“Lasgol, with us,” Eicewald said.
Lasgol nodded and hastened to the Mage’s side.
“Don’t move from here,” Eicewald told him.
Sven pointed to the enemy with his sword. “Forward! Attack!”
The first line of soldiers began to advance. A moment later the second line followed, and then, with a coordinated movement came the third. As the three lines advanced, the soldiers yelled war-cries which spread from one end of each line to the other.
Behind the infantry lines, at the same pace, came Sven, Gatik and their men on their mounts.
“We’ll kick those brutes out of our territory!” Sven shouted.
“To the sea with them!” Gatik yelled. “Make them swim back to their continent!”
The soldiers joined their leaders with shouts of defiance against the enemy they were approaching with measured steps.
The magi now followed the soldiers, keeping a prudent distance of twenty paces. Lasgol followed Eicewald. From time to time he looked back to make sure Camu’s tracks were not obvious.
Be careful with your tracks.
I careful.
Don’t interfere in the battle unless I ask you to.
I with you. Defend.
That’s good. Thank you.
Beside him Ona growled, showing that she was ready to stand up to whatever she was confronted with.
Lasgol was grateful in his soul, because he knew it was true.
The war-cries of the Norghanians mingled with the strange ritual chant of the Wild Ones, Dwellers, Arcanes and Semi-Giants, who never interrupted their funereal intonation or moved in the slightest. The chanting grew stronger every moment, thunderous, competing in volume with the shouts of the Norghanians.
Suddenly what Lasgol had been fearing happened.
From the north, into the village, came the Creature of the Frozen Continent.
The Frozen Specter.
They made way for it, and it made its way to the Totem, where the three leaders were still kneeling and intoning the summoning. Lasgol shuddered at the sight. It was even bigger than the last time he had seen it: enormously tall, as tall as a Wild One together with a Semi-Giant. It was not wide, but lean, considering how tall it was. How was it managing to grow? Did this mean it was even more powerful now? It moved as if levitating a couple of paces above the partially snow-covered ground. The spectral face, even bigger now, looked as though it had been frozen in an expression of horror for all eternity. Lasgol saw that its body was still translucent, partly formed of ice and frost. Its color and the look of its body gave the impression of some unusual mixture of Semi-Giant and Arcanes of the Glaciers. He wondered whether such a race really existed, or had ever existed, or whether the creature was simply an abomination whose appearance happened to echo that fusion of races. That it was a creature with power there was no doubt, once you saw how, as it walked, its body gave off a mist that sank to the ground and froze everything it touched.
Danger! Specter! came Camu’s warning. The creature could feel the powerful magic of the being.
Thanks, Camu. Stay hidden and don’t do anything unless I tell you to. This is going to turn nasty very fast.
I alert.
That’s right. And wait for my command.
“The Frozen Specter,” Lasgol said to Eicewald. “It’s grown in size, and I suppose that means in power too.”
The Mage watched the creature in the distance for some time, and shook his head.
“It truly resembles some spectral being, something from a nightmare.”
“What are we going to do?”
“We need to come to within two hundred paces so that the spell reaches it.”
Lasgol nodded, although the idea did not appeal to him at all. Getting close to that thing meant death. He felt it was too close, but he knew that spells failed from any further away.
Concern began to make itself felt among the soldiers. They could see the Specter in the middle of the village, and some of them missed a step at the sight. Even the most daring of the warriors shrank before the icy abomination facing them.
“Keep up the pace!” Sven ordered.
“All together, forward!” came Gatik’s commanding voice.
“Our Ice Magi will take care of the Specter!” Sven assured them, trying to raise their morale.
The soldiers picked up the beat again and shouted at the tops of their voices.
The three leaders of the Peoples of the Frozen Continent stood up and watched as the Specter stopped in front of the Totem. They intoned the chant again and pointed to the enemy forces, which were now a hundred and fifty paces away. The entire army of the Frozen Continent chanted, as one. The Specter watched the three lines of Norghanian soldiers approaching, then without a word or any sound it began to move forward. The line of defenders parted to let it through as it made its way alone toward the Norghanian forces, which it did not seem to fear in the least.
The scene looked unreal. Three thousand Norghanian infantry soldiers were advancing, and the Specter was coming to meet them as if it could deal with them on its own. The Wild Ones, Dwellers, Arcanes and Semi-Giants, without moving from where they were, went on intoning their ritual chant.
Eicewald halted, with his eyes fixed on the creature. “We’re less than two hundred paces away now,” he said.
The five Magi dismounted. Lasgol leapt off Trotter and gave him a pat. Stay close, he transmitted, and followed the Magi, who were forming a circle around Eicewald. Ona followed him as far as the Magi.
Stay here. Don’t move, he transmitted. Ona gave a moan and lay down.
At an order from Eicewald, the five Ice Magi formed themselves into a line. At a second order, they cast a spell at the Specter. Eicewald, in the center, attacked with a powerful Frozen
