Mesmer's Mask

The Frost Gate

"You have been granted an audience with Her Grace the Duchess Elvea." Alesia had come for me just as I was breaking fast. I looked up at her and blinked.

"I… what now?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "She's demanding our presence. Come on."

I looked mournfully at my largely untouched breakfast, then I sighed and got up. "Did she say what for?"

"No, she didn't," Alesia answered as we stepped outside into the crisp morning air. "I'm sure it'll involve some daring scheme, though."

I thought of the discussion I had overheard the night before. They wasted no time, then. We made it to the town square and found it dominated by resolute commotion. People were loading up carts, soldiers were preparing for battle and in the middle of all of it stood Elvea and the prince, overseeing the activity. They appeared to be talking, but they were looking at the crowd as they did so.

We were joined by our friends as we approached the noble pair. Elvea turned her attention away from Rurik and the crowd to address us. Her eyes strayed over all of us as if she were appraising our merits, then she gave what I assumed was a very slight nod of approval. I waited quietly for her to speak up.

"We'll be pushing through the Pass today," she said after a little while. "Either the weather or the Summit will come down on us if we wait any longer. The journey will be difficult enough as it is, so we cannot afford to tempt fate."

"We will face the Summit along the way anyway, though, won't we?" Stefan asked.

She nodded. "The Stone Summit holds the Frost Gate, and we will have to fight them for it. We are avoiding a siege here, but pressing on has its own risks."

"So we're going to press an assault on the Frost Gate?" Orion asked.

Elvea glanced at Prince Rurik, who remained quiet. "Not… quite," she said. "We have the safety of our people to consider, and it will be difficult to launch an assault with civilians in tow."

"So we'll be the diversion," Reyna said. "Distract the attention from the caravan while they go through."

"Something like that," Elvea mumbled. She didn't look pleased at all, and not very eager to share the plan with us. Something had to have changed if she was beating around the bush so much. Something was off.

"So what is the plan, then?" I asked. Her eyes shot up to meet mine and for a moment I thought she would yell at me.

"The six of us will go on ahead and scout through the pass," she said curtly. "Rurik will come behind with the caravan and the guards. They'll be avoiding combat as much as they can. It will be our task to find a way through the Summit forces and make sure the Frost Gate opens."

"The six of us." I couldn't believe what she was saying. She expected six people to storm the gate and force a way in?! Sure, the prince's plan to leave the caravan unguarded hadn't been perfect either but this was madness, plain and simple.

"Yes." She held my gaze, almost challenging me to oppose her. "The six of us. Any questions?"

We remained silent. We knew better than to argue decisions like this one, and the alternatives to this plan weren't much better. It would have been nice to have some backup, but I had a feeling Elvea and the prince had argued over the plan for a long time and I didn't want to stir up more trouble. If we wanted to make it across the Shiverpeaks we would have to stand united. We could not afford to allow differences to drive a rift between us as it had done to the prince and the king.

"I thought so," she said. "Let's go." She started walking towards the gate, Prince Rurik falling in beside her. We followed the pair of them to the great gates we had entered just a few days before. We did not share the confident stride of our leaders. We simply could not feign the confidence.

We stopped to salute Prince Rurik before we went through. "Good luck," he said. "I will see you again soon."

"We'll be fine," Elvea answered coolly. "Don't tarry." She gave him a curt nod and stalked through the gate. She did not look back, and I could not help but notice that the prince seemed saddened. I quickly saluted him and went after her, the others falling in behind me. I had a feeling that this would be a bad day for all of us.

We spent the first part of the journey in absolute silence, travelling through the snow-covered landscape accompanied only by a sense of dread and the sound of our boots trampling fresh snow. The roads had not been cleared since the blizzard, and the thick layer of snow it had left behind made our pace very slow. It wasn't long before the crunching sound started grating on my nerves.

Reyna stopped moving. "It's too quiet," she said. We all stopped and turned to look at her. Elvea folded her arms across her chest and fixed her gaze on the Ranger.

"Yes, and? What do you propose we do about this?" Elvea said curtly.

A flash of irritation went across Reyna's face before she cast her eyes down. "Nothing, it's just… I get the feeling we're walking right into a trap."

"Yes," Elvea replied. "We're wittingly walking into a trap, and you know what? We'll spring it too." She said it so matter-of-factly that she could just as easily have been talking about the state of the weather.

