The Ice Mage Incident – Episode 4
Now that we were in among the houses we noticed more people frozen in the act of walking, talking, waving, shovelling snow and all the other activities that go on around a village in winter.
I’m not normally one for worrying, but the eeriness of the stock-still villagers had me looking over my shoulder like a mouse in a cattery as Trewla and I trudged through the snow towards the blackened ruins of the forge where the troll was waving at us.
He was standing next to a figure sprawled on a clear patch of ground near a jumble of half burnt timbers.
“It’th a man,” he said when we neared. “He’th thtill alive.”
The man was lying on his back, his long black curly hair spread out on the ground around his head. Beneath a pair of heavy eyebrows, his eyes were closed. The skin of his square-jawed face was lightly pocked by scorch marks, most of them long healed. Extending from his rolled up sleeves, his thickly muscled arms were splayed out to the sides. His bulging chest strained his shirt buttons and the straps of his leather apron. A pair of coarse woollen trousers were tucked into the tops of his sturdy boots.
“I think he’th the blackthmith,” said the troll.
I nearly blurted out ‘you don’t say’, but I shot a look at Trewla and decided to keep my trap shut. Inexplicably, she had a soft spot for the hideous creature.
She crouched by the blacksmith’s side and touched her fingers to his neck, feeling for his pulse.
“You’re right, Cedric. He’s alive. But it won’t be for much longer if we don’t get him somewhere warm soon.” She peered up at me. “You don’t mind carrying him, do you?”
I eyed the blacksmith’s thickset frame. He must have weighed at least two hundred pounds. I glanced at the nearest house. It was about a hundred yards away.
“It’s not that I don’t want to help,” I said, “but we’ll get him into the warmth quicker if the trol–, um… Cedric, carries him.”
Trewla frowned. “Cedric is tired. He drew our sleigh all the way across the lake, remember?”
As I opened my mouth to reply, she continued, “And he needs to conserve his strength to take us back to the castle.”
Making as if I agreed, I gritted my teeth and stared at the unconscious blacksmith through narrowed eyes, a scheme forming in my mind: I could lift the over-muscled hulk an inch then pretend I’d put my back out. Looking regretful, I’d wince and rub my lower spine, and manfully ask the troll to take my place.
I’d barely started to bend down when the troll scooped up the blacksmith and draped him over my back.
“There,” he said. “I don’t mind helping you get thtarted.”
“You’re such a dear, Cedric.” Trewla patted the troll’s hairy hand. “I hope you didn’t strain yourself.”
Bent almost double, staggering like a drunkard, I fought to stay on my feet. If I collapsed I was sure to be crushed, my ribs shattered, by the weight of the burly brute on my back.
Unable to speak in case I burst an artery, my backbone buckling, I lurched step by step towards the house.
It seemed to take forever. By the time I reached the front door, my entire body was shrieking in pain.
Fortunately, when Trewla twisted the handle, the door was unlocked. I shuffled inside and heaved a sobbing sigh of relief when the troll lifted the blacksmith from my back and laid him on the floor in front of the smouldering fire.
On wobbly legs, I limped to the only chair in the room and threw myself into it. Sweat pouring down my face, I pulled off my hat and loosened my coat.
Trewla busied herself at the fireplace, adding more wood from a basket on the hearth, and blowing on the coals until tongues of flame were licking at the logs.
Finding himself hunching uncomfortably under the low ceiling, the troll went back outside, shutting the door behind him.
Once I’d recovered a little, I looked around the room. There wasn’t much in the way of furniture. Other than the chair I was sitting in, there was a small bed against one wall, and a table under the room’s single window. An old man was standing motionless in front of it, staring out. Another one of the magically frozen villagers, I assumed.
The fire was taking the chill out of the air, but Trewla hadn’t removed her coat or hat.
“I wonder why wasn’t he frozen like the others?” I said, pointing at the blacksmith.
He moaned and stirred.
Trewla put a hand on his forehead. “He’s waking up. We’ll ask him.”
The man’s eyes sprang open. “Kari!” He lifted his head and groaned. “Has Salkeban taken her?” His gaze darted from Trewla to me and back again. “Who are you? Have you seen my daughter?”
“We’re travellers,” said Trewla. “There are four of us. We arrived about half an hour ago and found you unconscious outside. I’m afraid we haven’t seen your daughter.” She leaned towards him. “Who is Salkeban?”
“He’s a villain!” He glanced at the fireplace and his eyes grew wide. “This is Didrick’s house. Where is he?”
A sombre expression crossed Trewla’s face. “I’m sorry to tell you something bad has happened to everyone in your village.”
“Salkeban! The monster! What has he done to them?”
“It appears they have been frozen by a magic spell.” Trewla gestured towards the rigid old man standing by the window. “I assume that is your friend, Didrick?”
The blacksmith turned his head to look and his eyebrows lifted. “Didrick? It’s me, Anders. Tell me what happened. What has Salkeban done? Did he take Kari?”
“He can’t answer you,” said Trewla. “He’s frozen like all the others.”
The smith moaned and covered his face with his hands. “It’s all my fault.” He dropped his hands. Tears trickled down his cheeks. “I should not have defied Salkeban. I should not have burned down my forge.”
“You burned down your own forge?” I said. “Why in the world would you do that?”
“I had to stop him!” His face darkened. “He came yesterday and demanded I make something for him. A terrible thing. I refused and he gave me a day to do as he said or he would take Kari from me. I thought if I destroyed my forge he would leave us alone. That he’d go elsewhere… Find another blacksmith. But when he returned this morning and saw what I had done, he flew into a rage and seized hold of Kari. I tried to knock him down with my hammer, but he pointed his staff at me and there was a flash… then everything went black.” He curled his hands into fists. “He has punished me like he said he would. He’s taken Kari!”
“And punished the rest of the village too, by the look of it,” I said. “You must feel awful.”
Trewla glared at me.
“Oh well,” I said, standing up. “There’s nothing we can do. We’ll head off and get out of your way.”
Trewla took the blacksmith’s hand in hers. “Don’t listen to him. We’ll help you find your daughter. And undo the spell that’s binding your friends.” She gave him a firm smile. “I promise.”
*** Continued in Episode 5 ***