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  “I have an idea where we might be,” Yosrick interjected. “The magic of the bracer might just need to be recalibrated. It’s possible we are on the outer surface of Yuez’hite.”

  “Where the Abyss is that, mate?” Arron asked.

  “The Deep Roads are located on the inside of Yuez’hite, a frozen world. The Eternal Hoarfrost overtook this world centuries ago, rendering it uninhabitable. An order of mages expanded and carved out new caverns from an existing cave system where the denizens of this world could live. The few remaining natives surviving on the surface migrated within long ago, leaving the outside to the elements.”

  “An inside-out world? Then we must find a path to the inside,” Arron said.

  “Aye. We’d best start looking before Idrimel’s spell wears off, or we’ll end up like those ice sculptures on Midwinter’s Eve.”

  “Very well,” Idrimel answered. “Anyone have any idea which direction to look in? There look to be mountains off yonder.” She pointed to the darker shapes in the distance.

  Yosrick pulled an orb from one of the many pouches on his large belt. To Idrimel, it looked like a black metallic egg the size of the gnome’s hand, inscribed with a feather pattern. He held it aloft in a hand and incanted. When he finished, the egg popped open as if hinged in the middle. The egg then further unfolded, flattening down and refolding until it closely resembled a small crow. With a faint mechanical sound, like gears on a timepiece being wound, its feathered head turned around to take in its surroundings. The bird fluttered its wings and squawked irritably at Yosrick, apparently unhappy at being roused to face such extreme weather.

  “Get going, you bag of feathers,” the gnome told it. “You don’t feel the cold anyway since you aren’t alive.” He hefted the bird into the air and dropped his hand. The bird reluctantly took to the air with the faint sound of gears, winging up and circling around until it disappeared into the swirling blizzard above them.

  “Nice pet you’ve got,” Nera remarked, seemingly as impressed as Idrimel felt. “A magical construct, obviously, yet artfully crafted.”

  Yosrick cocked his head, his eyes unfocused for a moment. For a long moment, he didn’t respond, but then he looked at Nera and grinned. “Aye, I actually bought it from a smuggler in Grimdark many years ago. I suspect the knave had no idea as to its true value since I got it for a mere pittance. It’s said these birds, used to scout and carry messages, were among the many fantastic constructs the Engineer built during the Planar Wars.”

  “Truly? It looks and acts just like a real bird.” Nera had regained some of her color since stepping into Idrimel’s protective aura.

  Yosrick nodded. “The ancients built many fantastic things during the Planar Wars, some very useful, some incredibly deadly. Most have turned to scrap, but some, as you just saw, are still around today. Amazing that the magic still endures after thousands of years.”

  Nera had a thoughtful expression on her face, as if she wanted to say more but decided against it.

  A few minutes passed while the group stared into the blizzard, fidgeting nervously. Yosrick suddenly took a step away and waved the group after him.

  “This way—the bird has spied a beacon of some sort! It must be the entrance to the Deep Roads.”

  Idrimel followed the gnome, and the others were careful to stay within the perimeter of her protective spell. She just prayed it wouldn’t run out before they could find shelter.

  Chapter 13

  The wind howled with fury and hurled snow sideways outside the warm bubble of Idrimel’s protective sphere. Nera shivered reflexively, wrapped tightly in her cloak, although she was warm as long as she stayed close to the priestess.

  I guess the Solites have their uses after all, she grudgingly admitted. She didn’t want to speculate on what would have happened if the priestess and her brother hadn’t accompanied them. She’d never felt such cold in her life—could never have even imagined it before. We’d be blocks of ice atop that bloody frozen lake, I reckon.

  The group had been walking for a couple hours in a relatively straight line toward a destination only Yosrick could see. Evidently with his magic, he could somehow see what the mechanical crow could. From time to time, the gnome would stop and close his eyes as if seeing from the bird’s view. A moment later, he’d adjust their bearing, and they’d continue onward. She just hoped they would make it underground soon. A glance at Idrimel’s face showed her fatigue. The strain of keeping up the spell was obviously taking its toll on the priestess.

