Tear of Ice

Chapter 4

Nights turned to days as the Ice Solstice crept up. Funnily, we no longer discussed the cloth, other than to keep an eye out for the Kreidd flag. Easier for me, less pressure, making it easier to focus on the passoff. I visited the tear often, getting used to the trek back and forth through the blizzard wall and its shrine. I don't know how well I will be able to sync with it at first, but I know I will be ready.

It’s the winter months, and as the pack prepares to take their defensive posts, today is the day, the Ice Solstice. The one day of the year that Wiesse’s magic plummets, and the steady flow of her energy weakens. The blizzard wall to the shrine of the tear is absent, making the trek back over much less of a problem.

As I came to the shrine, the moon was hanging low, shining with the blood red as it did on that night 10 years ago. I stared at the tear, the usual wisps of frost that naturally surrounded it completely gone. Right now, it was nothing more than a crystallized tear; an accessory at best. But it's the source of everything happening here. Grandma’s death, my inheritance, Lia’s inheritance, and who knows what else. All for this one tear.

My lips tighten into a line from that thought alone.

My gloved hand reaches out and picks it up gently, looking at how the red glow of the moon shines off of it. I gently turn it in my hand and place it back on its pedestal, soon Lifting my hood over my head and stepping back. There was no magical mist, just a simple crystal tear on a pedestal shining by the red moon. This was it.

The Ice Solstice.

“Carmine!” I turn my head in a hurry to find Lia running up to me with an easy smile on her face, skidding to a halt as her paws slide on the icy floor.

“Had a feeling you’d be here.” She bounces and strolls around me, my hand easily petting her.

“Yeah, sorry. I wanted to visit the tear before the day really started.” I kneel gently and ruffle her face as she giggles in my hands, pausing for a moment to look up at the sky and the moon again. Lia turns with me and shakes out her white fur a bit.

“Today’s the day.”

“Yeah,” I reply, “Let’s get back so patrols can begin. Icarus must be losing his mind.” Rising to my feet, I turn to start making the trek back as Lia follows.

“Oh yeah! You should hear him.” She straightens her back and maneuvers her paws in a more strut like fashion. “Lia? Why are you not checking the perimeter of the house? You should go check on the overnight patrol shift. Rose, you have to lay down. Where’s Carmine? Lia, you can’t leave her alone!” Lia attempted to copy her father’s voice, it being far too low and masculine for her to even try to project. It gets a chuckle out of me.

“To be honest, I would be the same way. I guess I’m just more prepared than I thought.” A smile comes to my face as Lia skips ahead of me and wags her tail.

“Then let’s show ’em!” Lia was as ever excited as we trotted our way back, eventually seeing the back of the shack as one of the older wolves turned the corner and instantly rushed for us.

“Where have you two been?” His voice was urgent, causing my foot to step back in the snow.

“Lee? What’s wrong?”

Boom! A sudden sound erupts in the distance. Sharp and piercing and followed by growling and barking. I rush past the corner of the house, finding many of the younger ones of the pack rushing by and into the house. Lia rushes up to my side.

“What was that?” Her voice shook as we looked around the house.

“It must have come from beyond the trail!” Before I could even think, I dashed right ahead.

The usual black barked trees, shimmering and breaking from the force of the repeating sounds of shots. Snow shaking off of their empty branches, weak and brittle. A branch fell before my face, shocking me enough to force me to step back. From behind the tree, a bundle of fur jumps out and skids along the sheet of snow.

“Seff?” My voice croaks out as I regain some semblance of composure.

“You two! Are you alright?”

Lia rushes up to Seff, “Where’s my dad? What’s going on?”

“The blue flags! They’re here! The others are trying to stop them right now! We have to protect Rose and the tear!”

Another shot rings out, making me flinch and Lia jump. But before we can properly react, Lia rushes by and towards the sound of the shot.

“Lia!” Seff calls after her, his voice being ignored by the young wolf.

“Seff, head back to the cabin and protect Grandma. Tell any of the others you find on the way to do the same!” Scrambling to my feet, I rush after Lia, ducking under low hanging branches and turning past trees, climbing over the eroding logs stuck in the piling snow. This can't be happening, this can’t be happening! I barely see Lia, her body stretching in her rush to get to the front lines.

Boom! Another shot, and a weak branch falls in between us. I step back and Lia skids to a halt as she looks back at me. For a moment, our eyes stay connected and I nod to her. She returns it, and dashes off towards the front lines while I lifted my furred hood and made a sharp turn amidst the trees, keeping my head low and running through the trees, until the growling and barking became louder and louder. And I found bodies.

Fluffy bodies of white which appear red from the red glow of the moon, but also because of their blood soaking them. I rush up to all of them. All already long gone. My family, these wolves who watched over me. And before I could even process anything, I heard a rhythmic bounce. Steps, many of them, coming this way.

In the distance, I spot a familiar blue with gold borders and I stop, lowering myself as I hide behind the trees. Spotting numerous men, all armed with some sort of bladed rifle. Much more advanced than the guards of the villages nearby. They wore dusted golden armor, with flecks of blue. They had come, the Kriedd battalion.

“No sign of the Loraine, captain.” A knight spoke.

“All we’ve been running into are these damn wolves! Have we been able to kill any?” One knight stood, his armor more flashy than the rest.

“Yes, Captain. But they’re elusive and seemingly endless in numbers.”

The captain scoffs, gripping his rifle. “We must go deeper into the forest. Alright men, we move forward! For the Creed!”

“For the Creed!” The soldiers chant as well, before beginning to move. Only for a sharp growl and a flash of white to speed by. A soldier falls, knocked into the snow as I follow the blur I know is Lia.

