Completed What mountains hide

[Iliris]

Iliris raised her hand, to shield her eyes from the freezing wind at least a little, drawing her gaze up the narrow mountain pass. She was still in the familiar surroundings of the Spine, but far more north than her travels would usually bring her. A lot closer to Molthal and Blightlands than she ever liked to thread. But this was no time to worry about where her fancies were lain in these parts, this time she was here for a pressing matter, and there was no time to linger or hesitate in one spot.

Rumors had reached them, or, rather, Iliris, that there was a new dragon, possibly a youngling, somewhere in this section of the mountains. In any other occasion she would have reached out to her fellow dragon keepers and asked for their assistance before setting out, but this time what she heard had worried her greatly. The dragon was spoken of as an easy prey. And Iliris had been so, so close to the rumored place where it lived.
So she went alone. With barely sending a message that would probably reach Ash and others in only a few days time. Maybe less. Nevertheless, she had already stepped deep into the mountains.

Her footsteps were light, only a comparably little weight pulling Iliris down. She wore her travel clothes, including a light armor, a puny thing compared to her real means of defense, there was a sword fastened around her waist, her trusty sabre, and some provision in the bag on her back, although she didn't expect to travel long enough to use it all.
This was supposed to be quick. She went there, found the dragon (or lack of one) and returned, either with the creature or alone, all that before anybody else could reach this place. Iliris trusted her speed, especially in these parts, she moved with the agility and grace of a young deer, barely stopping for rest or sleep. She didn't need them, not yet. She was good at enduring. She could rest later, when there would be no risk of loosing a precious dragon life. They had already helped so many, she couldn't let a dragon die right under their noses, not if she could have anything to do with it.

Her feet sank into the snow, as she crossed a split between two larger rocks where it had fallen. The skies were enveloped by clouds, but they were light and far up, bearing no promises of snow. All seemed to be... peaceful. More so than she had expected.
Iliris didn't like that. Not because she was paranoid, but because, this time, her gut was telling her, that something wasn't as calm as it seemed to be.

Her hand found its way to the hilt of her sword almost mindlessly.

 

[Naghi]

Iliris

Naghi stalked up the mountain.

He did not walk, no, the rage that sat within his chest forbade such things for him. It was an anger born of a fathers ‘love’, a curel joke that had him cast in the role of little more than a pathetic hunter.

The half-giant did not like being here, he did not like climbing this mountain. Yet his father had decreed it.

Their march westward was one which would be filled with fire and blood. The blood would be provided by the Blight Orcs. Streams of his fathers legions would rush west until they met villages and cities, killing and slaughtering until even they were satiated from it.

The fire?

The fire would come from elsewhere. Menalus had decreed that it would not come from his own hands, nor would it come from the hands of his sons. No, instead it would be wrought by a Dragon, one that had perched itself atop the Spine for too long now.

That was why Naghi was here. He was to take his first step into redemption, his first step back into the graces of the molten hall. How would he achieve this task? It was simply really. Chain the dragon roosting atop the Spine and bring it to heel.

Once the creature was captured, it would be used to burn the westlands and everything in it.

So Naghi climbed, higher and higher. He hefted his axe and took steps within the snow, his boots landing heavily as the air began to crow cold and the winds swirled.

 

[Iliris]

She heard the steps long before she saw anything. Maybe that was the reason for her worries, perhaps her ears had caught the sound long before her mind could also register it. It could be so. Nevertheless, the fact remained the same, her sharp senses had brought the sound of footsteps to her, coming from rather far away, but... approaching quickly. Very, very quickly. And as they did, they grew heavier to her ears, vanishing the thought that they could belong to a human, dwarf or orc in an instant.
No, this was something different. A terrifying thought struck her, but Iliris shook it off before it could form itself fully. Not, this couldn't be it.

In any case, she doubted that the owner of these heavy steps, clearly not an animal, could be here for a simple walk. She had far too little optimism left to assume that this creature wasn't her competitor for reaching the dragon first. Not that there was much else to do in these parts anyways.
She could be wrong. She hoped she was.
But she had to see the creature to tell anything more in any case. At least that wasn't as hard to do.

