Plague of Ice

3

As the day went on, the sky grew whiter and whiter and the wind more chill. Hennet watched the horizon vanish and the last patch of blue disappear from the sky and wondered for an awful moment if they'd ever see sun or sky again. Then the snow came, gently at first, ethereal snowflakes that Lidda liked to catch on her tongue, followed by a steady fall of fat flakes that impeded visibility. Regdar and Hennet hunted for food on the march, hoping to stretch their rations while hunting was still possible, but they could not manage any catches. Sonja solved this. She stood still and closed her eyes, and in time a furry, brown rabbit hopped out of a gully toward her. Lidda cooed over it as it poked its head up and wiggled its pink nose. Sonja took it in her hands and calmly snapped its neck.

"Here is our meal," she said.

The others looked at her with open-mouthed shock. "Why did you do that?" asked Regdar.

"Weren't you hungry?" she asked. No one said anything more about it.

Some time later, the party came across tracks for the first time. These were not human tracks but something larger. Lidda inspected them closely.

"Gnolls?" she asked.

Sonja nodded gravely.

"We knew humanoid tribes lived in this area," said Regdar. "We can't expect them to be huddling in a cave somewhere. Gnolls are strong and don't care much about the cold."

"Their life has been disrupted," added Sonja. "They'll be on the ready, too, and rightly so."

"Great!" Hennet rubbed his brow. "This snow stirs up the gnolls, and they'll blame the first outsiders they see."

"And these footprints are fresh," Lidda said, watching the snowflakes fall. "Old tracks wouldn't last long under these conditions."

The travelers immediately silenced themselves and surveyed their surroundings. Dimly in the snow they could make out two large, brown-black forms moving quickly. One moved silently toward them, a battle-axe in its hands, but the other was running away. There could be only one reason such a sturdy and warlike humanoid would flee from a fight.

"It'll warn their tribe!" yelled Regdar. He strung his longbow with stiff fingers as Lidda pulled out her crossbow and cocked it. Both fired at nearly the same time, but aiming was difficult through the snowy haze. Hennet readied a magic missile. A tiny bolt of magic blasted from his palm, bathing the plain in a sickly, green glow for a few thrilling moments. It flew unerringly to its target and struck the gnoll in the leg, toppling it to the ground. By then, the other one was lost in the snow and haze.

"That's all we need," Hennet cursed as they rushed to the fallen gnoll. "Now we can expect a gnoll tribe down on our heads."

The stricken gnoll wasn't dead. It lay sprawled out on the ice with its axe inches beyond its desperately groping fingers. Regdar shoved the weapon away with his toe. The gnoll spat at them and swore in its native language until Regdar kicked its wounded leg. That brought a yip to its canine jaws, but the next time it spoke, it used uncertain Common.

"It was yoouuu!" The gnoll gasped. "You destroyed our homes, killed our young!"

"Your home," said Sonja. Even for this beast the concern in her voice was genuine. "Where was your home?"

"The wood! Our forest is no more. This plague of ice has destroyed it. We flee, but your ice is too fast. We die! You kill us!"

"We didn't destroy your homes," said Regdar. "We're here to stop this ice."

"Lies! Lies!" the gnoll howled. It lunged for Lidda's throat, no doubt deciding the halfling would be the easiest to kill before the larger humans could slay it. It was wrong, as Lidda proved with a quick jab of her sword. The creature fell back into the snow and lay still.

A deep-toned, throaty horn sounded in the distance. Sonja readied her club.

"They won't listen to reason," the druid said. "I recommend you put away your bows. Under these conditions, they will be on us before we know it. We have an advantage, though. There's still a lot of glare coming off the snow. Gnolls dislike bright light. It hurts their eyes and impairs their fighting ability."

Little more than a minute passed before the gnolls came into view. Their tall, brown forms were silhouetted against the whiteness of the background. Eight or nine of them emerged from the swirling snow. Their hyenalike heads towered far above the humans. They fanned out quickly so that their foes were surrounded inside a widely spaced ring. They were armed with a hodgepodge of weapons, and some of them wore mismatched pieces of armor. One, swinging a flail, wore a coal-black breastplate emblazoned with the emblem of the god Erythnul. The breastplate was human-sized and too small for a gnoll; undoubtedly it was a trophy. This gnoll was slightly smaller than the others and kept behind them as the ring closed in on the party.

