Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 13, Part 3

11 June 2026

We return with another installment from the second book of our epic fantasy, Staff of Shigmar, and discover what terrible thing happens to one of our heroes. . . . (27 April 2015) We remind all readers that this book, Staff of Shigmar, as also the first book, is free for download from Smashwords! Glossary links: Book 2, Book 1

Chapter 13, Part 3

Several hours seemed to pass as they picked their way carefully through this first tunnel of ice, with each of them getting caught several times by the ice after slipping. The path ended as it started, blocked by ice, and Klaybear bashed their way through into another stone circle under mountains of dirty, gray ice. As they approached the center of this circle, hearing the sounds of cracking and falling ice, they heard a new sound, a squelchy sound, like that of a foot being pulled from the mud, but there was also a ringing sound, as if the foot was made of brass or glass. Looking around, they saw figures emerging from the walls of ice surrounding the circle, figures that were reminiscent of the stone creatures of the earth realm, but where the stone creatures were rounded, these figures were jagged and sharp, as if pieces of ice had broken from the cliffs and piled together to become upright creatures, walking forward on jagged legs of ice, cracking and grinding as they walked. One came from each of the four cardinal directions, waving arms that ended in chunks of ice like huge cudgels. Blakstar strode toward the nearest ice creature, taking out and swinging his sword; Klaybear took out his mace, moving toward the creature nearest to him. Daggers appeared in both of Tevvy’s hands, one dagger flying from his hand in a smooth, overhand motion. The dagger struck the creature nearest him right in the single, glowing blue eye, causing the creature to stagger back, its head shattering in a brilliant flash of blue light; the remaining pieces that formed the creature fell apart, slid toward the wall, and were immediately absorbed back into the cliff walls. Thal, seeing Tevvy’s success, raised his rod and sang, “pleugipur,” and an arrow of fire shot from the end of his rod, striking the creature nearest him, instantly turning its head into steam that turned into ice crystals a second later, falling harmlessly to the stone. The remaining pieces fell apart, slid toward the wall, and were quickly absorbed by the walls. They turned to watch their companions dueling with their icy opponents. For Klaybear, every time his opponent swung one of his cudgel-like arms at the kailu, Klaybear responded by smashing the cudgel-end of the arm with his green-glowing mace, until the creature had no arms left, and the kailu’s mace swung down, crushing its icy head. Blakstar, to their other side, sliced off pieces of the creature he faced, his golden flaming sword passing through the ice as if it were water with a crackling hiss. Like Klaybear, when the creature had no arms left and lay prostrate before him, the kortexi swung his sword in an overhand arc, slicing into the jagged, icy head, which burst when the golden flames surrounding the blade touched the glowing blue eye, just after Klaybear smashed his. The parts of both creatures fell to the ground, slid toward the walls, and were quickly absorbed by the dirty gray cliffs surrounding them. Tevvy moved to where his creature had been, looking for his dagger; he could see a glint of metal in the ice wall, but no other evidence of his dagger. Blakstar walked over to Thal, slipping his sword back into its scabbard, and whispered something to him, and the white maghi slapped his head with one furry mitten. He beckoned Tevvy and Klaybear closer, and when the four of them stood together, although each continued to move his feet to keep from sticking, he raised his rod and whispered, “kwyeskoit.”

“I forgot I could do this,” Thal apologized, “and Blakstar just reminded me what I had done before.”

“No echoes,” Tevvy said, “that bring down the ceiling or walls.”

Thal nodded.

Blakstar drew a packet of dried meat out of one of his pockets. “We should all have some of this,” he noted, rocking from side to side and passing the packet around; each of them took a piece of the dried meat. “And take a drink from your water skin,” he suggested, taking a piece and replacing the packet in one of his pockets, “and we should keep moving.”

Tevvy nodded. “I notice the cold more when we are not moving,” he noted, slipping his mittened hand under the flap and biting off a piece of dried meat.
The others nodded, also biting off pieces of dried meat under their hoods, moving off in different directions to find the path forward.

They passed through a second tunnel of ice, in the same way as the first, and into a second stone circle, the walls of which expelled eight of the jagged, icy creatures. Tevvy, losing three daggers, and Thal, using a variation of the fire arrow, together managed to destroy six of the icy creatures in the time that Blakstar and Klaybear destroyed two. They ate more dried meat before entering the third icy tunnel. Thal stopped them at the end, creating a dome of silence again, so they could speak.

“If they double in numbers,” he said, rocking from foot to foot, “I do not think we can handle sixteen.”

“I’m running out of daggers,” Tevvy put in, “I have only three left.”

Blakstar nodded, giving himself a moment to think. “Will they follow us into this tunnel?” he asked.

Thal shrugged. “I cannot tell from what we have seen.”

“They are not difficult to defeat,” Klaybear noted, “but you are right, if they double, I doubt that we can destroy them all before one of them gets one of us, which would be fatal to all.”

Tevvy was looking at the partially blocked opening into the next circle. “I think I can slip through the ice there,” he said, pointing, “then I can sneak around to find the way out, then you can crash out of here, heading to wherever I am. Thal can blast the creatures who are nearest the opening, Klaybear can open it, and we can all slip through: they have looked too big to move through these tunnels.”

All three looked at the awemi for a long moment before anyone replied. “And if they can follow us?” Blakstar asked.

“The tunnels are quite narrow,” Tevvy shrugged, “so only one or two of them could attack us at once.”

“Maybe,” Klaybear said, “but I think these tunnels are difficult enough without having to fight off the ice creatures, and if someone sticks to the wall, how can we get him free while fighting one of these moving ice blocks?”

“I could,” Thal said, hand where his chin would be, “set off a fireball after we enter the tunnel. That would discourage pursuit, maybe even bring down the cliff walls on top of them. I think the space is large enough.”

