Vol. IV Chapter III: Into the White Maw

The last shadows of Vinfalas were far behind them now, and the ground beneath their feet had grown more rugged.

The soft, mossy paths of the treetop city gave way to jagged rock, and the once lush vegetation grew sparse.

The pass climbed steadily until the first white flakes began to drift down from above.

Findergwyn led the way, moving lightly, as if the steep ascent didn’t trouble him at all.

Melissa said nothing.

Her tail flicked restlessly as she hunched her shoulders against the cold wind.

Every so often, she muttered under her breath, but the wind howled too loud for the others to catch her complaints.

Liviana kept pace beside her, cat ears folded slightly back, eyes sharp.

“Still mad about the whole thing with the elf-lady?” she asked at last.

Melissa snorted.

“Mad? Me? No… not at all.”

She waved a hand dismissively, but the lie was plain to see

Findergwyn glanced back over his shoulder, a faint smile on his lips.

“Yes… our Lady can be difficult to read.”

“Stubborn and blind would be more accurate,” Melissa muttered, then drew in the cold air as if realizing how petulant that had sounded.

She paused, the wind catching her chestnut hair and plastering damp strands to her forehead.

Her gaze drifted back toward the dark forests of Vinfalas. 

She sighed, recalling her audience with Lady Velissumbrielle.

The audience hall had been a grand chamber of dark wood.

Elaborately carved pillars rose like ancient trunks, and at the windows hung curtains of violet silk, glittering in the glow of blue flame braziers.

And in the center, upon a high black throne from which gemstone-studded branches jutted, sat Lady Velissumbrielle.

She wore a black robe, as if she had draped the night itself over her shoulders, and her braided snow-white hair fell almost to her feet.

“So… you have set yourself against the gods of your world,” she said, not as a question, but a statement.

“I’ve at least tried,” Melissa replied, fists clenched.

She did not forget how recently she had been forced back into their service.

She met Velissumbrielle’s gaze and found curiosity there, not skepticism.

“They give when it pleases them, and take when it pleases them. Worshiping them won’t protect you from their whims.”

The Lady tilted her head slightly.

“And yet you said that one of them has already saved your life twice?”

Melissa’s eyes slipped away for a moment.

“Yes… but certainly not out of kindness. The price for that will come…” her voice fell quieter, “…sooner or later.”

Velissumbrielle regarded her for a long moment, then rose and walked slowly toward one of the woven tapestries that told her people’s history in thread and gold.

“See here: my predecessors, rulers of the Duskhaven Lands. Those who stood idle while crops failed and our people starved. Those who prayed to unseen gods while enemies plundered our forests and slaughtered our children. All of them are here.”

Her violet eyes turned back to Melissa.

“Aratemitielle, or Artemis, as you call her, is no dream image, no fabricated construct of power. She is real. And she shares her divinity with my people. Would you expect me to refuse that?”

Melissa bit her lip.

“I expect only that you see what I’ve seen: the blessing of gods always comes with a chain. Today your land is fertile. Tomorrow she could turn it all to dust again, if she wished it. You are at her mercy.”

“A chain that feeds the hungry and brings prosperity, for the same devotion once given to idle gods. Much has not changed.”

Melissa stamped her hoof on the creaking floor, her tail twitching with impatience.

“Then break your chains, whether forged by imaginary gods or real ones! Your life should be your own!”

Velissumbrielle remained calm. 

“Chains are...”

“Enough about chains!” Melissa cut in, annoyed.

“How dare you interrupt the Lady!” snarled Captain Rigadan from the side of the hall.

“I should have you whipped!”

But Velissumbrielle raised a hand, smiling.

“Your fire is untamed, young satyr. I’ve known many warriors who spoke as you do. They are all buried now.”

She turned back to the ancestral images.

“I will not be the Lady remembered for letting the fields lie fallow because she disliked the seed. I take what the world offers us and guide it as best my hand allows. The rest is for fate to decide.”

Melissa gave a short, hoarse laugh.

“You’re making a mistake. But fine, have it your way.”

I could have screamed at a wall and gotten the same result.

Melissa thoughts shifted back to the present, lifting her eyes back to the mountain pass.

The wind had grown sharper, the snowfall heavier.

Findergwyn paused at the edge of a rocky outcrop, scanning the horizon.

