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There were ten of them, and all of a sudden I flashed back to the elementals we had fought in the camp. I glanced over at Quen, and saw the fear in his eyes. He remembered all too well the giant snow spiders. I wanted to ask what we should do, but no one had broken the silence yet and I was loath to be the first. Fenling knew this cave better than I did, since she had been here before, and I waited to take my cue from her.
One thing I noticed in every battle I had been in, whether it’d been with creatures like the charimonts or battles with people, was the moment of hesitation before a burst of action—frozen in space, waiting for one whisper to break the silence into open conflict. And that moment felt like it lasted forever.
The next moment Fenling shouted, “Go!” And we sprang into action.
Quen and I took on the nearest ice scorpion as Fenling and San took on another. Trin and Lanlan fought together, and Exis and Forth faced yet another.
My dagger wasn’t long enough to keep the creature at bay, so I quickly scooted around to the side, leaving Quen to face it head-on. I darted in, slashing at the crystal plates of the side of the ice scorpion, but my dagger slid off with almost no effect. The creature was quick, scuttling with an eerie sound, like a horde of mice in the walls. I estimated the thickness of its curved tail, wondering if I could cut it off if I put enough force into it. I decided I might as well try, because this was no time to stop and try to make calculations.
So I leapt forward, bringing the dagger down on the narrowest part of the tail. The stinger on the end worried me, but I tried to keep my distance from it even as the scorpiontried to turn, whipping its tail as though it were attempting to flog someone. My dagger actually penetrated the icy scales, shattering them as it broke through. Quen tried to keep it engaged from the front, so it wouldn’t turn on me.
I had cut about halfway through, and was surprised to see a splatter of illuminated ice-blue liquid squirt from the wound. A small amount landed on my hand—I wasn’t wearing gloves because it was easier to fight that way—and it burned with cold fire as it began to smoke against my skin.
I shouted, trying to wipe it off on my cloak.
The next moment, the thing swung its half-severed stinger at me like a snake. I darted in again, aiming for the same place. This time, I cut all the way through. The tail went skittering off on its own, finally dissolving into a puddle of liquid. The ice scorpion let out a shriek so high-pitched that I could barely hear it and yet, it hurt my ears.
Quen took that moment to thrust his sword down through the center of it, impaling it on his blade. As the scorpion began to melt, as its tail had, he darted away from the liquid pooling around it. He slapped me on the arm and pointed to another scorpion heading our way.
On we fought, trying to avoid the splatters of acidic blood, and though I wanted to look around to see how the others were doing, it was too dangerous to take my eyes off the creature in front of me. It was either keep complete focus or risk being impaled by the deadly stingers. At one point I heard a yell—I thought it was Trin’s voice — but I couldn’t turn to help.
I wasn’t sure how long we continued, slashing our way through the guardians of the cave, but finally, there was silence. We looked around and saw that all ten of the scorpions were gone. Trin had an open wound on his face, and it appeared to be getting worse. The scorpions, now dead, had all dissolved andthe liquid itself had seemed to soak into the rocks, vanishing as if the creatures had never been there.
“Is everyone okay?” Fenling asked, as she jogged over to Trin’s side to check his wounds.
San hurried to help her, then turned to me. “Get my medical bag off of the horse, if you would.”
I hustled back to the horses. They were still there, but they were nervous and ready to bolt. I patted their heads, speaking softly to them, trying to calm them down as I searched through San’s bags, coming up with a little medical pouch. I handed it to him, and he opened it and began to treat the wound. I could almost see Trin’s cheekbone through the wound. San packed it with a fine powder, then placed a bandage over it, winding the strips around Trin’s chin and head to keep it in place. Trin grunted. The wound had to hurt like hell, but like all soldiers, he knew how to bear the pain.
The small spot on my hand stopped burning—it had only been a single drop that had landed on me, much to my relief. But San covered it with the powder as well, and bandaged it tightly.
“Their venom can eat through to the bone and infects easily.” He finished tying the knot on the bandage. “This should take care of it.”
“How’s Trin doing?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“I think he’ll heal up. We’ll need to change his dressing every day for the next few days. Meanwhile, he’ll need to be on soft foods because I don’t want him using his mouth too much. We’ll need to make hearty broth for him, and make sure he has enough energy to manage the weather and trip.” San gave me a long look. “I’m glad you are safe,” he said. “And I know Bran will be thrilled when we find him.”
We examined the rest of the cave, although there was one opening none of us wanted to go down because it dropped at asteep angle deep into the earth. There was nothing else in here that could hurt us, as far as we could tell.
“So, is this the place that you thought Bran might be?” I asked Fenling.
“Yes,” she said. “I still feel that he might come this way. We’ll rest up for a day or two here—it’s fairly safe. We’ll keep guards on the opening at all times, and just take some time for Trin to heal.”
“Can we light a fire?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yes, it won’t melt the ice here. If this even is ice. I didn’t know back then, and I still don’t know whether it’s crystal or ice or some weird combination of both. Anyway, let’s make camp and rest. The storm is howling outside and we can’t travel in it.”
As I followed Quen back to the horses to settle them down and retrieve our camp gear, I heard the howling from outside. It was in the near distance and I had come to recognize that shriek. The Snow Witch was racing through the woods, which meant we had better settle in for several days. We didn’t want to meet her face to face. I glanced at Quen, but he just shook his head and we carried the supplies back into the main area of the cave. At least we had light, and we had enough wood for several days so we would have heat.
By the time we had the camp settled, and a kettle bubbling over the fire, I was so exhausted that I was ready to fall asleep right there. But I waited until dinner was ready, and Fenling and I sat together, listening to the distant shrieks of the Snow Witch as she let loose her fury across the mountains.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Despite the adrenalinerush of the fight, I slept a dreamless sleep that went so deep that it took Fenling shaking me by the shoulders to make sure I was all right. I yawned, sitting up, pulling the pile of furs and blankets around my shoulders.
“The snow is raging outside. We’re tying ropes to go outside to take a piss so that we don’t get lost in the storm,” Quen said as I stood, stretching. “Let me know when you want to go, so that I can anchor you from inside.”
I nodded. My body urged me to go now, so he handed me a rope and I tied it around my waist, then slid through the dark cover of the cave to find myself in a blizzard. There had to be some magical force keeping the light from penetrating the entrance.