Iliris took a few moments more to judge the direction of the steps, pressing her ear to one of the rocks, just to hear better, even if not by much. She knew these mountains well. And she knew where the steps were coming from, where were they going. It wasn't that hard to tell what route this creature would choose, if it had a need for any king of route.
Following that, she acted swiftly. Iliris didn't waste any more time, climbing on one of the cliffs, nothing more than a grey shadow gliding up, and settled herself down in the snow on top of it. Now she had a good view over the mountain pass and surrounding cliffs, enough to not miss anybody walking there.
Now the only thing left was to not reveal herself. And that wasn't all that hard to do. Iliris drew a deep breath... And the next moment there was nothing but rock and snow on the cliff. Even if one of the rocks did have the shape of a woman.

So she stayed there, on the ground, drawing no breath, moving no muscle, for she was unable to, at least for now. And Iliris watched. And waited, hearing the footsteps approaching.
And when she finally saw her heart sank, because her worst fears had been true after all. For a moment she was truly glad for her stone shape, because otherwise she wouldn't be able to hold back a gasp.

 

[Naghi]

Naghi did not stop.

For him there was no reason to. He had no magic to sense Iliris, nor did he have the sight to see through the shape of stone.

In fact, the woman's disguise was of such a quality that as he walked Naghi actually began to take his path towards her. His heavy boots tramped against the rock and stone, forgoing the path and instead choosing to forge his own.

The peak was close now.

He knew from his fathers prophets that the Dragon's roost would be on the west side of the mountain. Once he climbed there he would find the beast and chain it. Bringing it low would be difficult, but not killing it would be the hardest.

"Curse him." Naghi grumbled as his steps lead him closer towards Iliris, his boots falling just to the side her stone form. He should have brought one of the shamans from Molthal.

It would have made capturing the serpent easier.

Without ever seeing the Dragon Keeper Naghi climbed higher, his boots digging further into the rock.

 

[Iliris]

This was bad. This was bad. This was very, very, very extremely, absolutely, undoubtedly bad. Terrible. Horrible. Not what she could have expected in the worst scenarios that had gone through her head. One of the fire giants. It was one of the fire giants! Beings that she had only heard of, in the stories that described Mothal, but there could be no doubt, that this creature was one of them.
As he stepped right next to her, right over her, Iliris was afraid that even her sole thoughts would be loud enough for him to hear. They weren't. He went further on.

And if she did not do something right now, he would get too far for her to catch up. After all, one of the giant's steps was the same as many, many or hers. Iliris shook off the spell, regaining her simple human flesh and blood, and looked in the direction where the giant was going. For a moment, she lost all her hopes.
Then she noticed something. It was a faint chance, and one that would possibly lead to her revealing her place, but... She had to try. She couldn't stop the giant altogether, Iliris knew that. But she could try to buy herself some time, enough to reach the dragon first. Maybe enough to call for assistance.

She ran. Trying desperately to stay out of the giant's sight, to make as little noise as she could, masking the rest behind the giant's loud steps, moving as fast as her legs, arms and lungs would allow it on the slippery cliffs and mountain paths.
Never before had Iliris felt like she couldn't move fast enough through the mountains.

Yet she did manage to reach the spot she had seen, hopefully with nought time to spare. She had never believed any god, but right now Iliris would have prayed to any of them.
The plan was simple enough. There was a tall pile of rocks on one of the highest cliffs, just to the side of where the giant would possibly go, as far as she could say, high above his head. And if he wouldn't change his path again, choosing one that was more difficult, if Iliris could just push hard enough... She had to try.

Maybe she had already been noticed. Maybe the giant would turn aside the last moment, avoiding the avalanche she wanted to make. Maybe her strength wouldn't be enough. Maybe she was too late.
But Iliris had to try.
She leaned against the rocks, and gave it everything she could.

 

[Naghi]

The rumble of stone and rock above forced Naghi's head up.

It was a quiet sound, echoing only because of the nooks of the mountains. A pebble was the first thing to fall, then a stone the size of a fist, then slowly more and more.

