Home
[8%] 
The horses were loosed in a clearing a few hundred yards from the wall and they stood there awkwardly, too scared at first to even lower their heads to graze. Distant shrieks sometimes dribbled down between the branches and their ears simultaneously strained and recoiled at each one. The beasts paced back and forth, idly biting at the grass and snorting as their masters melted into the forest. Orcworm and Jhubbz picked their way through the web of trees and as the vast white walls of the town began to fill the gaps between the trunks before them, a thick frost began to cover the branches and roots. The gnarled boughs became difficult to grip and their hands often slipped, scraping the dusty ice to reveal dark blotches that began to bleed a deep crimson sap. Thin layers of crystals began to form on their hoods, swiftly creeping forward across the nape of their necks towards their faces as if to clasp their throats and throttle the warmth that pulsed there between two freezing digits.
Jhubbz stopped and drew her hand across her head, cracking the frozen wool with her fingers.
"I have never felt a chill such as this in New Orcshire - nor seen weather of this kind in all my life." She whispered, biting her lip. "It's as though the warmth is being drawn from me in more ways than one."
"Aye, and do not tarry. We have neither the time nor the conditions to do so. Look."
Orcworm himself paused for a moment and gestured to her boot, which was balanced on an exposed root covered in a frost so dense it resembled a large, spindly fungus. The leather on her sole had turned silver and hundreds of tiny veins of ice covered the boot up to the ankle, and seemed to be tentatively picking their way upwards.
"All of the trees around us are dead. We should keep moving."
They fell upon a dirt path and hurried along it, crouching low and moving at an angle as if to let the deadly frost pass over their heads like smoke. They could feel fingers - tendrils - grabbing at the backs of their hoods and the ends of their capes, and tiny claws sliding down their blanched cheeks. Although they were weak and their pull was barely perceptible, the relentlessness with which they tickled their skin set the hairs on their necks screaming.
As they moved ever closer Jhubbz began to feel something - a person - on the periphery of her mind. It was not so much a person, however, as more a presence that manifested itself as nothing more than a huge abyss, yet the image of an expression of pure malice was unquestionably present, pasted over it like on a doll or a marionette fashioned from a nightmare. The face bore down on her but with features that were intangible. She often saw it in the corner of her eye between the trees and it was terrifyingly sharp, with two smoldering pinpricks that plunged through her and stole her breath while towers of jagged enamel exploded from a rotting, dead mouth that dribbled blood. She jumped at first and her eyes would flicker to every glimmer of frost or pocket of shade, trying to find what was there only a moment before while gripping her sword. Later, though whether minutes or hours had passed she couldn't tell, she would see it and freeze, expressionless. She tried to keep an impression of the horror that peered at her from the periphery, attempting to retain its image that slipped out as soon as it came in like a tiny mosquito carried on the air currents caused by the hands that try to trap it. She would turn, so slowly she didn't know whether she was moving or twitching, so that she might see it fully without the thing realizing. Yet every time a blank sheet of darkness met her, and a few seconds later a small red glint would catch the corner of her eye.
"Is there no way we can make it through this accursed forest any faster?" She hissed through clenched teeth.
Orcworm turned to her, frowning. He reached out and touched her shoulder. She shivered and looked up at him, wide-eyed.
"We're at the wall, Jhubbz. We have been for several minutes at least."
She almost fell over. It suddenly curved over her, exploding out of nowhere, almost intolerably bright against the gloom of the forest. The sun emerged just briefly then, and they were illuminated by the glare of the stone. Orcworm was half sitting, half kneeling on the dirt by a small oak paneled door set into the base of the wall. She stared at him.
"Were you not listening to what I was saying?" he asked. He noted her bewilderment. "We are to wait for the others to break through and use them to ensure that our entry goes undetected. I need you to be ready to fight whatever may be on the other side of that door as soon as I force the lock. You're aware of all this, right?"
