"Sol, bakana."
"Kud tâti, Serki?"
"Dugg, Forstrang, ra Havaldr lu zayara."
Sol ran a hand over her face and slowly opened her eyes, squinting in the sunlight while her gaze wandered from the grey bearded dwarf who'd woken her, over toward the men still working on repairing the waggon, and then up toward the sky to gauge the time. Over three hours had passed since the trio wandered off, following the trail left by another small company travelling the Trollshaws, one which had seemingly been attacked on the very road they themselves were now using to escort a trading caravan south.
A long string of dark curses were muttered as Sol reluctantly climbed to her feet. Having spent the downtime wrapped in a warm blanket and napping with her back to a tree trunk, she was not the least bit amused by going hunting for the wayward men.
"Dara, how's that fucking axel coming along?" she called over to the Bree-lander lying under the waggon, and limped over to the fire to see if her clothes had dried yet.
"Almost done, Sol. It's about as good as we can get it without a forge," the man called back, something which made Serki scoff.
"Meanin' it's goin' to be needin' repairs again within a week…" the dwarf muttered.
"Ja, but not much else we can do about it out here, is there?" Sol grumbled, fiddling with her belt and slipping her heavy war axes into their loops, "Just have to get the fucking thing moving again so we can get away from this shite place with its shite roads and no fucking bridges anywhere…"
"Aye, aye… You think those lads are all right? Want me comin' with you?" Serki asked, his brow furrowed in a stern frown while he watched her limp around. As the doctor of the company he had plenty to say about straining injuries and making them worse, but had also quickly learned that trying to get such information through Sol's thick skull was a fool's errand.
"Bah, the boy's probably found an ancient shed or some other shite he needs to study from every angle and they lost track of time," she replied while untying her giant, ill-tempered mountain goat and swinging herself into the saddle, "I'll have them back here soon enough. Get the gear packed up and have the others ready to move, ja?"
"Aye, will do, lassie," the dwarf said and stepped out of the way as Sol nudged the goat into a trot and set off north along the river bank.
Gazing up at the tall, looming pillars framing the stone stairway which lead off into the cliffside, the very same one the men's trail ended at and she would now have to climb, Sol thought of many, many choice curses to use. As she slid down from her goat's broad back and landed on her wounded ankle, she decided to curse trolls first, hissing profanities through gritted teeth while hopping around to the animal's head and giving him very clear instructions.
"You're coming inside when I call for you," she snarled and pointed toward the foreboding entrance. The goat snorted and tossed his massive head.
"Jotunn… up the fucking stairs and come find me when I call for you, or I will make you watch as I roast and eat your fucking legs one by one," Sol threatened, the sentence sounding more like aggravated growling than anything else. She had never been sure if the goat could understand what she said, or if he simply took note of the tone used and figured that it was safest to behave himself. Whatever the case, the animal stood still and waited obediently when Sol let go of the reins, rummaged through the saddlebags for a torch, and then slowly started the steep climb.
She hadn't gotten more than half way up the stairs when she had to light the torch. There was nothing natural about the pressing darkness, even if the entrance had been in the shadow of the cliff some daylight should have been able to light the passage. But there she was, holding a blazing torch above her head and still she couldn't see more than ten strides in front of her. As she reached the top of the stairs, a gust of wind sweeping through the tall passage created an almost human wail.
"Oh, for fuck's sake… You'd have to be right fucking daft to think going in here was a good idea…" Sol grumbled to herself and limped onward, cursing Dugg next. While she was at it she muttered darkly about the other two as well, even as things started to move just at the edge of her vision, causing her to turn her head only to look at the bare rock around her. Sol stopped and licked her lips, staring at the darkness and smelling the air. There was nothing there. Her otherwise so sharp senses felt muted in this place, but she was certain that whatever skulked in the corner of her eye was a trick. Or at least that is what she told herself that as she continued walking, the hairs standing up at the back of her neck when another wailing wind blew past and chilled her to the bone.
It was Havaldr she stumbled upon first. The young man lay in the middle of the dark passage, sprawled on his face and half naked with his clothes strewn out behind him.
"What in the actual fuck…" was all Sol could think of mumbling as she knelt down beside the man, took a hold of his shoulder and rolled him over. His skin was freezing cold and he had a nasty wound straight through his foot that was bleeding quite a bit, but he was breathing steadily. Yet he didn't wake as she shook him, nor when she shouted down at him, not even after she had given him a hard slap across the face.
"You fucking idiot boy… See what your damned curiosity has gotten you into? If the others are dead I'll fucking kill you…" Sol growled under her breath while she tore a sleeve off Havaldr's discarded shirt and bound his foot with it. Not wanting to leave him there, she pulled the lanky young man onto her shoulder, gathered up the rest of his clothes and tossed them over him, then continued into the ruin in search of the other two. Her pace became more hurried as worry gnawed at her and she limped along as fast as her ankle would let her, but stopping every time a faint sound reached her from whatever lay ahead. Most times she thought she heard growling, muffled and distant as if coming through a door or a wall. Though when she strained to hear it clearer, maybe gain some clue as to what manner of beast it was making the noises, the sound faded again and silence enveloped them.
