Episode 87

Chapter 1 of the Winter's Heart Saga

Part II

Previously: Our heroes - the dashing Ross, the intrepid Callen, and the distinctive Max - after journeying from the royal city of Clinton in the Kingdom of Antirria, took refuge from the early and severe winter at an Inn at the foot of the mountain range which they hope to cross. There they meet Corvath, an aged travelling scholar. The three travellers, as it turns out, are pirates - pardon me, 'corsairs' - from a ship called the Drakkar, which has been confiscated by the Antirrian government for a lapsed registration, thus necessitating a trip to the capital. They learn that the weather has closed the only available pass through the mountains, and must wait for a guided caravan two days hence. Also joining the caravan are three heavy-cloaked women said to be "priestesses of the old religion". Not long after the caravan enters the pass, however, Callen spots some flash of movement above - immediately after which the entire part is buried by an avalanche!

For the indecisive, being buried in an avalanche is possibly an ideal death. It combines many of the essential features of drowning, suffocating and freezing to death, and happens fast enough that there isn't much time to change one's mind about it.

Nevertheless, Ross definitely wished to explore other alternatives. Such as not dying.

He had been very innocently (for once) chatting with companions, when suddenly the entire world filled with high velocity snow. He was tossed, battered, and subsumed by a frigid, powdery tempest. He was just beginning to think that it was a lot like being washed over-board, when his own motion came to an abrupt and violent halt; then he simply felt the cold mass piling up on top of him. The seconds stretched inexorably as he thought that he was being smashed flat by an entire continent of snow; then the thunderous noise he hadn't even been aware of since the snow had swallowed him suddenly stopped.

The avalanche was over. He tried moving, but was utterly pinned. Ross found he could wiggle his fingers and toes a little, but otherwise it felt like being sealed in stone. Very cold stone. Well, ice, actually. He found himself surprised at how dark it was; for some reason, on those odd occasions when he wondered what being buried in snow would be like, he'd always imagined everything being white.

He was finding it very hard to breath.

He was just at the verge of conceding the short odds to suffocation over freezing when the world started moving again. He felt everything jerk suddenly down and over a bit, like the mountain of snow around him was settling in and just trying to get a bit more comfortable. When everything again stopped moving, he found his right arm was hanging in empty space, and his freezing fingertips were brushing against loose gravel.

Frantically, he started digging himself out from beneath with his free arm, and after a couple of minutes he had excavated enough snow that his face was protruding, then his shoulders, and then suddenly his entire torso dropped out of the snow. The rest of him followed.

He lay face down in the gravel, gratefully but cautiously filling his lungs with fresh, cold air. He didn't dare to move yet, lest the immeasurable mass of snow above him should suddenly drop again.

After several minutes had passed with no signs of an imminent collapse, Ross began to feel around a bit, and tried to figure out what sort of place he was in. The darkness was still absolute, but he could hear sounds coming from some short distance away. It was a purposeful kind of scrabbling, that could only come from something alive. His hands told him he was in a kind of channel in the rock, perhaps a crack or an old stream gully, about two feet wide. The snow mass formed a ceiling above him just high enough for him to lift his head off the ground.

I'd better go, he thought, while it stays there. The source of the sounds was dead ahead of him, and it seemed a good a direction as any - well, better, since turning around would be difficult if not impossible. He started wriggling down the gully using his elbows and knees, and being rigorously careful not to disturb the snow ceiling. His efforts were quickly rewarded, as the sounds got steadily closer. Apparently he was moving faster than he thought...

Suddenly he felt a warm tickle of slightly sour air on his face, then his forehead slammed into a hard barrier.

"OW!"

The barrier was apparently Max.

Ross
SHH!!

He dropped his voice to a whisper.

Ross
Do you want to bring all of that down on us again?

Max
[whispering] Ross?

Ross
Yes, Max.

Max
Where are you going?

Ross
I heard sounds ahead of me. I was following those.