The half-giant let out a curse. His voice boomed out from him, a tidal of rage as the stones and boulders began to fall. They crumbled off the cliff side, tumbling down the mountains and crushing everything within their path. The racket of their fall echoed throughout the mountains, resounding like thunderclaps.

Naghi pierced his axe into the ground.

It's great head split the earth, the half-giant bracing himself in the earth. His feet dug into the ground, boots trampling what little life lay beneath them as the tidal waves of rock flew towards him.

They tumbled closer and closer, and then a crash resounded.

Dust flew into the air, a cloud of debris enshrouding Naghi and the stones that had tumbled towards him. Some continued on outside the cloud, yet others seemed to stay still. A few moments passed, the cloud settled, and then stood Naghi clutching one of the coulders.

The rock had half embedded itself Into his shoulder, blood as black as the Abyss ran down his arm and shoulder, the Half-giant having literally stopped the Boulder by ramming it with his own body. A laugh escaped him, his eyes soaring up towards the Cliffside where Iliris stood.

 

[Iliris]

Iliris had little to no time to consider various different outcomes that might follow her maneuver. Success. Defeat. Nothing at all.
But it hadn't helped her to brace herself for what really followed.

The rocks fell. That was good. The giant was still on the same track, and they did fall on him. That was good as well. And Iliris followed their furious and deadly route with a certain fascination, too drawn to the picture in front of her to avert her gaze. She saw the giant's axe hitting the ground, felt the impact ever so slightly with the soles of her boots. And watched. Watched as the rocks hit him, rising a great cloud of debris, hiding the giant even from her sharp eyes for a moment.
She drew a breath and held as if she was diving in deep water.
And as the air became clear again, she exhaled, raggedly, with horror.

The rocks had struck the giant. But they hadn't even done as much as knocked him to the ground. Iliris stared at the blood trailing down the giant's skin, a rock big enough to smash her easily having pierced it, deeply, yet it didn't seem to bother the giant all that much.
As he raised his gaze and laughed Iliris was still on the same spot, only now regaining the ability to move her limbs. A mistake. A grave one. She cursed herself immediately. She should have taken cover, should have ran, but now the giant had seen her, and that made everything only worse.
She had to get moving.

So Iliris turned and begun her race one more, although this time it wasn't her goal to get in front of. It was to get away from.
Tu run away from a giant. How funny it was.
Less amusing than the possibility to actually fight one. Although, if it was to come, she would face her destiny.

 

[Naghi]

There was someone else on the mountain.

His hand reached down to draw the handle of his axe away from the earth, dragging it free with a loud clatter of stone. A smile broke out on his face.

Perhaps he would get to kill something today after all.

The Dragon lay upon the peaks, and in his path was that girl. Who was she? Did did it matter? Thousands had reasons to kill him. Every resident of the Blightlands would have sacrificed much to kill a son of Menalus. Was she any different?

He doubted it. "DO NOT RUN!"

Naghi's voice boomed throughout the valley, resounding through the mountains and bouncing off the walls like waves of thunder. He set himself in motion, sidestepping the boulder and marching upwards as he called to the girl above.

"COME TO ME AND YOU WILL BE SPARED!" It was a lie, but the girl wouldn't know that.

For making him bleed he would wring the girls neck and toss her corpse from the mountain.

 

[Iliris]

The voice reached Iliris in a thunderous wave, almost making her slip on her foot, which was something unthinkable on its own. Obviously, she didn't believe the giant's words even for a split moment, knowing this little game all too well. She had attacked him. Sparing her would mean only keeping her alive long enough to kill in a more satisfying way.
Iliris didn't believe in the mercy of beings with blood as black as the night, not I they were from Molthal.

But, as she wasn't about to hand herself in, she had to figure something out and do it fast. Her only way of communication with others, a magical crystal, took time to be used, as she wasn't that skilled with arcane arts out of her tribe's teachings, so calling out or help was out of question for now. A little voice in Iliris' head screamed, that running away after a sneaky attack was something that only cowards did, but she ignored that one easily enough. She didn't hesitate when the battle had started, but Iliris also knew the difference between bravery and insanity well enough not to hurry to engage in battles she would most probably lose. Because even with all her skill and might, a single human was no match for a giant, not without a very powerful magical gift, which she did not have.
So the only option left was to hide. She could outrun the giant only shortly, soon he would catch up with her.