"This place isn't right… You can fucking feel the magic, you damned fool! Why did you go in here!?" Sol bellowed at the unconscious Havaldr, glaring at his backside as he hung motionless over her shoulder. Not so surprisingly he didn't answer her, and she pressed onward, holding the torch at arm's length ahead of her.
Finally there was light in the distance, faint and cold, but Sol hoped it marked the end of the passage. More tall pillars started taking shape out of the darkness, slowly a large circular cavern opened up and there was daylight. It spilled in through a hole in the cave ceiling, lighting a small, eerily beautiful grove of bare trees and bushes Sol could just see beyond the stonework. She didn't go to investigate it though, tempting as it were to step out of the pressing gloom, for the light had also revealed two slumped shapes by the cavern wall. It was Forstrang and Dugg, the northern brute lying on his side several strides away from his dropped weapons, and the much smaller man leaned forward on his knees with his forehead against the ground, both unmoving.
"Don't be fucking dead… don't be… don't…" Sol mumbled as she dumped Havaldr and the torch near the men and grabbed hold of Dugg's collar, pulling his head up off the ground and tracing the cold skin on his throat for a pulse. She gave a sigh of relief when she found it and moved her hand to force one of his eyes open only to be met by an empty, dead stare.
"Duggie, are you in there? Dugg! Damn it! Answer me, you fucking bastard!" she tried, but to no avail, there was no waking him either. Her head had started to ache, a steady, dull throbbing just behind her eyes. Growling through gritted teeth, she lowered him back to the ground and shuffled over to the large shape that was Forstrang, stopping herself just as she reached out to grab hold of the brute. Someone, something, was breathing down her neck. There was warmth on her skin and she could clearly smell the unfamiliar breath, roots, honey, and milk on it. With a pained groan she kicked off and threw herself sideways, fumbling with one of her axes to get it free of the belt and swing it at- Nothing, it turned out. The savage weapon had cut through the air in a fierce arc, but the space behind Sol was now empty. Heart hammering in her chest, she twisted her head around, scanning her surroundings, smelling the air, but she was alone. Only the unfortunate trio were scattered around her and the strange scent had now faded, if it had even been there in the first place.
"Fucking shite… fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck… Fors? Come on, you're all right, ja? Just be alive, that's all I fucking ask right now," she growled when she quickly scrambled over to the Northman, leaving her axe on the ground within easy reach as she searched him for any signs of life. Cold, but breathing. Good enough.
"Jotunn! JOTUNN!" Sol called toward the pitch black passage and rose to her feet, axe in hand and knuckles whitening from the tight grip she had on it.
Nothing.
"JOTUNN, YOU PIG-HEADED, ARSEHOLE SPAWN OF A TROLL-FUCKED NANNY! IF YOU'RE NOT HERE THIS FUCKING MINUTE I'LL COME OUT THERE AND TEAR YOUR FU-" she continued to shout, though the sentenced dissolved into an incoherent, bestial roar as she poured her anger and growing anxiety into it, the enraged bellow echoing through the ruin loud enough to wake the dead. As it begun to die down there was the unmistakable sound of hooves clattering against rock and a few moments later the giant goat thundered out of the darkness, ears pinned back and eyes wide when he skidded to a halt by Sol and spun his horned head around to stare fearfully at the shadows.
She quickly heaved Dugg onto the animal's back, but getting Forstrang's bulk up there was not an easy task, even for someone of Sol's might. By the time the Northman too was hanging safely across the saddle, the goat had started scraping at the rocky ground with his cloven hooves and bleating worriedly.
"Ja, we're gonna leave. Just fucking stay put a moment longer…" Sol snarled at the goat as she scooped up Forstrang's weapons and stowed them in the bags. Of Dugg's bow there was no trace, and she wasn't about to stick around to look for it in this cursed place, so Sol tossed Havaldr onto her shoulder again and got the torch, then lead the goat by the reins back through the passage.
It was slow going, Sol limping along while trying to keep control over her near-panicked goat, both of them weighed down by the unconscious men. But that burden was light in comparison to fighting the urge to flee. She tried to ignore the voices, the whispers from every direction, the feeling of being followed, of something clutching at her clothes. In the end she'd swung the torch at a shadow, thrown the burning light at what she'd been certain was a person creeping up on them, but it just bounced off the wall and the flame went out. That is when they ran, or rather, when she let Jotunn half drag her the rest of the way as she fought to keep hold of Havaldr and the reins, stumbling along and almost falling when they reached the stairs. They didn't stop until they could hear the rest of the company where they still waited by the river, and Sol lingered a good long while to let her nerves settle before they walked the rest of the way, her face set in a grim frown that wouldn't fade for days.
