We continued on our way down the glacier the next day. Tilly had completely recovered in the morning, Milly started to feel better at noon. At least we could make use of the heat spell for the night again.

On the second day Milly pointed out metallic reflections at the top of the ridge behind us. At the end of the third day we reached the tongue of the glacier. Our pursuers hadn’t followed us down the glacier at all.

We stopped at the top of the glaciers tongue, crossing a last narrow crevasse. A scree ramp downward lead towards the valley below. A huge well-rounded boulder loomed a hundred meters from the glaciers tongue, left there after the glacier retreated further up. The valley had a flat sole flanked by cliffs. Above the cliffs the flanks steep probably cut out by the glacier long ago. Below the cliffs there were plenty of larger boulders embedded in a scree ramp.

A few kilometres away it opened into a large valley which was covered in mist. A fountain of water suddenly appeared somewhere out of the mist! A geyser.

“Enjoying the view?” Milly smiled at me.

“Without those.. “ Suddenly a man with a bow appeared beside a large boulder below.

“Down!” I let myself fall to the ground, pulling Milly with me.

An arrow whistled over my head! The others quickly went down as well.

I noticed movement on the large boulder as well.

“Take cover in that recess over there! There’s someone on that huge boulder.” I rolled into recess for cover, quickly followed by the others.

“Caroline. I need your helmet. Tilly I need your spear.” Milly took out her her mirror.

Then Milly put the sensor from the mirror on Caroline’s helmet, which she put on the butt end of Tilly’s spear.

I looked over Milly’s shoulder at the mirror while Tilly raised the spear higher.

More arrows whistled over our heads.

“Stop wasting your arrows!” the voice cried out.

“Unfortunately I can’t get the arrows.” Loraline looked up the glacier.

“Seven men with bows on the boulder.” Milly whispered.

“Six with metal armor and one without, all with bows.” I looked closer.

“We want to look more downwards Tilly.” I turned back to Tilly.

“Below us hiding behind boulders below the cliff are about half a dozen men with metal armor as well, but there may be more. One is wearing plate armor.” Milly stared at the mirror.

“Surrender! There’s no place you can run!” The loud voice bellowed.

“Let’s not get distracted. Rotate to the other side of the valley. They couldn’t know we would go down at this side.” I grinned at Tilly.

“There are more men in metal armor, plus one in non-metal armor.” Milly was focused on the mirror.

“Put it down again. I wonder how much provisions they have.” I looked at our backpacks.

“They can rush us anytime if they want. No way I can put them all down on their way up. Especially with suppression fire. I’ve to go too far out of our cover to shoot efficiently.” Loraline slumped her shoulder.

“That’s over twenty of them. Way too many!” Milly looked at me with a frown.

“This crevice over there looks climbable. It’s too far away though.” I pointed towards the cliff.

“They have enough archers to put down most of us if we try.” Loraline shook her head.

“We could wait for the night.” I looked up at the perfectly clear sky.

“Nah. They see us well enough on the ice with the stars and the moons out.” Caroline shook her head.

“If you surrender we spare your life!” The voice bellowed again from below.

“Go and fuck yourself!” Milly cried back in rage.

We heard distant laughter.

“Let’s eat now, as long as we have time.” I got some dried fruit from my backpack.

We ate silently for a few minutes.

“There was a crevasse a few meters back.” I looked along the recess, but everything was covered in snow so far. We might get there without been noticed though.

“It was a narrow one. We just stepped over it.” Milly nodded.

I crawled backwards, prodding the ground in front of me with my ax. I frequently looked back to assure the archers on the boulder couldn’t see me. After a few meters the snow gave way. It was just at the end of the recess. The crevasse lead in the direction of the crevice I spotted earlier. It was about fifteen meters from here, but I wasn’t able to see the whole crevasse as it was partially snow covered.

Slowly I retreated back to the others.

“We do have a few of the these spikes for climbing? Do you think they would be helping in ice as well?” I looked at Loraline and Caroline.

“It should be possible to do that. We should avoid making too much noise though. Do we have enough of them to cross the distance?” Caroline looked at Loraline.

“There were more than thirty as far as I remember.” She looked back at Caroline.