But for a very short moment she had the advantage of being out from his sight. And she had at least one trick she knew well enough.

It took a few more steps for her to find a split wide enough to fit her in in the cliff-side. It was only a few lengths of her arm deep, and being as she was, she would be easily spotted there. But she had her means of camouflage.
Sliding into the split as far as it would let her, she called upon her spell once more. And there Iliris was again: pure stone, in between mountains.

She was a lot harder no notice now. If the giant would look long enough, he would almost certainly be able to see that she was no simple shard of rock.
But if he wouldn't, she could begin to have a chance of getting out of this.

 

[Naghi]

Naghi did not run up the mountain, there was no need to.

Every step he took accounted for four of a normal mans, for the girl it must have been five. Still, he moved swiftly, the patter of his feet breaking the rocks below as he moved higher and higher on the mountain path. As he walked his eyes searched for footprints, snapped twigs, anything that may be a clue to where the girl had gone.

His gaze swept over the broken rocks and half formed stones, snow decorating some of the mountain side as pulled himself up above a small ridgeline. Fingers sprawled around the handle of his axe.

The half-giant paused for a moment at a spot where he had last seen the girl, his gaze slowly sweeping around as he tried to find her. For a moment his eyes lingered, then his nostrils slowly flared as he smell the air. ”Fear.”

It was a silent uttering, but loud enough to anyone nearby to hear.

His voice was like a rumble of bees, a whisper loud enough to echo up here within the mountains.

”I can smell it.” His finger tightened. ”The weakness.”

In an instant Naghi turned around and swept his axe downard. The blade glowed red head, slicing through a boulder just to the left of where Iliris had hidden herself. It was a blindshot, one meant to scare the girl into coming out of hiding.

 

[Iliris]

Iliris couldn't breathe, therefore she couldn't hold her breath as well. She couldn't move, therefore she couldn't shake or shiver. She could only see a little bit of the snow outside of the split. And think. Right now even her own thoughts seemed too loud, way too loud.

As the giant spoke, she was handful that stones didn't have hearts or lungs. It was better like this.

She was a warrior, yes. But she wasn't used to being alone like this. There was always somebody else, someone to coordinate with, plan with, rely on, look out for and who would look out for her. Now there were only mountains, her home, but the foe of any living thing at the same time, and snow. And the giant.

As the axe hit the stone, she saw everything with full clarity.

She could continue hiding. It would either kill her, as it almost had just now, or make the giant decide that she had gone forward, and he would follow the illusion of a trail. Then she would stay alive. But the dragon would be lost for them, for Iliris had no doubt that she wouldn't be able to keep up with the giant. She could try and call help, but it would probably be too late.
She would never forgive herself.

But she could also shake of her stone form and go out. Face the giant in a equal battle (as equal as it could be). His words had set her stone blood to fire, her youthful spirit demanding showing him that there was no fear in Iliris Karion, even if there was. If she fought him, she would probably die. She was trained to fight beast, but it would probably not be enough. But if she did win, she could save the dragon.
And that was worth any risk.

She was trained for this, jumping out of the spell and right into the action. And so she did, waiting a split moment more for a reasonable opportunity, before sliding of her stone cover, into the open of the valley.
The giant's axe was buried in the stone. That would give her a moment.
Her sword was drawn, her faithful blade, made to pierce the skin of a dragon, now serving to protect them.

"You won't see the top of this mountain, Molthal scum!" and with that cry, her own blade flew forwards with a lunge, a sliver of silver, thin but deadly.
The giant was bigger and stronger, yes. But she was quicker and with senses sharper than most living creatures. It was like a snake fighting a wolf. She was small. But she had her fangs.

 

[Naghi]

Naghi was a giant, but he did not lumber.

His axe, buried in stone, burned a bright red. His gaze dropped on the small woman as she bounded from the stone itself and lunged forward.

