Chapter (20):the trial of bow part 4
In a certain place in Freljord where the clouds covered the sky...
A massive lizard was staring at a group of people; it saw them as nothing more than its lunch. Its eyes scrutinized each one of them.
The snow slowly covered their feet as they stood like statues. Among them was Ashe, standing silently. She drew her bowstring, forming an icy arrow that released a heavenly glow. Her eyes were completely focused on it, with nothing to distract her mind.
They were waiting, waiting for the moment the beast would attack, so they could counter. Because the best offense is the best defense. These were hunters, not barbarians, to initiate an attack against it. They knew now that they couldn't flee even if they wanted to, because it would immediately chase them to the village.
The beast, in turn, knew this and spared no effort, beginning its move.
The beast lunged, raising its right claw high, ready to attack them. Ashe released the charged arrow directly towards its claw, took a step back, and let out a roar.
"Husssss!"
"Advance, attack, go, go, go!"
With Kalen's shout, all the warriors rushed towards the beast and attacked it. All the archers released their arrows; all reached it, but they were like thick needles to it because its scales were tough, but it wasn't enough. However, Ashe's warriors reached and attacked it with swords, beginning to cause some wounds on its body. They were causing deep but shallow wounds compared to its massive body. This was relative.
When Freida reached it, she hit it with her icy axe. When she struck it, a part of the beast's skin froze, and when Freida cut the ice with her axe, it shattered like glass, tearing off a part of its scales and causing a decent wound.
She was hit by its tail and sent flying away from it, but she rolled and rushed towards it again.
Barely a minute had passed since the engagement, and they began to inflict some wounds on it. This made the beast furious, and it started to attack and eat one of the warriors, but another icy arrow struck its head, making it retreat.
"Good, so far no one has died. If we continue like this, it will give us some advantage," thought Ashe.
But as if the lizard had responded to her thoughts, it dug directly under the ground, creating a strangely narrow hole.
"What?"
"Did it run away?"
"Did we win?"
Ashe felt strange; they were in the middle of the fight; why would it run away?
Ashe felt slight vibrations on the ground and immediately realized what was happening.
"No, it didn't run away! It's..."
The Treachery of the North emerged from under the ground, rushed out, and ate one of the archers, then dug again, leaving everyone in shock.
"Oh my god!"
"Be careful, it's attacking us from underground!"
"Be ready!"
Ashe closed her eyes, drew her bow, and focused on the vibrations. She ignored the shouts around her and gradually began to hear the sound of the beast.
And at the moment it emerged and was about to eat another one, Ashe's arrow was released and hit directly towards one of its teeth.
"Agghhhhhggggggghhhhhh!"
The beast screamed in pain when the arrow hit; its tooth flew out and it bled as it screamed in severe pain. It looked at Ashe with hatred and dug again, and this time there was no vibration.
"Did it run away again!"
Ashe felt a vibration, not just her, but everyone felt an earthquake. No one realized what was happening, and Ashe felt something bad coming.
"All of you, get away! It's..."
But it was too late to try to warn them. A large hole appeared in the ground they were standing on, and they all fell into it.
"Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!"
"Afarosa!"
"Ashe!"
"Freda!"
"Commander, help us!"
Freida used her axe on the wall to steady herself, but it didn't work and she kept falling. There was a piece of ice about to hit Freida, but an arrow shot and split it into two masses, saving Freida.
But an ice chunk hit Ashe on the head, causing her to lose consciousness. The last thing she saw was them falling while screaming her name.
.
.
.
.
....
In some underground cave, Ashe was lying.
"Ugh... Where am I?" Wait, am I inside a cave?"
"No... I fell because of the collapse... I don't remember... My head... It hurts... I only remember falling until I hit my head on something and then found myself here. But... where are the others? Did they fall in different places? I have to find them before the beast does."
When Ashe got up, she felt a sharp pain in her head and collapsed.
"Ugh... Ughhhh my head!" Ashe exclaimed while catching her breath. "I feel like my head is full of insects. I need to be more careful next time."
Ashe walked, leaning on the wall as she moved outward. She walked and managed to see many bones of dead animals and feared that any of them would end up like that. When she reached the end of the path, she saw many tunnels leading to different paths.
"A crossroads... Where should I go? I have to move quickly, but the wrong choice will lead to the danger of facing it or more deaths."
Ashe looked at her bow, placed the arrow on the ground, and began to pray. "Please, ancestors, please guide me." After this, she started spinning the arrow like a top, and when it stopped, the arrowhead pointed in a specific direction.
"This direction... Is it correct?" Ashe closed her eyes, opened them, and looked with determination. "It's now or never."
Ashe walked in that direction and kept walking. Every minute she felt fear and panic, wondering if her choice was wrong.
Ashe saw something glowing blue from within the ice and recognized it immediately.
"True Ice? ... Freida!"
