“We should be aware of them before we see them, Nemis and I,”Malowan agreed. He glanced at his ward “Agya?”
The girl scowled. “Nose still works good, but th’ wind ain’t’elping.”
“It gets steeper from here,” Nemis said. “Watch where youstep. It is slick and steep. One wrong step and you won’t get a second.” He sethis feet carefully and walked sideways, Lhors noticed, like his father’d taughthim. Lhors turned sideways and followed.
The ice was chipped into rough steps, but for legs much longer than their own. The surface of the ice had been cross-hatched and in places covered in ash, so footing was reasonable. The wind was an unpleasant constant at their backs, but it kept the ice clear at least.
Vlandar drew them off to one side when they reached the bottom where the path forked. Lhors stared aghast at the steep drop-off just beyond. They might have been alone in the entire world. The silence was absolute, except for the high-pitched wail of the wind high above and the stealthy hiss of it down here.
“That deep defile,” Vlandar said, “is the Rift itself, notour path. The main entry is ahead. If our map is correct, there are two levels to this hold, but unlike the Steading, the upper is for storage and guards and the like, while the chief lives below. His kitchens are there, and the best guest quarters.”
“Just beyond the entry,” Nemis said and pointed down theleft-hand path, “there are marks on the map to indicate guards, but the markswere not made by the originator of the map. I believe Nosnra noted the places he would be challenged when he was forced to come here.”
Lhors shook his head. None of it made sense to him. “If thatchain could bring him anywhere, then why not set him down in the throne room or the council room? I mean-” He fumbled for words. “He could fall out here, breakhis neck, or be caught by something like his own cave bear.”
Vlandar smiled grimly. “But if the chief here meant to shamehim? To walk even from the entry just below there would remind him each time that he is a servant here. Think. The great chief of the Steading must walk the entire way to the throne room and answer each guards challenge. It may not be so, but it seems likely to me. We will be able to test my theory, if the guards match the marks on this map. Let us go.”
Vlandar and Nemis led the way down the left path and into a high-vaulted ice tunnel.
It was still dreadfully cold, but the wind lessened even more. Enough greenish light came through the thick ice that they could make out the path heading south on the east side of a steep dropoff. Perhaps twenty paces ahead, a tunnel branched right.
Nemis and Vlandar slowed at branch passages heading north and south, and the warrior signed a halt. “Dead end ahead,” he said. “Guard quarterssouth, no door. North, a guarded passage, and the way to the living quarters is beyond them.”
Bleryn drew his axe and went over to join Khlened. Vlandar put Nemis at the rear to keep an eye and a sense on the guard chamber to the south. He then brought Agya and the paladin to the fore, gestured for Lhors to join him, and signed for silence. Agya licked her lips and glanced at Malowan, who nodded and smiled as if to say, “You can do it.” The girl cast her eyes upbut moved out, swiftly and silently working her way up the crooked passage, pausing now and again to listen intently. At the innermost point of a right-hand bend, she stopped cold, gestured urgently for silence, and held a hand to her ear.
Listen, she must mean, Lhors thought. He could hear giants, their harsh laughter echoing up ahead. The chamber must open out. He found himself wishing he understood maps better and promised himself he’d seek outVlandar or Nemis for a good look at the map the next time they stopped for a rest. If I survive the next few minutes, a corner of his mind added. He made Gran’s sign for averting disaster and ill thoughts, then pulled a boarspear from his sheath.
At the point where they could almost see into the chamber, Agya stopped, pressed back against the wall, and tested the air once again. Malowan came up behind her, hands moving in a reveal spell. He held up three fingers. Vlandar nodded, then beckoned for Bleryn and Khlened to join him in the lead. Lhors glanced back. Nemis was back against the frozen wall watching their back trail.
Lhors could see little ahead. Still, the youth was aware of a large space just ahead. The ceiling arched into a vault, and from where he stood he couldn’t make out east or west walls.
Vlandar gestured urgently and faded back against the right-hand wall. Dwarf, barbarian, and paladin joined him, and for one brief moment Lhors could make out what was in there.
The space ahead was an ice cave, longer than it was tall. The floor littered with cast off bits of old clothing and broken weaponry. The only properly clear path through it was a rut as wide as the youths arms could stretch. It eventually bent right out of his line of sight.
Greenish light made the three fur-clad giants look unwell, but they stood out clearly against the surrounded ice. Only one was armed at the moment, and even he wasn’t paying much heed to the passage. He leaned against amassive pike, egging on his companions who were wrestling. The din was awful.
Vlandar gestured with his drawn sword and ran forward, Khlened and Bleryn on his heels. The fellow with the pike came slowly around as he sensed movement or heard their feet pounding the filthy ice floor. He stared blankly then bellowed a warning-likely to the wrestlers, though Lhors thought hemight be trying to alert the guards back in the barracks to the south. Not a good time to think about that.
Nemis passed Lhors, his lips and hands already working his wall of silence spell. Lhors hoped he wasn’t too late. Khlened had freed hismorning star and threw himself away from his companions so he could swing the massive weapon. He hurled it with a pained grunt, then chuckled grimly as it wrapped around the pike-holder’s throat, trapping the weapon against the brute’sear. The giant fell, and the blade sliced into his unhelmed scalp. He came unsteadily to his feet, blood soaking into his fur cloak, as he fought to unwrap the chain. But his hands were trapped, and the spiked ball had caught on his armor. Injured, bleeding, and disoriented, he fell again and this time stayed down, thrashing feebly.
Khlened hefted a large rock from a pile nearby-the giantsmust use them as weapons, Lhors realized. The barbarian held the stone high above giant’s head. He was grinning madly as he let go. The brute grunted andlay still, breathing heavily.
It had all happened so quickly that the two wrestlers had time to do no more than separate and sit up, dumbfounded. They stared blankly. One ran for his pike, but Vlandar and Bleryn were there first. The dwarf staggered under the weight of the massive pikestaff as he swung it away from the wall. He managed to brace the pole against the floor just in time, letting the giant’s weight do the rest. The monster stared in shock at the length of shaftsticking from his belly. He fell to his knees, gasping in pain and fumbling for the broad knife in his belt. Bleryn was behind him by then, bringing his sword down two-handed across the unmailed neck. His first stroke bounced off thick skin or bone, but the second reached its mark. The giant toppled slowly onto his side and lay still.
The third yelled a clear warning down the passage, trying to be heard by the other guards down that passage, Lhors was sure of it. The brute began edging away from them along the wall, easing toward the east.
“Stop him!” Vlandar shouted. “He’s after reinforcements!”
But Nemis was already halfway across the room, pelting the creature one-handed with small objects. In his right hand, he was waving a feather.
“Man’s gone mad!” Khlened said, aghast, and hurled himself atthe giant. To his astonishment, the massive brute turned and eyed him glassily, then snickered. The laughter welled, tears rolled down the giant’s cheeks, andhe clutched his sides. As Khlened stared blankly, the giant gasped for air, still laughing hysterically, then sagged into the wall and slid down it.