[Beta] Ashborn - 8. Twin Frozen Peaks (Patreon)

VIII

Twin Frozen Peaks...

The weather was working in our favour. The skies were dry, and no wind raged over the land like the wrath of some deity. It was a much needed reprieve from the cold.

I glanced to the side, where Aurille was meditating undisturbed despite the bumpy road.

‘For me, at least.’

My attention shifted back to the landscape. Hours had passed since we left the village. All that surrounded us was a vast, white sheet that stretched everywhere. The quiet hanging over plane was unsettling. I imagined it was the quiet prey might experience with a predator unknowingly on their heels.

Saber rose to his feet and growled.

I stroked his side. “What is it? Do you see anything?”

Aurille woke from her meditation. “I don’t sense anything.”

I peered ahead…nothing but snow.

One of the soldiers riding a horse pulled up to the back of the cart. He glanced at Saber, who was still growling. “Is anything wrong, Milady?”

“Maybe,” I said. “Where are we exactly?”

He didn’t know, but he returned with a soldier who did.

“We’re crossing a region known as the Frozen Plateau,” the soldier said. He wore headgear so I couldn’t see any of his features, but he was tall and well-built. “Soon we’ll be able to see the mountain pass—Ice Craig. That’s where most of the fighting will happen.”

“Is the pass infested?” I asked.

“It’s the sole pass leading to Castle Shield. Any other route would need to go all the way around the mountain, which is more dangerous. Bandits rule the pass…” He paused. “Have you killed a human before, Ma’am?”

“You needn’t worry about me.” Behind me, Saber purred. I turned to our front. “Any monsters in the Plateau that we should be aware of?”

“Ice Burrowers. Worm-like creatures that burrow underneath the earth and ambush unwary prey. They haven’t been spotted for a while, though. They’re also easy to outrun. On horseback.”

I took his word for it.

“What about after the mountain pass? How long until we reach Castle Shield from there?”

“Half a day, I’d say. We’ll have to pass through part of the Power Levelling Wastes, but we’ll be on the edge, so we should be fine.”

Aurille, who had completely disregarded our conversation, looked up again.

“Do you have any information of the Wastes?” I asked.

The soldier shook his head. “The event differs each time it happens.”

A shame. What he said piqued my interest, though.

“How long have you lived here?”

“Thirty years, Ma’am. We natives are exempt from the test, though we can join if we want to. We can stay until the day we die.”

“Is there a reason you would?” I asked. “Live here isn’t exactly…” I trailed off.

He chuckled. “There are worse places to live, Milady. Believe me.”

I supposed.

The guard retreated back to the front of the caravan, leaving me alone with Aurille. It was as if the girl wasn’t here at all.

I spent time consoling Saber, assuring him nothing was out there. After he relaxed again, I settled into meditation. It was around half an hour later that Saber again got up and made known his discomfort.

“Do you want to go back to the Plane?” I asked.

Perhaps he didn’t like carriages.

His gaze was trained ahead, however. I peered again. There was a small snow cloud in the distance. I rubbed my eyes and looked better. The snow cloud…was moving towards us? Also, I swore there were shadows flicking in and out of the fog.

I stood and leaned out of the carriage. “Is that cloud in the distance normal?”

The soldiers looked back, Jaoma also leaning over from the driver seat to get a look.

“Burrowers,” Jaoma mumbled.

“There’s so many of them…” one of the soldiers said.

A faint rumble traversed through the ground beneath us.

Whips lashed out.

“Full speed ahead!” Jaoma yelled. “We’ll make it off the plateau before they reach us!”

The mountain pass was already in view. I just wasn’t sure if Jaoma’s prediction would come true. The horses had enchanted hooves which allowed them to grip onto ice like it was solid land, but the cloud was getting bigger by the second.

My neck rotated towards Aurille. “You don’t seem all that worried.”

She didn’t open her eyes before responding. “It’s out of our hands.”

True. I turned back to our rear. The rumbles were growing heavier, and the cloud was now clearly visible. So were the shadows burrowing in and out of the ground. Lengthened bodies without any limbs and a big, wide mouth. They numbered in the dozens.

Our carriages wouldn’t survive a single strike of those things.

