The Book of Ashe

Chapter 11

Chapter 11
A Journey North

"The gods created a barrier of earth to keep the evil at bay"
~Book of the Oaken One


The wind howled and blew hard against us. Ice imps hurled blasts of frozen water into our faces as we rode chin against chest up the rocky switchbacks of the Northern Mountains. It had been near blizzard like conditions for days and the snow was three feet deep in some places. Even our enchanted mounts seemed to be having trouble in the weather. A blazing red light shown brightly over Stormraven, who had point. That light was the only reason we could stay together in the near white out storm. Stormraven signaled a halt as we crested the top of a ridge. She surveyed the area through squinted eyes, then tapped my shoulder and pointed out over the mountains.
"Ice Drake Peak!" She yelled over the wind. I strained to see through the snow and soon I could barely discern a large gray-black spire looming far into the distance.
"That’s as far north as anyone in written or oral history has traveled." she said.
"Whys that?" I asked?
"The Plains of Ice lay below, we must cross them to reach the summit of the Peak."
That didn't sound too bad, so I said so. Raven just laughed.
"The Plains are more dangerous than the Badlands are. Pitfalls, frost traps, and a lot of hungry, ancient creatures lurk down there." She howled. The wind punctuated her sentence with a blast of icy air. I dropped my gaze to the valley below us, and could see nothing but white.
We began to descend the ridge, down into the dark valley below. The going was slow and the footing was treacherous even for our mounts. Raven’s horse slide twice, the second time almost throwing her off the winding switchback. She clung, dangling from the beast’s neck sideways, cursing the animal. I rushed up to help her re-mount, when my mount went sliding, back legs kicking. Raven lashed out with an arm and grabbed my mounts reigns and pulled him back onto the ice covered trail.
“Shit!” I yelled, breathless and scared. I was sure that was the big one. I glanced down the rugged cliff into the fog filled valley below. That would have been a long drop.
“Try to be more careful! We can’t loose you.” Raven snarled, then started moving again.
It was well into the night when the trail finally leveled off and we entered the Plains. There was hardly any snowfall down here and there seemed to be a layer of permanent fog hanging about twenty feet up. The Plains floor was layered with a thin coat of ice, which made walking difficult at best. Despite the overhead cover and the lack of sunlight, the plains seemed to have a faint blue glow. Stormraven had us set camp up in the cleft of a large rock cliff, so we would be protected one three sides, then she and Raider wove spells of protection around us. I pitched my tent farthest back into the cleft, as Raven insisted I do. She seemed determined to protect me from anything out there, of which I was grateful.
After I had just finished my puny meal of jerky and bread, (Raven thought it best to eat cold. She thought the smell of cooking food would draw needless attention from all the hungry creatures on the plains.) Jayden, Raider and Raven came into my tent. Two stocky silhouettes stood outside. Raven produced the leather bound case containing the tomes. I shuddered. I did not want to go through this. I was cold and tired from the travel, but there was no point in arguing with Raven. She wouldn’t hear it.
“We have an idea Ashe. If you can read the tomes as you have your vision we might be able to get a better idea of what we are dealing with.” Raider said. I nodded once solemnly, secretly afraid of playing with these things. They reeked of evil, even to someone as ignorant as me. Raven handed me the first tome and I began to read slowly.
A great war raged from every corner of the cosmos. Fiery chariots rushed forth and back across the stars. Creatures of dark and light struggled with one another through every realm Worlds burned. Kingdoms fell. FLASH! Three dark gods lay chained in crystals of mammoth size. Their anger was felt by all. They fought against their bonds to no avail. Two were male. The third was female. To each was given a name and a station. The Nobles of Shadow they were called. FLASH! A fountain of fire burned around the impact of a crystal, hurled from heaven. A relentless scream ripped apart the earth and sky. Rock boiled and the sky burned a bilious green.
“COME!” A great voice cried to me. “COME!”
I awoke out of the trance with a start. Hands restrained me. I fought back. The world was darkness to me. Something lashed out and struck me harshly. My eyes popped open to see my fellow travelers looking down on me.
“What did you see Ashe?”
“I-I Don’t know. There was a war. A great war between the Lords of Light and the Nobles of Shadow. Worlds were burning.” I was sweaty and shaky. “Something dark was calling me.”
Raider and Raven exchanged worried glances. Jayden handed me a cup of herbal broth to calm my nerves. I drank it quickly and sloppily. It helped a little.
“Try and get some sleep Ashe. We will be pushing hard tomorrow. I don’t want to have to pitch camp in these plains again.” Raven said. She looked very troubled and had I not been so tired I might have perused it.