“We could warm up the spikes and let them freeze in thereafter.” Tilly looked at me.

“The heat spell isn’t warm enough. Maybe a piercing rune?” I looked back at her.

“This will all cost lots of mana.” Milly frowned.

“We could just wrap the hammer in some cloth to dampen the sounds.” Caroline folded her hands on her lap.

“Let’s try this first.” I nodded at Caroline.

“We still wait for the night I’d say.” I tilted my head looking at Caroline.

She nodded.

We waited until dusk had passed. The stars still were quite a spectacle as usual, but I wasn’t able to enjoy them tonight.

In the cover of the night we went to work. Caroline was secured by a suitable length of rope as she started hammering in the first spike. Occasionally we checked out the situation below with the helm. No one shot an arrow at it.

Either they didn’t notice us or they didn’t bother.

We tried to get some sleep while one of us secured Caroline. Since she needed to be careful and took plenty of breaks it was long after midnight as she waved over from the crevice. The crevice it self was in deep shadows.

“Let’s go then. We go one after one to reduce the strain on the hooks as much as possible. You’re first.” I looked at Loraline.

The spikes were about an arms length from each other and were connected by a rope. Milly had made harnesses out of thinner ropes. Two short ropes each with a hook at the end were attached to the harness for securing everyone while climbing along the crevasse.

Loraline let herself down into the crevasse and started to climb along the rope, hooking herself to the segments of the rope while proceeding. She needed twenty minutes for the climb.

The spikes held her weight plus backpack so far and it was near dawn when we reached the crevice including our backpacks. We climbed up the crevice after that, carefully scouting the area above. The flank of the valley was covered by plenty of rocks in all sizes. We would be able to pass the men unnoticed.

The men from the other side of the valley hadn’t noticed anything. At least there was no movement at their camp.

We sneaked along the flank the valley above the cliff above the bottom of the valley. It was about ten meters high above the glacier. Below the glacier’s tongue it was nearly thirty meters.

A large boulder, over our enemies camp, sitting right at the edge of a stone below caught my eyes. I might to be able to send it down on area where our enemies were, along with hopefully plenty others it would take with it down the slope. It was about twenty meters up the slope.

There was a larger crevice ahead which was long and wide enough to provide a way up the cliff. That would be a nice choke point. We could still run if they couldn’t come up here at all.

“Let’s pay them back for the ambush!” I whispered pointing down the valley.

“Shouldn’t we simply run away?” Milly whispered back looking at me with wide eyes.

“Who hated running away all the time? Besides they would be right on our tails.” I smirked.

“Me.” She gave me a glare.

“I want to try to cause a small landslide going down there. Go to that crevice over there and try to bottle them up when they try to come up. ” I pointed to a larger crevice about fifty meters ahead.

“I look for a good place to shoot. There is enough light to hit the men coming from across the valley.” Loraline patted her bow.

“Keep in mind there are archers on the huge rock. The crevice is probably one of the few ways they know up the cliff. Wait for the avalanche before doing anything. I try to catch up to you as soon as I can. The archers on that boulder will be annoying though. We retreat as soon as there’s a sign that they know another way up the cliff.”

“Looks like a plan. I still think it will be dangerous. Good luck.” Milly looked tense.

“Here we can choose when and where we fight. Letting them choose will put us at a huge disadvantage. Just think they had waited as probably planned, until we were halfway down on the scree ramp down into the valley. There wasn’t much cover.” I furrowed my brows.

“Good Luck, Lilly.” Milly waved at me with a nod.

I waved back and started to climb up to the hopefully loose enough rock. My wounds were nearly healed, but I was still drained, so I took my time.

A while after others had reached the crevice and settled down I started to remove some smaller rocks on at base of the boulder towards the valley. The rock had more than half a meter in diameter and was slightly egg shaped.

Soon I had removed any smaller rock that felt save to remove.

I started pushing with my legs planted firmly in the ground. I did not lean against the stone to avoid following the stone on its way down the cliff. That would be probably quite unhealthy. Not that my weight would much make much of difference.

There was a subtle movement, but I wasn’t able to push it beyond a certain point. I sat down to catch my wind again.

The boulder was well rounded as many rocks around here. Glaciers of the past had smoothed out many of them. Let’s try levers.

