able to help looking over the shattered face of the creature they killed. When he got to the boy, Geon was cradling his leg. The shin was bent in a place that doesn't bend.
“Ah, hell. That sucks, kid. At least we have potions.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said though his teeth. He pulled a red vial out of his own belt and held it up for Geon to see – he didn't come completely unprepared. “I just need someone to hold the bone straight-ish for me while it works.”
Oren shrugged and knelt down next to Geon. Then he gingerly straightened his knee out, trying not to shift the break too much, but judging by the short gasping breaths Geon was taking, it wasn't working.
“Ok,” he said, holding the potion. Normally if he had a break like this, he'd pour the potion over the skin where the damage was. But the pain was sending him into spasms, he might spill the stuff.
“Deya!” he called. “Deya, I need you to pour the potion.”
“Yeah, sure.” Geon heard her footsteps running over, and he handed it to her when she approached.
Deya frowned, her face draining of color. She hadn't been on that many contracts yet, so seeing, and treating, this kind of injury was a new thing for her. She knew how the potions worked; she knew that drinking a potion was enough to fix many different types of injuries, but she knew that you could also use it topically, like they were about to do now, as that made the magic seep into the exact area where the pain was occurring, to fix it.
Deya held the potion ready as Oren grabbed both halves of the broken bone, then nodded at Deya, and he pulled the bones straight.
A scream tore out of Geon's throat as his bones ground together, and Deya nearly spilled the entire potion out onto Geon's leg in shock, but she got the flow down to a light trickle to pour a specific measure of the potion out. She stopped as the vial reached half-empty and watched the process take place.
It was as though his bones were struggling underneath his skin, trying to meet back up, and heal properly. Sweat broke out on Oren's brow as Geon shivered beneath him.
Finally, though, the bone came together, and Geon let out a long relieved sigh. He patted Oren on the arm and apologized to him for punching him in the leg. They all lay there a moment as a voice called to them.
“Ha, wow, that was quite the show you three put on.” Nik floated over to the trio, smiling brightly. “That's gonna be a cool report to give later, and a cool tavern story, too.”
Oren chuckled, “Don't tell it in Vane/Gloria's, we get to have the honor after that crazy shit.”
Nik waved them off. “Of course.” He looked over at Deya. “Do you mind if I ask how you-”
“Nope.” Deya raised a hand and cut him off. “Trade secret.”
Nik laughed again. “I guess I can't begrudge you that.”
After a minute, they all got up and glanced up the hill to the open cave. An ice queen's den. Perhaps a golem laboratory?
Deya shook her head, then gazed at the carnage and made her way over to her own prize.
The queen's head lay several yards from the rest of her body, face frozen in an angry scream, mouth wide open. She smiled at the rows of glittering teeth inside. Some of them were chipped, and would be less valuable. But plenty of them looked flawless.
Her face fell for a moment, as she realized she didn't bring any tools she could use to remove the teeth of the queen's mouth. Ah, well, there are worse ways to walk back into Vane/Gloria's after a contract.
Grinning, she turned back to the others, who were already making their way up the hill towards the cave. She dragged the entire head with her, as they explored what other loot might lay within.