Chapter 61: CONSPIRACY OF RAVENS

You are not alone.

The final words were still clear as he rolled to feet, wheeling to face the widening chamber behind him. Once again, his hands on the hilts of the Raven Talons brought no reaction. No screaming bloodlust within his mind.

He tugged gently at the blades readying them as he expected he would need them soon. The steel refused to budge in the sheaths. As hard as he pulled, they would not release themselves from their holsters. Risens cursed the blades internally for their difficulty. They were decisively useful and a deadly addition to his already lethal armament, yet now they refused to comply.

The voice had confirmed that he had thought was implausible. This ravine must somehow be connected to the Roost. The doors he’d unlocked previously were done with skills and thought. He was delivered here. Saved again from the clutches of certain death by an unseen hand.

The trials he had faced in the Roost, while painful and frustrating had been meant to test his mind. His repeated failures in the resulting trials had been met with pain, scrapes.and bruised to his body and ego. The ominous voice that had thundered in his mind revealed that this would be different. Failure here would mean one thing.

Death.

Again, he had been granted another Brand and with it another mystery to unravel. Each had been cryptic, leaving him wanting for the description burned into the pages of the Raven’s Guide.

Even more so, this time he wanted a return to the Roost itself. This quest, the task to murder the Warlord had tested him in ways he’d never expected. He had yet to understand how his life would change with his return to the castle, though one thing was certain. He would need far more caution moving forward.

He anticipated that his private wing of the castle and all of it amenities would soon be lost to him. His immediate future held far too many questions that he had no answers to.

Forgoing the talons for the steel blades, he felt a measure of reassurance with the weapons in his hands. Stalking along the tiled path, the sounds of movement grew louder. The noises echoing off the walls sounding like footsteps breaking through the icy layer that forms when rain falls on fresh snow. He could see no movement through the gloom in the canyon, yet the sounds persisted.

A few meters further, he noted the first discrepancies in the dust on the stone.Stretching across much of the space between the walls, his footfalls disappeared as a wide slash disturbed the layer that had settled. He stopped as he reached the first kneeling down to inspect the disturbance.

Like something was dragged across the clearing there were clear signs of movement in the dust, as if something had been dragged from right to left. Crouching he placed his hand on the mark, finding it surprisingly cold to the touch. The sounds of movement stopped .

Alarm flooded Risens’s senses as silence surrounded him. He glared into the shadows of the crevice watching for any sight of movement. He heard the quick whisper of motion, almost like the noise of a rapid gust of wind. A shadow darted over the dimly lit floor.

Diving to his side he felt the wind of something hefty moving with terrifying speed past where he had just crouched. He felt the ground tremble underfoot as the violent snapping sound of ice shattering filled the ravine. The sting of fragments of something sharp peppering his back and side.

Rolling to his feet he was met with a sight that sent a shiver down his spine. Dragging across the tiles was what looked to be massive blade made entirely or ice. Cracks spidered out through the cloudy blade. What was once likely a smooth razor’s edge was now serrated from the impact. He felt the rumble underfoot as the full creature stepped into view in the dim light.

Over the years, Risens had fought and defeated soldiers, warriors, assassins and mages. He’d battled the ancient sentinels, deconstructing their deadly mechanisms. He’d hunted beasts, yet the creature that loomed before him was entirely foreign. His gaze tracked upward as he took in the sheer scale of monstrosity that loomed over him.

The creature profile was crudely human in appearance thought was where the similarities ended. It stood hunched forward with what looked to be spines stabbing up from the top of its back. The monster was immense, towering easily three times his height with a torso easily five meters wide. It stood on disproportionally squat legs that had no definitive feet, merely widening into a narrow ring as if the incredible weight crushed down on the stumps for legs. The blade that had sought to end his life was merged with body, an extension of the arm itself. It’s other limb ended in a massive hand, currently balled into a fist as it slammed into the ground, where he had just crouched.

He cursed as he sprang back again, narrowly dodging the slash from the jagged icy blade. This was not a creature of flesh or of steel but a twisted amalgamation of ice, rock and shards of trees. The texture of its skin was jagged with broken ends of trees and stone protruding from the ice. In his horror, he realized that mingled in with the rest were gnarled limbs of men. It was as if the entire creature had been cobbled together from the scraps of the avalanche that had swept him off the mountain pass.