As the gnolls drew nearly within striking range, Lidda rushed forward, bobbing between their legs to confound their attempts to attack her with their axes. Wherever she passed, she slashed at the gnolls' shins and knees. Her hit-and-run attacks so angered her victims that three of them broke ranks and chased after her. By doing so, they exposed their flanks. The advantage was momentary, but Regdar, an experienced warrior who'd fought alongside Lidda before, was ready for it. The instant the first gnoll turned, the armored human lunged forward. The gleaming tip of his greatsword was just as deadly as the edge, and a straight thrust through the creature's ribs slew it on its feet. A second gnoll was sliced down before the others realized what was happening. Yips and howls filled the air as the monsters reacted and warned each other of the fast-moving danger. The encircling gnolls leaped back several steps, widening the gaps between them, and ignored Lidda. Their attention was now riveted on the fur-wrapped man with the steaming, red-stained sword.

Hennet held back for a moment, both to ready his spells and because he wasn't sure what the big man would do next.

Sonja slipped farther from Hennet. She knew that gnolls preferred to fight enemies who were separated from help, and she hoped that her move might lure a gnoll to closer range. It did. She tried to keep herself looking small and held her weapon uncertainly, like a frightened animal. Sensing an easy target, the gnoll rushed her, straight into the trap Sonja had laid for it. The ground beneath it was slick with magical ice, and the gnoll's feet slid out from underneath it. When it tumbled onto its back, its armor snapped under its weight with a sharp crack. Sonja jumped forward onto the momentarily stunned gnoll. She smashed her cudgel onto its skull with surprising force and instantly prepared to deliver a second blow, but when she pulled back the weapon she saw that the creature was already dead.

The gnolls were bloodied but not defeated. The survivors circled and regrouped and forced Regdar, Hennet, and Sonja again into the center of a circle, smaller than the first. Lidda bobbed around the outside, sneaking in with her short sword to nick their flanks and keep them distracted, then skittering away whenever one turned to attack her. The smaller gnoll with the breastplate still held back from the action, and Lidda suddenly realized why. The emblem of Erythnul on its armor was not just for show.

"It's casting!" Lidda yelled. She pulled out her crossbow, desperate to distract the gnoll before it could complete its spell. She was too late, and worse, she was the spell's target. Lidda found herself paralyzed, her limbs locked in place like a statue's. She could breathe and move her eyes but couldn't move or run-or speak. She watched as the gnoll priest closed in on her, its flail waving high above its head. Her mouth was locked open in a silent scream.

"Protect Lidda!" Hennet shouted. He rushed toward her and launched a magic missile at the gnoll priest. It impacted against the breastplate but seemed to do no real damage. The energy was dissipated by the apparently magical piece of armor. The priest responded by turning to Hennet and mumbling another spell. A new weapon suddenly appeared in its outstretched hand, a morning star with a solid head made of stone.

The corner of the gnoll priest's snout rose in something like a smile as the morning star flew from its hand toward Hennet and soundly whacked the sorcerer on his shoulder. The blow took Hennet by surprise and knocked him off balance. Then the morning star struck again, moving like a blur. It caught Hennet along his side, knocking him to the snowy ground. As Hennet fumbled for his spear or spells, the magical morning star pummeled him ruthlessly. He rolled onto his back with his short spear in his hands and tried to defend himself, but the flying weapon was virtually impossible to parry as it swooped from side to side.

Regdar and Sonja slashed and bullied their way through the other gnolls in their effort to reach Lidda, who was completely at the gnoll priest's mercy. Sonja leaped at the tall monster with her left hand held before her. When it passed before the gnoll's face, it erupted with a brilliant flash of white. The blinded gnoll fell back away from Sonja's flare, dazzled and incapacitated.