Then I shoved the ax under the boulder and put a smaller stone under the ax head in a way I hoped it wouldn’t slip.

Slowly I pushed down the handle of the ax with all my weight. The boulder started to moved forward! A moment later the ax slipped out from under the boulder. I let myself fall down on my by back and pushed with my legs with all I had.

Slowly the stone tilted over.

It rumbled down the slope, slowly gaining momentum. Quickly I grabbed my ax and hurried to reach the crevice ahead. I kept my eyes on the boulder with the archers. It slowed me down, but soon as I saw someone getting to his feet I darted to the next larger boulder that gave me full cover.

I heard an arrow hitting the ground at my feet a moment before I crouched down behind the rock.

The rumbling behind me had increased for a few seconds and was followed by a loud thumb. A few more rocks went over the cliff. Cries of pain and rage came from the base of the cliff.

Then I heard a bloodcurdling cry from the direction of the large boulder. I sneaked a peak over my cover. Two men in metal armor stood there with their bows ready. Four other were fumbling with their armor at the moment. The man who shot laid on the ground with an arrow sticking out of his neck.

Across the valley there was a commotion between the boulders. There was a small lake below the glaciers tongue, surrounded by wide scree beach. As I saw one of the men on the boulder aiming, I got down behind my rock. A few arrows hit the ground next to me.

I’ve covered about twelve meters on my way to the crevice so far. Another forty meters to go. Loraline knelt behind a boulder giving her cover from the huge boulder.

“Are those bitches still on the glacier?” a familiar bellow came from below.

“We haven’t seen anyone leaving, Sir Pancras! Jurren was killed by an arrow coming from the cliff above..” A man cried from the top of the huge boulder.

“Shoot down everyone you can see and keep an eye on the glacier!” Sir Panzer bellowed back.

“Five are dead Sir!” another voice cried out.

“Aren, Yorrik check if the bitches are still were they were. Devron, Talras, take the crevice to get up the cliff! Cut that archer down and find whoever caused this avalanche.!” Sir Panzer bellowed.

“Yes, sir!”

I heard the sounds of running feet.

Then a horn sounded three times.

I sneaked another peek at the side of my boulder. The six men on top of the boulders knelt there with their bows ready. Four were looking toward the glacier and two in my direction. Two men in non-metal armor carrying a small shield and a short sword came running from the other side of the valley. They were closely followed by two men in metal armor, probably mail, with large shields and arming swords. They had large shields as well. More were between the boulders.

The next boulder usable as a cover was about ten meters away, slightly below me. I put an about head sized stone on top of my cover. Two arrows whistled by barely missing the stone. A moment later I heard a cry of pain from the direction of the archers. The top of the large boulder was visible from the cliff, which had an higher altitude than the glacier’s tongue.

I was stuck behind my rock for now. The mirror would be nice to get an overview.

After a while I heard a distant cry of pain, quickly followed by a bloodcurdling scream.

I put a second larger stone next the first. An arrow came through right between them.

Lucky shot? I hate archers picking on me.

Another scream came from the huge boulder a few moments later.

After a while I heard a thump from the direction of the crevice. It was quickly followed by loud cries. A few moments later I heard muted sound of battle.

Caroline, who was hiding behind a boulder next to the crevice, jumped over the rim with a rope in her hand a few moments later.

There were more distant cries of agony from across the valley. A quick peek showed that there were six men with raised shield who cautious approached by the lake, they were still far away. Three men were laying on the ground.

I noticed Loraline moving and shooting at an another man on the boulder. He cried out in pain and stumbled. The he fell off the boulder with a scream.

Loraline shifted back behind her rock again and shot another arrow at the shield wall of the six men beside the lake.

The four men on the boulder started a discussion. After a few moments I dashed out from my cover in the direction of the next hideout. I yelped as an arrow scratched my butt while I dove behind the next larger stone.

It was bleeding, but not that much.

“Sneaky bitches! That’s them up the cliff! I come and get you!” A familiar voice bellowed from below.

The two men sent up to glacier probably had found .. nobody. Maybe our rope in the crevasse.

