Chapter 9

 

 

The last of the daylight was fading from the darkly clouded sky as Berrin led Nyssa and Lore down a narrow canyon. Above them lightening crackled and thunder rumbled in a low, ominous voice. The temperature had dropped considerably since they had left their camp. The air was icy and their breath plumed in front of the faces.

 

Shortly they arrived at a series of rocky shelves that climbed up a cliff. They made their up them and by the time they reached the last, Nyssa and Lore were breathing quite hard. They had still not fully recovered and it was showing.

 

But they ignore their aches and pains, their quest more important then how they felt. In a cliff wall was the entrance to a cave and in the settling darkness Berrin lit a small lantern.

 

‘This is the start of the Winding Way,’ Berrin said.

 

‘How long is the climb?’ Lore asked.

 

‘It will take us much of the night to climb it,’ Berrin replied. ‘How are you both feeling?’

 

‘Tired,’ Nyssa admitted. ‘But we’ll find the strength to go on.’

 

Berrin smiled.

 

‘I’ll help you where I can,’ she said. ‘I have some herbal tea here they will give us a little extra strength.’

 

She was the only one carrying a pack and passed round a bottle. They all had a drink, Nyssa and Lore finding it very bitter. But they felt much stronger was it settled in their stomachs. Then Berrin led them into the cave.

 

It shortly turned into a narrow passage and they followed it as it wound its way through the mountain stone. At first the climb was fairly easy and Nyssa and Lore found the going not too tough. Then they came across the first of many spots that emerged into the open air. Here a very narrow ledge a few paces wide climbed steeply up a cliff.

 

The light of the lantern cast a dim light around them, the night’s darkness thick beyond it. They could see nothing below until a flash of lightning lit up a dizzy drop below them. They began to climb, an icy wind blowing and carrying a threat to cast them into the gloom.

 

* * *

 

They climbed on well into the night till Nyssa thought dawn was not far away. They had been following a straight section of passage for short while. Then they passed round a bend and found it suddenly narrowing and an almost sheer climb beginning.

 

‘This is going to be a hard climb,’ Lore said, a little breathless. ‘We’ll have to crawl up it on our hands and knees.’

 

‘How far is it to the top?’ Nyssa asked.

 

‘An hour or so,’ Berrin replied. ‘Let’s rest here and gather our strength.’

 

They settled down on the ground and drank some more of the bitter tea. There was little talk, Nyssa and Lore still very weary and saving their energy for the climb ahead.

 

They were shortly off, Berrin leading, then Nyssa and Lore. It wasn’t long before they were on their hands and knees as Lore had said, crawling up the narrow space. The air turned even colder, the icy rock numbing their hands. They had to stop several times to rub some feeling back into them.

 

They continued on, sometimes forced to slither forward on their bellies the passage grew so narrow. Nyssa and Lore were gasping for breath, using the last of the strength to reach the top. They were starting to think that they might not make it when the passage suddenly widened and levelled out.

 

It burrowed ahead down a long stretch and at its far end they could see a dim light.

 

‘This… this is it!’ Berrin said with a gasp, tired herself after the climb. ‘The ledge is just around the bend ahead.’

 

She snuffed out their lantern and stowed it in her pack. Then they hurried forward and slipping round the bend, emerged onto the open air on a small ledge. It was snowing, heavy snowflakes falling from Orcon’s dark clouds hanging low over the mountain peaks.

 

The ledge jutted out over a small chasm, the ground maybe fifty feet below them. And in the far wall was Ashmon’s cave, a thick web of glowing white ice covering it. It was Orcon’s and Mogrom’s enchantment. And even as they watched the web was slowly thickening, closer to blocking it entirely.

 

‘Good elves!’ Berrin exclaimed. ‘The cave is almost covered!’

 

‘We must get to it with Eldor’s staff,’ Nyssa said.

 

Suddenly they felt an evil presence in the icy air, as though they were being watched.

 

‘Quick, back inside the tunnel!’ Lore urged. ‘Orcon will spot us here for sure here.’

 

They quickly scuttled back inside and knelt at its entrance.

 

‘How will we reach the cave without being seen?’ Lore asked. ‘I think Orcon will sense anyone on the ground below.’

 

‘One person might be able to make it,’ Nyssa said. ‘They’ll be harder to spot than all of three of us.’

 

‘I’ll go,’ Berrin offered. ‘I think you two are too weakened to make it.’

 

Nyssa and Lore nodded, knowing she was quite right. The climb up the mountains had exhausted them. But they were still terribly afraid for her.

 

‘I have some rope in my pack,’ Berrin said. ‘You can lower me down to the ground with it.’

 

She got the rope out and tied it about her waist. Nyssa handed her Eldor’s staff and then hugged her.

 

‘Be safe,’ she said.

 

Lore hugged her as well.

