Chapter 62: ALONE NO LONGER

Risens wanted nothing more than to stab out the eyes that glared at him from within the sunken eye sockets of the monstrosity. One of his arms hung limp, the other was unarmed. The talons had abandoned him and remained sealed into their sheaths. All of his skills now amounted to nothing. He could curse at the beast in the voices of any he could recollect though he could do nothing to defend himself or attempt to fight back.

Hanging upside down in the grip of the colossal beast of ice he was helpless. Clenching the muscles of his core he lifted his body up as the jagged icy blade slashed under where his body. The tug of the serrated blade as it caught in the cape of his cloak dragged his body downward as it passed. He only had the time to shift his body to the side to avoid the strike that would have cleaved him in two.

Risens screamed aloud as the icy blade slashed deep into his right side. The sword tore through flesh, breaking the ribs in its path while the freezing edge did nothing to numb the pain. What cooling was left in its wake was quickly overwhelmed by the warmth of the blood that poured from the deep incision.

Inverted, hanging by his feet, the crimson ran across his face, dripping from his head to the floor below. His eyes, unfocused by the pain stared up at the head of the icy beast that would be his demise. The irony wasn’t lost on him. He’d been saved from the grips of the frozen avalanche only to now die at the hands of its frozen abomination. He wanted to curse at it in frustration, to scream at it to end his misery though he wasnt willing to give in. Far overhead, circling in the clear blue gap in the crevice, a pair of tiny birds circled.

The dead eyes of the assassins who’d failed to kill him, who’d failed the King in not bringing about his demise were rejoicing in his destruction. As in life, he refused to allow them to succeed in death. He refused to give in, regardless of how hopeless, or pointless resistance was.

Risens was granted the powers of the Brands, more than any he’d heard of for a reason, albeit, one that he was unaware of. He could care less about the supposed effort that the ominous voice had referred as being spent on him. He cursed the similar words that had flowed from Fendri’s mouth as he set him on the quest that was to see to his death. The costs of his training, or his Branding were his to bear and no one else’s.

His current skills had failed him. They were irrelevant to the task at hand. The very thought of the idea sparked a new life in his mind. Every test he’d accomplished had been directly correlated to the skill provided. He’d already received the Brand though the understanding of what its purpose was lost in confusion and pain.

The Raven. 

It was the key to everything. The one thing that bound everything together.

The minute circling shapes of the birds resolved into focus. They were silhouettes he would recognize anywhere. The ravens above were not there as merely spectators to the tragedy that was to befall. How the connection blossomed in his addled mind w as uncertain, yet he knew intrinsically that their was far more they had to offer. Straining to hold his head forward he called out to the bird high above.

The sounds that issued from his mouth seemed to resonate through his entire form. They were a foreign, inhuman cackle yet he understood the message clearly.

It was a call for help.

A plea for assistance.

It was only a moment before an answer floated down from above. The echoing of the call bouncing off the stone walls paused the attack that was meant to end his life. Without warning the beast released his hold on Risens legs sending him crashing to the ground. There was no controlling his descent, no rolling to diffuse the weight of the impact. Tears formed in his eyes as he came down on this limp arm, ending it at an impossible angle.

As if he no longer existed, the monstrosity had diverted its entire attention to something above. Risens struggled to lever work his body off the ground. His left arm was crooked and entirely useless. The deep gash poured blood from his side and the shattered ribs made taking anything more than shallow breaths excruciating. Hanging upside down, the blood had soaked his upper body, now it reversed course oozing over his stomach and legs.

The pair of ravens screamed as they dove at the beast. Small enough to slip through the icy fingers and nimble enough to avoid the wild slashes of the jagged blade they went directly for the vulnerable portion of the beast with far more success than he had.

With precision accuracy and timing they harried the monster in an impressive show of coordination and ferocity. Using their beaks they pecked violently at the eyes of the creature before darting away while to other swooped in to strike again. In only a matter of moments, the abomination of ice and stone was blinded. Streaks of crimson leaked down over the ice, streaking from the disfigured faces of the assassins sent to kill him.

Where the blood drained over the ice, the effects were immediate as they were dramatic. The violent hiss of steam filled the crevice. Like a crevice left over a flame, it increased as the crimson spread. Risens hobbled back a few steps as the beast fell to its hands and knees. This time the force of its weight was too much for the solid structure of the arms to bear.

