Ashes

There followed a few moments of terrible confusion as the men spurred the horses wildly away from the pursuers and the company dashed into the darkness of the tangled forest.

Trees seemed to sprout before them and roots to ascend to trip them, and Reiner could have sworn he felt the breath of the invaders on his neck, but at last they came out into the open and the horses galloped away. Pavel and Hals, who had never ridden at anything but a trot, did not like this at all, and clung to the horses' necks in mortal terror, but thank the gods they did not fall, and the party soon left the enemies behind.

Barrister took no chances. He maintained an exhausting speed for a good hour until they had left the outskirts of the village far behind and reached an area of low hills and deep wooded ravines. They penetrated one of these and advanced the horses down the center of an ice-lined creek for about a mile, until Barrister found a flat, boulder-covered area on the bank, where he told them to set up camp.

It was a depressing camp. Barrister would not allow them to light a fire, so they dined on cold rations while Gustaf cleaned and dressed their wounds and a light snow melted on the horses' sweaty flanks. Pavel's sobs and his cries of "I can't have lost him! I'm still sorry!" as he covered his empty socket with one hand, didn't help digestion much.

Reiner's new friendship with Franz did not change the boy's decision regarding sleeping alone, and while the others crawled inside the sturdy tents, he huddled as best he could under the cloak he had raised at one end using his short sword for support, and at the other with the scabbard.

For the next two days, the cold was increasing as Lady Roselyn led them into higher and higher parts of the foothills of the Nordic Mountains, where the light snows of the lowlands became powerful blizzards capable of knocking a rider out of the saddle. It was as if every meter they ascended turned back time, as if spring turned to winter instead of giving way to summer. Gustaf had their faces and hands smeared with bear grease to prevent hypothermia, a repulsive but effective strategy.

Barrister, a native of Nordlard, seemed to soften in the cold and became more cheerful and talkative the colder it got, while Giano, originally from the Republic, which was known for its mild climate and four seasons that varied little, detested that climate. His usually cheerful disposition was soon replaced by brusque choleric responses and long, whining evocations of the beauty of his homeland and the warmth of its sunshine.

Pavel's empty socket turned red and filled with pus. He now had a fever that made him scream and babble unintelligibly through the night and wake the others, which did little to improve the spirits of the group. During the day he could not straddle the horse, so Ulf constructed a simple stretcher that he dragged behind his mount. Gustaf tied him to it and covered him of snow to keep him from being consumed by fever. Although it cost him, Reiner grudgingly acknowledged that Gustaf was doing his job well, even changing the bandages on Pavel's eye at every stop they made to eat. Hals was uncharacteristically quiet during this time, for his normal stream of insults was frozen by his friend's concern.

The tiny mountain villages they passed through were abandoned, most of them destroyed. Among the houses lay skeletons showing hatchet marks that the ravens had completely cleared, and from the numerous unshod hoof prints it was obvious that Norse barbarians were constantly passing through the area.

Reiner assumed that the villages had been left as clean as the skeletons, but Hals, who being a peasant knew the tricks of his people, taught them how to find hidden stores of food and liquor under the dirty floors and at the bottom of the water wells.

As Reiner pondered silently, he wondered.

What was happening in Glacia?

Because so many barbarians had been able to pass through the territories of Glacia's frozen kingdom?

♦ ♦ ♦

Two nights after the fight against the beasts, they pitched camp outside one of these villages and, armed with Hals' knowledge, went in search of hidden supplies to supplement their meager rations.

Reiner, Franz and Hals were lifting stone slabs from the kitchen of a hut when they heard a woman's scream. Fearful that Lady Roselyn had been attacked, they dropped the stone and ran up the steep winding dirt path that formed the main street of the village. The shout was heard again from a hut higher up, and they ran toward it.

Hals was about to kick down the door, but Reiner stopped him and signaled him and Franz to go around the tiny dilapidated building.

"Watch the back door." He whispered. "If there is."

Reiner waited before the front door as the others scurried across the muddy courtyard. The scream sounded again, though muffled this time, and then a man's voice was heard.

"Hold still, damn you!"