When she removed some snow, she saw Freida's axe, and her hand was gripping it tightly, as if her spirit refused to surrender.
"Truly a fighter until the end."
She grabbed it and felt an immeasurable cold, but she had experienced it before and used all her willpower. Ashe pulled Freida out from under the snow.
When she pulled her out, she saw that she was cold, barely breathing and not moving, but her heart was beating, and she was alive.
And this was more than enough for Ashe. She pressed hard on her stomach to make her breathe, and after pressing for twenty seconds, Freida finally regained consciousness.
"(Cough) (Cough), Where am I? (Cough) Am I dead?" Freida asked while coughing up water she had swallowed when she was buried.
"Thank the Goddess, you're alive, Freida," Ashe spoke.
"Ashe, are you dead too?" Freida asked with some sadness in her voice.
"No, Freida, we are alive. We fell into its lair, it seems. We must gather the others quickly."
"I see, but I have a question," I asked Freida as I got up and looked at Ashe.
"What is it?" Ashe asked.
"Why did you save me?"
"What?" Ashe replied suspiciously.
"Why did you go and save me?"
"Because you fought by my side. Is that considered a question?" Ashe answered.
"But you didn't have to. You could have ignored me and taken the Avarosan throne yourself. I would have done that if I were you. We threatened you in our land, we tried to take your sacred treasure, we forced you into all of this."
"You just had to take your axe and let me die."
"You want to know why?"
"Yes, I want to know," Freida spoke.
"Because I am sick of this," Ashe replied.
"Sick?" Freida repeated Ashe's words suspiciously.
"Sick of leaving others behind. I ran away once, and I don't want to do it again," Ashe spoke while looking at her hand, then at Freida.
"You... really?" Freida muttered.
"What?" Ashe asked.
"Nothing," Freida replied and stood up.
"Let's go find the others quickly," she said.
"There's a crossroads."
"Yes, there are many."
"By the way, how did you know I was here?" Freida asked.
"By the arrow."
"Arrow?"
"I placed the arrow and spun it, and it stopped pointing towards a tunnel, so I went that way."
"Maybe the legend that the bow carries the will of Avarosa is true."
"Maybe... that's right..."
I placed the arrow and spun it again, and the arrowhead stopped directly at a snowy wall.
"Or maybe not," Ashe spoke sarcastically, and I spun the arrow again.
This time, the arrowhead stopped pointing towards a tunnel, and neither of them wasted any time and went inside.
"Be careful, don't get any closer!" Freida shouted.
"What?" Ashe asked.
"There's brittle ice here."
"But there's only snow," Ashe spoke.
Freida stepped forward and Ashe moved out of her way. Freida pulled out her vase and struck the ground lightly, and chunks of the ground immediately collapsed in front of her.
"Wow," Ashe spoke in shock.
"Sometimes snow covers the brittle ice, so it can't be noticed. You have to walk between the corners; the ground is safer to walk on," Freida explained.
"Thank you. By the way, you seemed different earlier."
"How?"
"You're not screaming or being impulsive anymore. You seemed calm and composed," Ashe said.
"Sorry about that. I was just impulsive because I thought I was the last Iceborn."
"Why did you think that?" Ashe asked.
"It's because of the voice eater."
"Do you mean that monster from the fairy tales?" Ashe asked.
"Yes, but it's not a story; it's real. I saw it," Freida spoke with some fear in her voice.
"The last thing I remember before I ended up here is that I was little, younger than you, and there were other people, I suppose they were my relatives or something like that, because they all carried real ice weapons."
"We were in the middle of the night, in the middle of a dead forest. I remember everyone was trembling. I couldn't understand why, but after a while, I found out why," Freida spoke with some anxiety in her voice.
"I couldn't see it. All I could see was blood and the slaughter that happened. They told me to run, while they were being slaughtered in the most horrific ways."
"I... I... kept running, and I kept hearing their voices screaming in pain, and at one point, their screams turned into cheers of victory."
"I went back to them. I thought they had won. I thought they had killed the monster," Freida spoke with a fascinated expression on her face.
"Freida, what happened?"
"He... He... mimicked their voices," she spoke in a broken and sad voice, "and made me come to it because he knew I would come for them. It was holding my mother's corpse like a doll and laughing at me. It was mocking me while playing with their bodies."
"I was consumed by anger. I couldn't remember his shape. All I remember is that I attacked it and fought it, but it treated me like a toy, mocked me, and then threw me to the ground and dragged me to the Vaduso village."
"He let me live, not out of pity, but to tell others about it, to tell others that it was real."
"Freida, that's..."
"It's fine. This happened a long time ago. I got over it a while ago. I became a proud warrior for the Vaduso people."
"But if there is a chance, I want to wring that monster's neck for good."
"I hope so too."
They looked ahead into the endless tunnels, they looked into the unknown, and now they had to reunite with their comrades, for the final confrontation with the monster, and they didn't know where they were now.