As it pressed down the arms failed, splattering out like a rock dropped onto a pile of slush. The imposing figure that had nearly sealed his fate when limp,, the snow melting into water and then steaming away before his eyes. In what seemed like only a matter of breaths since he’d been dropped to the tiles, the deadly creature was reduced to nothing more than loose bits of flotsam, chucks of stone and limbs that had been caught in that avalanche.

With the beats gone, Risens concern shifted to the next deadly implication. His clothing as was much of his body was im tatters. His excess gear and his supplies had been lost in the avalanche. With his working arm he patted at his breast pocket, relieved to feel the familiar wright and outline of the compact Raven’s Guide that he carried on his person. His pocket that normally carried a vial.of the healing salve had been torn open, its life-saving contents lost somewhere in the snow and ice.

With only one working arm, there was little he could do to cut the fabric of his tattered cloak of tie a section around him to staunch the flow of blood. He winced as his best option was to merely press his right arm against the wound as hard as he could. It was a pathetic effort, yet his only option lm at the moment.

The call of the ravens refocused his addled mind. The pair that had come to his aid circled a few meters above his head. As he watched, one broke from the pair, flapping rapidly toward the narrowing end of the ravine. He felt the talons of the other as it gripped onto his right shoulder. It offered a few beats of its wings, a seemingly trivial action, yet Risens’s feet moved as it propelled by the force of its action. The grip was startlingly familiar, though this time seemed more gentle than the memory seared into his mind. It was unmistakable.

It had been talons of ravens that had gripped his shoulders and arms when the avalanche had pulled him from the pass. It was they who had brought him here. That they were leading him again, he was certain. His feet stumbled as they moved through the rapidly drying wet stain where the monster had melted. The pressure on his shoulder increased as if the single bird was holding him aloft. The angry hissing of the ice turning to steam had ceased. Small tendrils of steam still curled away in places as he passed.

He’d only made it a few steps when the second raven rejoined the first. The pressure of its talons on his shoulder was dizzying. The intensity of the agony that lanced through him nearly cost him his footings it latched onto his opposite arm. Like its partner at his opposite side, it flapped its wings a few times, dramatically lightening the load on his wavering steps.

Risens world grew cold as he was usher along the tiles with the assistance of his avian companions. The further they walked the less weight his feet could bear, yet still they held him aloft. His vision was blurred and chis had wracked his body by the time that reached the unpaved charred stone circle at the center of the end of the ravine. Leading him to the center of the blackened mark, they lowered him gently to the ground before hopping from his shoulders to the paved ring outside that bordered the curiously unpaved section. With what looked like bow, both dipped their bodies, they long beaks nearly touching the floor. With a call, each pumped their wings, circling as they climbed into the heights above.

Deposited in his knees, Risens could do nothing but focus on his shallow breaths while struggling to keep pressure on the gaping would across his side. He was failing miserably at both. A wave of nausea brought him rolled through him. Bending at the waist he toppled forward. With one arm limp and useless and the other straining to staunch the flow of blood from his side, there was nothing to prevent him from sprawling out in the center of the burned stone.

With his right arm pinned under him and his left laying crooked and useless at his side, the pool of blood quickly spread out around him. He cursed his foolishness that had led him to this point. He never should stopped to deal with the assassins that hunted him. Perhaps then it would have been they alone who perished in the avalanche. As quickly as the thought flashed into his mind he wrote it off. He was meant to be here. He was meant to obtain the skills, the next Brand.

He had failed the test.

He would die here.

Alone in a forgotten, hidden corner of the mountains.

Alone no longer. This has ever been a test of desperation. Always too soon. This is never more true than it is this day. You have survived and may now count yourself among the lucky one. Your blood is now conjoined on this hallowed ground.

The thundering voice reverberated through him, shaking every fiber as it passed. An unexpected weight had pinned him down, as the words boomed in his ears. Through the fog of haze at the farthest corner of his vision a shape moved. Nothing more than a shadow blotting out the light above, but one he desperately sought to witness. He had no strength left in his body. The muscles in his arms had failed him. Even his neck refused to respond to his calls to move.

The chill that had settled broke under the the force of his words. Like rays of the sun clearing the mists of the morning the warming moved through him. Where the heat passed, the throbbing irritation from the fall ebbed. The wicked gash spilling his lifeblood of the cold stone stitched itself together as if sewn by the hands of a master healer. His breaths came again in deep gulps as his ribs stitched themselves back together. From where he lay awkwardly on his face he could see his arm twist awkwardly as it set itself back into place. In the absence of pain the confusion that had muddled his senses faded.

The shadow disappeared from the corner of his vision the moment before he jolted himself upright.