[Complete] Eroh has reached his seventeenth spring and has finally become a man. With manhood comes a gift: marriage to the woman he loves. But when a strange new woman from another world enters his life, he is stuck with the decision to honor his...
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"The time has come," The guard said, cutting away the ice to release me.
They slit just enough to take the ice bars out. I'd seen how they did it prior. Remove then once the prisoner is inside, put them back, using water to freeze back over the slit, creating another coat of ice.
I followed the guard down the hall of the cave, turning from shoulder to shoulder, gazing upon the other captives who stood at their bars, bare, shivering, and pale as the ice that crunched beneath my feet. Some giggled heinously while others spat and cursed. None made me nervous like those who said nothing. They just sat quietly, watching. Their eyes filled with a grim sorrow only worn when looking upon a dead man.
"Up the steps."
I halted, gazing up where the torchlight lit my path. The stairs ascended into blackness, but when I squinted I saw the light at the top. A very small light. One that led to freedom. One that led to my father and clan. And one that led me back to you … Nhedri.
"Move!" The guard jammed his spear in my back and I stumbled, catching myself on the ground. "Get up before I kick you!"
My legs wobbled as I rose. Weak from the many days in confinement. How I missed my natural strength, and even moreso, the strength I had with my Skin Armour. If I could wear my horns now I'd be able to break free from this place, taking with me several of my finned captives.
I walked up the steps. My feet numb, toes blue, shivering on ascent. It was the longest climb I'd ever done, or at least felt like it. Each leg heavier than the last. The ascent didn't end when I reached the top. We went into a tower where a staircase spiraled up and up into shadows. I strained my neck and eyes trying to find the top. Even prayed to the Horn Gods that I wouldn't need to go up there. But my prayers seemed to not reach them. They too were stuck in the wall of ice.
From the base of the stairs to the top was a climb that would be difficult for even the strongest Horn Lord. It took an hour to reach the peak, collapsing several times, and nearly rolling down the stairs had the guard not kept ahold of me. Silence was all around me … an empty silence … one that the hairs on my neck raise.
At the top, a long hallway was the final march to the throne room. Air came through my nostrils, filling my lungs, and keeping my heart steady. All I could think of was what that young man said. How he killed my brother. How he killed Elior for Marina's hand. This whole time I thought she cared about me, but now I knew she was just getting her vengeance.
The hallway opened up into an enormous room with a vaulted ceiling that glowed blue like sunlight off ice. I looked right and then left at the circular pillars that were evenly spaced apart. Each made of ice, and rowing down to the center where an icy, spiked throne sat. Rows of people stood in blue and white robes, all their cold blue eyes on me. I gasped, grabbing my chest, feeling as though liquid filled my lungs, and I was drowning.