The voice sounded familiar. Reiner advanced silently to a glassless window and looked inside. Inside it was dark and hard to see, but Reiner could make out a pair of legs with torn long woolen stockings lying on the floor, and another pair of legs with pants lying on top of the first. A male hand was trying to undo a belt buckle. He couldn't make out the man's face, but he recognized the body. He had been staring at it for days.

"Gustaf!" he roared. He ran to the door and kicked it down."

Gustaf looked up from where he lay upon a wild-eyed peasant girl lying on the dusty wooden floor. The young woman's skirt was crumpled and gathered around her waist, and the man was holding a knife against the underside of her jaw. She was surrounded by bloodstains.

"Filthy pig." Reiner snarled. "Get off of there."

"I..., I thought she was a savage, a northern barbarian." Gustaf said as he quickly got to his knees. "I was..., I was..."

The back door opened violently inward, and in walked Franz and Hals.

"What is all this..." Hals interrupted himself as he took in the sight before him.

Franz turned pale.

"You filthy swine..." Hals advanced and kicked Gustaf in the face.

The surgeon fell sideways releasing the girl, and Hals pulled her to her feet. She had bleeding cuts on her chest, where it looked like Gustaf had carved his initials. Reiner shuddered.

"Calm down now, girl." Hals said in a soft voice. "He can't hurt you now, are you...?"

The girl was not listening to him. She screeched and thrashed, scratched one of Hals' cheeks with her fingernails and ran out the door. Reiner did not stand in her way.

Hals turned to Gustaf, who was sitting down looking stunned.

"You're a scumbag." he snarled. "I knew you were the instant I laid eyes on you, and I'm ashamed I didn't kill you then." He kicked her face again and raised his sword.

"No!" cried Gustaf at the same time as he crawled backward. "You wouldn't dare! You wouldn't dare! I am the medic of the group. Do you want your friend to die?"

Hals stopped the sword and his knuckles turned white over the hilt.

"He's right." Reiner interjected, though he hated to say it. "We need him. All of us. We'll have to make the whole trip back, and who knows how many raiders we'll meet along the way. We'll need someone to tend to our wounds."

Hals dropped his shoulders.

"Yes." He said. "Yes, you're right." He raised his head and gave Gustaf a fierce look. "But when we get back, don't expect to live long enough to spend your bounty."

Gustaf gave him a mocking smile.

"Do you think it wise to threaten the one man who can heal your wounds, pikeman?"

Hals lashed out again at the surgeon, but Reiner restrained him.

"Don't listen to him. Don't give him that satisfaction."

Hals grunted, but turned toward the door and signaled Franz.

"Come on, my boy. Let's go get some fresh air. It stinks in here."

The two soldiers came out, and Reiner joined them ostentatiously turning his back on Gustaf.

♦ ♦ ♦

As the sun signaled noon the next day, they saw the whitewashed stone walls of the temple of the mother, the goddess of mercy, kindness, and peace, towering on a stone outcropping above them.

"From here, it doesn't look like it's been looted." commented Hals.

Pavel, whose fever had broken that morning and now rode on the horse, swaying and looking frail, smiled.

"Looted or not, we're here at last." he said. "Now we can get that 'whatever' back and go home. I just hope the trip back doesn't cost me the other eye. I couldn't contemplate all my gold."

"We're about an hour's drive." Lady Roselyn explained. "The path is narrow and winding."

Oskar shielded his eyes to protect them from the midday sun.

"There's smoke coming out of the convent."

Barrister squinted to look where Oskar was pointing.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Captain." Replied the gunner. "It could be a campfire or a chimney."

"Could be the priestesses." ventured Hals.

Barrister gave him a murderous look.

The appearance of smoke made the journey up the mountain take two hours because they advanced slowly, with Giano and Franz on foot scouting ahead, scrutinizing every bend in the road for enemies. There were none, though they found evidence of their recent passage: nibbled bones, footprints in the snow, an empty wine jug shattered on a rock. Reiner saw that Hals was looking uneasily at these traces, and smiled.

"They're messy, those priestesses."

When they had gone three-quarters of the way, they saw a wider path round the mountains from the south and joining the first, and on this new path they saw countless snow-filled footprints and hoofprints going in both directions, which indicated that large groups of men passed along it with some regularity.

