Into The Storm

10

The next morning, Rosalis awoke from her drunken slumber groggily. Standing up, she kicked the others, waking them up. They all groaned, disliking that their sleep had been disturbed, but nevertheless, the group awoke and carried on towards Wolfholde.

The group kept walking forward for what seemed like an eternity. In the distance, they see a huge wall, blocking their path. They walked up to it and then saw a pair of thirty foot solid steel doors. Old brown branches covered them, growing all over them. Marmaducus and Anselmus walked up to them and pushed open the doors, straining. Slowly, the doors parted and clanged open loudly. In front of them, stood an icy tundra. With nowhere else to go, they ventured forward, into the storm.

The group kept walking through the storm, wondering where it was going to take them. Suddenly, they stumbled upon an old and broken camp, old wagons all over the place. Frozen corpses were laid on the snow, standing stiff in the last position that they were before they had died.

"They did not die from frostbite." Forthwind pointed out. "It was from something far more sinister."

"How can you–" Anselmus went to ask when suddenly, they all heard a piercing and unearthly screech. They all turned their heads in all directions, searching for their enemy. A group of cloaked demons floated up to them. They were dressed in old and torn black cloaks, hoods up that concealed the shadow that was their faces. The only feature that was visible was their black, shrivelled up hands, the bones visible through their paper-thin flesh

"Take the wagons!" Rosalis commanded. "Create a barricade!"

Without waiting for a second sentence, everyone jumped to work, heaving the wagons across the snow, creating a circular barricade, with themselves in the middle. The wraiths floated up to them and proceeded to tear at the wagons, breaking them apart. The group proceeded to fend them off, stabbing and slashing their weapons. Marmaducus cried out, one of the wraiths having got some lucky hits. He retreated and hid underneath one of the wagons, wiping the blood from his scratched cheek. Their being nothing else for him to do, he rested. The rest kept fighting, but then soon realised that there was nothing that they could do.

"Forthwind!" Rosalis shouted to him. "For the love of God! Do something!"

Forthwind swung both of his arms wide and suddenly, a storm of fire was all around them, endlessly spinning like a burning wheel. The wraiths' cloaks set aflame, but still, they continued to pursue their enemies, there being nothing in sight that could stop them from their unrelenting hunt. Benedictus reached into his cloak and drew out his cross. He then proceeded to shout a holy prayer in Latin, showing the crucifix to the wraiths. Suddenly, they all gave out a piercing screech that echoed through the tundra and immediately retreated. Anselmus looked around, his daggers still in his hands.

"What just happened?" He asked.

"We cannot kill something that is already dead." Forthwind pointed out. "The wraiths retreated as they do not like it when the fight becomes fairer."

"But they are immortal." Marmaducus pointed out.

"Thankfully, they are not very bright. They only exist to kill. Their brains are rotted away anyway. They also despise anything to do with faith and religion. So, in actual fact, it was Benedictus that saved us."

Everyone turned to him and Benedictus shrugged, the crucifix still in his hand. With nothing else to do, they all continued forward.

Continuing further onwards, they went through the icy tundra, there being nothing in sight to stop them. Rosalis held her hand up, stopping the group and then turned around, looked at them all. "Where are Anselmus and Forthwind?" She asked. The rest turned in all directions, just noticing that they had lost two followers. They looked frantically around the tundra, visibility being near zero. They looked at the ground, trying to find their footprints, but the snow was all muddled up, the path where they had gone being impossible to determine. Rosalis picked a path and walked down it. "With me!" She commanded. "Stick together!"

The rest followed after her, sticking as close as possible.

Anselmus and Forthwind made their way through the tundra, trying to find their way back. "This is insane!" Anselmus shouted over the blizzard. "We must find shelter!"

Acknowledging the plea, Forthwind walked through the tundra, looking all ways. He swept his hand forward and Anselmus followed after him, into a small cave. They both collapsed to the ground and with nothing much more to do, they rested. A few long moments went by, when suddenly, Anselmus stirred awake, hearing something. He blinked up at the ceiling of the cave when suddenly, a rock was smashed into his skull. His head dropped to the side, and he did not move. Something then grabbed a hold of his legs, dragging his body away.

Rosalis, Benedictus and Marmaducus continued further with their journey, in search of their missing allies. Benedictus suddenly stopped, stepping onto something hard and looked down. He swept the snow away with his foot, digging up a skull. Marmaducus stared at it. Hearing their footsteps cease to exist, Rosalis stopped and turned around, looked at the monk and the warrior. She looked down and saw a frozen skeleton in front of her feet. They all looked around, seeing more skeletons, buried in the snow. Rosalis shook her head. "The poor souls most likely died of frostbite." She said. With that mystery solved, they continued further. Rosalis looked in front of herself, seeing a small camp some few hundred metres away from her. It seemed to be inhabited. She swept her arm forward and her two allies followed after her. There were makeshift tents propped up, logs for sitting on and a pot of soup in the middle of a long dead fire, nothing but charcoal present. Marmaducus looked inside the pot of soup and saw that it seemed to have bones inside it. He reached his hand inside, drawing out a large, half eaten chunk of meat. "Marmaducus..." Rosalis said, trailing off. Benedictus looked at her, seeing fear in her eyes. Marmaducus looked at the chunk of meat and suddenly his eyes widened, themselves realising that he was holding the hand of a human. He gave a short, sharp cry of horror, exclaiming and dropped the hand to the ground. He looked up at her, fear in his eyes.

"Are there really cannibals about?" He asked her. Rosalis swallowed and closed her eyes, composing herself. She sighed and opened her eyes once more.

"We had best keep a lookout. Anselmus and Forthwind may be in danger."

The storm began to lessen as they went further and Marmaducus pointed in front of him. "What's that over there?" He asked. Rosalis looked ahead and saw what looked like to be a burning flame, barely visible against the blizzard.

"It's better than nothing." She replied, and they went forward. Suddenly, Rosalis swept her hand down, collapsing to the snow. "Get down!" She ordered. They both obeyed and immediately dropped to the snow, hiding themselves. They saw a camp. Forthwind was on the ground, his hands and legs tied. Anselmus was tied to a wooden stake. A group of men surrounded them both. One of them seemed to be licking his lips. "Cannibals." Rosalis said. Without waiting for anything, they stood up and grabbed their weapons, converging onto their enemies. One of them cannibals was about to light the stake when he snapped his head towards the newcomers. Suddenly, a spiked staff came flying through the air and stuck itself into one of the cannibals' chest. He dropped to the ground. The rest jumped up, alert and the fight began. Benedictus took back his staff and proceeded to fight one. Rosalis swung her sword and Marmaducus did the same with his warhammer. One cannibal roared at Marmaducus, but the knight retaliated with his own mocking roar, just before he swung his warhammer into his neck. The cannibalʼs neck bones broke and his neck lolled to the side lazily. His corpse almost immediately collapsed to the ground. With the fight won, they released their friends and went further onwards.