Max
That was me.

Ross
Yes, I know that now. Any sign of Callen?

Max
No sign of anything but you, Cap'n.

Ross
Mmn... Max, wonderful as it is to find out you've survived, you're a bit in the way. Back up a bit, will you?

Max
Me? You back up.

Ross
I can't back up.

Max
Neither can I.

Ross
You'll have to, the way out is behind you.

Max
No, it isn't. I've been that way, remember?

Ross
Trust me, Max. As a sea captain, I have an innate, almost instinctual sense of direction. I'd bet my life - in point of fact, I am, actually - I'd bet my life that way out is that way --

Max
OW! That's my eye, you bastard!

Ross
Sorry. Behind you, is what I meant.

Max
Ross, there's a breeze of fresh air coming from behind you, and the ceiling slopes upwards in your direction.

There was a long pause.

Ross
Ah.

Max
So are you gonna back up, or do I have to try and crawl over you?

Ross
All right, all right. Hang on, Max, I'm going to see if I can turn around.

Max
What?

Ross
Back up just a little but and give me some more room to work with...

Max shuffled back as best he could, a few inches. Ross started shifting and bumping around in the darkness in front of him.

Max
Ross, be careful of the ceiling.

Ross
I know, I know... how the Devil do moles manage this, anyway...

Several minutes passed by, and then the shuffling stopped.

Max
Are you facing the other way now?

Ross
In a manner of speaking. I'm on my back.

Max
Oh, Jesus Christ...

Ross
I feel it's the first step.

Max
You're an idiot, you know that?

Ross
You're only saying that because you think we'll never get out of here alive.

A very faint glow suffused through the gully. A familiar voice echoed from some point in the distance.

Callen
Ross? Max? Is that you?

Max
Callen? Where are you?

Callen
I'm in a cavern behind you...

Max & Ross
Behind who?

There was a pause as Callen peered closely into the crevasse, straining his eyes to make out some detail in the dim light.

Callen
Which one of you is on his back?

Ross
That would be me, then. Give us a few minutes, Callen, we're on our way.

Ross forewent turning around, instead inch-worming his way backwards using his legs while Callen pushed his shoulders. The light slowly grew brighter. After a while he felt Callen grab his ankles and pull him out of the gully.

Ross
Ow!

Callen
Sorry. Watch your head.

Max
Move it, Ross.

Callen pulled Ross to his feet while Max crawled out of the tunnel, dislodging snow as he came. Callen stood in the mouth of a cave, about nine feet high, out of which led the gully. Except for the two or three square feet encompassed by the gully, the mouth of the cave was blocked by a solid wall of snow. A significantly Callen-sized hole was visible in the upper portion of the wall of snow.

Callen stood holding a small torch - a short stick with a mass of dried tar at one end. He had packed several, should travel at night be necessary.

Ross
Excellent timing, as always, Callen.

Callen
Always happy to oblige, Cap'n.

Ross
I think this might be an appropriate time to stop for a drink... I see no one else managed to hang on to their packs, but I trust at least one of us kept a hip flask?

Callen
Of course!

Max
First things first, Cap'n.

Ross
Good men. I've still got mine, as well. Well then... to our survival, and the prospect of warm, snowless beaches sometime in the future.

Max
Hear, hear.

Callen
Cheers.

They drank in silence until they felt some semblance of warmth and life returning to their veins.

Ross
What else do we still have? We should take inventory... I lost my pack, as well as my swords. I still have a knife, and about half the flask left.

Max
I still have my falchion, and a couple of knives.

Ross
There's a bit of luck, at least one of us is well-armed.

Callen
Unfortunately I'm just down to a knife as well. But I still have the knife on my belt and the one in my boot feels like it's still there, too. Also lost my back-pack, but I have the one tied under my vest still. It's got a little food, some water, all of our money and the ship's registration, and a couple more torches.

Ross
Callen, you're indispensable.

Callen
That's one route to job security.

