Shadow - Monsters, Machines and Mad Scientists!: Episode CIX

Sergeant Jansen seemed to take a particular interest in Sarah as they walked up through the main street on the north side of the Icerush. He made sure the rest of the militiamen were keeping an eye on the Stoneskins and then manoeuvred himself to stand between them and Sarah, making her feel slightly uncomfortable. Yes, Jansen was Human, but she had known the two Spiketails for longer and in a world where everything was new, that seemed to mean something.

"Why are you travelling with them?" he asked in an urgent voice just above a whisper after they had walked for a about fifteen minutes from the Rock.

Sarah was wary of this young officer, and wasn't sure how she should respond. Should she be honest about her own uncertainty, or show bravado to get him to back away? It didn't seem like much of a choice .

"I'm not sure that's any of your business," she replied, "it doesn't affect your district and we're passing through peacefully enough just like we said we would. Why turn it into another interrogation?"

Jansen was silent for a moment, a frown on his face. Eventually he said, "It's not right, a woman travelling with two of these monsters. It's not safe, whatever they might have told you."

Something about the way he had managed to say woman got to her, like a knife wound to her pride and she snapped at him, "I'll decide who I will and will not travel with, Sergeant. I'll be especially glad when we reach Blizzardale and you're no longer tagging along."

Jansen flushed, then took a step backwards so that Sarah was almost walking on her own, but for the ring of militiamen keeping the crowds away.

The rest of their walk out of Riverwatch was quiet, sullen even and it was clear that the militiamen resented having to escort the Stoneskins in this manner. As they started up the slope towards Blizzardale Jansen called a halt and, knowing what was coming, the look of relief on their faces was palpable.

“This is as far as we take you,” Jansen said curtly, “from here on you’re on your own and good riddance,” he looked at the Stoneskins specifically as he added, “don’t think about coming back this way either!”

“We don’t plan to,” Frostfire said with a slight hint of satisfaction in his otherwise gruff voice.

Jansen ignored him and turned to face Sarah.

“You really don’t have to go with them, you know. You could stay here. We would keep you safe, help you on to whichever district you came from.” He was almost pleading and, despite his obvious racism and chauvinist brand of chivalry, his eyes were earnest.

Sarah found she felt sorry for him. She sighed and said, “You couldn’t help me get back even if I did stay. These Stoneskins you hate so much – they’re the only ones offering me any real hope at all. It’s not much of a hope, but I’ll take it.”

To her surprise Jansen looked alarmed.

“What lies have they told you? Are they holding something against you?”

Sarah just shook her head sadly and turned away.

“Lead the way, Frostfire,” she said and, laconic as ever, he did.

The militia had left them on a sloping street leading up the side of a mountain. The district of Riverwatch behind them was initially only demarcated by the divide between those dwellings which were clearly inhabited and those which were not, however as they ascended the slope the houses began to change form, featuring more stone than wood and appearing, to Sarah’s eyes at least, somewhat more primitive in their construction.

With the increase in stonework came a decrease in temperature. At first the flora showed signs of frost, then ice and a recent powdering of snow and this latter gradually thickened as they gained altitude, turning the world white and giving the empty stone dwellings to either side a slightly surreal tinge. Ahead the street seemed to climb ever higher.

“I didn’t think it would be this cold,” Sarah said after a while, starting to hug her shoulders, “surely we haven’t climbed that high yet, and we’re not much further north than Riverwatch either.”

“It’s all because of Frostfeather,” Dimsun replied taking a sort of blanket-like poncho out of his eternally surprising pack and handing it to Sarah for her use, “it’s the source of the unnaturally cold air.”

“And we want to go there? What’s so special about this Frostfeather place anyway?”

“Stoneskin legends say that it was the birthplace of Shadow, where the greatest of the Great Feathers made his nest.”

“I think I recall Shadowsmoke say something about them, but Frostfire didn’t sound like he really went in for religion.”

“He doesn’t.”

“Then why Frostfeather?”

Dimsun sighed. “To be honest, I’m not really sure. He doesn’t tell me all his plans you know. Much of this is just as much as surprise to me as it is to you.”

Sarah nodded. She appreciated Dimsun’s honesty, even if it was a bit galling to be on some kind of quest where the reason for the journey was so clouded in mystery – and she still worried that it might mean some kind of revenge on Ellis. Still if that meant a chance of seeing him again, she’d take that risk. Whatever else she thought of her ex-boyfriend – and that was a confusing quagmire of mixed emotions right now – she thought that seeing a familiar face would be some kind of comfort in this strange world.

Eventually the path began to level out between two peaks and the stone dwellings to either side, now carved from the mountain rock itself, drew closer in, making the street seem increasingly claustrophobic. Icicles hanged from windows and sheet ice covered many of the walls. The world was turning blue-white everywhere Sarah looked and the cold only got worse.

Then the wind started. At first it was a few chill gusts, tugging at Sarah’s poncho and making her pull it all the more tightly around herself, but gradually it grew in strength until Sarah found she had to lean heavily into the wind to make any progress at all. Frostfire and Dimsun, with their greater weight, were struggling a bit less, but soon even then were finding the going quite tough. And with the wind came the snow. Thick and heavy, it turned the air white so that they could barely see each other, let alone where they were going.

“We’re going to have to take shelter!” Dimsun shouted through the muffling din.

Sarah and Frostfire didn’t need to reply, they merely followed Dimsun into the lee of a building, ducking inside into the suddenly peaceful darkness.

Sarah slumped into a corner and pulled her poncho tight, covering every part of her bar her head, whilst Dimsun set about making a small fire and Frostfire stared out into the whiteout, as if expecting something to happen. Sarah supposed he was frustrated at having to stop so soon.

“I take it this means we’ve reached Blizzardale,” she said into the sullen silence.

“Yes,” Dimsun replied as the fire blazed to life. “It’s not like this all the time, but the going will be harder from here on out, and it can be easy to get lost.”

“How so? It looks like any ordinary mountain pass. Okay, so we can’t actually see where we’re going at the moment, but surely it’s all in a straight line.”

“Not so, sadly. Blizzardale isn’t just one pass, it’s a whole network of them running through the mountains fringing Frostfeather – a labyrinthine district which was once the home of many Stoneskins, now mostly empty.”

“Mostly?”

“There are a few denizens. If we’re lucky we won’t meet any of them.”

Dimsun fell silent then and Sarah found that she didn’t really want to question him further. They ate a light meal of dried meat and called it a night early, hoping that, when morning came, the blizzard would have calmed enough to make progress a little easier.

Despite the cold and the relatively early hour, Sarah found she fell asleep almost instantly.