The Ice Mage Incident – Episode 6
Picking my way past the larger pieces of shattered wood poking up out of the snow under the arched entranceway, I made my way into the fortress.
While keeping a sharp eye out for danger, I reflected on what I’d just witnessed.
It was as plain as day Anders wasn’t the simple blacksmith I’d thought he was. And I had a nagging suspicion there was more to his business with the so-called ice mage than he was letting on.
Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I paused just past the gateway to take stock of my surroundings.
I was standing at the edge of what looked to be a courtyard. It was difficult to tell how big it was what with its opposite side lost in the mist wrapping the fortress in its clammy embrace. Visibility in any direction was reduced to only a few paces. The twin trails of Anders and Trewla’s footprints led straight ahead across the snow, vanishing into the haze.
Rubbing my face, I pondered whether I should turn around and go back to the sleigh, or carry on traipsing after the reckless pair.
It wasn’t like I gave a hoot about Anders, but Trewla… Well, let’s just say I couldn’t ignore the churning in the pit of my stomach which had started when she’d dashed after him, heading into who-knows-what danger.
And, I had to admit there was the matter of rescuing Anders’ daughter. Not that I’d made any promises in that regard, but still…
Dragging my feet, I set off across the courtyard.
A soft breeze sprang up, stirring the mist into drifting veils of dankness which beaded the fur of my coat with tiny drops of moisture.
I wiped my eyes to clear them, and when I looked at my feet my gut clenched. The mist had not only started moving, it was thickening too. I could no longer see the footprints I was following, and as I peered down, my boots faded from view too.
I came to a stop, my gaze searching the pearly greyness for any hint of how far I’d come and where I was headed.
It was to no avail. In every direction all that met my eyes was damp, grey murk.
Thanking my lucky stars I could follow the marks Trewla and Anders’ boots had left in the snow, I squatted and brought my face close to the ground to search for their trail.
I couldn’t find it. Had I wandered off it without realising?
For a moment, the mist thinned and I and spotted a grey smudge a little to my left. My heart lifted and I shuffled over for a closer look.
It wasn’t a footprint. It was Trewla’s hat.
My mouth turned dry.
In this weather she would not have blithely taken off her hat and tossed it aside.
Picking it up, I straightened my back and shivered as ice cold water trickled down the nape of my neck. The mist had become even denser, swelling the beads of moisture on my furs until some were big enough to drip and splash onto the snow.
A worm of doubt wriggled in my brain. When we’d been approaching the village, Trewla had mentioned how much colder it had become since we’d left the castle. I’m no weather expert, but I was beginning to wonder how it was possible for damp mist to exist in temperatures below freezing.
At that thought, a faint tinkling sound came to my ears. My skin crawled as I sensed a wave of thaumaturgic energy sweeping towards me.
The mist collapsed, each drop of moisture turning to a tiny crystal of ice as the wave rolled closer.
It passed over me, freezing the wetness on my coat and trousers solid in an instant and turning my face numb.
Someone had used magic and that never bodes well when it comes to sticky situations.
I tried to turn around, intending to find my way back to the gateway and scurry to the safety of the forest, and was horrified to find I couldn’t move. Thin though it was, the ice coating my clothing was as rigid and strong as steel. I could barely twitch a muscle with the stiff, unyielding layer of frost holding me in its embrace.
Through ice-encrusted eyelashes I watched the last ice crystals tinkle to the snow, and gasped as the air cleared.
Several yards in front of me, standing in the mouth of a cave set in a sheer wall of ice, was a lean man in a long grey cloak, his lined and craggy face wearing a stern expression. Straight, white hair hung to his chest and a dusting of snow covered his shoulders.
But it was his pale blue glowing eyes, glaring at me from under an impressive pair of eyebrows, that seized my attention.
“What a measly catch,” he said, his gaze sweeping me from head to toe. “I suppose I shouldn’t have expected much considering the way you were stomping about like a buffoon. Pretty poor behaviour even for a burglarising vandal, I’d say.”
I wanted to reply, but the coldness from his magic spell had reached my tongue and made it as sluggish as my numb lips, and all I could manage in reply was a slurred croak.
He seemed to take that as me not understanding what he meant, for he nodded towards the fortress’ entrance and said, “My gate. You vandalised it.”
It was more than vandalised as you know. More like obliterated.
However, I doubted he was in the mood to argue about semantics. In any case, a far more pressing concern from my point of view was to communicate to him in some way that I had nothing to do with the condition of his gate.
The ice covering my clothes creaked as I struggled to raise my arms, but it held. Not only had he denied me speech, but hand gestures too. I could do no more than stare back at him and attempt to protest my innocence via eye-movements.
Despite my efforts – or perhaps because of them – his frown deepened.
“You and I are going to have a little chat,” he said. “We’ll go somewhere a little more comfortable – for me anyway – and you can explain who you are and what you’re doing sneaking around my property.” He gave me a cold smile. “And you can tell me how you broke my gate.”
He muttered something under his breath. The glow in his eyes grew brighter, then he turned and entered the ice-cave.
My body lurched after him, the loathsome layer of ice coating my body grinding and creaking as it moved my legs. Sweat ran down my brow as I fought against the beastly force with every ounce of strength I possessed, but there was nothing I could do to stop myself plodding along after him into his lair.
*** To Be Continued ***