I glanced to the side. Saber was primed and ready, his fur exhaling embers, his fangs smouldering.

Would taking out all of those things immediately complete the family quest? Heat rose within my chest at the thought. A remembrance of that moment in the emergency shelter surfaced.

My tongue wet my lips. Maybe I should—

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

I paused.

Aurille gazed at the approaching pack of burrowers. “They’re level seven on average.”

“That’s good experience,” I said.

She paused to blink.

“Maybe, but there’s an alpha in their midst of at least level ten.”

I grimaced. The level itself wasn’t what was important—it was that monsters gained their class at level ten, which meant new abilities and bonuses. The alpha would be a completely different breed compared to the regular burrowers.

My hammering heart still wasn’t convinced I should pass up the opportunity, but I sat back down. There would be enough battling going through the pass—

The ground quaked. Frozen earth burst apart, sending debris flying. Horses whined, and the wagon swerved. I nearly launched but I latched onto the wall.

What in the shit?

I glanced up. The worm took up my entire view as it dove back into the earth, letting me catch a glimpse of its name.

[Silent Ice Burrower — lvl. 11]

It must’ve been at least ten feet long and three feet wide. Level eleven…That’s a lower than Aurille. I whirled towards the girl to see how she felt about fighting it when I noticed she wasn’t in her seat. Huh? My vision whirled, which was when I caught her hanging onto the side of the carriage, fluttering in the air like a flag.

Ah, of course. She’d been sitting so nonchalant she couldn’t have grounded herself in time. The swerve had launched her with the force of a bow.

“Why don’t you call out, you idiot!”

The part of the wall her nails dug into broke just as I lunged and grabbed onto her arm.

You’d expect this situation would’ve cracked her facade. But no. The girl looked at me as if I’d just told her it was going to be a sunny day.

“This…is not…giving you more aura…!”

“Less joking and more pulling please,” she said, face straight. “I’ll die if I fall.”

“Fuck…you!”

Saber bit into my leg and pulled. Together, we yanked the girl back into the carriage. The motion made me twirl and lose my balance. I closed my eyes, fully expecting to smash my head against the hard edge of a wooden crate, but I landed on a cushion.

‘Lucky.’

Straining arm muscles pushed myself up, which was when the earth screamed, and the carriage swerved again. I face-planted in the cushion again.

‘My god, those burrowers ain’t no joke.’

It spoke to our driver’s experience and skill that they had managed to avoid any damage.

“Are you comfortable?”

I turned. My sight narrowed down a path between two peaks. Aurille’s face was visible at the end of the road.

‘Ah, so that’s why it was so soft…I expected them to be hard and perky like ice.’

“Apologies.”

I got to my feet, reached for the clattering lower door of the carriage, and fastened the bolt lock. It would keep the crates from falling out.

“Shouldn’t we fight that thing?” I said.

Aurille dusted off her dress.

“Unless you want to jump down, no.”

The cloud of Ice Burrowers was so big now the dust almost reached me.

There was a giant rumble. Then the carriage bobbed as if we’d just rode over a big rock. We slowed to a stop. The men outside were shouting in jubilation, so I assumed we weren’t in danger any longer.

Saber jumped out, eager to touch land again, and I followed him.

“Aedan, are you two alright?” Jaoma called. His cheeks were beet red.

“We’re fine. The cargo?”

“All in one piece,” one of the soldiers called out.

I glanced back. The other worms had caught up to us.

[Ice Burrower - lvl. 9]

[Ice Burrower - lvl. 9]

[Ice Burrower - lvl. 8]

…

The alpha burrowed between them, its mouth half visible above the earth.

“Is there a reason they’re not following?” I said. The land didn’t look so much more different to me.

“We’re now officially on the mountain pass,” the same guard from before said. “There are things in the earth here that would snack on them.”

In front, the mountains loomed bigger than ever before. Two twin peaks stretched into the sky. Straight through them was the pass, so neat and sharp that I would’ve believed it if you told me a blade had carved it.

The rumbling whispers of the burrowers disappeared back where they came from.

I looked up at the mountain. A chill crawled down the slopes like a breeze.

Killing humans, huh…Saber strode to my side.

We were ready.