Ross
All right, so the inventory's acceptable, if down a little. All the essentials are there, even if we've lost four good swords and my second best shirt. Now our next question is... what the hell do we do now?

In the dim light of the torch, he paused to take stock again of their surroundings. On one side, the wall of snow. On the other, the cave retreated into darkness.

Ross
We seem to have a choice of either trying to dig our way out, or hoping against all reasonable expectations that this cave actually leads somewhere.

Callen
Common sense seems to argue that we try digging.

Ross
Yes, but how much snow are we under exactly? A foot, ten feet, the entire mountain? It could be hopeless. Even if we dig our way out, we're stuck trying to find our way through the pass alone.

Max
And risking another avalanche.

Callen
Exactly. And let's not forget, this avalanche may have been deliberate.

Ross
What? Who could have triggered it?

Callen
I don't know. But remember we saw someone or something above us just before the hill came down.

Max
So you think whatever it is could be hanging around out there waiting for us.

Callen
It's possible.

Ross
Listening to Callen's paranoia has kept us alive this far. All right, but the cavern --

Callen
Look at the torch...

They looked. The flame was flickering, gently, as if in a breeze emanating from deep within the cabin.

Max
Yeah, I felt that in the tunnel.

Ross
So the cave has another opening somewhere. I don't know, though; it's far more of an unknown.

Callen
I feel a little more comfortable with the cave.

Ross
Max? What do you think?

He shrugged.

Max
Well... big caves often have treasure hidden in'em somewhere.

Ross' face brightened slightly.

Ross
An excellent point.

Max
Even more often, they have big nasty critters livin' in'em.

Callen
True. So... ?

Max
Sure. What the hell.

Ross
Then it's unanimous. To the caves!

A quarter of an hour later, their courage thoroughly fortified, the Drakkars started into the deeper reaches of the cave. It proved to be extremely deep indeed. Callen lead the way, bearing the torch, while Max brought up the rear.

The cavern evolved steadily, averaging about ten feet high and fifteen feet across. The floor was dry, covered in fine back gravel, as if it had once been the bed of an underground stream.

Ross
We seem to be heading deeper into the mountain, if I remember correctly where we are.

Callen
It's still the right way, the draft seems to be getting stronger...

Suddenly he came to a halt, and crouched to the ground. Ross nearly ran into him.

Ross
Ho! Callen, what is it?

Callen
Footprints.

He held the torch aloft. Two clear impressions, the general size and shape human feet, were visible were visible in the gravel. They appeared to be heading in the same direction they were, deeper into the caves.

Ross
Who made them?

Callen peered at the marks intently.

Callen
A red-headed blacksmith from Groningen, five foot ten inches tall, middle aged, weighing six stone, carrying a pygmy from the south sea islands on his shoulders who has a bone necklace and a callous on his left thumb.

Max
Really?

Callen
What am I, an elvan ranger? How the fuck should I know? They're footprints, headed that way. Let's be careful.

Ross
Agreed.

They continued on. After another ten minutes or so, the passage began to widen, and they came into a large chamber. The ceiling soared some sixty feet above them, with giant, brilliantly-coloured stalactites reaching down almost to the floor. On the other side of the chamber from their passage, two other passages lead away. The floor of the cavern was also decorated with spectacular stalagmites, some joining with stalactites to form columns, others strangely shaped with wide, flat tops. Perched precariously on one of these, almost twenty feet above the ground, was a familiar figure.

Ross
Corvath?

Corvath
Oh! By the mists above... Gentlemen!

The scholar looked even more ragged and befuddled than ever, and at the moment, extremely relieved.

Corvath
I'm amazed to find you all alive! I thought it a sheer miracle I myself survived the avalanche, and found my way into these caverns! But that my three travelling companions should survive as well... Well, my friends, it's enough to drive me back to the cloister! If I ever get down from here, that is...

Callen
What the hell are you doing up there?

The thin old man's expression turned somewhat anxious.