Barrister contemplated these tracks with a frown.

"They must have the lair a little higher up."

"In the Temple?" asked Oskar in a trembling voice.

"You saw only a plume of smoke?"

"Ah, yes, of course." Oskar looked relieved.

At last they reached the narrow rock ledge on which the nunnery was built, a sort of landing before the broad path continued up the stepped hills, into the mountains. There was evidence that forces traveling up and down the path often camped on the ledge: scorched circles of old fires, bones, and debris.

The white walls of the convent stretched from the edge of the northwest-facing cliff into Glacia's frozen realm to the face of the mountain, enclosing the tapering end of the ledge. But the appearance of gleaming perfection that the walls offered from the foot of the hill proved to be an illusion when viewed up close. They were shattered and blackened in many places, and the great wooden doors hung, half torn from their hinges, in a scorched confusion. The convent buildings towered over terraces, with the steeple of the Mother's temple at the top and in the background of it all. Even from that distance, the group could see that the compound had been completely wrecked, the walls burned, the roofs collapsed, everything strewn with debris. The thin column of smoke continued to rise, apparently coming from the third terrace.

Giano made the sign of Radiantus, the god of justice, as he contemplated the wreckage and mumbled under his breath.

"It seems that Baron Ulburt's information was correct." said Erich.

"Yes." nodded Barrister.

Reiner looked at Lady Roselyn, waiting for a reaction, but the priestess seemed made of iron. She contemplated the wreckage with stoicism and tight lips.

"The crypt we are to enter is beneath the chapel." she said. "So we'll have to get past whoever lit that fire."

"Very well, my lady." replied Barrister, who turned to face the group. "Dismount all of you. Giano, Franz, go take a look around and come report to me."

As the group dismounted; much to the relief of Pavel and Hals, the mercenary and the boy tiptoed through the door and disappeared. During their absence, the group found a hidden corner in which to tie up the horses, and then the men refreshed themselves with a sip of the nearly frozen water they carried in their canteens. Reiner heard the friction of ice inside his.

Barrister ordered Ulf to plant Lady Roselyn's tent and suggested she wait while they took care of any problems that might arise, but the priestess refused. She seemed as anxious as everyone else to retrieve what they had gone for and return to civilization. She decided that she would accompany them.

Franz and Giano returned after a short while.

"Six." said Giano. "Large subjects with large swords."

"Norse." Franz corrected him. "The same ones we faced at Kirstaad. They look like foot soldiers. I didn't see any horses. Nor any fresh dung."

"Two walking around." continued Giano as he traced a circle with his fingers in the air. "Four in the garden, eating."

"Are you sure there are no more?" asked Barrister. Franz and Giano nodded in agreement.

"Good." Barrister leaned forward. "We finish off the two on patrol, as quietly as shadows, understood? Then anyone with a bow or gun will look for a vantage point to fire on the four in the garden, and we'll put as much iron into their bodies as we can. Those guys are as tough as your boots. If we have to get to hand-to-hand fighting with them, I want them well seasoned, understand?"

In a coordinated manner, they all nodded at the same time.

"May the six great gods protect you [Bless]" using gestures of her hand, Lady Roselyn created in the air the symbol of the six great gods, using some divine magic to bestow her blessing on the group.

"Captain Barrister, your weapon." Lady Roselyn asked, to which Barrister unhesitatingly handed over his sword.

"May the favor of the mighty Radiantus strengthen your weapon, make you the bearer of his justice and will, grant his blessing as his herald, and guide your path along the path of truth [Magical Weapon], [Divine Favor], [Align Weapon: Good], [Divine Guidance]"

After concluding her long conjuration of divine power, Lady Roselyn handed the sword back to Captain Barrister; the priestess looked somewhat tired, as her breathing quickened and beads of sweat appeared on her face.

Barrister looked at his sword with a frown, the longsword had changed noticeably, for now the edge possessed a faint multicolored glow barely visible, it released light as if it were a torch, and its blade, which was once made of steel, now seemed to be partially made of solidified light.

Nodding, Barrister said. "Okay, let's get started."