  With the whiteout conditions, the group didn’t have any warning when they left the smooth surface of the frozen lake. One moment they were moving easily on the solid although slick footing, the next they were suddenly plodding in knee-deep snow over uneven terrain hidden below the drifts. Yosrick fell on his face in a drift with a muffled curse. Nera nearly tripped on the gnome before Athyzon could hoist him back to his feet.

  The companions slipped and slid as they proceeded up an incline into what looked to be hills, judging from the momentary glimpses afforded them through the blowing snow. Athyzon walked at the head, near the leading edge of the sphere, blazing a trail through waist-deep snow. Yosrick trailed him, giving directions, and Waresh walked just in front of Idrimel, who was at the center. Endira and Nera trailed, and Arron brought up the rear, alert for any sign of trouble.

  Doubting anything could survive in such frigid conditions, Nera focused all her attention on putting one foot in front of the other. Her thoughts turned again to Malek, as they oft did of late. She wondered if they’d be able to get to him soon enough. He’s been gone nearly a week now, she thought grimly.

  After another half hour had passed, Arron suddenly grabbed her arm. “Hold—eyes to the right!”

  Snapped out of her reverie, she watched in confusion as a snowdrift off to their right suddenly shifted. Two more did the same. At first, she thought it an avalanche, but after a double take, she realized the movement was too irregular. The snowdrifts resolved into huge, white-furred creatures moving in to attack.

  “Yetis!” Yosrick shouted. “Protect Idrimel—if her spell fails, we are doomed!”

  The companions drew steel and readied themselves. The first beast charged at them, snow flying in huge bursts from its massive strides. It stood half again as tall as a man, face obscured by fur save for large red eyes and a dark open maw filled with wicked teeth. It gave a bellowing cry as it plunged through Idrimel’s protective aura, claws as long as daggers raised to attack.

  Athyzon stepped in front of the beast. “For Sol’s glory!” he cried. He raised his greatsword for a mighty blow.

  The beast’s claws raked his mail, knocking him aside, but his sword came around and cleaved into the yeti’s thick hide on its back. It roared and backhanded Athyzon, knocking him from his feet into a snowdrift outside the sphere. The yeti snarled and pounced at the paladin.

  Two more yetis charged in behind it, and Nera lost sight of Athyzon. Waresh buried his axe in the second yeti’s knee, nearly cleaving its leg off. The creature roared and collapsed on top of the dwarf like an avalanche. Yosrick slammed his warhammer into its back. Bone crunched, and the creature squealed.

  The last yeti went for Idrimel, who held her shield up protectively but made no move to fight, instead focusing on maintaining her spell. Her face was creased with the strain of holding the spell preventing them from freezing to death.

  Arron stepped in front of the priestess to meet the yeti’s charge. He drove his short sword into the beast’s gut and quickly withdrew, ducking its swiping claws. Blood leaked from its wound, staining its white fur a bright crimson. Nera unleashed a pair of daggers at its face. The first lodged in the thick mane of fur covering its neck while the second pierced its right eye.

  The yeti wailed in pain and rage. It leaped at Nera. She dodged backward, narrowly avoiding its massive claws. She slashed with Lightslicer and took a chunk of meat out of the yeti’s forearm. The beast rushed her, and Nera slid in the snow, slippin
g several feet back down the slope. She managed to stay on her feet, but the sudden blast of cold and wind told her she had left the protective aura. Her hands instantly started going numb around the hilt of her dagger, and she began shivering involuntarily.

  “Damned cold.” She knew she was affected disproportionately by the cold due to her innate gift of fire resistance. “Why couldn’t this be some balmy lava flow?”

  The yeti hunched down to launch itself at her again, but Arron attacked its leg. His short sword flicked out and hamstrung the beast. The yeti collapsed on its knees, and Arron drove his sword and dagger into its back at nearly the same instant.

  Nera forced her numb legs to move and sprinted back up the slope. Bedlam Judge was in her hand before she realized it, and she buried it in the struggling yeti’s throat. The creature fell over, and crimson spread out around it, soaking into the snow.

