Frost Moon

Frost Moon Part 10

Diane cradled Harald tightly. Suffering a headshot while in human shape put him in real danger of dying, and she was desperately stuffing brains – as well as a fair bit of snow and spruce needles – back inside his skull, while howling one of her healing songs.

Back at the cabins, Katherine and the rest of the pack had first heard the sound of trees splintering, then the shot, and then engines starting up and driving away. She assumed that Harald had messed up again, but it hadn't turned into a crisis yet. Elisabeth wouldn't be opening any portals until tomorrow night, so they had plenty of time to pick her up inside the caves.

Katherine ordered the pack to follow as she went to find out how the fight had gone. Once she got there, seeing the carnage, she cursed again. This was getting embarrassing. The last time two of them had been downed in a single fight, they'd been up against an entire clan of vampires.

Good thing she still had some cannon fodder.

* * *

The Troll Caves weren't that far away, just about a one hour snowmobile drive. The sun had started to rise, but this side of the mountain was still in shadow when they came to a large ravine. As they stopped to find away to ascend, Eirin slid off the snowmobile and started throwing up. Geir ran over to her to help. She was crying, and the mixture of tears, snot and Bokalrud's caked blood made her look like a proper mess.

Geir tried to calm her down, but Eirin was near hysteria. The trip to the caves had been long enough to let her think about what had happened and what she had done.

'Stay away,' she cried. 'Don't touch me! I'm... I'm a monster! Oh, I can still feel the taste of his blood... And his flesh! Ooh f...' She threw up again. 'There's human flesh in my stomach! I killed... And...And ate somebody!' Geir was just holding her close, having absolutely no idea what to say.

Elisabeth was almost impressed. Considering what Eirin had been through, she was coping fairly well. It would be better for Eirin if she was allowed her reaction – that way she could get it out of her system – but Elisabeth didn't have time for such luxuries. She decided to use her powers instead, and mumbled some ancient words before stroking Eirin's hair gently, obfuscating the worst memories. They would reappear with a bang soon enough, but by then Elisabeth would no longer need Eirin – if the redhead even happened to live that long. It gave Elisabeth the tiniest flicker of a guilty conscience, doing this to Eirin, but then she reminded herself what was at stake, and finished the spell. Eirin stopped crying immediately, and was almost herself within a minute or two.

The caves were normally hidden behind a waterfall, but on a winter as cold as this, the waterfall had turned into a sparkling ice palace. This was a climb that was unsafe in the best conditions – and this wasn't close to the best conditions. Fortunately, there were iron spikes driven into mountain wall. Eirin played mountain goat, seemingly happy about being useful, and went on ahead, securing ropes the others could use. Tor went last, loosening the spikes as he passed them – a little surprise to anyone thinking to follow.

* * *

The Troll Caves weren't marked on any map or mentioned in any travel guides, but they were well known to local people. Somewhat awkward to get to, they went on for miles inside the mountain. If anyone had ever thoroughly explored them, they had taken that knowledge with them to the grave. Eirin was probably the person still living who knew them best, as she liked to wander off to explore and spelunk on her own. And she had only explored a few of the main branches that headed out from the large, moist cave just behind the waterfall. Whatever the geological processes were that had originally dug them out, they had clearly gotten some help from hands with opposable thumbs.