"I- we- were in the forest, a second ago." She turned around to gesture towards the trees and regretted it. The tantalizing darkness rushed up around her and she drew back, shivering again. She feared she might see it and longed to look away, yet she was unable to should that foul grin reappear in the corner of her eye. She could not turn her back on that. She gazed into the black expanse and it poured into her, fueling her fear. "There was something watching us."
He reached over and slipped his hand under her chin, reaching around so his fingers gently grazed the bottom of her ear. He turned her head towards him and her eyes slid across as far as they could in order to stay towards the forest before snapping back to him, as though a magnetic force had suddenly been broken between them. He drew her hood further forward and clasped it at the collar. He clipped the mechanism shut and adjusted her hood again.
"Keep this tight around you, and stay focused."
She nodded and stood up. Her sword hissed as it fell from its scabbard and glimmered slightly as it descended to her thigh. Both of them then seemed to glow for a moment, surrounded by a faint echo of the light that shone from the walls despite the cloying grayness that fell all around them like a sheet, and for a second they flickered with a dangerous white flame.
"There it is!"
Orcworm leapt up, a sudden light enveloping his hand like a gauntlet, and the lock exploded. At the same time a muffled boom ricocheted out from the other side of the city and the ground shuddered. Jhubbz slammed her foot into the door. The hinges bent and shattered and the door collapsed inwards, breaking in two. She levelled her sword towards the darkness in front of them in which a few buildings were identifiable only as vague outlines, and a thin pulse silently erupted from the point of her blade, immediately vanishing into the mist.
"There's nothing around for a while in every direction save this ugly fog."
Orcworm chuckled. "His reactions are as sharp as ever. He will have taken everything he has at his disposal to the gate at the very moment it was breached, and that is a force to be reckoned with. I do however have the fullest confidence that they will meet a stern and pressing resistance under Mati's command."
Jhubbz observed their surroundings with scrutiny. Wooden stalls and shops stood abandoned, mostly broken and rotting. The sign of an inn creaked in a directionless breeze. She turned to Orcworm.
"I know this place. I used to come here a lot in my youth. The owner of that inn - Muttley - he is a good man and a powerful bard. Perhaps he could help us through this fog if he is still there. What time of day is it?"
"It's a little after dusk, but it matters not. The man is probably dead. We cannot waste time entertaining any options save the one we have set ourselves upon. I know the route - come."
Jhubbz stopped and drew her hand across her head, cracking the frozen wool with her fingers.
"I have never felt a chill such as this in New Orcshire - nor seen weather of this kind in all my life." She whispered, biting her lip. "It's as though the warmth is being drawn from me in more ways than one."
"Aye, and do not tarry. We have neither the time nor the conditions to do so. Look."
Orcworm himself paused for a moment and gestured to her boot, which was balanced on an exposed root covered in a frost so dense it resembled a large, spindly fungus. The leather on her sole had turned silver and hundreds of tiny veins of ice covered the boot up to the ankle, and seemed to be tentatively picking their way upwards.
"All of the trees around us are dead. We should keep moving."
They fell upon a dirt path and hurried along it, crouching low and moving at an angle as if to let the deadly frost pass over their heads like smoke. They could feel fingers - tendrils - grabbing at the backs of their hoods and the ends of their capes, and tiny claws sliding down their blanched cheeks. Although they were weak and their pull was barely perceptible, the relentlessness with which they tickled their skin set the hairs on their necks screaming.
