A Cool Reception
By Hawke Darkblade

Reprinted with permission.
Added 07/19/2002.

The sun was setting over the frozen peaks of the Alphus Range, the chill wind offering no respite from the cold. He knelt on one knee in the hard packed snow, examining the newly made tracks to determine exactly what kind of creature he was dealing with. He had never seen these tracks before, they were made by some new horror that now walked the land of Dereth.

He squinted to the West, towards the dying sun, trailing his eyes along the tracks that led down the mountainside. Sighing wearily, seeing no end to the Evil which stalked the land, he pulled his cloak tighter around him to ward off the chill seeping through his finely crafted Celdon armor. He looked up at his sole companion, standing resolutely by his side.

She stood tightly wrapped in her Hoary Mattakar robe, the cold not affecting her one bit, grinning that impish grin to which he had come to know so many moons ago. The wind picked up her long black hair and blew it straight out behind her, her face not being affected by the frozen wind.

He smiled to himself, and looked back towards the West, pondering how to approach this monster, and what its weaknesses were. "What do you think?" His breath came out in warm trailers from the slit in his helm as he asked his companion and looked back up at her.

"Its your hunt, Hawke, you dragged me up here to put truth to rumor about these giant furballs people sighted in the mountains, and now you ask me what I think?" She chided playfully and giggled.

He laughed heartily, shaking his head in amusement, and stood up, readying his shield and raising his spear. "Fine then," he laughed, "lets just go get this thing head on, and throw caution to the winds."

"Now you're talking!" she shouted, while readying her shield and drawing her sword.

They ran down the mountainside, following the trail, which led towards a frozen forest hidden away in a small valley within the Range.

Suddenly the one track merged with another, and the two warriors stopped short, digging their heels into the snow. They dove for cover behind a large snow-covered boulder, peeking out around it at the fierce sight that lay before them.

Nestled near the forest was a pair of these huge snow-beasts, which stood twice as high as any Mattakar. They had dark fur, and stood out like a beacon against the snow and trees.

He furrowed his brow in confusion, and looked towards his companion. "This can't be their native habitat, they stand out like sore thumbs. Perhaps they are lost?"

"Who cares," she whispered fiercely, "we found them, and now they are going to pay for making me tromp through all this snow and ice."

He rolled his eyes at her with a grin, and she grinned back. "Always the jester, aren't you." He whispered.

"You know it!" She whispered back. "Flanking attack, you go left, I'll go right."

A serious look came over his face, as he thought one thing was for sure, she knew her combat tactics. Raising his shield, he saw her do the same. He motioned towards her with his spear and nodded. They bolted from behind the boulder, taking up flanking positions around the beasts.

The huge creatures were aware of them almost instantly, and roared louder than the waterfalls at Cragstone, as they rushed towards the two warriors. It seemed the beasts were intelligent, as they split up and each charged one of the warriors, so they would not be attacked from behind.

He knew that this would be a challenge, but was ready as the one beast roared towards him, and he dug in, prepared for the crushing blow to hammer into his shield. He wasn't disappointed. The creature, head down, slammed into his shield, bowling him over onto his back. He barely hung on to his spear as the wind was knocked out of him. Opening his eyes after regaining his breath, he barely had time to see two huge tusks lashing straight for his head. He rolled to his side tossing both spear and shield aside so he could freely dodge the creature.

He rolled to his feet just in time to have one of the beast's claws rend the front of his armor, drawing blood. Now he was angry! He snarled back at the creature, seeing his shield and spear on the ground on either side of the beast. Spreading his arms to his side, he prepared to dodge the next attack.

The beast lunged towards him, jaws spread wide, growling loud enough to drown out every other sound around him. Leaping to his left just as the beasts maw were about to close on his leg, he rolled in the snow grabbing his spear, and brought it up just in time as the beast tried to leap on top of him. The creature was impaled through the chest, and dropped lifeless to the ground beside him with a resounding crash.

Quickly he looked around for his companion, hoping she was all right. He saw her, grinning at him, her foot on the head of the other beast, and her sword straight through its skull. "What took you so long?" She asked, and laughed.

"Oh be quiet," he laughed back, and reached to his pack for a bandage. She slid her sword from the beast's head and wiped it clean before sheathing it. She walked over to him and helped him bandage his chest.

"Looks like the armorer at Ayan will be having quite the business tonight." She grinned and chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah." He chuckled back and winced as she tied off the bandage tightly.

"Oh be still you big baby", she grinned, and finished with the bandage. "Can we get out of here now? I want to go see the Giant Spiders that were rumored to infest the Direlands."

"Well if you insist, lets go put another rumor to rest. I'm up for anything, although I will need to make a stop at the armory and repair this damage."

"Ok then, let's go." She said, and began her incantation to summon a portal for them.

As she began her preparations for the portal, He recovered his shield, and removed his spear from the heart of the beast, wiping it clean, wondering where these creatures came from, and what drew them to this part of Dereth. Were there more of these creatures in different areas of the land? Or were they confined to certain types of wilderness. Thoughts for another time, as he was about to go face one of his greatest fears, Giant Spiders. Small ones were bad enough, but Giant ones? Just wonderful, he thought, true nightmares come to life.

The telltale magic sound turned his attention to the newly opened portal, and he glanced towards his companion as she smirked, and stepped into it. He grinned, and followed quickly after, towards the next challenge, and the next adventure.