For a moment I thought Reyna would argue and point out the obvious- that we must all be mad to do this. Then she sighed and shook her head, and resigned herself to the task at hand. "If that's the only way…"

We resumed our trek, once more progressing in silence. I wondered when the prince would be departing, and if there was anything we could really do to ensure that the caravan passed safely. We seemed to be lost in a world of white, and the farther we went the quieter it became. Every step I took added to the growing sense of dread in me, and I could no longer shake off the feeling that the day would end with bloodshed.

"Minotaurs!" Reyna's voice tore me from my bleak thoughts, and sure enough I could hear hoof beats getting louder. The Minotaurs appeared only seconds later and they were coming right for us. There was no way we could outrun them, and it wouldn't even be wise to turn our backs on them as they stampeded.

Stefan was the first to act. He ran forward, his shield in front of him. Reyna fired shots as he charged, and Orion and I took this as our cue to join in. I launched a fireball at the nearest beast just as it crashed headfirst into Stefan's shield. Stefan staggered back from the force of the impact but his shield, although dented, was still intact. He shook his head and recovered quickly, drawing his sword and attacking.

The other Minotaurs were now upon us and they ran wildly into the fray, swinging their great heads this way and that as they attempted to rip us apart with their horns. Suddenly we were all separated, leaping what seemed to be steps of a complicated dance as we desperately sought to avoid being impaled. It would not matter where we got hit. Those horns could rip up a grown man, and no amount of healing prayers could save him then.

It was difficult to fight back. I did not have time to stop and catch my breath, much less to whisper a few words and cast a spell. I could only dodge and hope that the beasts would wear themselves out sooner or later. Even Stefan could not handle them all on his own, and they would not focus on any single target for long. They simply ran wildly among us, craving our blood.

I leapt aside again, but could not find my footing as I came down. I slipped and fell backwards, my head crashing onto a rock. It felt as if my head would split apart, and between the pain and the daze I could barely see the Minotaur coming. I could hear it snarl, and I saw its vicious red eyes, and I knew that it would claim my life. It bent its head and dashed forward, and then…

The creature slowed, as if held back by an invisible barrier. It was fighting an unseen force to get to me, but it could not reach me. It roared angrily and started thrashing. I watched in terror as it fought with the air, slashing madly at the invisible foe. Every time the beast launched an attack I saw it shudder, and even in my confused state I could tell that it was getting hurt every time it attacked.

The Minotaur broke free from its imperceptible barrier and ran for me. I struggled to get up, desperate to get away from it, but I lacked the strength and the coordination. I fell limply to the ground just as the beast reached me. I closed my eyes and prepared for the shock and the pain of being gutted by a monster.

It never came. The Minotaur fell onto the trampled snow with a dull thud and lay still. I opened my eyes and stared at it. The creature was dead.

"Are you all right?" Alesia came running to me, leaping over the monster's corpse before kneeling down next to me. She put a hand on my head and started whispering some words I could not make out. I felt my fatigue fading away, and even the splitting headache wore off to a vague throbbing.

I groaned as I pushed myself up. Alesia's magic had seen to the worst, but I was still quite sore. "I'll be fine," I said. I looked around and was surprised to find all my companions still alive. There were several more corpses around us. Elvea was tapping her foot impatiently.

"Can you walk?" she asked.

"I'll manage," I grumbled. I took a few careful steps forward and stumbled. It was Alesia who caught me and helped me stay on my feet.

"Slowly," she said. "You'll recover the rest of your strength along the way."

"Perfect," Elvea cut in. "We've wasted enough time here as is. Let's go."

Alesia rolled her eyes behind Elvea's back but said nothing. She helped me struggle along as we followed our leader and soon enough I was strong enough to walk on my own again. I would never cease to be amazed at how powerful a Monk's prayers could be, and I didn't want to think about what would happen if ever we were to face a threat without a Monk by our sides.

It wasn't long after the Minotaur attack when we encountered the first group of Stone Summit Dwarves, and strangely enough I was glad to see Minotaurs with them. They were fighting each other, although I could not say which was the winning side. It was a fierce battle without any casualties so far.

"Perfect," Elvea said. "We'll take them out while they're distracted."

"What, the Minotaurs?" Orion asked.

Elvea shook her head. "All of them. That includes the dwarves."