Even now she was always strong, leaping back and forth and using the sheer force of her speed and body to knock around some soldiers, some occasional wisps of ice to keep some of the knights off of her, while I reached to my back and unsheathed my hunting knife. The soldiers attempt to shoot at Lia, their shots ringing out in my ears. Seeing the bullet scrape the snow under her feet, I lept out.

Using the force of my body, I pushed myself against an armored soldier, shoving him over as he fell into the snow. Their screams echo as I rush past them to the commander. I barely catch a glance of a soldier pointing his rifle to me, but before he can shoot he is tackled by my partner. My hunter knife at the ready, I lunge my arm back ready for the attack-

Before a sharp pain hits my head, causing me to fall over. It didn’t take long for the cool feeling of blood to come rushing down my forehead. My arm is taken as my knife is being ripped from my hand.

“Carmine! Ugh!” I hear Lia grunt as well, her growls beginning to rumble through the soldier’s chattering. I struggle against the hand latching onto me. Using the heel of my boot to kick the armor repeatedly.

“Finally. The Wolf Ringer of Neigless forest.” I feel my arm twist behind my back as I eat the snow. The ache in my arm is nearly unbearable as I groan into it.

“Let go of her!” Lia barks out, but it's cut off by another grunt of pain. My arm wiggles and I barely lift my head from the snow. I see the faint drip of blood from my head that falls into the snow as I try to force my way to turn. I hear my arm pop and I screech.

“Now that we have you. Tell us where the tear is.”

“The tear? What tear?” My voice struggles to leave as my chest clenches in pain. Then at that moment a sharp pain to my stomach, my body aching as a nearby soldier kicks me. Coughs leave me and I curl into myself.

“Don’t play coy, Ringer. Many of your pack have already fallen to us. And unless you want to lose more. Talk.”

I kept my silence, thrashing around as much as I could. But the captain kept a firm grip on me. Just then a vice grip took my head and lifted it. As the captain leans down to my face. Finally getting a good look at me, a gasp leaving him.

“Red hair and yellow eyes-”

Before he could finish he grunts out as he is sent flying back by a wave of energy. Wisps of pale blue float around me as I hear a familiar low growl. When I look I see Icarus, feet apart as he growled at the battalion. He sends another ball of energy to the soldiers over Lia, all of them groaning as they are sent flying into trees or into the snow. Instantly, Lia rushes over to her father.

“Icarus!” My voice cracked as I scrambled up to my feet. Before my throat is suddenly caught by the charm on the cloak. My hand grips as I am forcibly pulled backwards. Before falling back, only to see Icarus leap over me and blood to spill over my head.

I’ve always known killing to be a job of the Wolf Ringer to do, to anyone who harms our family and our home. And I always knew that Icarus was never opposed to it. But I never saw it. But when I looked, watched as he bit down and tore skin and flesh from this knight, I couldn't help the tremble in my form. The other soldiers scream, in a panic.

“Fire! Fire!” Rapidly their rifles shot out, Icarus using what little magic of Wiesse he had on this day to create a small wall of ice, before turning and rushing by. “Run!”

We follow after Icarus in a rush as we hear the soldiers follow after us.

“Dad, when did they-” Lia starts.

“Doesn’t matter! They are here now and we need to protect Rose and the tear!”

“Grandma should still be in the house! I haven’t seen her at all this morning and the tear is still on the altar.” Icarus growls in irritation as he uses a small magic charged shot to a tree. It creaks as it falls with a crash into the snow behind us.

“Lia! Go to Rose! Make sure she and the children stay safe!”

“But Dad-”

“You will do as I say!” I see Lia flinch, but comply with a nod.

“Carmine! Go take the tear and run!”

“Run? Where?”

“Anywhere but here! They cannot take any part of Wiesse! I will hold them off here!” He skids in the snow, coming to a halt as he turns to our rear, Lia and I stopping as well.

“Icarus!” I wanted to stop him, to tell him we should stay together, but I couldn't force the words out.

“Go!”

I turn instantly and run, Lia following behind me, trying to ignore the gunshots that rung out and violent barking.

And eventually, when we reached the familiar cabin, I kept running by. My head was spinning, the blunt head pain and the ache in my arm still there, but I made my way back to the ice altar. Reaching forward and grabbing the tear which rested on it, before quickly turning and running. I couldn’t go back to the cabin, if they find it it’ll lead them straight to both Grandma and the tear. Holding the tear close to my chest, I ran south. My best bet was to lay low in the nearby village of Jackal and hide for the rest of the solstice.

But then what? Will they simply give up? Why would Kreidd want Wiesse’s tear when they’ve left this forest alone for so long? It doesn’t matter, they hurt my home and my family. And I know Icarus won’t let them get away with it.

Just a bit farther, I almost see the year round green fields on the horizon of the forest. Once I leave I’ll be fine! Just a bit more-

An excruciating pain rings out in my head. Sharp and unimaginable. My vision flashes and glazes over almost instantly. As I feel my body slam into the ground once more, skidding until my back collides with a tree. My hand rushing to my right eye as I screamed the pain in it was unbearable. I could feel it bleeding, and it coated my glove and the ground.

“Sorry about this, Vassard.” That knight- The captain?

I heard the crunch of the snow as he approached, my hand gripping the tear closer to my chest as I writhe in pain. My eye was pulsating, blood flowing from it’s socket.

“But we need this tear. Loraine or not. Human or not.” Even through my struggles to breathe and keep consciousness. My vision blacking out over and over I recognized the name. I fought against my fading mind as I began to blank out, and my grip over the tear loosen, and all I hear is one last thing.

“For the Creed.”

And in that darkness, as I laid there bleeding in the snow. I felt a cool wave over myself, and the softest of touches to my head. Just like that day 10 years ago.