Chapter 21 C

 

       Stuttering and skipping through time ended abruptly with a bite of frigid wind. As with falling while running, that initial speed up before the sudden stop as one slides across the ground was now being dragged into a higher time frame felt. ‘Never going to get used to that.’ I thought.

 

       “Sippsie’s tits it’s cold.” Ashley said, pulling out a cloak and slipping her arms into it. 

 

       “Internal heating along with an enchanted ring, I’m good.” Rachel said, stretching her arms out exaggeratedly. 

 

       The flurry of snow was light on the overlook, but the dark clouds hid most of the level from view. The muffled sound of the group coming to stand by me was drowned out by the wind.

 

       “Alright, you know your positions. I want the high levels on the cliff edge and watch for wind gusts. Don’t want to get blown off. Lord Eric we will lead.” Titus shouted over the low rumble of the storm. 

 

       Everyone paired off, and we began the descent down the stairs to the bottom of the floor. 

 

       “Got your panties handy lordsss Eric.” Branwen said from behind us.

 

       “Not this time, got something a little more useful.” I said, pulling the piece of enchanted cloth out and lining my face covering with it.

 

       The joking was put aside along with most attempts at conversation, as the blizzard drowned everything out. Visibility was only a few meters ahead with the swirls of snow. Luckily, the path stayed clear no matter how much snow fell.

 

       When we reached the bottom, having taken much longer than the last time, Chariklia and Milly went to check the cave. With Lucius and Brie waiting by the opening. The all-clear was given. 

 

       Whitewood logs out and crackling, spilling heat into the cave once more. The twelve of us sat around the fire. 

 

       “Best to wait out the storm here, won’t be able to do much.” Lucius said, taking his place besides Chariklia.

 

       “Agreed.” Titus echoed.

 

       “I never thought this level would be so cold.” Brie added from inside the coat Ashley had made her wear.

 

       “That’s the thing with enchantments, as you very well may know lady Rachel, there never perfect.” Titus said between a mouth full of jerky.

 

       “That reminds me, don’t want Strafa’s cooking to go to waist.” I said, pulling out the jerky she had so diligently made for us.

 

       Passing around a cloth pouch, I ate. 

 

       Arietes jerky. Quality: well, made. This jerky provides an added defense against the cold. Allowing for the body to adapt to cold climates and fights off heat exhaustion. Duration: 6 hrs.

 

       Everyone ate a good amount of the food in order to get the full benefits from the jerky. “It’s always a good idea to supplement even with warming enchantments, they can fail, or be overtaxed, or just not cover some aspect.”

 

       “How so?” I asked.

 

       “Oh, like those panties might keep you warm but if it gets cold enough you can still get frost bite from extreme temperatures. Or if you’re in the cold to long, the cold might just build up and before you know it bam, dead.” 

 

       “How’s the mana drain on your armor in this?” 

 

       “Good, my warming ring works in conjunction with it, so there is barely any mana drain from the cold. Now if I fell in an ice pool, I might only have minutes before all my mana ran out.” 

 

       “Right don’t fall in again.” 

 

       “We checked with the guild, and it looks like the giant chief is somewhere on the far end of the valley in one of the central mountain spine locations.” Titus said.

 

       “How long to get there?” 

 

       “On foot it can take weeks, luckily we brought these.” Titus answered as he motioned to Clymiphae.

 

       “Oh, skis.” I said as the long pieces of wood were brought out of a long bag. Just under 3 meters long and 13 centimeters wide, the smooth bottoms had cut grooves, and the tips curled up into points.

 

       “Lucius if you wood.” Titus said, laying a pair out. “These take some getting used to, but they will speed up our journey considerably. They have a simple fusion enchantment on them, here.” He said, indicating a spot on the center of the skis, “turn your toe at a ninety-degree angle pointing out, press down and then rotate back.” As he said the last, we watched Lucius lock the ski onto the ball of his boot.

 

       “Will practice getting in and out of them fast as fighting with them on can be hard, but once you get the hang of it, they are easy to get in and out of.”

 

       11 pairs of skis were passed out, and we all began to practice getting in and out of them. I had been cross country skiing a few times when I was younger, and they operated much the same. The cut out on the bottom helped prevent backward sliding, and though the edges did not have metal blades, the wood was sharp enough to act in much the same way.

 

       “Is there any faster way to travel on this floor?” I asked the group.

 

       “Some Exalted lords will have their slaves bring a snow wagon and have them pull it. Not much faster and hard to maneuver in the woods. Though in the open areas it is. Most of the slaves die from attacks however.” Lucius answered, trailing off slightly at the end. 

 

       “Well don’t want that to happen, skis it is then.”

 

       “Skis? You mean the long walkers?”

 

       “Yes. Yes, the long walkers.” I lamely covered. ‘I am going to have to at least tell them I am a world walker… Shit they probably already know.’

 

       After a half-hour of practicing getting in and out of the skis, we all settled back down around the fire. The storm was on its final legs, or at least I hoped as much. Gear was checked, weapons needlessly sharpened. 

 

       “Storms breaking, we can head out.” Chariklia said, coming back through the leather hanging over the cave opening. 

 

       “Right, the giant chief is somewhere on the far end of the level. That means their main camp could be in the central mountains, the ice falls, or one of the outer mountain range strong holds. Will try for the first ice river bridge today, though we may have to make camp before that.” Titus directed.

 

       The soft sounds of the crunching of snow sliding underneath the skis followed our group. The three moons hung resplendent in the sky, casting their ghostly glow over the landscape. The deep rich, ever purple trees slowly began to grow, towering above us. Distant howling echoes carried on the wind from an unknown distance away.