Orion frowned. "Would it not be wiser to spare the dwarves? They might aid us if we save their lives."

She arched an eyebrow. "Do you honestly think the Summit would care who saved them? If anything, they would hate us even more. They would not spare us if we were in their position, and even if we did spare them, I doubt that we could trust them."

Orion nodded and closed his eyes, murmuring a few words. A fire lit up above his palms and without another comment he sent the balls flying into the fray. I quickly added an assault of my own while the confusion of the enemy lasted, and within moments we were all fighting. We owed our victory to the surprise attack above all.

We pressed on through the Pass, keeping a close watch on our surroundings. It was still too quiet, too peaceful. If the enemy wasn't coming for us, they'd attack the prince, and even though he had the greater force, he had the people who could not fight to worry about. I did not want to think about what the Stone Summit would do if they came upon the women and children.

We spotted a ballista some way away, guarded by a small group of dwarves. They had not yet spotted us, but there would be trouble as soon as they did. We needed to take them out to ensure safe passage. Without any terrain we could take advantage of to approach unseen we simply charged in, coming down on the group as if Balthazar himself had given us strength. It was a short battle and fortunately for us, an easy one as well. Orion knelt down to disable the thing and we waited. Elvea's eyes were scanning the area. We were on a high point now, and we could oversee a good deal of the road ahead as well as the way we had come.

"The caravan is not far behind," she said.

I squinted and looked in the direction she indicated. Sure enough, I could see them approaching, although they were still some way away. "They move fast," I remarked.

She shook her head. "We are slow. Every battle we engage in slows us further. We have to press on, or we will risk the caravan being forced to stop and wait. Out in the open, the Summit will be sure to come down upon them."

"Then let's go." Orion stood next to us, watching the distant procession. "I'm ready."

We ran down the slope and went through an abandoned gate, scouting for enemies. The Summit must have been aware that we were coming now, because we ran into more and more groups of enemies. None were strong enough to stop us, but every group wore us down a little more. We disarmed two more ballistae and headed into a network of caves. There were some Dryders to trouble us, but they weren't as hard to fight as the Summit and their numbers were far fewer.

We chanced upon a lone dwarf in a secluded area of caverns, walled in by ice and Dryder guards. He looked forlorn and vaguely irritated, but at least he was glad that we had freed him.

"Just me luck," he grumbled. "I've been caught again."

I frowned. I could not remember having met this dwarf before, but I suppose he could have been rescued by anyone from his previous prison. He had an apparent talent for getting caught, though, which made me wonder if he had a habit of going around on his own.

"The Stone Summit are tryin' to build a new and devastatin' siege weapon," he went on. "King Ironhammer sent me in to steal the plans." Well, if he was supposed to be a spy, he wasn't a very good one. "There is a decrepit ballista pointed to the east. Take me to it, and I'll help you blast open the doors that keep safe the plans."

"Good. Show us the way," Elvea said. He nodded and ran ahead, then waited for her to catch up to him. The rest of us followed behind as he navigated us out of the caves.

Once outside the path proved to be heavily guarded by the Summit, and it took considerable effort to fight our way through. We made our way down a narrow ridge and followed a path that was largely hidden from sight. We made it to the ballista and the dwarf ran up to it, quickly working to fix it with tools he had apparently been carrying with him the whole time. It didn't take him long to get the contraption operational again.

"It should work now. Ye can fire it at the doors. After ye blast open the doors, return the secret plans to me." He sat down, apparently not intending to join us as we went off on the little errand he had saddled us with. Orion stepped forward and pulled the lever of the thing. A projectile was propelled across the ravine, and there was a loud blast as it met its target.

We made our way along the path again and went up the ridge, crossing the bridge across the ravine. There were defunct ballistae and a lot of dead dwarves. The projectile had been explosive, and it had been of immense use to us. The gates had been heavily guarded and without the dwarf's help, we might never have made it past this point. We followed a narrow path upwards and encountered a few Ice Golems, but the combined firepower of Orion and myself made short work of them.

The plans were in a chest that didn't even have a lock. Apparently the Summit had assumed that no one would be able to make it past their defences, and did not need the luxury of a locked chest for their blueprints. Elvea tucked them away in her coat and we quickly made our way back to where we had left the dwarf. Elvea handed over the blueprints. The Dwarf nodded approvingly.