Corvath
I've been treed like a cat, in a manner of speaking... I'm afraid we are not alone in the caverns.

Ross
You mean something chased you up there?

They all turned in horror as a sound somewhere between a bark and a roar emanated from the passage to their left. A large creature covered in shaggy grey hair emerged a moment later and shambled towards them. The creature had claws like a bear, but the stooped gait and wrinkled face were those of a giant old man. A pungent odour like rotting fish seemed to cling to it like a second pelt.

Max
What is it?

Ross
Hungry, I think...

They backed away slowly as the creature advanced steadily towards them, grumbling in its throat in a disconcertingly human way. It sniffed the air, drawing in their scents, and opened its mouth to lick its chops, revealing a distinctly predatory set of teeth.

Corvath drew himself towards the opposite edge of his perch and watched the creature with a mix of apprehension and curiosity.

Corvath
It appears similar to the Old Man of the Mountains, called the 'yeti' or 'metohkangmi', said to dwell in certain remote mountain plateaus of the Orient...

Ross
Well, perhaps you could persuade it to go back there!

Max
Speaking of going back...

Callen
We can't, there's no way out, remember? The avalanche?

Corvath
Perhaps one of you should distract it while the others sneak past to the exit.

The yeti turned its head and barked disapprovingly at Corvath, then turned its attention to the food in front of it again.

Ross
Max?

Max
NO.

Callen
You've got the sword!

Max
He's got the claws! And the teeth!

Ross
It's the best we've got. Max, draw your sword. Callen, on the count of three, you and I will go in opposite directions. It can only chase one of us at a time, right?

Max
Unless there's more.

Ross
Positive thinking, Max. All right?

Max pulled his falchion from his belt and held it aloft in front of him. The yeti looked at it somewhat warily, as if it had seen this trick before.

Max
All right. Ready.

Ross
Okay... Count of three, gentlemen... One...

Simultaneously, he and Callen made a break for it, while Max turned and prepared to dash back the way they had come. The yeti simply spread its arms wide and slammed the three of them together in one massive pawful.

Callen, Max & Ross
AAAAH!!!

Max's sword clattered to the ground. The yeti lifted the three men into the air and roared.

Corvath
Oh, dear.

Corvath squeezed his eyes shut. This would not be pleasant to watch...

He heard a sound from the other passage, and then like a second avalanche, a torrent of sand and warm salt water burst forth from the passage. It caught the yeti in the middle of the back, causing it to drop its prey in a heap and stumble forward. It squealed pitiably, and tried to stand, but it was hit by a second blast of water. It tumbled again, rolled over, and then retreated, whimpering, back down the passage from which it came.

Ross blinked the water and sand from his eyes, and for a split second expected to find Nero and the rest of Drakkar's crew standing over him with a bucket, laughing and mocking him for passing out on the deck again. Instead he saw the cave, and three cloaked figures emerging from the shadows.

The hoods of the cloaks were drawn back, revealing three of the most beautiful faces he'd ever seen, framed by cascading blonde, dark brunette, and auburn hair, respectively. Despite the circumstances, he flashed the smile that was considered a dangerous weapon from London to the Barbary coast, and prepared to turn on the charm.

He was stopped short by the appearance of a sword-point millimetres from his Adam's apple. The smile faded.

Ross
Err... is there a problem... m'lady?

The dark-haired woman holding the sword gave him a look he hadn't seen from a woman since his Aunt Agatha died.

"Aye, there is. Fer you," she said in a heavy highlands accent. "Ye're now prisoners of the Clan M'Covee."

Ach! Greit Roobie Burns's Ghost!Our heroes are rescued from the Yeti, only to be taken prisoner by Coven 3G! Will their situation go from bad to worse? Does JR know about any of this? And, for the love of Sean Connery, is JIM actually going to try and write in a Scottish accent?!
[I hope not, I still have scars from Savadini's "Australian"...]

Find out in Part III of...

Next Month!