A Flurry of Steel and Claws – Kumara – Chapter 5 Part 6

That morning we set out as soon as we finished our breakfast. Although we did have to hurry Svart, who never was the fastest eater and now had the opportunity to speak to a friend as well.
“We could have left a little bit later,” he huffed as he stepped out into the crunching snow.
“No, we couldn’t,” I replied. “Our journey takes us past a known icebrood haven. I want to be there in full daylight.”
“Can’t we sneak past?” Svart said. “During darkness?”
I turned and slowly looked him up and down. Pointedly. Before casting a sidelong glance at the dolyak.
“Fine,” Svart said, “I’m not well versed in the art of stealth.”
“That is certainly one way of putting it.”
“But we could also take the long way round, and avoid the haven all together.”
“Yes, but that would cost us several days extra, which I’m not too keen on.”
“Yes, yes, you see, I think you’re just bored,” Garron said with a grin.
“Bored?”
“Hmhmm. I think you want a fight.”
“I do not!”
“Well,” Svart said, crossing his arms. “Garron might be right. You seem on edge. Not to mention your complaints about it being too quiet.”
Garron nodded enthusiastically, and I rolled my eyes and kept following the road, Thornfang following my trail through the snow.
Perhaps they were right, though. I was itching for a fight, for something to occur on this journey other that more snowfall.
“Svart, you travel these roads more often, don’t you?” I asked.
“I usually take the detour.”
“Usually?”
“Well… I do travel this road, but only when there is a Lion Guard patrol I can join.”
“So, what can we expect?”
“They… sometimes they’re out in a large force, and the Lion Guard have their hands full, but there are also times that their presence is hardly worth mentioning for a full patrol.”
“I see,” Garron said, looking suggestively at me, “let us hope for the latter to be the case.”
He was taunting me.
“Ha, yes,” Svart said.
I kept my silence.