"Any friend of Rornak Stonesledge is a friend of the Deldrimor Dwarves," he said. "Many thanks, friend."

She nodded back. "Thank you, too, and be more careful next time." She turned and headed down the path again, the rest of us following quietly. She kept up a fast pace and it took some effort to keep up with her. We were all getting tired now, but there was little time to lose.

We crossed the bridge once more, only to find that a group of Summit Dwarves had been drawn to the site by the noise of the blast. It was only a small band, but we were tired and they were not. The fight was long and wearying, and our victory was hard earned. When it was over I sat down on a rock, taking a moment to catch my breath. I closed my eyes. If only it wasn't so cold. These battles were tiring enough without the weather adding to the strain.

"Well done." The voice of Prince Rurik drew my attention back to the present. The caravan had caught up to us. "The refugees are weary, but they've made it this far. We are now very close to the Frost Gate and the safety of Kryta, but we cannot yet take rest." His eyes settled on me. I felt my cheeks flush and quickly got up to salute him.

"We have not yet had a chance to find a way to get through the Frost Gate," Elvea said quietly. He nodded at her and led her up a slope.

"One of my men, Captain Greywind, has travelled this path before," he said. She looked at him with wide eyes, ready to cut in and tell him off for not mentioning it sooner, but he went on calmly as if he did not notice this at all. "He says the Frost Gate can be opened, but it will not be easy."

"We noticed," Reyna muttered behind me. I tried to hide a smirk.

"There are three mechanisms that lift the massive stone," the prince explained to Elvea. He pointed into the distance. "You must find a gear lever in the small town ahead. Use the lever to engage each mechanism and the gate will open. Once the gate is open it is up to you to lead the refugees to safety."

Elvea opened her mouth to object, but once again the prince cut her off before she could start. "My men and I will hold off the dwarves as long as we can. I will rejoin you once the last of the refugees is safely through. The Stone Summit will not yield the Frost Gate quietly." He bent his head and closed his eyes, putting his hands together in prayer. "May Dwayna smile upon us," he murmured.

"This is not what we agreed on!" Elvea finally found an opportunity to object.

"It's the most sensible plan there is," Prince Rurik replied calmly. "The six of you cannot possibly hope to hold off the Summit once the Gate opens. I will lead the fight from there."

"But that's-"

"An order," he interrupted her firmly. Their eyes locked as she glared at him, and a silence fell. For a moment their wills clashed, then Elvea cast her eyes down. "You've wasted enough time here," the prince said. "Go."

She scowled at him, then turned and stalked down the slope. She moved past us without a word and went ahead. I gave Prince Rurik an apologetic look before rushing after her. Fortunately it wasn't far to the town Rurik had mentioned, and from this side it wasn't protected by a wall or gate. We slowed our pace a little as we sought for a lever. Stefan found one somewhere and came running to Elvea, shouting loud enough for us all to hear, calling for us to come back.

"Found one," he said.

"Well done. Orion, take that from him. There's a fight ahead of us and he'll need to have his hands free." Elvea once again saddled the cocky Elementalist with a task he considered to be beneath him. I wondered if she was trying to teach him a lesson.

Orion muttered something under his breath, but took the lever from Stefan anyway. We made our way through the town and came upon the gates that led back into the pass. They were shut tight and I could see nothing with which to open them from this side.

"Looks like this thing is handy for more than just the Frost Gate," Orion commented. He moved to the side and stuck the lever into a hole, giving a fierce tug. Some sort of mechanism set into motion and the gate began to open. He waited for the opening to be wide enough to let us through, then he pulled out the lever and ran through with us.

The system to open the Frost Gate was right before us, but the Stone Summit was guarding it. We had to fight our way to the first mechanism, and I winced as I saw Orion using the lever to hit a dwarf that got in his way. What if the lever broke?! He ran past the last few dwarves and stuck the lever into the first contraption, pulling hard to set it into motion.

The second and third mechanism were close by, and we activated all three as quickly as we could. The Frost Gate proved to be grindingly slow and we had to wait for it to open even as we saw Stone Summit forces coming for us. Just then we heard a battle cry and saw Prince Rurik charge forward with his men, and they engaged the Summit even as the Gate finally opened.

"The Frost Gate is open," Elvea called out to us. "Go now, we haven't much time!"