The fight in the crevice went on. I saw a short flickering from a burning flame from the crevice for a few moments. It was followed by loud screaming. A few moments later there was another bloodcurdling scream. The sound of fighting ceased a few moments later.

“Two man down to me!” Sir Panzer command came from down below.

Then I heard a piercing cry of pain from the direction of the glacier tongue.

“Whhhaaaaa! Can someone shoot that pesky archer down?” a bellow came from below.

I picked up a fist sized stone, sneaked a peak at the boulder, where only two man remained. As they were looking up the glacier I threw the in the direction of the voice just over the edge of the cliff.

Loraline loosened another arrow towards the huge boulder, hitting her target right into the face. The man fell down screaming. Another one bites the dust.

I took cover again as the remaining man on the boulder fired an arrow at me.

“Bitch!” Sir Panzer bellowed from below. He was probably the one in the plate armor.

The chances to hit him were slim. Annoying him seemed to work.

One was left on the huge boulder. As soon as he’s gone there I can move again.

I sneaked a peek again. The six men with the shields were still slowly advancing. I want a large shield as well. But it would be too heavy in combination with the rest of our gear. Another arrow whistled by.

I pulled the Amber of Light from my pouch. With a smirk I closed my eyes. Then I activated it while holding it over my head for a moment. I put it out as fast as I could and opened my eyes again. Then I jumped up and went into cover about 4 meters away.

I heard a cry of rage from the boulder. A few moments later it was followed by a cry of pain. I sneaked another peak at the huge boulder. There was no one standing anymore. A few men were laying on top, but nobody was moving. All hail to Loraline! I put back the amber and approached the crevice.

Milly, Lilly and Caroline were about 10 meters below me to the right, hiding behind some larger rocks forming a choke point in the crevice. They had put on their maid uniforms. Unfortunately I needed mana to get from the mark.

I turned to the right to get to a position a few meters ahead of them and collected a few decent rocks. Going into melee was a bad idea while being drained. Let’s try to distract them a bit. Loraline should be able to observe the valley quite well. Time to wait.

A few minutes later a man without armor appeared at the entrance of the crevice. He tried to disappear in the shadows. Then I heard more men climbing up to the crevice. Two men wearing mail were followed by a man in plate armor.

Sir Panzer.

The man without metal armor was sneaking up the crevice while the others were waiting near the entrance. Loraline was still shooting once in a while. She brought plenty of them.

Suddenly pain exploded in my shoulder as something hit me. I let myself fall on my back with a scream. A dagger stuck in my left shoulder! I pulled it out of the shoulder with a hiss. The wound started to bleed quite a bit. I waited a few moments before I pressed my had firmly on the wound, trying to avoid the loss of too much blood..

Sir Panzer was laughing down in the crevice. Then another muted bloodcurdling cry came from across the valley.

“Don’t worry bitch. I come and get you. Let’s end this once and for all! Charge!” I heard the sound of running men below me. I kicked a rock I set up there which landed with a thump.

Then melee broke loose down below. I sneaked a peek down after changing my position.

The men at the front were trying to press a way through the formation of the girls. Milly and Caroline were to the front while Tilly stabbed at his eyes with her spear from the back.

Then Caroline hooked her hammer on the top of shield and pulled it down. Milly pressed the attack with her sword. The man parried Milly’s attacks while wrestling with Caroline for the control of his shield. Tilly moved in to stab into his face. He screamed at the top of his lungs. Caroline pulled him in while Milly blocked the other man to follow.

Tilly tripped him with her spear, followed up by a stab to his throat while Caroline joined Milly to secure the choke point again.

I noticed the man who had hit me with his dagger hiding in the shadows of the crevice. Weighting his dagger in my hand I threw it, hitting him in the calf. Then I stepped back again from the rim. My shoulder was still hurting as hell.

Loraline was changing position, moving next to the exit of the crevice.

A few moments later Loraline drew her bow and shot down into the crevice. I sneaked a peek and saw the man with the dagger laying on his back with an arrow protruding from his chest.

Good.

The remaining man in mail was busy fighting Milly and Caroline. He was fighting cautiously, giving Tilly suspicious glances once in a while. Tilly leaned on her spear observing the fight. Additional magic was sparkling at the tip of her spear.