 

       We followed single file behind Clymiphae, letting her sensitive feel of the ground find the ice water holes. Hidden under snow, we glided easily across most of them, berms of snow creating small canons we drifted through. Our pace quickly found its stride as everyone got used to the skis. Falls decreased and soon were absent. The wind had died down with the end of the storm, but the clear air brought its own danger of plummeting temperatures.

 

       Branwen and Sasha moved lightly along the tops of the berms and through the trees. They would stop often, and short snippets of advice and conversation drifted down to us. Most of the group stayed quiet, shields ready. Spears and swords held fast for any foe that would find a reason to intrude on our melodic glide.

 

       “Spider webs up head.” Branwen whispered down to Titus and me. Her voice was carrying as a soft brush of air near my ear.   

 

       “Find the nest or see how many there are. Might have to go around.” Titus whispered back to the Catkin hanging from a branch by a hooked leg. She nodded, and soon she and Sasha left our sight.

 

       “Can we not take them?” I asked.

 

       “Yes, most of the time. But a large nest can have hundreds of them. even the highest leveled adventures can be swarmed by them and overpowered. They resist magic as well, part of their cold adaptation. Physical attacks are the only thing that work. Anything infused with mana is diverted around them.” Titus said, circling his hand in the air, letting everybody know to group up. 

 

       We formed a lazy oval as we waited for Sasha and Branwen to return. 

 

       Dropping down the snowbank, Branwen said, “So I counted six full grown adults, didn’t see an egg sack. So, I would guess between six and ten. Looks like a young nest.”

 

       “Good, we can handle that. How far ahead?”

 

       “Just a head around two bends, good ambush spot love.”

 

       “We’ll just have to inconvenience them some. Up on the berm, Clymiphae and Allie will walk into the ambush zone. Focus just on defending you two, let us kill them as they come.” 

 

       Setting out, Titus and I took the right-hand side of the berm. We would be supported by Sasha and Branwen from the trees. Lucius and Brie took the left side along with Chariklia and Milly. We walked in a widening arch as we got closer to the grouping of trees. Thick spider webs coated in some sort of oil was strung between trees. 

 

       We were all just within view of Allie and Clymiphae as they walked into the narrow gap in the trees. No sound was made, no hiss or rustle of leaves, and had we not been watching the silent forms falling from the trees they would have spelled our doom.

 

       Two huge forms dropped nearly on top of the centaur and Kitsune. Their shields were working to push the spiders in the air and off to each side. Legs curled around trees as gobs of webs were prepared to be ejected to subdue the perceived prey. Lucius and Brie leaped to the front shield pinning one to a tree, while duel swords sunk deep into the hairy body of the eight-legged monster. 

 

       Arrows hissed in the air from above, Sasha’s arrows burying themselves halfway up the shaft. Branwen’s punched through the bodies completely before sinking into the ground or unlucky spider behind it.  

 

       I found the back of a spider exposed and jumped on it. I was letting the bucking startled movement drive my sword in and out of it repeatedly. Black blood coating my blade and pants. Titus bisected a spider with a single thrust of his spear, splitting the thing in two. 

 

       “SMASH YOUR FACE IN…” Came the cute roar of Milly as her hammer repeatedly worked on the eyes and head of one monster. 

 

       “Arrrr…Ahhhh…” Was whimpered out from Allie, her form completely covered by the spider, her shield the only barrier between her and the biting mandibles. 

 

       “Not…My…Kitsune…” Ashley screamed in near manic rage, forgetting to watch for other spiders as she launched a barrage of ice boulders at the spider pinning Allie down. One, two, three chunks of ice hurled in the air and blasted the monster off from her. Caving in the side of the creature and leaving it nearly dead, its twitching limbs the only sign of life. 

 

       The sprays of black blood stopped. The thwack of wet flesh silenced, and the stillness of the forest settled once more. 

 

       “Sound off.” Titus yelled into the quiet. 

 

       “We’re good.” Lucius answered.

 

       “Safe.” Chariklia said for both her and Milly.

 

       “Not a drop on ussss, love.” Branwen said as Sasha, and she came down from the trees.

 

       “Allie, are you hurt?” Ashley said, running to the side of Allie.

 

       “I am fine Mistress, thank you.” She said as Ashley’s arms enveloped her.

 

       “You finish off that nasty spider okay.” Ashley said, helping Allie to her feet. With a quick jab of her sword, the twitching spider was dead. 

 

       “I don’t feel anything else around us, I think that was it.” Rachel said, having watched the perimeter of the fight for any other monsters.

 

       Walking up to Clymiphae, I rested a hand on the small of her back, “Are you okay?”

 

       “Yes, Lord Eric, thank you. I am sorry I did not get the spider off from Allie in time.”

 

       “It’s alright, we do what we can.”

 

       “As you say my Lord.” 

 

       You have killed a:

           Glacius Arana. Level 30. 9000 XP.

 

 

       “Let’s get the web sacks, and venom glands not much else usable with these.” Titus instructed.

 

       “Line them up I will handle it.” I said, motioning to the spiders. 

 

       The group got the bodies in a neat row, and I cast my [butcher] spell over the lot of them. Unseen blades tore through the flesh, and organs were separated. Soon the Large sacks of oily strands of webbing were placed in Clymiphae’s saddlebags along with the venom sacks.

 

       “More magic…” Rachel said, eyeing Branwen. 

 

       “Easier.” 

 

       “That’s very thoughtful of you Lord Eric.” Titus said, watching the woods. “Let’s get our Long walkers back on and head out. This day is not done.”

 

       Single file once more, following the guiding hoof prints of the blond centaur, we glided deeper into the forest.