Frost Moon

Frost Moon Part 11

Elisabeth was woken up by somebody shaking her shoulder. And what was that smell? Bacon? One look at Tor's face told her something bad had happened. She crushed one of her few remaining jewels, green fire reappearing inher eyes. Tor motioned for her to keep silent and follow him. He led her further out towards the exit, where the smell was getting stronger. It wasn't really bacon. No, something sweeter. Something nauseous.

Someone had lit a fire in the vast cavern behind the waterfall. Shadows danced with glittering orange light among the shiny spires of the ice palace, and as they made their way out of the dim tunnel, Elisabeth saw the source of the smell. It was Bjørn.

It was like a bizarre spit roast. Someone had stripped Bjørn naked, gagged him,and pierced him with a metal bar from his ass to his mouth. And no tonly that; he'd been bent in a way that made the bar exit the smallof his back and re-enter his head just under his skull. With his armsand legs strapped to the bar with thick, barbed wire, the piercing wounds had not been immediately lethal. It was likely he had still been alive for some time while being roasted. Weird sigils had beencarved into his skin, the bleeding lines made to pop by the searing heat.

'Fuck' was all Elisabeth managed to say before her vomit splashed wetly on the rocks. Wiping her mouth, she had a dawning suspicion about what had happened. And what was worse, the ritual for opening the portal required five participants. Even though they were supposed to be sacrificed towards the end, they all had to be alive at the beginning. Corpses didn't count! So close, yet so fucking far away - and all because of her own sloppiness! Of course she'd protected her stuff from snooping eyes with some demonic curses. She wouldn't have given it a second thought if one of her fellow witches-in-training died horribly, so she hadn't bothered to put any upper limits as to how harshly the curse should strike. Bjørn had been too curious for his own good, and since she hadn't deactivated the curses, he had obviously triggered them. Such a shame. Even though he was a bit of a pig, he seemed like a fairly decent fellow. Not someone who deserved to die so horribly! And she didn't deserve to have her plans unraveled over a detail like that! She pressed her lips together with frustration. Maybe a werewolf counted as twopeople?

'We'll have to mourn and bury him later,' Tor whispered, interrupting Elisabeth's train of thought. 'We're not alone here. And all that matters now is to stay alive for the hours you need to keep that portal closed.' Elisabeth was almost shocked at how cold and mechanical Tor had become – his lizard brain was definitely back on the battlefield. She'd only seen this kind of detachment in commandoes operating behind enemy lines for months at a time. Elisabeth was getting really curious about where he'd served. But, those questions would have to wait until they survived this mess, and she put it among the other loose ends that would have to be dealt with later.

Tor and Elisabeth took the corpse down from the spit, packed it in plastic, and put out the fire before it ate all the oxygen. When he went bac kto get the plastic, Tor just told the others that somebody had struck while they were sleeping – and killed Bjørn. Whomever it was could probably have killed the rest of them as well, but since they were still breathing, there probably wasn't any present danger of attack at this very moment. Still, he told them to be alert.

Tor realized that the last thing they should do was to get bogged down with their own dark thoughts. So, even though the thought of eating made his stomach turn, he made sure the others were occupied making food. While they ate in silence, he mentally went over their strategy. This place might be the best place to fortify – but they weren't just here to save their own skin. The portal was the key – and that's where they had to make their stand. It was time to move camp.