‘Keep going!’ Olivia called out through the wind and snow. ‘We’re close! We can’t let these monsters or this blizzard slow us down!’

The party pressed on. The snowstorm was so strong now that it was hard to see even their own footprints on the ground, let alone each other, let alone any more monsters that might be lurking in the vicinity. But Horatio could just about make out the shadowed form of Ceres in front of him, flickering in the wind, giving him someone to steer towards.

When the blizzard finally passed, after Horatio had no idea how long, they were much closer to the mountains–perhaps only another half a day’s walk. The snow-covered monoliths rose up out of the earth in a closely-clumped row like the uneven teeth of some gigantic Ice Dragon.

A few rows back, beyond the nearest peaks, one mountain rose up higher than all the rest, standing taller, prouder, a firstborn child a full head and shoulders above its siblings.

‘There!’ proclaimed Olivia, now visible to Horatio again, pointing towards this mountain. ‘That’s where we’re headed! It’s in there! That mountain! I’ve seen it before, in my vision. Halfway up that mountain, there is a cave carved out of ice. That is where we will find the Clarent Sword!’

Of course it had to be the tallest mountain… Horatio thought. He had already begun to suspect that this mountain might lie in their future destiny, but he wasn’t exactly thrilled that Olivia had confirmed his suspicions.

‘Can we make it there today?’ asked Ross.

‘Not “can”. We must,’ said Olivia. ‘Time is of the essence.’

‘We can,’ said Helen, most experienced of the party at ranging and travelling the wilderness. ‘But it will be a push. We must keep up our strength as much as possible.’

So they ate as they walked, sharing food from their packs, which they had been able to stock up on at Vishay and aboard the ship for the journey ahead of them–fish wrapped in palm leaves, and chewy waybread, and a bit of salted beef strips and hard, orange cheese. At least one benefit of the cold was that it would make their supplies last longer.

Little by little the mountains grew nearer, and the party grew wearier. Several times Horatio contemplated suggesting they pause to rest and get their breath for a few moments. But he kept going, and didn’t ask. They could rest once they had obtained the Sword, and ensured it was safe from any other Braxians who might be seeking it too, he reasoned.

Or, of course, they could rest when they were dead.

Silvia, on the other hand, felt no such qualms about voicing her desire to stop and rest.

‘Hey!’ she called out all of a sudden, making Horatio start. For a while now the party had fallen into silence as they trudged on towards the mountains, with only the crunch of their feet on the snow and the howling of the freezing wind to accompany their ears. ‘Can we stop? I just need to rest for a bit before we keep going!’

‘No stopping!’ said Primus.

‘But whyyyyy?’ Silvia whined. ‘Just for a bit! I’m really tired!’

‘You know why!’ snapped Primus. ‘Our mission is urgent. We must retrieve the Sword as soon as we can, to make sure nobody else does, or has!’

‘There is also the fact,’ said Helen, squinting and lifting a hand to shield the sun from her eyes, ‘that a group of monsters is coming towards us.’

Helen had seen it first as usual but, sure enough, when Horatio looked carefully, he could spy some dots in the distance moving rapidly down the slope of one of the nearest mountains, towards them.

The party drove forwards. A sort of mad desperation seemed to possess them all now–even Silvia, quietened by the monster-sighting; a desperation to arrive at their goal, to reach the Sword, to complete this part of their Quest. They were so close to it, or so it seemed, and yet still so far, and so tired, with a frozen march, and more monsters, and a climb up a mountain still between them and their destination.

It wasn’t long before they could see the monsters charging towards them across the snowy valley that lay before the mountain range.

And it wasn’t long after that that they met them in combat.

Battle 2