Winter Prince sounds pretty modest; didn't you tell him he should have ambitions to be the Winter King, Winter Emperor or Imperial Winter Ruler of the Universe?
The Winter Prince Where they'd expected to see stalactites there were icicles instead: long, sort-of-conical, icy protusions that reached down from the ceiling like twisted, frozen tentacles of some ancient sea beast. Water still ran down the outside of them from somewhere high up, freezing erratically and making them lumpy, bumpy, and still extending downwards. The floor, naturally enough, was slick with black ice; near invisible in the torch-light but so easy to detect underfoot as their boots slipped and slid and they fought to maintain their balance. There were a few stalagmites, but the torch-light showed a rocky destruction that suggested that anyone coming in here eventually fell over and crashed into a stalagmite while trying to stop themselves from sliding about. The cave was bitterly cold, which they'd expected and dressed for, but also smelled of something spicy and Christmassy. "Lebkuchen," said Bill. "That's what I can smell." "I don't care," said Ben. He surveyed the cave. "We're barely halfway across this damn cave, and we're going to have to get back after this too. I told you we should have brought a flamethrower." "Hench fell off that bridge and he was carrying half as much a flamethrower would have weighed," said Bill. "I don't think we'd have had it in here with us anyway." "True, I suppose. How long will it take Hench to climb back up, do you think?" "I think they'll probably catch up with us before we get back to the car. At least, they'd better if they don't want to walk back to the hotel." "Good point. I'm not sitting around in the cold for a lazy henchling. Plus, the exercise would be good for them. Now, how are we going to get across this cave? The treasure of the Winter Prince is supposed to be two caves further on, and this one is... nightmarish." Bill's pockets jingled as he rummaged around in them. "Nightmarish is a good word," he said thoughtfully. "Did I ever tell you about the Ilmatu?" He pulled a soft cloth bag out, and handed it to Ben, and then started untying something around his waist. Ben investigated the bag. "Crampons," he said after a moment. "Why the hell didn't you get these out back at the start?" Bill pulled a substantial length of rope free from his waist and started roping himself to Ben. "Didn't really think about it," he said. "I'd kind of expected that Hench would be chipping us a proper path across the ice, and sort of assumed I wouldn't need them, I think." "Better late than never," said Ben. "Hmm, didn't you have a girlfriend whose motto that was?" Bill thought about it while Ben attached crampons to his shoes and stamped his feet, smashing the ice and getting a firm grip at last. "I think you mean Gretchen," he said. "She was sweet." "She had a phantom pregnancy every month," said Ben. "Until her period arrived." "Oh yes, that's why she kept saying 'better late than never'!" "She got fat and thin like she was the phases of the moon. I'll never understand what you saw in her." "She had the map of the Winter Prince's caves," said Bill. "Now, wasn't I going to tell you about the Ilmatu? Let's get going, we can talk and walk."
Greg - well, he did point to a slightly higher part of the snow pile and tell me that's where the Winter King goes, so I think he was just being honest about his position.
I am both surprised and appreciative that this setting only had brief references to your icy friends. Who, I somehow need to remind you, are most definitely the most sinister characters you've created here.
Enjoyed the back and forth between these two as always, just to be clear.
2 comments:
Winter Prince sounds pretty modest; didn't you tell him he should have ambitions to be the Winter King, Winter Emperor or Imperial Winter Ruler of the Universe?
The Winter Prince
Where they'd expected to see stalactites there were icicles instead: long, sort-of-conical, icy protusions that reached down from the ceiling like twisted, frozen tentacles of some ancient sea beast. Water still ran down the outside of them from somewhere high up, freezing erratically and making them lumpy, bumpy, and still extending downwards. The floor, naturally enough, was slick with black ice; near invisible in the torch-light but so easy to detect underfoot as their boots slipped and slid and they fought to maintain their balance. There were a few stalagmites, but the torch-light showed a rocky destruction that suggested that anyone coming in here eventually fell over and crashed into a stalagmite while trying to stop themselves from sliding about. The cave was bitterly cold, which they'd expected and dressed for, but also smelled of something spicy and Christmassy.
"Lebkuchen," said Bill. "That's what I can smell."
"I don't care," said Ben. He surveyed the cave. "We're barely halfway across this damn cave, and we're going to have to get back after this too. I told you we should have brought a flamethrower."
"Hench fell off that bridge and he was carrying half as much a flamethrower would have weighed," said Bill. "I don't think we'd have had it in here with us anyway."
"True, I suppose. How long will it take Hench to climb back up, do you think?"
"I think they'll probably catch up with us before we get back to the car. At least, they'd better if they don't want to walk back to the hotel."
"Good point. I'm not sitting around in the cold for a lazy henchling. Plus, the exercise would be good for them. Now, how are we going to get across this cave? The treasure of the Winter Prince is supposed to be two caves further on, and this one is... nightmarish."
Bill's pockets jingled as he rummaged around in them. "Nightmarish is a good word," he said thoughtfully. "Did I ever tell you about the Ilmatu?" He pulled a soft cloth bag out, and handed it to Ben, and then started untying something around his waist. Ben investigated the bag.
"Crampons," he said after a moment. "Why the hell didn't you get these out back at the start?"
Bill pulled a substantial length of rope free from his waist and started roping himself to Ben. "Didn't really think about it," he said. "I'd kind of expected that Hench would be chipping us a proper path across the ice, and sort of assumed I wouldn't need them, I think."
"Better late than never," said Ben. "Hmm, didn't you have a girlfriend whose motto that was?"
Bill thought about it while Ben attached crampons to his shoes and stamped his feet, smashing the ice and getting a firm grip at last. "I think you mean Gretchen," he said. "She was sweet."
"She had a phantom pregnancy every month," said Ben. "Until her period arrived."
"Oh yes, that's why she kept saying 'better late than never'!"
"She got fat and thin like she was the phases of the moon. I'll never understand what you saw in her."
"She had the map of the Winter Prince's caves," said Bill. "Now, wasn't I going to tell you about the Ilmatu? Let's get going, we can talk and walk."
Greg - well, he did point to a slightly higher part of the snow pile and tell me that's where the Winter King goes, so I think he was just being honest about his position.
I am both surprised and appreciative that this setting only had brief references to your icy friends. Who, I somehow need to remind you, are most definitely the most sinister characters you've created here.
Enjoyed the back and forth between these two as always, just to be clear.
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