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

Sarah was already shivering when she woke up. The embers of the fire Dimsun had set the night before were still glowing, but they gave off very little warmth. Outside it was still snowing, but the flakes drifted almost lazily past the open door and there was no sign of the terrible wind that had forced them into shelter in the first place.

Frostfire was standing impatiently by the door. His cool demeanour and icy eyes seemed to suit the bleak snowy landscape beyond, but there was heat enough in his gaze when it fell upon Sarah. She knew he was frustrated wasting time like this, although why he was in such a particular hurry to reach Frostfeather remained a mystery.

Dimsun was the only one of the three of them who seemed to be cheerful that morning and Sarah was greatly surprised to hear him whistling as he heated up some rations in the remains of the fire. It looked particularly odd to see his big, reptilian mouth contort itself into the appropriate shape to form the notes, but the sound was rather pleasant and the melody resembled a kind of folk song.

After their meagre breakfast, the mild warmth of which was blessed relief, they struck out into the snow and continued into the pass of Blizzardale. Sarah made sure she was better wrapped up in her poncho this time, using part of it as a kind of hood, and she soon got used to the squeaky crunch of snow beneath her feet and the soft feel of the snowflakes falling on her back.

The walk was mostly peaceful, with no one wishing to make conversation in the cold and Frostfire leading the way with silent purpose as always. The only noises for most of the time were their footfalls in the white powder and the occasionally thud of snow falling off a nearby roof, or an icicle cracking off the cliff face far above them. Occasionally there was a louder sound behind them, and Sarah had glanced over her shoulder warily a few times, wondering if one of Dimsun's 'denizens' were following them, but she could see nothing standing out against the white and the static-like visual noise of falling snow made making out any details quite impossible. Each time the sound was isolated, however and there was nothing else to give them cause for worry, so they continued on regardless.

They encountered their first junction after only half an hour of walking. It was not signposted, nor was there any obvious way of distinguishing the street they were on from the one which bisected it. Frostfire stared at it in silence for a moment before taking the left-hand path and continuing his march, leaving Dimsun and Sarah to follow him. It wasn’t long before they encountered another crossroads and another. Each time Frostfire would spend only a few seconds pondering before confidently picking a direction to take. Sarah had no idea how he could be so certain which was the right way, but neither he nor Dimsun said anything on the matter, and so they made their way deeper and deeper into the passes of Blizzardale.

The day was otherwise uneventful, being little more than a constant march through snowy streets, between icy stone buildings built into the cliffs, interrupted only by occasional identikit junctions. Eventually the snowy twilight grew darker, signalling the fall of night and Frostfire led them into another abandoned dwelling to spend the night. There was a fire, there was food, there was sleep and there was relief.

All that changed in the early hours of the morning, however.

Sarah was awoken into darkness by the sound of heavy thuds outside the dwelling. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, trying to work out what the sounds were, but concluding only that they were growing louder.

She leaned over towards Dimsun and began to whisper, “Are you awake, DImsun? Do you hear that?” She managed two words before the loquacious Spiketail’s taloned hand clapped around her mouth and his dull eyes flickered towards her. He made a shushing gesture with his free hand and Sarah nodded carefully. The hand gag was removed and Dimsun pointed over to a nearby window. Frostfire, eyes somehow dimmer than usual, was already creeping towards it, keeping low. Dimsun and Sarah followed his lead as always and in a few, soft, rustling seconds, they were able to peer over the window ledge into the brilliant blue darkness beyond.

There were monsters in the snow, at least, that was how Sarah's brain first interpreted the scene before her. Two enormous bear-like shapes, covered in a thick crust of ice and snow, moved slowly, almost like cattle, through the drifts. Sarah's breath caught and it wasn't until one of them turned to face them that she saw the tell-tale signs of Stoneskin eyes, burning brightly, grey blue, in the night.

She tried to match the shape of the creatures before her to ones she had seen in Ashvault or Riddlepike, whilst her eyes adjusted to the snow-reflected light outside. Then it came to her - Grinders!

She knew that the other two didn't want her to speak, so she did her best to look a question at Dimsun, then pointed at the three of them, hiding, and out at the two Grinders in the snow.

"Feral," Dimsun whispered, more softly than she would have thought possible for a Stoneskin. Instead of sounding like gravel, his whisper was like the soft fall of scree on a distant, misty slope.

Feral Grinders. Sarah wondered at the possibility. It was obvious from what she had seen at Ashvault that the creatures known as Grinders were fierce, powerful and not all that clever. They had been used as guards and beasts of burden and had always been looked after by some other kind of creature, like a Spiketail, or a Creeper. Here in Blizzardale, apparently, the Grinder roamed free and that was a terrifying prospect indeed.

They watched in silence for a few minutes whilst the creatures shuffled through the snow and sniffed the air, hoping that they'd pass by soon, but then, without any warning, one of the beasts lifted its massive head, opened its axe-toothed maw and roared down the pass. The other turned to face the same direction and Sarah followed their line of sight to see a figure silhouetted against the falling snow, a uniformed man brandishing a sword.

Oh no, she thought as realisation hit her, Sergeant Jansen!

"Stay away from her!" Jansen called, his voice horribly loud as it echoed from the walls of the pass, "I'm a much better target."

And that was when they charged.