Chapter 3: Of Wolves and Sheep
For every step they took, another ten were needed and, for every enemy they fell, another one hundred took its place. "… block the arrows above…" This trial, this torment, seemed endless. "… jump over the hand…" Yet, the two warriors persisted. "… stab at her left…" They abandoned such needless thoughts as both their minds and their bodies became a flurry of ferocious instinct. "… dodge… shield her right… swing for the tendons… block… stab bellow as she swings right… run… breathe…" On and on the two warriors went. "… bash the neck…" As time and feeling was lost to them. "… grip the spear… kill… guard her back… breathe… guard your back… kill... keep running… scream… do not sto-" Until suddenly, the frigid earth beneath their feet opened its maw, and swallowed them whole.
Astria laid there in the dark. She saw nothing, she heard nothing, she felt nothing. It was strange, but she found herself at peace. For here in the dark, there was no sadness, no pain, no suffering. Just endless serenity. Something she had not felt since the last time she had a meal with her parents. Since the last time she saw them taken away from her. Now, all she knew was cold and fury. Something that the dark around her would not oblige her.
As if drawn to her, Astria could feel the tips of cold linger towards her. She tried to push the cold away and run back towards the serene dark, but it was already too late. The cold had ensnared her. It enveloped her body and began to fill every part of her being with a chilled touch. This invasion of cold triggered the almost forgotten, rumbling fire that burned deep within her core to fight back. Instantly, fire and cold clashed as the dark quickly faded into light, and the broken world she knew, became open to her yet again.
Astria thrashed as she opened her eyes, shoving away piled of snow that laid on top of her. She clawed and kicked until eventually she burst free from the mound of snow. Gasping, wheezing, and coughing, she rubbed more snow away from her bleary eyes as she tried her best to see around her. As her sight began to return to her, Astria found that she was surrounded by walls of solid ice. She eventually saw that the walls contained massive, circular holes that led into pitch darkness. She then turned her attention above, covering her eyes as the blinding light of the outside world shone down upon her. "Did I… fall? No. Did we-" Confusion gave way to panic as she realized what happened. She turned her head around frantically, eyes scanning everything around her.
"Selda!" She screamed through an incredibly hoarse voice. She tried to yell again but her ragged throat began to cough instead.
"Selda…" She called out again weakly in between coughs.
Between the delirium of falling and the extreme state of stress and panic Astria was in, her coughing fits caused her to wretch. After hurling all she could, she spat and wiped away the bile from her mouth, which had ironically lubricated her throat enough for her to call upon Selda again. Astria screamed again and again but to no avail. Nothing responded to her save for her own echoes and the sound of ice scraping against ice. So, Astria sat there on all of her fours, gasping, and shutting her eyes. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she even wanted to…
It took everything in Astria, to force herself up. Her muscles were weak, her stomach felt raw as if it were not done dispelling its contents, and her head pounded harder than the drums of a war ship, yet she still stood and began to walk. Astria walked slowly at first but was soon able to compose her gait into a normal stride. She walked around the cavern, examining the massive holes that she assumed led into massive tunnels.
"What could have made these and where do they lead?" Astria pondered.
She continued to walk around and try her best to examine each of the massive holes until she felt something beneath her feet. A slight unevenness in the snow that when she bent down to feel around, shook her to her core.
"Oh, fuck." Astria whispered low as she rushed over to the snow pile she crawled out from.
She dug through the snow as fast as she could. She scraped her fingers and snapped her nails as she tried desperately to retrieve her spear. Alas, all her bloody hands could retrieve was her shield before she heard the low rumble behind her.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck." Astria whispered as she took her shield and hid behind another large pile of snow. Soon the rumbling came closer, and with it so too did the stench of blood and rotten flesh.
"Sleml htat?" A guttural voice bellowed.
"Sye, ubt frmo weehr?" Another hulking voice answered.
Astria did not know what was said or who was even saying it, however from the ugly sounds of air being pulled in, she could tell that whatever they were on the other side of the snow pile were sniffing her out. Meaning time was running short before they found her.
Astria's mind scrambled trying to piece together a plan, taking in all the factors around her. "It's dimly lit in here and I see no sign of torches so they must be able to see in the dark somehow, not good. They can sniff things out like hounds, also not good. But… they speak, they walk with feet, and they thrive in caves underground… I wonder if…" The idea that came to her was dangerous, but so was just sitting there waiting for whatever was there to find her.
Astria slowed her breathing and closed her eyes, listening to the flaring nostrils that echoed across the cavern and feeling the low vibrations of their feet with every step. Both seemed to be headed into the direction of the bile she left behind instead of directly towards her. "Saved by vomit… this will be a story to tell…"
Astria moved slowly, clockwise of the of the snow pile and the approaching assailants. Once she came around, she peered from behind the pile and, with the aid of the light beaming down from the hole she fell from, she was able to catch a glimpse of who she was with, confirming her fears. There, in the glow of the dim light, Astria witnessed a pair of massive blue backs, topped off with thick patches of white fur. The large, hairy, frames stood atop massive legs and even more massive, and ugly, feet. The arms that jutted out of the massive frames were both gnarly and powerful. Even with the low visibility, Astria could see several lines of bulging muscle that extended from their malformed shoulders all the way down to their massive, gnarled, hands. Their strength was further confirmed by the great weapons they carried. The one on the left carried a simple, but massive, club made of solid ice, while the other in the pair carried some sort of large, jagged saw that was also crafted, crudely, from ice. Seeing their weapons made Astria curse herself more that she had lost her spear. She could not hide forever and running away into the dark tunnels would be suicide. She needed to find a way to fight with her shield lest she become their next meal.
