The Seventh Treasure

Part 7 ( Chapter 31 - 35)

Chapter 31

Lying on her stomach in the snow, Sigrun peered over the edge of the glacier. Squinting she could just make out Erik swinging on the end of the rope. The men were pulling as quickly as they could but he still had at least another hundred feet to go before he reached the top. She hunted for the bird. It was still concealed in the darkness between the mountain and the glacier.

Her bow lay beside her ready to be snatched up the moment the bird came back into sight. In the darkness of the fissure between glacier and mountain, she only got the occasional glimpse of the creature, a brief outline of its body that presented no clear target. Scanning her eyes away from the glacier, she caught sight of the bird. It had circled twenty feet above Erik. She grabbed her bow as the bird screeched and dived at Erik.

Hopeless she watched the bird rushing towards Erik. He hung away from the ice face completely defenceless. The bird wouldn't miss this time. Not wanting to, but unable to take her eyes away she watched the bird hurtle towards him. Then just before the talons pierced his body, he dropped out of sight.

The end of the rope free of its burden shot up over the edge of the glacier. The men stumbled backwards falling in a heap in the snow.

'Has it got him?' Radulfr asked hurrying towards her.

Sigrun didn't reply. All she could see was the bird thrashing against the ice. She glanced back at Bjorn. He was examining the end of the rope. 'It's been cut by a knife.'

She looked back over the edge to see the bird pushing away from the glacier. Straining her eyes, she spotted a figure clinging against the ice.

'I see him,' she cried. She pointed him out to the others. 'We got to do something before the bird attacks again.'

Bjorn passed her the end of the rope. Picking up her bow, she knew what she had to do.

* * *

Standing on a ledge half the width of his feet Erik clung on to his knife with both hands. The blade was embedded in the ice up to the handle. He kept his body pressed against the freezing surface worried that if he lent back too far he would topple over the edge. Shards of ice dislodged from the bird thrashing above rained down on him. It seemed confused that he wasn't between its talons. Erik was just as confused that he wasn't lying at the foot of the glacier in a crumpled heap. He had cut the rope preferring to die from the fall than being torn apart by the bird. As he had fallen, he had flailed out with his knife. It had caught the side of the glacier and after scrapping along it for a few feet snagged tightly into the ice face. The force of the sudden stop had nearly torn the knife from his grasp, but somehow he had held on. He had dangled for a few seconds his legs kicking wildly. Then his flailing feet had found a small ledge for him to stand on. And here he remained perilously clinging to the glacier, not wanting to let go and fall to his death and not having any possible way of climbing to the top.

Above the bird pushed off the ice. It spotted him and screeched. Helpless he watched as the bird circled above him preparing to attack for a third and final time. It reached the top of its climb and dived. This time he could not to let go of his knife, his hands seemed fused to the hilt. He now feared the drop that only minutes before he had surrendered to. Time slowed as the bird drew close. He watched detached from reality as the talons were raised. He had time to realise that one set would hit his chest the other though his skull. It might end so quickly that he would not feel a thing.

Suddenly the bird veered to the right and crashed into the glacier beside him wings first. It bounced off the ice and plummeted into the darkness.

'Now you owe me.'

Dangling from the rope, Sigrun swung above his head. She had her bow in her hand an arrow pulled backed to her ear. She released the pressure on the string and placed the arrow back into the quiver on her back. She looked at Erik and smiled. 'You want to stay down here a bit longer?'