 

‘All the staff has to do is touch it,’ he said. ‘If you can’t get close enough, just throw it.’

 

Berrin nodded and then crawling out onto the ledge, slipped over its edge. Nyssa and Lore held onto the rope and together they began to lower her down.

 

* * *

 

‘I saw something, Orcon!’ Mogrom said worriedly, staring at the image of Ashmon’s cave in the column of mist. ‘One a cliff above the chasm!’

 

Orcon waved her concern away with an icy hand.

 

‘You are seeing things!’ he replied dismissively. ‘Nothing can enter there… the chasm is blocked by my blizzard.’

 

‘I tell you...’ Mogrom went on.

 

‘Enough!’ Orcon roared. ‘Soon I will have the cave blocked and Ashmon will be entombed forever!’

 

* * *

 

It was dreadfully cold as Berrin was lowered into the chasm, the cliff wall covered in icy frost. Her hands grew numb and it was all she could do to hang onto the rope. A couple of times she almost slipped, but saved herself by bracing her feet against the wall. Then the rope stopped moving and she knew she would have to drop the last ten feet or so.

 

She let go and landed safely into knee deep snow, something she had seen only once in her life. She slipped Eldor’s staff free from her belt and dropping into crouch, began to head toward Ashmon’s cave. She kept to the shadows of a chasm wall, keeping out of the light of the ice web as much possible.

 

She was so intent on reaching the cave that she didn’t see a sudden movement to her left near the chasm entrance. In then next moment she was suddenly tackled hard from behind and driven to the ground.

 

‘Got you!’ growled a snarling voice, a knee pressing painfully into his back. ‘Hey, Kreel! I’ve got one of them.’

 

It must be a goblin, Berrin thought, one of the band that had been following Nyssa and Lore. She looked up and saw more stepping out of the shadows a short distance away. Then she roughly rolled over and the goblin started, not recognising who she was.

 

‘Hey! You are you?’

 

That gave her a moment to react and she poked the goblin in the eye. He rolled away with a cry and she was on her feet instantly. But by this time Kreel and the other goblins had arrived, all with swords drawn.

 

‘Not another step, elf,’ Kreel growled. ‘I don’t know who are, but that staff belongs to me! You’re not going anywhere.’

 

‘She poked me in the eye!’ the wounded goblin wailed.

 

‘Then you can take both of hers after we kill her!’ Kreel said coldly and moved in with sword raised.

 

* * *

 

Mogrom and Orcon were watching this unfold in the misty image again. Mogrom was grinning in triumph, knowing that once they got Eldor’s staff back their plan could not fail now.

 

‘Too late, elf!’ she snarled. ‘There’s no hope for you.’

 

But Orcon was not about to risk the goblins losing the staff again and within the image lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in fury.

 

* * *

 

Berrin ignored the crackling lightning and boom of thunder as she warily eyed the goblins circling for the attack. She knew he was in a bad spot, the dagger at belt not enough to save her. But she could see she was almost close enough to throw Eldor’s staff at the web, a few more yards would be enough.

 

Then suddenly something fell out of the clouds, exploding into the icy snow in a white plume. Then another and another and she realized it was beginning to hail.

 

But these hailstones were fist sized and more and more fell around her. She suddenly realized that the staff’s crystal was glowing. A sphere of orange light surrounded her and the hailstones shattered against it harmlessly.

 

But the goblins were unprotected and they were all driven to the ground, knocked unconscious. At that Berrin leapt toward the cave as hailstones falling like rain. The staff’s magic faltered suddenly as Orcon’s magic bore down on it. Some hailstones got passed its shielding and struck her painfully. Then one glanced off her head and she fell stunned to her knees, almost blacking out.

 

As the hailstones pelted around her, she knew she had only one chance. Struggling to her feet, she drew back her arm and hurled the staff toward the glowing web of ice.

 

* * *

 

Horror filled Mogrom’s eyes as she watched the strange elf fling the staff into the air.

 

‘Noooooo!’ she wailed in despair as it tumbled toward the ice web.

 

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as it passed through the hailstones and then struck the web. At that a massive explosion of orange light filled the chasm and a groan of fury escaped Orcon.

 

‘This is your doing, Mogrom!’ he fumed. ‘You let the one thing that could defeat us fall into our enemies hands.’

 

‘I am doomed! Doomed!’ Mogrom exclaimed. ‘Ashmon will have no mercy. You must help me, Orcon!’

 

But Orcon’s cruel laughter filled the hall.

 

‘Then I suggest you start to run!’ he said coldly.

 

‘Take me with you!’ Mogrom cried in despair.

 

Orcon laughed again.

 

‘And have you whining at me in my own home! Perhaps if you beg Ashmon as you came begging to me, he might forgive you.’

 

‘Please…!’ Mogrom pleaded in terror at what she knew was coming.

 

But it was ignored as the air split behind the Ice Lord and he disappeared.