Whether it was bravery or foolishness, Astria could not tell. All she did know was that this was her only option. She stood, took in a deep breath, and walked from around her hiding place next to the snow. Although her nerves rattled viscously, Astria was still able to grip her shield straps firm, hold her shield out horizontally in front of her chest, and pound on it with her gloved hand. Though the mostly wooden shield carried little sound, it was enough to grab the attention of the lumbering oafs in front of her. The grotesque beasts turned with a quickness, their bulbous noses, glowing white eyes, and crooked teeth filled mouths the catching and drawing most of Astria's attention away from the rest of their hideous frames. However, as prominent as those were, if Astria's plan was going to work then she would have concentrated on their entire frames. Thus, she used the wide gaze approach she learned in her training with Sigrid to take in all of their movements at once. She had never practiced this technique on ice trolls and unfortunately, now was the time to learn.
As soon as the trolls saw her, they immediately charged forward. Their large bellies swung as their giant feet propelled them forward. They raised their weapons as they closed in on Astria and as soon as they were in range they swung down. Astria took advantage of their hastiness and jumped backwards. The falling weapons crashed down into the ground, missing their target, and rumbling the cave. Astria did not let the slight vibrations stumble her as she immediately jumped forward again, landing on one of the troll's club, and swiftly running along it. With perfect balance and footwork, Astria was able to run the length of the club close enough to jump near the troll's still lowered face and smash her shield into its nose.
The hideous beast growled in pain as it was knocked back right on its ass. Astria, however, did not stop there. She rolled and twirled as soon as she landed, dodging an awkward hand swipe from the other troll, and charging at the troll she knocked over. The troll was ready, however, and swung its club from its left side. Astria instantly reacted. She stretched her legs and dropped her base low, sliding under the attack and quickly regaining her footing. As soon as she did, she gave a slight, but powerful, twirl and launched her shield at the beast's nose. A sickening crack echoed throughout the cavern just before the hideous beast roared in pain, toppling over with its nose in its hands. The thing thrashed wildly as Astria quickly approached, continuing to dodge the other trolls saw and free hand as it tried to assist its partner.
Between her swiftness, the pain the troll's whose nose she broke was, and the lumbering awkwardness of the ice saw troll trying to cleave her and not its partner at the same time, Astria was able to leap onto the trashing troll's white hair and quickly scale it. Balance was strenuous as the troll continued to move around wildly, but Astria ignored the difficulty and kept moving as swift as she could. Like a spider, she was soon able to crawl her way up the troll's hair and onto the beast's forehead. She wasted no time as she continued to crawl along the beast's forehead towards its eyes, which were shut tight in pain. Fortunately for Astria, the troll's eyelids contained just as weak muscles as the human eye, allowing her to pry them open with ease. Unfortunately for the troll, it was about to lose a good chunk of its eye.
Astria steeled herself and, with her mouth wide open, forced her head down and bit a chunk out of the troll's eye. The troll roared louder in pain, but Astria ignored it as she continued to bite chunks out of its eyes, only stopping to dodge the troll's hand smacking its face trying to smash her. Astria simply rolled back into the beast's hair before crawling up again and continuing to tear at its eye. The other troll tried its best to catch Astria but could not do much with the constant thrashing of its partner. Astria took advantage of this as she then went to quickly make work of the troll's other eye. This bloody and awkward scuffle did not last long as Astria made short work of the troll's other eye and immediately dismounted towards its partner. This time, the other troll was ready as Astria moved far enough away from its now blinded partner for it to fully use its saw again. However, given its crude design the troll was slowed attacking Astria as its saw would become slightly stuck in the ground with each strike. This gave Astria all the time she needed to leap aboard the troll's arm and swiftly crawl up to its shoulder before willing herself to vomit.
If the troll was confused, it did not show it as it simply smacked at Astria, who had already dismounted before impact. The only thing the troll managed to do was splatter more of Astria's vomit onto itself. Now that she had accomplished what she needed to, Astria ran away from the troll towards where she initially fell. The troll covered in puke tried to follow her but was immediately met with a massive ice club to the head. Using what was left of its broken nose, the blinded troll traced Astria's strong scent and immediately began to attack. Trolls were strong but were also woefully dimwitted and Astria's expertly proved that point.
As the troll continued to assault its partner, Astria quickly began to search for her spear again. Now that she was in less of a panic and fully concentrated, it took her no time to part the snow without harming her hands and finding the shaft of her spear. She yanked at the weapon with all her might until the snow became loose enough for her to finally retrieve it. Just in time for her to swiftly turn around and launch it into the blinded troll's eye that charged at her. The great, hideous beast fell on its side dead in that instant with Astria's spear jutting out of its head. Astria breathed a sigh of relief and crumpled to her knees in exhaustion. Even with her victory and as tired as she was, Astria could not afford to stay here much longer as the commotion would probably attract more trolls and given the size of the cavern and the tunnels that led away from it, there were bound to be much, much more.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone