"Where is the glacier?" Cutlery asked. Haze pointed towards the sky, away from the light of dusk She looked that way and saw a light blue sky. Why was the sky so bright over there away from Lutae? She walked that way and then found a wide tree with low branches. She climbed it. Tree climbing seemed like it could be fun to do more often. When the branches started to bend too far Cutlery looked up.
The light blue form before was not the sky. It was the glacier's brilliant glaze. The frozen sky soared above the mountains. It looked like a titan had sneezed it into existence. The wave of frost permanently crashed into the stone cliffs. It must be five, no, ten miles tall! Its color was bright and clear. Glaciers far in the distance sat as white bulks. Huge boulders, dead tree trunks, and other debris scattered the inside. Some hung out. The overall appearance was that of a tsunami told to pose for a painting mid-crash.
Cutlery gawked for a minute. Then Fish started complaining extra loud about the lack of framed beds. A quick descent of the tree showed that the camp was almost set up. Cutlery started telling everyone about what she saw. The others had already seen the glacier on their way into the city as younger kids or with their parents. How odd.
Once camp was done Haze had them walk to the ridge
"The glacier is huge so they can't be using all of it. We need to find a main entrance to what they are using. They have a special elemental with them that can shift the ice. We don't have anything like that. Hope we don't run into anyone who can move the whole structure around us.
There should be tracks from supply wagons, or an entrance large enough for one if they fly. If they don't need supply lines, then there aren't many of them. We'll spend our night trading off watch. Once we see something we can make a plan." Haze said.
Haze took the first watch. The rest of them got comfortable in their campsite. They had hammocks in the trees so that nothing would notice them. Tents were hard to set up anyways.
Sleep eluded Cutlery and the others for some time. Eventually, noises came from Gill's hammock. Cutlery looked and Fish's hung empty. Ah. Somehow, that rocked her right to sleep.
Gill was shaking her asleep. Cutlery groaned at the sudden time travel of unexpected sleep. Looking around she took back in the hammock and saw Gill's large shadow outside. He stood on the thick branch she hung over. His eyes were bleary.
"We saw something. A silver sash flying into the upper glacier near the far mountain." He explained. She looked at him over her blanket with thin eyes.
Cutlery rubbed her eyes. The others were already laying on the nearby ridge. Haze had a pair of glass tubes he was looking through. He handed them off to Gill as he lay there.
"That might not be the only entrance. But flying entrances are usually closer to the important shit than the main gates." Haze said.
"Do we have a plan?" Cutlery asked. Fish turned and shook his head no. The group pulled away from the ridge.
"Best bet is to run along the opposite side of the mountain ridge to stay out of sight. We'll find where they flew in. It's not glass so even if they have a tunnel nearby they shouldn't be able to see us." Haze said.
"The glacier is taller than the mountains that will be quite the hike," Asim said.
"We can take it," Haze said.
Haze in front, Gill in back. Fish, Cutlery, then Asim in the middle. If a head-on attack came Haze could likely take it in stride.
"Alright. Leave everything you can, doesn't matter if they find it." Haze said. They left all but one day of food and water, and they started their run. The large moons were out in full so small beams of light pierced the canopy. They began to jog.
The dim light was a blessing to see in the trees. As they reached the mountainside, the light became an enemy. It would be hard to stay hidden. They ran along the forest's edge away from the glacier until they were behind. Their jog was a sprint for most.
They turned out of the forest and onto the rough ledges of the mountainside. It was a sharp hill. This slowed them to half their previous speed. Haze still set a ridiculous pace for the unstable footing.
The cliffside took an hour to cross. The far side of the glacier was only a few hundred feet away. Cutlery now truly appreciated the size of the thing. They had covered three miles and only now was it no longer blocking the night sky. Haze stopped them at some huge boulders They all lay down under them and heaved.
Haze had pushed them to their slivers limit. The bastard probably knew exactly what that limit was too. With almost no distance training, they had done very well.
"Rest up. In ten minutes we make for the glacier. Slowly." Haze said. He popped the cork on his water and tilted it back.
-
The path up to the glacier was slow. Fish told Cutlery they had seen the silver sash fly around this side of the glacier. They had been a few hundred feet up. Likely they had flown into a base entrance. The heretics could be watching the mountainside from that same entrance. So their path wound amid huge boulders, cliffs, scattered trees, and along steep gravel drop hills. Above them, the glacier still loomed.
Cutlery couldn't see any obvious tunnels or guard spots. Were there really people in there?
The ground beneath their winding path leveled out. The mountain ridge had been surmounted. The glacier blocked their entire sea-ward view now. The ice did seem fairly transparent but it was so thick it faded into blackness. The escarpment of ice had hundreds of nearby rocks and tree's sticking out of it.
"They'll likely want to fight us inside their base. Be ready for a trap," Haze whispered. He unhooked a rope with a hook at the end.
"We'll grapple up. Cutlery put up a rope just in case we lose one." Haze commanded. They threw up their ropes together to latch onto a huge boulder that was submerged in the surface of the glacier. The air here was very stern. The wind whipped up the mountainside and then the glacier cooled it. The high winds nearly began to freeze them.
The ropes went taut and they climbed. Once they were all on the boulder Haze pointed upward.
"We're about a third of the way to where the silver sash went. There will be a guard at the entrance if they are competent." Haze said. They flung their hooks into a dead tree. They tugged them a few times to make sure it wasn't rotten. A few branches rattled but the trunk was firm.
"If there isn't, either it's a trap, or this will be easier than expected," Haze said. They rose to be within the dead tree's limbs. Hook throw after hook throw got them quite high. The wind was faster and a bit deeper into their skin. The view of the bruising pre-dawn sky was quite pretty.
Eventually, they reached a large tree that was somehow alive. As they climbed into it Haze held up a hand. They all froze. Fish and Asim were on the ropes. Gill waited far below on a mossy stone.
Cutlery followed Haze's gaze and saw it—an opening in the ice. The grotto was just above the trunk. The leaves concealed it completely from the outside. The roots grew into the cavern where water awaited it. A mechanism sifted dirt around the wood tendrils as pale green orbs moved about the base of the tree.
"They must be keeping this alive to hide the entrance," Haze whispered. He waved for everyone to come up. For some time they hid within the leaves, watching.
Haze pulled out a scroll and tapped it. The writing on it wilted. A translucent film spread outward from the paper. It passed through everything as if it was a ghost. It reached the base of the tree and seemed to cling to the glowing orbs and other mechanisms.
"Ten minutes till this takes effect, get comfortable and stay on watch," Haze said. He motioned to the sky. They all shifted about and waited. The minutes went by slowy and tensely.
