Ice Village

[Tessar]

Ok I only have one chapter done... But I hope you like it! At the bottom of the page is a (small) glossary.


Chapter One: Danlor Avindar



A golden sun hung above the tall mountains of Erathor, bathing them in light and causing them to cast long dark shadows over the valley below them. Snow was piled high atop their peaks and covered both their bases and the valley below. A strong wind often howled through that valley, like the wolves that hunted down any thing that was edible.

Danlor’s san’dar raised white clouds of steam with its breath, panting from the long run it had just made and stamping in the white snow, flexing its claws and shaking its head in annoyance at the cold. San’dar were much more suted to the mild climates of the land further south.

“I know, I don’t like it much either.” Danlor comforted his mount with a pat on its well-muscled side and scanned the surrounding area. He was on the slope of one of the mountains; about halfway down to Ice Valley and Ice Town, what little comfort that provided was almost as fleeting as the mist that his breath made.

It was a majestic view though, the little Town was covered in snow like some great icing covered confection in the shape of a village, surrounded by a sparkling wall of ice that seemed to glow with a trapped power, clearly a magic barrier as no town would be foolish enough to simply have normal ice in a place like this. The beasts were much too wild here for that.

“We’ll reach it tonight after you’ve had a bit of a rest.” Danlor said quietly and patted his reptilian mount, sliding down from the San’dar and awkwardly pulling a leather backpack out from under his plain cloak of forest green wool. Who ever made the backpack had clearly never intended it for a human as the arm straps were too tight and the buckle was small enough to give Danlor’s cold-numbed fingers more than a little trouble.

The thick hood of Danlor’s cloak slipped off to revel his face. Danlor’s skin always looked slightly tanned and his brown hair was always a little mussed these days. His eyes were shielded by long, thick lashes and were a pale blue, much like the wall of ice that surrounded the town, both in color and in that they seemed to hold a trapped power, although in his eyes it was no mere trick of the light. At 5’7 he was shorter than most, and his frame wasn’t very awe-inspiring. Lean and short, something that had often annoyed him when he was a boy.

After several minuets of trying to open the pack, Danlor dropped it with a sigh and fixed his hood, staring at the backpack and wandering what evil twist of fate had caused him to pick up the wrong kind from that little shop off the borders of Greenwood Forest. The owner had assured him that it would fit anyone, and as Danlor had been in a rush he had simply nodded, and paid for it as quickly as he could before stuffing all his things in it and taking off. Blasted storeowners.

With a determined frown on his face, Danlor drew his ebony handled dagger, and advanced on the backpack with the dagger held tightly in a backhanded grip. No mere backpack was going to deny Danlor his supper after what he had been through. And no mere buckle was going to stop him from getting at the things inside of that backpack. Come to think of it, no simple bit of leather was going to stop him!

An evil grin appeared on Danlor’s face, and if the backpack had been alive, it would have run. As it was the backpack was not alive, currently anyways, and so Danlor descended on it and triumphantly slashed the holding strap with his dagger… Only to have the blade leave a slight mark on the tough old leather. Danlor could have cried, except that now he was really angry. Stupid worthless bit of hide, he would show it.

Only five minutes later, Danlor sat warming his hands in front of a small but cheerful fire and slowly tossed the scraps of the former backpack into the flame while chewing on a slightly hard, and very cold, piece of cheese.