  The protective aura was a welcome relief. She had only been outside for seconds yet knew she would have been incapacitated by the cold in no time at all. The others had the situation well in hand. Athyzon and Endira were standing over a fallen yeti, the paladin’s greatsword buried nearly to the hilt in the beast’s chest. Blood rolled down the elf’s slender arm blade. Waresh had managed to pull himself from beneath the last yeti’s bulk, and he and Yosrick were alternately chopping and pounding away at a bloody mound of fur.

  “That should about do it, fellas,” Nera called.

  Arron clapped her shoulder. “Well struck, Sister.” His eyes fell on Bedlam Judge, and he raised his eyebrows. “Where’d you come upon that?”

  “Oh, I paid that fat bastard Rollo back for selling us out. And for… well, I thought you’d been killed, so I made sure the payback was enough. As for this—it was among his possessions, and I found myself in need of a second dagger to pair with Lightslicer.”

  She hurriedly sheathed the dagger, trying to ignore the queasy feeling in her gut that it brought. Strangely, she hadn’t noticed it until Arron drew her attention to the blade. What does that bode for me if I stop noticing the effects of that fell blade? She didn’t want to ponder that thought for long, and luckily she didn’t have to.

  “We must continue on with all haste,” Athyzon announced, concern in his voice. “My sister’s strength is waning from keeping up the spell.”

  Idrimel looked exhausted, but she waved her brother’s helping hand away. “I can continue for a while, Brother, so long as we don’t tarry. How far is this beacon your bird found?” she asked Yosrick.

  The gnome raised his visor and tugged on his straggly beard. “Perhaps half a mile or so. But it’s up over these hills a ways. The path will be difficult.” He pointed in the direction they had been going before being attacked.

  “Let’s keep going, then. The sooner we’re out of this damned cold, the better.” Nera started off in the direction Yosrick indicated.

  “Shall we skin one of these yetis and take its hide, Sister? It’ll keep you warm against this bitter cold.” Arron regarded her with a straight face.

  “Do you jest? Who’d want to carry a smelly, itchy hide like this around?” She wrinkled her nose at the thought.

  “Might keep ye from freezin’, lass,” Waresh added.

  Nera snorted. “According to the gnome, we’ll be there before we could get the damned thing skinned anyway. And I’d never get the stink of it outta my clothes.”

  Arron shrugged. “Was worth a try, anyway.”

  Waresh chuckled, and Nera could only shake her head. She eyed one of the bloody carcasses as they continued up the slope. I sure hope Idrimel’s spell doesn’t run out before we get there, or I may have to eat my words.

  The hard slog through the hills took them over half an hour, from what Nera could tell. Trudging through the snow and trying to keep from slipping and sliding took its toll, and she was exhausted by the time they saw the beacon. She and Arron were the only ones that had managed to keep their footing the whole way, and everyone was in a foul mood from the frequent spills and the tough trek.

  A glow glimpsed through the swirling blizzard for some minutes finally resolved itself into a steadily burning flame, which Nera guessed was magical, atop a tall stone monument. The mouth of an open tunnel was located in its base, partially blocked by a twenty-foot-high snowdrift against the side of the tower.

  Idrimel finally released her spell after a brief warning. The priestess was worse off than Nera felt, her brother having supported her for the past few minutes. She sagged, and Athyzon pulled her toward the tunnel, her feet dragging tracks through the snow.

  Nera and the others ran the last few paces, eager to be out of the biting wind. The tunnel extended a dagger’s toss, where it ended at an iron portcullis. A large brazier burned merrily on the other side. The companions crowded up against the portcullis, trying to warm themselves. Nera stuck her hands through the bars, letting the flames caress her hands for a moment, while leaning in as close as she could get to the heat. A few minutes passed, and her eyelids grew heavy.

  A loud squawk sounded from behind them, rousing Nera. She turned and watched Yosrick’s bird fly down from out of the blizzard, gliding smoothly into the tunnel. The gnome held up his hand, but the bird stubbornly ignored him, sailing past him and choosing to land on Nera’s horn instead.

  Startled, she almost swatted the bird away, but it leaned forward and tilted its head with a soft clicking sound and peered into her face. She could see herself reflected in its shiny black eye.