Sonja bashed the flail from the gnoll's hand with her cudgel. Regdar stepped next to her and thrust his greatsword into the creature's chest. The sword struck against Erthynul's breastplate, which wasn't even dented by the full force of Regdar's strength. The breastplate, however, was designed for a human and not a gnoll. Regdar easily redirected the blade to an unprotected spot. The greatsword sliced through the gnoll's hide, and blood gushed down the blade. The gnoll cried out in a fruitless prayer to its god, concluding with a piercing, canine shriek when Regdar twisted the wide blade between its ribs. The gnoll slid off the steel and fell back, the agonized look of the abandoned faithful forever frozen on its hairy face.

Hennet twisted and slashed with his spear in a desperate attempt to deflect the magical morning star's next assault, when the weapon pulled back and vanished. Breathing a sigh of relief and using his short spear for leverage, he rose onto his feet. Other gnolls still circled uncertainly, and Hennet thrust the spear before him to keep them at a distance.

Regdar wasn't interested in keeping a distance. With the sorcerer defending himself, the easiest victim for the bloodthirsty gnolls was the paralyzed halfling. The gnolls closed in on Lidda and almost reached her when Regdar assaulted them, jumping straight into their midst.

Two gnolls died instantly when Regdar clove through them at waist height with a single, powerful swing of his weapon. A third gnoll would have joined them, but it managed to block Regdar's blade with the head of its axe. Gore splattered off Regdar's sword onto the creature. The gnoll, rather than trying to riposte with its ringing axe, let the weapon fall to the ground. It boldly grasped Regdar's blade with its two bare hands. Blood rolled along the sword's length and dripped onto the snow as the gnoll squeezed and pulled. With its great strength, it wrenched the bloody greatsword from Regdar's grasp.

The gnoll hurled the heavy weapon far across the snow, yelping as the edge cut deeper into its palms. Regdar, weaponless but not helpless, drove a fist into the gnoll's throat. The gnoll lurched backward, trying to defend itself with its bleeding hands. Regdar responded by kicking its armored belly, knocking the gnoll onto its back. He was about to reclaim his greatsword when the other gnolls attacked him from behind.

A studded mace struck Regdar's left shoulder, cracking the bone. Regdar whirled about to face the attacker and tried to punch the gnoll, but it caught his fist in its free hand and twisted. The pain dropped the fighter to his knees. Another of the beasts wrapped its long fingers around Regdar's neck and squeezed, emitting a snarl of victory as it did so. A third gnoll pinned Regdar's struggling hands and arms from behind. Regdar would have screamed from the pain in his shoulder, but the grip on his neck was too tight. The human gulped desperately for air, neck muscles straining to keep his windpipe open.

Relief came when Hennet's spell hit the gnoll that was strangling Regdar. The gnoll released its grip and stumbled back in time for another missile to catch it mid stride. The creature's smoking corpse collapsed at Regdar's feet.

The gnoll with the studded mace raised the weapon to smash Regdar's skull, but Sonja stepped behind it and snapped its knee with a well-placed blow from her cudgel. The monster tumbled backward, and the cudgel cracked its forehead on the way down. The gnoll that held Regdar by the arms pulled away immediately, letting Regdar's inert form collapse to the ground. Near panic, it fled directly toward Hennet and his short spear. The gnoll dodged and twisted past the sorcerer. Hennet turned and tossed the spear, hitting the gnoll in the back and bringing it down. The sorcerer ran and yanked his weapon from the living flesh then drove it hard into the fallen gnoll's outstretched neck.

Moments later, the spell that held Lidda wore off, and she suddenly finished cocking her crossbow with a lurch.

"I missed the battle," she lamented. "I didn't do you any good."

"Don't blame yourself for that," Hennet told her. "It could have happened to any one of us."

Lidda turned around and surveyed the carnage that lay all about the snowy, bloodstained field. Regdar was sprawled across the corpses of two gnolls with Sonja kneeling at his side and grasping his wrist.

"Will he be all right?" Lidda asked, the worry clear in her voice.

"I think so," the druid replied, though there was uncertainty on her face, "but I have much work to do."