A scowl pulled across his lips, fingers unlacing from around the handle of his axe as he pulled himself backward with a single step. The tip of the woman's blade stabbed at him, it's tip piercing through a thick hide of skin and drawing more black blood.

The moment he felt the weapon in his side a low rumble passed his throat.

Then he moved.

His hand came down, massive fingers reaching to grab the girl's arm in a crushing grip that would hold her in place.

 

[Iliris]

When her blade did actually manage to pierce the giant's skin, her blood sung with it. Of course, in theory Iliris knew that the force she put into her lunge was enough to do it, but it was a vastly different feeling to actually see the wound she formed.
One that she indulged into for too long.

A mistake.

For she had lost the precious second she might have had to jump back, retreat and continue her attacks. She did try to avoid the fingers reaching for her, of course she did. But the giant's hand was too big, and she had lingered for a moment too long.

Along with the forceful grip on her left arm came the panic, washing over her somewhere in the distance, outside of the front layer of her mind, which was cold and collected, as it was trained to be during the battle.

She was in an awful situation. And there wasn't even that much she could do.

So Iliris did the last trick left to her: she dropped her sword, and while it was flying down, kicked it back up with her foot in a practiced move, and caught it with her other, right, hand.

And then she brought it up to the hand holding her, this time slicing more that stabbing.

 

[Naghi]

A blade sliced into his arm, cutting deep into the flesh and drawing enough to dye the snow below almost completely black.

Naghi roared.

His anger boomed through the mountains, rebounding through the cliffs and bouncing from wall to wall. It was like thunder, ringing out loud enough to burst eardrums. "YOU DARE?!"

His voice thundered, and then he wrenched the hand that was gripping her to the right.

There was no subtlety in the movement.

The great Fire-Giant wrested Iliris to the side, aiming to smash her tiny form into a boulder that stood as high as Naghi himself.

 

[Iliris]

She drew blood again. At least she managed to do that. At least she wasn't useless at all. Although maybe in a moment she would be, because her left arm, which had been hurting just a moment ago, now started to feel more and more numb in the forceful grip of the giant. There would be bruises. Maybe something far worse.
Although, nothing would be that bad, if she actually managed to stay alive.

Which didn't seem all that likely right now. Yes, Iliris had always known that she was to die in a battle, but somehow she had assumed that it would happen later on. In a decade or two. Not while life was still so fresh in her.

But if it was her faith... She would at least put up a fight.

Or try to. Because as the giant roared and jerked her aside, something made an awful sound in her shoulder. Dislocated, thought one part of her mind, while other hissed in pain.

There was really nothing she could do to resist the movement, there wasn't even enough time for her to set up a new strike.

A second, and there would be no Iliris to do anything at all.

More on instinct than anything else, she reached for her spell once more. As she hit the boulder, Iliris was likewise formed from stone again. She felt the impact. Hard. Hard enough to almost loose the grip on the spell. But training to endure the flames of dragons had raised her endurance enough to not slip back to her normal form right away. She had enough in her to power through one more hit.

But if she wanted to survive afterwards, she had to think. Now.

But what could she do against a giant, who was unbothered by numerous wounds she had inflected him?

 

[Naghi]

Blood dripped from his, slowly falling down his skin as he lumbered towards the girl.

He could see her now. The odd stone of her skin. It made sense how she had hidden before. Clever trick, but it wouldn't work when Naghi knew where he had thrown her. A smile touched the half-giants face as he took another step forward. "You should have stayed off the mountain, girl."

His voice was a rumble of terror.

There were those in Molthal that said Naghi was the greatest of his brothers. Those that worshipped him almost as much as they worshipped his father. They were bootlickers all, suck ups who sought to use him to elevate their own position.

Naghi knew that, yet as he walked towards Iliris one couldn't help but see the truth of the fire-giants might. The red glow of his eyes seemed to burn down towards the girl.

Then he kicked out his foot towards her. He cared not for subtlety at this point. She had cut him, hurt him, and kept him from his goal. Now she would pay.

He would throw her off the mountain if it was the last thing he ever did.