Tevvy raised one eyebrow warily. “You think it’s big enough? What if you are wrong? What happens then?”

Thal shrugged. “The space is large enough that, at worst, some small amount of flame could enter the tunnels, but I suppose if I set the center closer to this side of the circle, most of the flames would shoot down this tunnel, and not the one we will be in.”

Tevvy shook his head. “I have a bad feeling about this,” he mumbled to himself, then looked up at the others. “Forget I said anything.”

Blakstar looked from Thal to Klaybear, then back to Thal. “I think it is a workable plan.” He turned to Tevvy. “All right, thief,” he said, “let’s get you quietly through the ice so you can locate the way out.”

With the kortexi pushing, Tevvy managed to slip through the ice blocking the end of the tunnel, grumbling to himself about how he should learn to keep his mouth shut.

“Wave your arms when you find it,” Blakstar whispered past the ice, his voice light.

Tevvy strode off to his right, cursing the kortexi silently under his breath. He moved cautiously and silently around the edge of the stone circle, hoping that he would not trigger whatever caused the ice creatures to appear. The sounds of cracking and grinding ice surrounded him, causing him to pause frequently and look up, making sure the cliff above him was not about to fall on him. He found the opening about halfway around the circle; stooping, he looked through one of the wider cracks near the base and could tell, from what little he could see, that this pathway was different from the others: instead of going along level, this path climbed steeply just inside the opening. Curiosity flared inside Tevvy, so he waved to the others, pointed at the opening, then dove through one of the wider cracks.

The others watched Tevvy disappear to their right, then waited for him to reappear further around the circle. When the awemi stepped back into their field of vision, they saw him moving slowly and cautiously, pausing and looking up frequently.

“Hopefully,” Thal said, “he won’t get buried by the cliff.”

“If he does,” Blakstar noted, “he will be lost, and we will be trapped here forever.”

“He’s quite agile,” Klaybear added, “so I think he’ll be all right. Besides, we thought you were lost in the last realm, but a way was provided for us to continue; we are, after all, meant to pass through this test and reach the staff.”

“I hope you are right,” Blakstar said. “He’s found the opening,” he added after a moment. They saw Tevvy stooping, saw him wave and point, then dive into the opening. “What’s he doing now?” Blakstar asked, sounding irritated. He pulled out his sword and smashed through the ice, leaping forward into the stone circle. Thal and Klaybear followed before the ice covered the opening. As soon as Blakstar took three long strides across the circle, they heard the squelching, ringing sound all around them and saw ice creatures forming from and stepping out of the dirty gray cliffs surrounding them, more than double the number they faced in the last circle.

“That’s more than double,” Blakstar noted, and was surprised not to hear the echoes, as Thal had forgotten to cancel his orthek.

“Two dozen,” Thal said, “to be exact.”

“We have to get to the opening,” Blakstar said, “it is our only chance.” Swinging his sword, the kortexi leapt forward to attack the creatures between them and the opening. Klaybear brandished his mace and followed, while Thal shot bolts of fire to the right, then left, then behind them, trying to keep the creatures off their backs. This slowed the closing of the circle of icy creatures, giving the kortexi and the kailu time to hack off limbs and smash several heads, clearing the way to the opening. Again, Thal shot bolts of fire to the left and right, giving them time to get to the archway and smash the ice blocking it. Blakstar and then Klaybear jumped through the opening; Thal paused long enough to gesture with his rod back over his shoulder before leaping through the now closing arch, tossing a tiny point of red light back toward the opposite side of the circle. He turned and sang, “kweklopur–patno.” The point of red light flashed brightly and began to grow, brightening and filling the circle, a roaring sound echoed around the circle. When the expanding flames reached the icy gray cliffs, the flames expanded upward covering the opening, consuming the ice creatures, and melting the ice covering the opening. As the flames started to enter the ice tunnel, Klaybear raised his staff and sang, “plotoskoit,” creating a shield of water that immediately froze, covering the tunnel behind them and blocking the flames; the wall of ice glowed with an angry red light. They moved up the tunnel, stopping when they saw the light wink out, but the ground under them shook violently for several seconds, then they heard a rumbling sound, heard the ice shield shatter, and were covered with a spray of ice crystals.

“What was that?” Thal exclaimed, glad he had not canceled his shield of silence.

Blakstar shrugged and took a few steps back down the passage and found the way back blocked.

“I think your orthek brought down the cliffs,” he said as he returned, “blocking the way back.” The kortexi stopped, looking up the ice tunnel, noticing light coming from somewhere ahead. “Where did the thief get to?”

The others looked up the tunnel. “He probably went scouting ahead,” Klaybear replied.

“Yes,” Thal added, “since he saw himself outmatched by the ice creatures.” He chuckled, and Blakstar joined him. The kortexi turned and started to climb the sloping tunnel; Thal and Klaybear followed, and the light grew brighter.

Blakstar stopped and turned back, reaching up to fold the narrow flap over his eyes down, covering the slit in the hood for his eyes. “Better put your visor down,” he noted, “since it looks like we are moving out into the open. The light reflecting off the snow can blind a person, if he looks at it for only a few seconds without the visor.” Thal and Klaybear imitated Blakstar’s action, and discovered they could still see the outlines of the tunnel, and as they got closer to the surface and the light grew more intense, they could see clearly the opening onto the surface, and the awemi standing in the opening without his visor down, eyes wide, but seeing nothing.

On Saturday we will return to Delgart, Marilee, and the seklesi army, stalled near the Crossing of Reema; they have defeated the attacking aperum, but the bulk of the opposing army remains to be fought before they can come to the aid of Shigmar. For those who wish to read on, get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading!