The enemy hosts chased after them for days, never stopping. Sven and Gatik forced everyone to keep going until they reached the pass, which they managed to cross before the enemy reached them.
The Peoples of the Frozen Continent did not cross the gorge, but stopped on their own side and turned back.
Lasgol recovered the use of his legs, with Eicewald’s help. With barely any rest, they made their way back to the capital. They needed to report to King Thoran what had happened, and they were all very much aware of what his reaction would be.
They had failed, and they would be made to pay.
All of them.
Chapter 17
“This is outrageous!” Thoran yelled as he rose from his throne. “My army and my Magi defeated!”
Sven, his head bowed, was telling him what had happened in the Frozen Territories. They had just arrived in the capital after days of forced march.
“We came very close to succeeding, your majesty,” Sven added apologetically.
“Very close?” Orten, the King’s brother, retorted with a sneer. He was sitting on the right of the throne. “A defeat is always a defeat, whether close or crushing.”
“The battle went awry at the last moment.”
Thoran, his face red with rage, raised his fists to the heavens. “You left with three thousand soldiers and all my Ice Magi! How could you have failed? How?”
“Your Majesty,” Sven said, “the soldiers fought like brave Norghanians.”
“Then it was the leaders who failed,” Orten said accusingly. He jabbed his finger at Sven and Gatik. “I told you to let me handle it, brother.”
“No. It was their business to deal with it, not ours. We have enough problems without having to deal with this too.”
“Well, they’ve been defeated by a Specter and a few Wild Ones of the Ice,” Orten said. “It doesn’t look to me as though they’ve proven their worth, if anything, the opposite.” He was staring at Sven and Gatik with clear disdain.
“Your Majesty …” Sven said apologetically. “The Specter … we were unable to destroy it … we’d have won if we could’ve killed it.”
“You infernal good-for-nothings! Must I do everything myself?” Thoran’s yells bounced off the walls of the throne hall as though they were echoing, which made them even more unpleasant. The soldiers of the Royal Guard who were standing along the walls shrank back with each yell, as if it were striking their faces.
“Neither steel nor arrows could do anything to that abominable being,” Gatik said. “Only magic had any effect.”
“That’s what he’s already told us!” the monarch shouted. He jabbed his finger behind Gatik at Lasgol, who shrank back in the face of the accusations.
“It’s true that only magic can destroy it,” Eicewald agreed. His gaze was dark, his tone calm but grave.
“Well, it doesn’t seem to have!” Thoran shouted, this time directly at the Ice Mage.
“Your Majesty is right, our magic could not overcome the creature. Nevertheless, it did manage to harm it. This is very significant. It means that we tried the right approach, and our strategy for destroying it was the correct one. The great destructive spell we used was the right one.”
Orten laughed. “The right approach, the cretin says, and he comes back defeated.” He dismissed the Mage with a wave of his hand.
“The only thing that means is that my Magi are a bunch of incompetents!” Thoran added, barking like a mad dog. “Why wasn’t it destroyed? Why?”
“Well, your Majesty …. you see, the type of magic we used as an enhancer for the great spell wasn’t the appropriate one. It didn’t allow us to finish the creature off, even though it let us hurt it, which I insist is a very important fact. If we hadn’t done that there would be no hope of destroying it, but now we have a chance, and we need to take it before the creature becomes even more powerful.”
The reply made Thoran think. He seemed to calm down a little, and sat back on his throne. “Explain yourself, and in a way we can all understand.” He indicated his brother. “No arcane nonsense.”
“I’ll try, your Majesty,” Eicewald stared at the King with his dark gaze. “Yes,” he explained, his voice gentle and unhurried, “the spell we worked was successful, because it weakened the creature. We made it fall, and it was on the brink of being defeated. And yet it recovered, because the type of magic we used to enhance the spell wasn’t the right one. That’s why we weren’t able to destroy it completely, only to hurt it.”
Orten folded his arms. “What a load of nonsense! In that case, use the right kind of magic!”
“That represents a certain added complexity, my lords,” Eicewald said, sounding troubled.
“A problem, you mean, so I understand from your tone of voice.” Gatik said.
Eicewald nodded. “That is so.”
“What problem?” the King asked.
“Allow me to show you something. I think it will clear up a number of doubts.” The Mage took something out of his satchel, wrapped in a white and silver scarf, and Lasgol realized what it was. Eicewald unwrapped it to reveal the Eternal Snowflake, which shone again in all its intensity. The brilliance reached everyone in the throne hall, so that they were forced to squint.
“What’s that?” Thoran asked distrustfully. “Is it magic?”
“It is, your Majesty. This is an object of Greater Power. The magic it possesses is very powerful, and that’s what we used to enhance the spell we cast against the Specter.”
“Is it that object which is lowering the temperature in the hall?” Orten asked.
“That’s right. It has that effect on the area around it.”
“Go on,” the King said. “Explain, before we all freeze.”
“To be able to destroy the creature we need