 

[Iliris]

The voice boomed down on her, and Iliris still didn't have any plan, not the faintest trace of one. Perhaps she should have stayed away. Perhaps. Although, wasn't it better to die fighting for one's goal than live like a coward, hiding from any danger?
And was she any better than any coward out there?

Was she worthy of her life for her goal, if she couldn't protect what she had to?

As the red eyes burned into her skull, their scorching heat undoubtedly earning its place in her future nightmares, Iliris was sure that she is going to die. She was frozen in place by the heat coming from those eyes, as twisted as it might be.

Then, before she could react, before she could even get rid of the spell to try and put up any more useless fight, the giant kicked.

And, well, there was nothing holding her down to the ground. As the foot reached her, the impact shaking and almost breaking her as she was, Iliris was set into a sickening whirl of snow and air. Somewhere in the middle of it, her body became made of flesh again, flying through the air as a limp sack, barely a living human being.
It only lasted a few seconds, but for Iliris it seemed like an eternity of falling, down the steep slope, down in the open jaws of the Spine. She grasped for her consciousness, trying to call her magic back again. It was the most primitive urge: to survive, to live, to cling to life.

In the end, it was only luck that saved her. The spell had returned, but only as a faint mimic of what she usually managed to create, it would still not be enough to save her if she hit a cliff or fell on bare rock. But maybe the Spine really was a caring parent for once, because Iliris fell into deep snow, between the sharp rocks that could have killed her with ease, shattered her body and drank up her blood.

The last thing she saw before her mind faded away was the clear skies above the mountains.

 

[Naghi]

Naghi peered down the cliffside with a satisfied smile on his face.

He had not seen the girl splat, nor had he heard the screams, but to survive a fall like that...well, if the girl had, perhaps she deserved to live after all. An odd expression twisted his face for a moment, and then slowly he turned away from the edge of the rock.

His steps rang against the dirt, his hand scooping low to pick up his ax from where it had been stuck into the rock. His voice rumbled out in an odd uttering of a guttural language, a glow surrounding his palm.

The Half-Giant slowly breathed, and then placed his glowing palm against the open wounds on flesh on his side. He hissed, steam and the smell of burnt skin winding through the air as he cauterized his own wounds. A grimace pulled across his features, muscles stiffening slightly until he let out a shuttering breath.

He offered one last glance to the cliff-side, then to the mountains above.

Almost as if fated so a roar escaped from the peaks.

It resounded within the mountains, bouncing between the high cliffs and sundering stone. He spotted a flap of wings, a Dragon's wing soaring high above the mountains. Naghi's eyes tracked it as it flew closer and closer to the mountains.

A smile crossed his face.

It took him two hours to track the creature to it's lair, another hour to bring it low, and then a day to prepare the ritual.

If Iliris pulled herself from the snow and wandered up the mountain, if she went searching for Naghi's track, all she would find was a macabre horror that the Half-Giant had left behind.

Within the High Dragon's lair the Keeper would her object of worship split open. It's ribs and chest would be split, most of it's organs disemboweled, and it's head entirely detached from it's body. Great runes would be drawn all around the creature in it's own blood, all centering on a single ring.

An air of death and magic clung to the walls of the cavern, and no sign of Naghi would be seen.

 

[Iliris]

When she regained consciousness again, many hours had passed, and she wasn't frozen to death only by a miracle and thanks to her sturdy nature. Iliris barely gathered enough strength to finally call out for help, when she faded out again.
She awoke more than a day later, already in the caring hands of the other dragon keepers, who had found her, rescued her and saved her from death. They hadn't gone up the mountain, how could have they known what was up there? Iliris had acted on her own, without notifying anyone else, and for the time being their greatest worry had been keeping her alive.

So, when she finally managed to tell enough for them to go looking, it was already too late.

When it was told to her, what happened to the dragon of the mountain, she wept: from pain, from defeat, from her own helplessness.
She spent majority of her recovery withdrawing herself from the other keepers, gazing up the mountains, thinking thoughts too heavy for words to bear.

When her last wounds healed, Iliris finally made her oath: whomever the giant was, he would die for what he did to the dragon. Even if it would become the last thing she ever did.