Mortance: Summer's Snow

Hale Ⅱ

"Look upon the land of the enemy," Maldegith told me. "We shall bring it to justice together."

I look upon the evil of the sprawling forest before us. Every leaf and tree would be wilted and withered by the time I was through here. That was the mission. Vengeance and justice. "As you wish," I said.

"Do you see that, in the distance?" Maldegith gestured forwards.

I squinted. "What is that?"

"Ursae," he said. "A city."

"Are those the ones who kill them?"

"Some of their descendants, yes."

I started walking. They would die. My own bare hands would drain their killer's souls from their bodies. It was only right, for I wasn't here to let them live.

"Stop."

I froze.

"Where are you going?"

"To Ursae," I said. "To kill them."

"Not yet," Maldegith said. "Caution must never be thrown to the wind, for that is what kills us all."

"As you say."

Madegith sighed and gazed over the forest. There was hardly any snow anymore, not outside Jotuma, and not after winter. I'd never seen a place with so little ice and snow, but I didn't like it as much. The familiar world of winter was what everything should be. At least it was still cold here.

"There is a hunting party," my father said suddenly. "Look there."

"I see nothing," I followed where he pointed. There were only trees.

"It matters not," Maldegith decided. "Ursae will come much later, when you are ready. Come with me, and we will give Viri a taste of justice."

I followed him down the last of Jotuma's mountains and out into the forests of northern Viri. A cold wind blew, biting pleasantly into my exposed skin. My wardrobe had expanded since Domuez, but not so much that I had a choice in most of it. There was still Maldegith's cloak, but I'd found a new shirt-dress, and some trousers to wear beneath it. I'd a sword belt now too, though Jotuma had long since been looted of good steel I might wear on it. It was still nudity next to my father's full plate armor and enchanted spearaxe, but I needed little more.

Maldegith wore the same determined frown he always wore as trees turned our entire world to shadow. They were at least as tall as Jotuma's ruins, some must've been taller. I wanted to tear them all down. Then there would be nothing between me and the monsters I was made to kill. Those monsters were invisible to me now, but my father kept forwards like he knew exactly where to find them.

The forest was dark, the wind was cold, and my hands itched to kill. I pushed my hood off my head, feeling the tiny hairs that were growing there. They'd be longer someday, and I'd look less like a child. The chilling whistle of wind echoed through the trees, and then a loud roar.

Maldegith quickened his pace. I matched it easily. "Is that them?" I asked quietly. "The monsters?"

"Aye," he answered with a nod. "Keep quiet and interfere not with my methods."

"As you say."

We came quickly upon five massive bears, each with fur the color of the trees. Maldegith motioned for me to stay back as he stepped into their line of sight. Two of the bears saw him and growled. The other three turned to him, and one shifted into a naked man. "You are no vir," he said.

"I would be ashamed if I were one," Maldegith drew Winter's Wrath and faced the vir.

"For what purpose are you in Viri?"