The view from the summit of Ice Drake Peak was both chilling and awe inspiring. The peak thrust up from the bellies of the clouds, leaving the air clear and cold, but one could see for miles. Before us lay an exact replica of my first vision, minus the atmosphere of death and decay. The mountain pass looked peaceful, yet to me it remained ominous. I could still see the mounds of dead and dying littering the narrow path which led through the pass.
“Is this the pass in your vision?” Raven asked.
“It looks like it, but I can’t be sure.” I responded.
That seemed to be good enough for her. She spurred her horse down a steep cliff leading to the rugged trail head. Reluctantly, we all followed.
The going was hard for a while, as the trail was little more than a game trail and the snow was deep. Had we not had our special breed, I’m sure we would not have made it. When the trail finally widened, we were able to ride in pairs, but barely.
Two days of slow moving we were pitching our camp in a snowy glen when Crossbow came to me.
“Ashe, you been getting a funny feeling that we are being watched? Ever since the decent from the Peak, I can’t shake the feeling that we are being stalked.”
I hadn’t noticed to be honest, and said so. My mind had been on those damn tomes since we set out. I was beginning to yearn for them, which scared me. He frowned when I told him that I hadn’t felt anything and followed it with, “I guess it’s just my mind playing tricks in all this snow. We don’t get snow across the sea. It’s always warm.”
That was the first time I had heard him ever speak of his homeland. He usually kept things to himself. Jayden as well. Perhaps it is an unwritten law with the Tarn, never to speak of their homeland. Crossbow walked away, looking troubled. After he left I snuggled down under my blankets and tried to sleep, but sleep evaded me. I began to think about what Crossbow said, about something stalking us. I had gotten myself riled up something fierce and had sworn off thinking of such dark thoughts. The mind can paint the unfamiliar night with a thousand terrors.
I was on the edge of the twilight boarder between sleep and alertness when, on the wind came a terrible moaning wail of pain and rage. I sat bolt up right, looking around. The wail lasted only a minute and died out with the normal howl of the wind, but left behind a great aura of doom that was no more my mind than was the wail itself. It felt as if something dark was near. Against my better judgment I charged out of my tent. Silverwolf, Crossbow and others were already out. An annoyed looking Stormraven, dressed still in her night clothes, shot a questioning look at me. I nodded to tell her I was ok and that I had heard it to.
“Perhaps it was just the wind howling through the cliffs.” Jayden said, wide eyed. His partner was shivering beside him, wrapped in a large bear skin cloak.
“Perhaps. . . “ Raven said studying the night carefully, but she didn’t believe a word of it.
It was another day and a half of travel before the trail opened up into what almost resembled a road and we came to the far side of the pass. A good three or four days farther than any known human had made it. We were walking on ground untouched by human steps.
“Where do we go now?” Muffins asked, his thick mustache held the slightest bit of frost. He was not happy to be this far north. Hell none of us were. It seemed that every step we took, it got colder. We had to thaw out our water before we could drink it when we stopped. The four wizards used as much of their magic as they dared to try and take the edge off, it worked, though barely.
“We ask Ashe.” Raven said. Silverwolf trotted his mount over to me and presented me with tomes. By this time I was almost eager to have them once more, but hid it from the others. I reached out and grabbed the second in session.
A dark army of Shadow marched across the fiery landscape in a rumbling cadence. Vile bird-like creature circled over a spectacle of death. Out of the earth came three fiery pillars of reds and yellows. They stood alone upon the field of death. The world appeared to be covered in blood. One large river of blood flowed in a semi-circle around the three spires. The stench of two week old death hung like a fog in the air. A bilious green glow radiated from far beyond the pillars. FLASH! The face of a leper filled my mind and brought with it an almost insane rage. “COME! COME TO ME!”
I came back to reality still in the saddle of my horse, though not breathing. It took me a few panic-filled seconds to remember how to breathe. I sucked in a gallon of air. I was shaky and sweating, but had handled it better than the last times. Hell, this time I stayed on my horse! Everyone stared at me, waiting for me to speak. I tried to gather my thoughts and finally I told them.
“Three rock spires that look like pillars of fire. There was a great battle underway. Tides of evil swept the earth of all life and blood flowed in rivers. That same darkness was calling to me again.” I was still shaky as I remembered the vision. I pulled my cloak tighter around me. This was getting to be too much, and yet I craved the tomes, as a rambler craves his bottle.