Beyond the rough irregular texture that covered its body, the head had only two distinct shadowed sockets where the eyes should be. Darting forward, he charged under the next heavy fist that swung in his direction, diving between the squat legs, slashing out with both of his blades as he passed beneath the colossal creature. His attack had little effect beyond chipping off some shavings of ice. It did however illuminate a sight that turned his stomach. Deep within the clear ice of the inset eyes, a pair of faces stared back at him, each frozen into their pained expressions of death.

There was no confusion as to their identity.

Orio and Feylen glared at him, their hatred lingering beyond the end of their lives.

Seeing the trivial effect of his blades, the a sense of frustration surged within his body. His blades would be of little use against the ice and stone. The skills he’s acquired, the Shadows Shroud that covered his skin would do nothing to stop its attack. The Raven’s Talon’s had abandoned him in his time of need. Dodging beyond the reach of the ice blade, he attempted to still the creatures wrath using his best imitation of the commanding voice that rang in his ears.

Compared to the ominous voice, the sound that issued from his lips was weak and hollow. Unsurprisingly, the creature paid him no mind, leaping disturbingly high in the air with its stubby legs. The sinking feeling that opened in his stomach threatened to swallow him whole. The skills he’d earned through trials were meaningless here. The abilities earned over a lifetime of training would only extend the battle. He could chip away at the body, hacking off chucks of ice and stone in the process, yet he saw no obvious areas of weakness.

In the first few moments he had been forced into a position of was permanently defensive. Risens knew intrinsically that even as agile as he was, his endurance would fade long before the creature’s. There would be no second chances if he failed this test, only death.

Shielding his eyes from the spray of icy shrapnel he sprinted toward the wall of the canyon as the monstrosity crashed to the ground. It had struck out with the entirety of its body as it slammed to the ground aiming to crush him beneath its enormous frame. Its attacked had provided the glimmer of an opening. Planting his feet against the smoothed face of the mountain he coiled his legs before springing back toward the beast as it worked itself back off the tiled floor.

His foot found easy purchase on a protruding stone on the back of its upper arm. Using the broken section of a log sticking from its shoulder he vaulted onto the creatures spined, hunched back. Stabbing one of his daggers into the ice, he stabbed repeatedly into the base of the creature’s neck. The flurry of ice that scattered around him raised his hopes that one chuck would provide an opening to something vital within.

Risens abandoned his frantic attack, bracing himself between the icy spines as the abomination reached its feet. Like a dog ridding the water from off its coat it shook violently. He strained his muscles struggling to maintain the constant pressure with his legs while retaining hold on his blades that dug into the ice.

His legs were the first to give out as his feet slipped on the ice. The blades tenuous purchase in the ice held for a moment before failing spectactularly. He clenched the muscles in his core as he was slammed brutally between the spines. 

Risens had been sore when he’d awakened to find himself at the bottom of the ravine, now every fiber of him throbbed from the abuse. He’d somehow managed to maintain his position on the back of the beast yet with every twist of its massive back he regretted the foolish attempt. He’d chopped several chunks from it’s neck but nowhere near enough to do any significant damage. Clearly not enough to slow the raging beast down.

Contemplating an exit from the back of the monstrosity he considered his fleeting options. Alighting from the creature was abt best a risky process. The creature maintained a speed that far exceeded anything he’d anticipated. Even if he managed to land precisely on the ground, the deadly blows had nearly been the death of him already. A fall from the back.of the colossal creature would be lethal.

Unfortunately, it was the beast that forced his decision. Before he could time a leap from its back, the monster lurched backward toward the nearest ledge. The spires of ice that had painfully prevented his fall moments earlier again proved useful as he used them to scramble up as the wall of stone rushed toward them. The pillars crushed under the force ringing through the ravine like the sound of shattering glass.

Reaching the shoulder of the monstrosity he sought his chance for freedom and success. If he could blind the creature, perhaps he could buy the time he needed to determine the manner to destroy the creature. There was no hope on the creatures back.

Digging one of his blades into the ice on the side of its head he stabbed at the eye with the other. The failure of his plan was as rapid as it was painful as the massive hand swatted bis from the face as if her were nothing more than a fly. There was no chance to retain his grip on the dagger stuck into the ice, the other slipped from his hand as he slammed into the ground. His left arm went limp as the bones in his shoulder snapped upon impact. His vision spun as his back and then head rebounded off the sheer wall of the cliff.

Risens had no time to recover or consider his next steps as the monster grabbed collected him from where he’d come to a painful stop. Hoisting him up by his feet it held him out in from of its body, cocking its head as it appeared to appraise him.

The frozen faces of Orio and Feylen looked as if they were laughing at his failure and incoming death.