“We’d better move quickly. A storm’s coming, and the shelter’s still hours away.”

They followed the ridge, the path narrowing.

To their left, the ground dropped away into a sheer cliff. To their right, smooth rock walls rose straight up.

Snow thickened until, within minutes, the world was nothing but wind and ice.

“We should turn back!” Liviana shouted over the storm.

“Too late! There’s a hollow ahead, we can take cover there!” Findergwyn bellowed back.

They pressed together, shoulders brushing, heads bowed.

Snow lashed at fur and hair as Melissa’s hooves searched for footing, the cold burning into her skin.

At last, the hollow came into sight, a depression half-sheltered by overhanging rock.

“Almost there!” Findergwyn called.

Then, above them, in the cliff face, two red eyes gleamed through the snow.

Then another pair, and another, a dozen.

The figures were huge, their white fur blending into the blizzard, with long arms and broad shoulders.

They clung to the sheer cliffs as if the storm meant nothing to them.

Their red eyes blinked and one raised a massive paw and tore a boulder from the mountain, sending it crashing into the snow just paces away.

“Snow Guardians! They’re usually peaceful,” Findergwyn called to his companions, “if you respect their boundaries…”

Another boulder flew, this one skimming just over their heads, shattering against the opposite wall in a spray of ice and stone.

“…they usually let you pass,” he finished, with a thin smile that suggested those odds were dwindling fast.

“Maybe we’re too close to their brood,” Liviana shouted, tugging them aside.

“Up there, see those openings in the cliff face? Those must be their dens.”

Melissa blinked against frozen lashes.

“Fine, if that’s the case...” she raised her hands and called out loudly:

“We want nothing from you or your brood! We just want to pass through, very quickly!”

She took a step back.

“So maybe you could stop throwing boulders at us?!”

A deep, guttural murmur answered, alien and ghostly:

“LEEAAAAVE…”

Another rock slammed into the ground before them, the earth vibrating as snow burst upward.

“That worked great,” Findergwyn said dryly.

“It was worth a shot…” Melissa hissed.

Then, a dull rumble, but not from the Snow Guardians.

They looked up and high on the slope, slabs of snow and ice broke loose.

First slowly, then in waves, until the rumble grew to a roar and the entire slope broke loose.

“Avalanche!” Fin shouted.

“Down! To the side!”

“My feet… stuck in the snow…” Liviana gasped.

“I can’t get...”

She slipped, stumbled, tried to catch herself, but the snow gave way and she tipped sideways, arms flailing.

“Liv!”

Melissa was already moving, instinct shifting her into her beast form.

The avalanche came like an onrushing train, thundering, roaring, a wall of ice and stone.

Snow gripped at Liviana’s legs, Melissa leapt, slammed her shoulder into Liviana’s chest, and hurled her out of the avalanche’s path, sending the Selvarin rolling into a hollow where Fin had taken shelter.

The avalanche seized Melissa, lifting her like a toy.

Boulders crashed beside her, some grazing her body.

She vanished into white, surfaced again, her predator’s claws hooked into a narrow, icy ledge, her body still swept in the torrent of snow and ice.

“MELISSA!”

Liviana rushed toward her on all fours, snow stinging her face, the wind howling like a hunted beast.

Melissa clung to the ledge, fangs bared, muscles taut as cables.

“I… almost have it!”

A heavy crack, above her, another block of ice broke free, smashing into the ledge.

The ice shattered and her eyes widened.

One last look met Liviana’s horrified gaze as she reached out, grasping at empty air.

Melissa’s grip was already gone.

Liviana saw her tip into the void before the white flood swallowed her whole.

“NOOO!”

Her scream tore into the wind and was carried away.

Findergwyn reached her, grabbing her arm as she lurched forward.

“Get back, or you’ll go over too!”

“I’m not leaving her!”

“She’s gone! Do you hear me? Gone!”

His voice was hard, but the same panic flickered in his eyes.

“She’s…”

Liviana stared into the abyss, her fingers digging into the rock, as Findergwyn hauled her back to safety.

Below, the avalanche rolled on, spilling over cliffs, breaking into ravines, like an endless white maw devouring everything.

Until the sound finally died away, and the storm swallowed the last echo.

Then she breathed, so softly it was almost only for herself:

“She’s dead…”