A great ice storm stopped our advance northward for several days. Luckily we were able to hold up in the shadow of a lumbering mountain. During the day I longed for the tomes, but knew better than to make a move to get them. All four wizards shared a tent and it was in there that the tomes were kept. I was really no match for Jayden, however slight his skill was. He had been getting more powerful while studying under Raven and Wolf.
I sought refuge from my yearnings in sleep, but soon sleep proved to be worse. Every night there were dreams of death and carnage. Every night there were bits and pieces of an ancient tale that just would not fit together. I soon began evading sleep, which made me unfit company for man or beast. One night I was tired of tossing and turning, so I threw on my cloak and stepped outside for a walk. The night wasn’t the coldest we had encountered, but it was chilly. The North was unlike anything I had ever known. Snow never melted and ice hung from everything. It was always cold, regardless of the amount of sun it got. There were no trees, only mosses and the like. As I walked I spied a feeble light in the wizards’ tent. Against my better judgment I decided to eavesdrop.
“. . . and you’re going to be sorry when it does. This is a dangerous game you’re playing Raven!” Silverwolf was saying. “These things are better left alone!”
“The Circle decided it isn’t better left alone! We need this power to defeat the Queen of Blades. If we don’t incorporate it into our arsenal, she will take it for herself.” Raven snapped.
“You know the power can’t be bent to mortal will. You are playing with fire. The Old Ones were never meant to be disturbed. You know that, plus you are putting Ashe’s life in jeopardy!” That was Raider.
“He’s right, there is a reason the Elders never went past Ice Drake Peak. They knew the evil that dwells in this land and they knew it was better left alone.” Silverwolf said.
A loud sound echoed out like a fist pounding wood.
“This is the only way to win this war, god damnit! We have to try, even if it costs us our lives!”
“It will cost us our souls!” Silverwolf said with bitter rancor. “Are you willing to pay that price? You cannot employ one evil to destroy another.”
“I am willing to give my breath, soul, and body to preserve our homeland! Whatever the cost, I will gladly pay it ten times over!” Raven said in rage.
“Be careful what you say Priestess! The gods might take up your offer.”
“Let them! The gods have not helped us. The gods have not been on the battlefields where dying men laid in agony! The gods toy with us as if we were pawns! The gods have turned away from us!” Raven spit to punctuate.
In a tone of fear and surprise Silverwolf responded, “What you speak is blasphemy priestess! You would be wise to stop now!”
A long silence ensued. I crept away from the tent for fear that someone would come out and catch me. I was shocked by what I had heard. Was Raven losing her mind? What was going on? The three of them certainly knew more about The Vigil than they let on. I walked to a small hill about fifty feet from our camp. The moon shown bright in the sky and the snow reflected its silver light. I sat on that hill long after my butt had gone numb from cold, wrapped tightly in my cloak. My mind was racing with different scenarios. What would become of us? I feared that Raven was going mad. A quick flash of white drew my attention to the peak of the low mountain we were camped next to. For a split second I thought I spied a figured cloaked in white, but in a blink it was gone, yet I still felt the weight of a stare upon me. With rattled nerves I returned to my tent to lay awake.