  “What do you want, featherbrain?” she asked. “Return to your master.”

  The bird bobbed its head several times and adjusted its position, scooting back on her horn. She felt it gently pecking at her hair.

  Endira laughed. “It seems to like you, Nera. Amazing how cunningly crafted it is.”

  Nera reached up and gently touched the bird, afraid it might bite her, but it didn’t. It was icy cold to the touch, which surprised her although she knew it shouldn’t since it was merely a metal construct, yet it seemed so much like a living animal. Its feathers were smooth to the touch instead of silky.

  The crow tolerated her stroking for a moment before squawking again. It shuffled forward on her horn and pecked at the small gemstone dangling from the earring she had mounted on the tip of her horn.

  “That’s enough, you,” Yosrick grumbled. He reached out and grabbed the crow, which squawked in irritation. He spoke a magical incantation, and the bird metamorphosed into the egg once again. He returned it to its pouch and gave Nera an embarrassed smile. “Fool bird has a mind of its own, I’m afraid. Never seen it take a liking to anyone before, I must admit. Apologies about that.”

  Nera couldn’t keep a grin off her face. “No harm. Interesting creature, that one.” If that is among the least of the Engineer’s creations, what would the greatest be like?

  “Oi! Anyone inside there?” Waresh bellowed. He banged his mailed fist on the gate, creating a loud clanging noise.

  A door in the side of the tunnel opened with a screech, and a bleary-eyed dwarf stepped into the hallway. “Who be making all that damned racket?” He stepped up to the gate and gawked at the party. “Where in the Abyss did all of ye come from?” He yawned, the powerful stench of ale on his breath.

  “We came from out in that bloody blizzard! Where the shite ye think we came from?” Waresh glared at the other dwarf.

  “I never seen anyone come in from out there, afore, that’s all. Just some critters and such, but those tend to stay out there. Never had no trouble at this post.” The dwarf hitched up his belt and stood straighter as he regarded them. “Sure look like a suspect bunch. How’d ye all not freeze yer sacks off out there?”

  “We have some business to attend to, my good dwarf,” Arron said smoothly, stepping up beside Waresh. He tossed a silver piece through the gate. “And it’s colder than a yeti’s arse out here—what say you let us through?”

  The dwarf snatched the coin with practiced ease and pocketed it in one smooth motion. “Why didn’t ye
say ye had business earlier?” He gave them a grin that was missing a couple teeth. “Come on inside, mates!”

  The lock sounded gritty from disuse as the dwarf wrenched the key, and Nera was afraid the key would snap. After a few moments of cursing and wriggling, the dwarf finally got the lock open with a grinding clunk. The unused hinges squealed loudly when he hauled on the gate. With Waresh pushing, they were able to muscle it open.

  “Welcome to Grimdark, me friends!” the dwarf announced with another smile.

  Chapter 14

  The companions stared in wonder at the organized chaos that was Grimdark, the primary city in the Deep Roads. They stood upon a broad landing at the top of a staircase extending from the mouth of the entry tunnel down to the floor of the cavern.

  The entire town of Grimdark could’ve fit inside the Nexus foundry, Nera imagined. The settlement nearly filled the entire cavern, buildings and shacks clustered together and covering every square foot of available ground space, but it was also built upward. Ledges and caves were carved into the sides of the main cavern, and rickety shanties perched precariously like frightened people about to be forced to jump off at spearpoint. Ladders and catwalks crisscrossed the cavern, and lifts and nets moved goods up and down the town.

  Across the cavern at the same level, she watched a porter cry out a warning before heaving a large bundle over the edge of a catwalk. The package landed in a net six stories below, where another porter, a wiry green-skinned creature that she took to be a goblin, scurried onto the net and dragged it free, narrowly avoiding the next bundle dropped.

  Thankfully, the cavern was warm and humid, and Nera was able to unwrap her cloak so she could thaw out her chilled bones a bit. The smell of smoke and livestock permeated the space.

  “Ah, the stench brings back memories, eh?” Arron said. “Why don’t we find a tavern and take a load off for a while?” He leaned with his elbows perched against the railing as he took in the sight beside Nera.