She ran to the caravan and started to direct them out of harm's way, ordering us to various positions to help everyone safely past the battlefield. I stayed near Elvea and led the last of the refugees to the Gate. When the last wagon went through I prepared to get the others and retreat, but a loud and piercing cry stopped me in my tracks.

"What was that?" Elvea turned and looked around, rushing away from the gate to call back the troops. She looked worried. I ran after her.

"These mountains belong to the Stone Summit, human!" A harsh voice called out at us. We looked up to spot a dwarf mounted on a vicious-looking Ice Drake, and I guessed he could be none other than Dagnar Stonepate himself. He was on a ridge above us, and his beast moved to a contraption that held back a great mound of snow.

Elvea's eyes widened as she realised what was about to happen, and she ran forward to where Rurik was still fighting with a handful of his men, surrounded by the Summit. "Rurik!" she called. Dagnar's beast unleashed the avalanche that had clearly been prepared as a last means of defence, and I had to leap forward and pull her away from it to protect her.

"No!" She struggled free from me and ran forward, but the snow and the rubble now blocked off the way back. The prince had survived, but he was stuck underneath a part of a tree, and I feared that the men who had been with him were buried underneath the snow.

The prince spotted us and struggled to sit up, but even he knew it was futile. He turned his head and looked at Elvea, his eyes sad and apologetic. "You cannot save me," he said. "Get them to Kryta. Hurry!" I saw Dagnar approaching and for a moment we were all distracted as he dismounted. The prince turned back to us when he realised we had not moved. "Go!"

Elvea stood as if frozen, unable to tear away from what was happening so close and yet so far out of reach. I tugged at her arm, but she did not give way. I followed her gaze and saw Dagnar grab his axe. "Your punishment for trespassing is death!" he rasped.

The axe came down and I closed my eyes, the sound of the impact sending shivers down my spine. Prince Rurik had not made a sound. He had not cried out, not even begged for his life. I opened my eyes and saw Dagnar cleaning the blade of his axe. If we wanted to escape, this was our very last chance. I tugged at Elvea's arm again, and this time she came with me, allowing me to pull her along as we ran back to the Gate and fled from the scene.

They did not follow us. Perhaps because it was too hard for them to cross to the Gate now, or perhaps because we would soon be out of their lands anyway and would no longer be a bother. Perhaps it was even as simple as Dagnar being satisfied with having taken the life of our leader. Whatever the reason, I could not complain. I led Elvea by the hand, finding a way through the pass, and she followed me like a puppet on a string.

Eventually we made it to the stronghold of Beacon's Perch. It was a strategic fortress between Borlis Pass and Lornar's Pass, and the Summit had thus far been unable to take it from the Deldrimor Dwarves. We were welcomed inside by the dwarves and the refugees, and they found us lodgings in a small house in the heart of the town. I sat Elvea down on one of the beds and headed outside.

I was immediately approached by my friends, and a man I quickly identified as Master Armin Saberlin, someone who had served Ascalon well for many years and was known to all. "The prince?" he asked.

People were thronging around us, eager to hear news of what had happened. They all looked tired, and worried, and something told me that deep down, everyone already knew what I had to say. No one had come into Beacon's Perch after me. There was no one in sight, either. Their faces were a study of what I could only describe as desperate hope. They wanted to hope, even if they knew it would be false hope.

I shook my head. I didn't want to say the words. I knew I would have to, but I hated being the bringer of bad news. I cast my eyes down, so I would not have to look anyone in the eyes as I spoke. I didn't want to see their faces when I crushed their fragile illusion of hope. "Prince Rurik was caught in a trap, set by Dagnar Stonepate himself. We could not save him."

There was no sound save the low howl of the wind. I looked up to find a crowd full of devastated faces. They were all of them grieved, and none of them could find adequate words to voice this. One by one the crowd dispersed, until Alesia and I were the only ones left.

"You look weary," she said quietly.

I did not look at her. "We are all of us weary tonight."

I saw her nod from the corner of my eye. "To the very soul."

"What do you think will happen now?"

She shrugged. "We grieve. We journey on. We have nowhere to go but onwards to Kryta now."

I turned and looked at her. "But who will lead us now that the prince is gone?"

"The duchess, I suppose. She's good at taking up command."

I thought of the woman I had dragged through the final part of the Pass, and in what state I had left her to tell the news of the prince's death. "The Five Gods willing," I mumbled.