As they moved ever closer Jhubbz began to feel something - a person - on the periphery of her mind. It was not so much a person, however, as more a presence that manifested itself as nothing more than a huge abyss, yet the image of an expression of pure malice was unquestionably present, pasted over it like on a doll or a marionette fashioned from a nightmare. The face bore down on her but with features that were intangible. She often saw it in the corner of her eye between the trees and it was terrifyingly sharp, with two smoldering pinpricks that plunged through her and stole her breath while towers of jagged enamel exploded from a rotting, dead mouth that dribbled blood. She jumped at first and her eyes would flicker to every glimmer of frost or pocket of shade, trying to find what was there only a moment before while gripping her sword. Later, though whether minutes or hours had passed she couldn't tell, she would see it and freeze, expressionless. She tried to keep an impression of the horror that peered at her from the periphery, attempting to retain its image that slipped out as soon as it came in like a tiny mosquito carried on the air currents caused by the hands that try to trap it. She would turn, so slowly she didn't know whether she was moving or twitching, so that she might see it fully without the thing realizing. Yet every time a blank sheet of darkness met her, and a few seconds later a small red glint would catch the corner of her eye.
"Is there no way we can make it through this accursed forest any faster?" She hissed through clenched teeth.
Orcworm turned to her, frowning. He reached out and touched her shoulder. She shivered and looked up at him, wide-eyed.
"We're at the wall, Jhubbz. We have been for several minutes at least."
She almost fell over. It suddenly curved over her, exploding out of nowhere, almost intolerably bright against the gloom of the forest. The sun emerged just briefly then, and they were illuminated by the glare of the stone. Orcworm was half sitting, half kneeling on the dirt by a small oak paneled door set into the base of the wall. She stared at him.
"Were you not listening to what I was saying?" he asked. He noted her bewilderment. "We are to wait for the others to break through and use them to ensure that our entry goes undetected. I need you to be ready to fight whatever may be on the other side of that door as soon as I force the lock. You're aware of all this, right?"
"I- we- were in the forest, a second ago." She turned around to gesture towards the trees and regretted it. The tantalizing darkness rushed up around her and she drew back, shivering again. She feared she might see it and longed to look away, yet she was unable to should that foul grin reappear in the corner of her eye. She could not turn her back on that. She gazed into the black expanse and it poured into her, fueling her fear. "There was something watching us."
He reached over and slipped his hand under her chin, reaching around so his fingers gently grazed the bottom of her ear. He turned her head towards him and her eyes slid across as far as they could in order to stay towards the forest before snapping back to him, as though a magnetic force had suddenly been broken between them. He drew her hood further forward and clasped it at the collar. He clipped the mechanism shut and adjusted her hood again.
"Keep this tight around you, and stay focused."
She nodded and stood up. Her sword hissed as it fell from its scabbard and glimmered slightly as it descended to her thigh. Both of them then seemed to glow for a moment, surrounded by a faint echo of the light that shone from the walls despite the cloying grayness that fell all around them like a sheet, and for a second they flickered with a dangerous white flame.
"There it is!"
Orcworm leapt up, a sudden light enveloping his hand like a gauntlet, and the lock exploded. At the same time a muffled boom ricocheted out from the other side of the city and the ground shuddered. Jhubbz slammed her foot into the door. The hinges bent and shattered and the door collapsed inwards, breaking in two. She levelled her sword towards the darkness in front of them in which a few buildings were identifiable only as vague outlines, and a thin pulse silently erupted from the point of her blade, immediately vanishing into the mist.
"There's nothing around for a while in every direction save this ugly fog."
Orcworm chuckled. "His reactions are as sharp as ever. He will have taken everything he has at his disposal to the gate at the very moment it was breached, and that is a force to be reckoned with. I do however have the fullest confidence that they will meet a stern and pressing resistance under Mati's command."
Jhubbz observed their surroundings with scrutiny. Wooden stalls and shops stood abandoned, mostly broken and rotting. The sign of an inn creaked in a directionless breeze. She turned to Orcworm.
"I know this place. I used to come here a lot in my youth. The owner of that inn - Muttley - he is a good man and a powerful bard. Perhaps he could help us through this fog if he is still there. What time of day is it?"
"It's a little after dusk, but it matters not. The man is probably dead. We cannot waste time entertaining any options save the one we have set ourselves upon. I know the route - come."
Last edited by thebadhatter on 2011-06-28, 20:54; edited 2 times in total