–

“By bear!” Svart said under his breath, on top of a hill behind a rock, a good distance from the destroyed haven.
The main reason we knew the haven was there, was because we knew it had to be. Only when looking for it, could you find it as the only evidence of its presence was the dark spots within the glare of the sun, reflected on ice. Dark spots that must have been remnants of the stone buildings of the haven.
And it was not just any ice. Even from a distance, I could see that it was… dark. It almost seemed alive as the darker blues swirled within the jagged spikes. Every fiber in my body pretested, screamed for me to not go further.
“So,” I said in a low growl, “this is what the power of a dragon feels like…”
“Yes,” Svart said, thin lipped. “But I thought this wasn’t your first time encountering minions of the dragon?”
“It’s not,” I said. “But I never before beheld such raw power.”
Svart only nodded in response. Garron was silent, unnervingly so. Thornfang was a few feet back, whimpering softly. There were figures moving close to the frozen remains of the haven; at first glance they could have been wildlife or norn, but there was something unnatural about them. Shapes that just did not make sense.
Svart scraped his throat and said, “How about the long way round?”
Garron and I nodded. As loath as I was to admit it… this might be too much, even for me. Even so, as Garron and Svart turned away, I had difficulty doing so and lingered for just a while longer. However, I too, turned to move away, but as I did, I saw a sudden flurry of movement in the corner of my eye. Snapping my head back, I saw the shapes around the haven rush into the distance, where my eye caught other shapes moving in.
There was no way I could see who they were, but I saw the two groups collide. As they did, more and more shapes appeared from among the ice.
“Stop,” I said.
The other two spun around in an instance.
“Not so loud,” Svart whispered frantically.
Garron just arched an eyebrow.
“There are others down there, and they seem to be in trouble.”
Svart frowned, but Garron slid the slender staff he had from his shoulders.
“Yes, yes,” he said with a growl in his voice. “Let’s melt some ice then.”
“Are you insane?” Svart asked.
“Probably,” I said with a grind, unslinging my bow.
I ran down the hill we were hiding on, towards the road, towards the shapes.
As we drew nearer and nearer, I could see that the shaped had once been animals and norn, but were now twisted by Jormag’s dark powers into something not too different from what I fought in the grawl caves.
Except these were much smaller.
And more fragile, I noted as my first arrow shattered the head of one of the icebrood.
Drawing nearer and nearer, I slowed down a little, to make aiming much more easy. As I got closer, I could see the flash of Lion Guard colors on the other side of the group, but there was a norn there who did not have those colors, and was shooting a bow almost as skillfully as I did.
This was a battle, though, and I had no time to heed such a thing.
Once I was no more than thirty feet away, I grabbed for an arrow, only to find my quiver empty. I cursed under my breath as Garron and Thornfang skidded to a halt next to me.
“Forgot to restock on arrows?” he said.
“Yea.”
“You see, could you hold them off?”
“I’ll… try?” I said, slinging my bow back and drawing my sword.
As I took a stand flanking Garron together with Thornfang, Garron started chanting, holing his staff in aloft. When he did so, several of the icebrood turned around, as if they sensed the stirrings of the magic Garron employed. Once wolves, the icebrood snared before bounding towards my companion.
Seeing them leap forward, I interposed myself between the closest icebrood and Garron, using one claw to clamp down on its jaw, and the other to run it through. Black blood sprayed on the pristine white snow, and my sword bit into skin that did not feel alive anymore. It felt as cold as ice and cracked under the pressure of my claw.
Thornfang, meanwhile, had launched himself at other icebrood heading for Garron, slamming into its flank and biting down on it. Blackness dripped down his jaw as he snarled and shook, trying to rip out the frozen flesh. The icebrood yelped in pain—a horrifyingly unnatural sound, like claws grating over stone, but lighter, more intense—and lashed at Thornfang, but he made sure to stay out of the icebrood’s reach.
I had little time to be distracted, as another icebrood leaped my way. It seemed that they were now aware of the danger I posed. Still gripping the slain icebrood, I strained as I threw the corpse at the approaching creature, who deftly leaped aside. However, as it did so, I could see where he was going to and my blade intercepted it moments before it touched the ground. My sword dug deep into the creature’s skull, while its glowing, sinister eyes slowly faded, but kept staring at me. Unnerving.
Shaking the feeling off, I saw that Thornfang had finished his kill, and slew another icebrood wolf by ripping its throat out. Garron was still chanting, although even I felt the ripples of magic around him now. So did the icebrood. When all four wolves were dead, more turned around to attack us, both wolves and those that once must have been norn, but were no more than monstrosities now.
I bared my teeth as they headed towards us, and contemplated using poison against them, but I feared that it would have little effect. So, I dropped into a position ready to pounce. When the first of the once-norn entered my range, I shot forward in a flurry of steel and claws. The icebrood was taken off guard as I slammed into it, shoving my blade where it hart had to be, and using my claws to rip out its throat. The creature fell backwards, black blood oozing from the wounds.
However, now I was surrounded. The first to take a swing at me was one of the former norn, and I only just managed to dodge its blow, which was surprisingly swift for something so bulky. This did leave my back open to one of the other icebrood norn, whose fist hit me right in the back. I snarled in pain as I was shot forward and fell in the snow, flashes of light obscuring my vision. I heard the snow crunch next to me, and knew one of the wolves had leapt. I rolled over, swinging my blade in a wide arc. The steel dug into the creature’s head, and it fell to the ground, dazed. Until Thornfang shot for it and ripped its throat out.
I used the momentum from my roll to get back on my feet and took another wide swing, more to keep the enemies at a distance and give myself a moment of respite.
It worked.
The icebrood took a step back, but one of the wolves immediately lunged at me afterwards, only to find my blade waiting, skewering it. One of the norn, however, took the time I needed to retrieve my blade to launch an attack at me. I raised my other arm, hoping to deflect some of the force, when its head shattered into pieces, spraying blood everywhere.
As the icebrood fell, Svart stood there, panting, holding his warhammer.
“I couldn’t let you have all the glory,” he said with a nod.
I laughed as I retrieved my blade, and we both went to reduce the icebrood’s numbers. With the three of us; Svart, Thornfang and I, we made good progress and managed to cut down the icebrood that had gone our way.
As we did, though, we saw a great many more piling out of a hole in the crystals around the haven. Before many managed to join the fray, Garron’s chanting reached a climax, and the earth rumbled. For a second, I wondered if the spell was useless, but as I once again looked at the haven, a crack had formed in the ground where that hole was, bright orange light spilling out and reflected off the ice. Then lava streamed out of the crack, setting on fire any icebrood near it and basically closing that hole off.
For a moment I remember fighting the destroyers with Graymane, but I did my best to shake that image off and focus on the many icebrood still around.
Following a string of curses, Svart said, “There are a lot of them here today. More than usual.”
“Ah,” I said. “That explains why the Lion Guards are having such difficulty.”
Svart nodded solemnly.
“Are you alright?” I asked Garron.
He looked winded.
“Yes yes,” he said. “Just need a breather.”
With a nod I started towards the other icebrood, some of which were confused by the sudden appearance of lava. I could not blame hem for it, and I was more than happy to use that confusion to slam into their group unopposed, darting this way and that not waiting for the bodies to hit the snow as I moved between them, my sword and my claws slashing and tearing.
“By wolf!” I heard Svart exclaim. “For a creature so big, you move so fast!”
I just grinned as I shoved an icebrood into another one and ran them both through with my sword.
In all fairness, Svart did not do too bad himself, despite him only being a merchant. He knew how to wield that hammer in a fight, but he did get in trouble when he had to fight more than one foe. This meant that I had to keep a constant eye on him to make sure he did not get swarmed. I was not completely sure if he was a hinder or a help, but he sure managed to draw the icebrood’s attention.
From there on, the fight was a blur. The only thing I was truly aware of was the thrumming of my heart like the beating drums of war, and the enemies around me. Where to strike, where to move. My warrior instinct took over, shutting out all unnecessary details.
Once the battle was over, I surveyed the carnage, noting quite a few icebrood who seemed burned. So, Garron did catch his breath.
“Thank you,” a winded voice sounded next to me.
I turned and saw a human wearing the Lion Guard’s outfit. I winced.
“Thank you for your help, charr. Without it we would have died.”
I managed a curt nod, before I heard someone say, “Charr?” in a loud voice.
Within seconds the human was pushed aside to reveal a female norn wielding a bow in one hand, and a sword in the other.
Kára.
She looked at me and her face, covered in blood both black and red, split into a grin.

–

List Of Recurring Entities:
The following is a list of characters—apart from Kumara, Thornfang and Garron—who have made an appearance before this part, sorted by order of appearance. With all the different stories on CoT, I understand it is hard to keep track of all the characters.
Svart: The norn travelling ales merchant that accompanies the group on their way to Hoalbrak.
Kára: a norn that rescued Kumara from freezing to death after his flight from Ascalon