I started to move along the crevice and to could climb down into the crevice.Sir Panzer was monitoring the edge of the cliff too closely to have a chance to hit him with a rock. I walked back to choke point again.

I casually readied my ax as approached the scene.

“Enough stone throwing?” Sir Panzer bellowed.

I picked up a stone and threw it at him. He swiped it out of the air casually with his gauntlet.

“Only able to drop them, bitch? Go ahead! What are you waiting for?” he bellowed at the man in front of him.

Sir Panzers armor was magical, as well as his long sword. He casually held it with one hand, point up at the moment.

I wasn’t in the best shape, no mana and thus no armor. He would cut me apart with this sword.

Then the last man in mail went down. He had suffered many smaller wounds and was breathing heavily at the end. Caroline and Milly could use some rest as well.

Then Sir Panzer charged. At me. He drove back Milly using his greater reach with his sword and sent Caroline flying by ramming his elbow against her chest while she smashed her hammer to his head. He was stunned for a moment but stumbled forward.

Tilly raised her spear, stabbing at his throat. He deflected the point of the spear to his breast plate. Tilly pressed on and with a flash of violet light the spear penetrated the plate! Tilly leaned into her spear. After he recovered he stabbed multiple times at her chests, adding a few holes.

Milly was trying to get back her winds, her maid outfit shredded to bits.

Tilly let go of her spear and stepped back while Caroline struggled to get back on her feet. Milly came back. and tried to stab under his arm, but he kept down his arms well enough.

I readied my ax as he turned to attack Milly and circled him to get into his back, but he moved his back against the cliff. Letting go of his sword with one hand he pulled out the spear.

Caroline swung at his knees with her hammer, but he managed to avoid the full force of the attacks with a step. Milly pursued him trying to trap his blade while he used it one handed.

I handed Tilly my ax and stepped back and picked up a fist sized stone. Back to the stone age. The weapons from the fallen enemies were out of reach for me at the moment.

Then Sir Panzer got his hand back on his sword and tried to stab Tilly who turned to reduce it to a cut. Her outfit got another tear but the blade hadn’t penetrated much. With a clear shot to his head I threw my trusty stone with all force I could muster and hit his helmet.

“You insolent bitch! Go and play somewhere else with your marbles” He shot me a murderous glare.

With a smirk I picked up another stone. He charged in my direction. I dodged his diagonal swing sideways rolling forward over my hurting shoulder which exploded in pain again.

I got back on my feet while facing him again. He jumped over Tilly’s ax, who tried to trip him, but Milly stabbed him at the back of his left knee. Caroline was ready to fight again and came to my side, readying her hammer.

He turned around with an enraged roar, but he was limping. I retreated to pick up Tilly’s spear.

Milly and Caroline managed to stop his mad charge at me. He took a hit with the hammer to his shoulder but managed to keep Milly at bay, turning her dress in mere rags, but the garment took the brunt of the damage. Tilly broke his attack on Milly as he had to parry a overhead swing of the ax at his head.

He crashed into Tilly and sent her flying into the wall behind her. Milly intercepted him as he came in my direction again. He drove her back a few steps while Caroline came in with a wide swing to his knee. He winced. Tilly hooked her ax onto his left arm and pulled while I tried to reinsert the spear into hole in his breast plate.

After two more steps he went down on his knees, trying to skewer Milly who retreated parrying desperately. Tilly went for a diagonal swing at his head which he couldn’t dodge completely while Caroline kicked at his back.

He nearly fell forward but kept his balance. I brought down the spear on his left hand. He let go of his sword with the hand and roared in fury.

Tilly stumbled back as her ax came free again. Caroline added a swing at his head from behind.

Finally he fell face forward to the ground.

Milly jumped on his back, extended her claws which she shoved under both of his arms. He screamed in agony. While Tilly and I jumped on his arms, Caroline opened his visor and pushed her dagger deep in his face, ending the fight.

We were all breathing heavily, looking at each other.

“Two of the men fled.” Loraline stood at edge of the cliff above us.

“Good riddance. At least they didn’t see much of what happened here.” I was still gasping for air.

“What will we do with survivors?” Milly looked at me tilting her head.

“We are the survivors, Milly.” I fell down to my knees.