Yulla could not believe what she had just done. Her entire core shook as tears flooded down her eyes upon hearing the agonizing slams of the trolls' ugly weapons.
"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck," Yulla babbled. "What did we just do?"
"Curbed the herd." Niel snickered wickedly. If Yulla had any ounce of courage, she would have tackled the girl and strangled her till she choked on her own laughter. Instead, however, Yulla followed behind as she always did.
Eventually the two girls stopped in a small cove once they felt they were safe enough. Yulla guessed the small home either belonged to a toddler troll or an animal from the way it utterly reeked. And thanks to their stolen torches, both of them saw why. Next to them laid a large pile of bones, blood, and shit. Yulla quickly covered her mouth in pure, nauseating, disgust. Taking everything she had to quell her stomach and not add to the vile mess before her. Niel meanwhile, and not to Yulla's surprise, was far less disturbed by the sight and even strode over to take a closer look. Yulla always took the girl as strange, but after actually being around her Yulla now found Niel to be completely deranged. And after witnessing her swipe some of the blood on her thumb and smear it on her pitch-black tongue, Yulla now found the crazy bitch utterly putrid.
"This is definitely candidate blood but… it also tastes like… mead. Must be some type of fermented candidate blood. Fascinating!" Niel spoke louder than Yulla was comfortable, "I wonder how they brew this and if it makes them stronger somehow. Or better yet if it could make us stronger?"
"A-and uh… what does this have to do with the trial," Yulla asked in a low voice. "I don't remember having to drink… um… blood as being part of anything."
"Don't worry about it rich bitch," Niel chuckled. "You won't find out anyway."
Niel stood and turned to Yulla with a wicked smile. And as she strode towards her, Yulla instinctively backed away. Niel, however, only snickered in response and waved for her to follow. Yulla hesitated for a long moment, just staring a Niel's back as she pressed onward. She thought she might have felt better seeing her walk away, but actually watching her torch flame become dimmer in the distance caused a chilling miasma to creep in. Yulla knew she was a bit behind the curve sure, but it was only now that she was aware of how utterly out of her depth she was. She hated it. She hated it so damn much that she was ready to cry a curse to the very gods that watched their trials. But even just the thought of that was enough to chill her even further to the bone. At this point now, Yulla wanted nothing but out. Out of this damned trial, out of this damned warrior life, and even out of this damned country.
She even began to remember the tales her mother would tell her whenever her caravan came back from their journeys. Tales of vibrant lands with lush fields, beautiful cities, rich cuisine, and wonderous people. Yulla would often dream of such things when she was younger and wished to travel alongside her mother one day to see these wonders. However, the fool she was, Yulla instead chased after illusions of grandeur. Forsaking her mother's life as a wealthy merchant to follow after her father in the pursuit of obtaining glorious reverence through war. And yet, here she was now. Shivering in an icy pit like a pup after leaving Selda to die, and now chasing after a crazy witch for protection.
It felt like ages that Yulla followed Niel around after catching up to her. To the point that Yulla questioned if the wandering psycho really knew where she was going. Yet, Yulla kept her complaints to herself. She much rather Niel kept her focus ahead instead of behind. But more than that, Yulla watched as the strange woman marked the ice with even stranger markings using a lavender colored substance, she kept in one of her small, side pouches. Yulla was deathly curious of what the substance was and what the markings meant but again, even with the overbearing weight of dread that seized at her chest, she kept her questions to herself. That was until, she heard the clear echo of a bleating goat.
"Is that-"
"A goat yes, now be quiet." Niel interrupted.
Niel crouched down and crept through the tunnel, Yulla following her movements close behind. The two women moved carefully through the tunnel for a while, even after they spotted the soft glow of light peering around a corner. Yulla's heart skipped with glee against her better judgment. She knew that they were a long way from finishing the trial so any chance they had to leave this icy hel sooner was a major blessing. But as it stands, Yulla was right to nip herself for not keeping her expectations low. For when the two women peered around the corner, what they saw was both magnificent but not at all what Yulla hoped for.
Around the corner was the entrance to an enormous dome shaped area filled with lush grass and grazing goats. Above the dome an open ceiling that was carved out so that the sunlight could shine down despite the quiet blizzard, which did not at all touch the inside of the dome. Yulla always heard of magic in stories and knew that the phenomenon was real but had never actually seen it until now. She always suspected Niel of performing such sorceries, hence why she calls her a witch, but if she did, Niel never outright showed it. But what struck her the most was swallowing the fact that those dumb oafs were capable of such things, which caused the chill from earlier to creep in even deeper. Almost seizing her if not for Niel moving ahead into the open area.
"Hey wait." Yulla whispered in a panic.
She quickly followed after Niel, running, and ducking behind a large rock just as another two trolls standing guard looked in their direction. Yulla herself could see their heads turn as soon as she ducked behind the rock, causing her heart to almost burst out of her chest.
"Ni-Niel… w-w-what should we d-d-"
Before she could say another word, Niel swiftly shushed her. She then reached into one of her small pouches, pinched out some green dust, sprinkled it into the torch she still had with her, and then chucked the thing as far as she could. Yulla's heart already sunk after realizing both of them still carried their torches, but now she was on the brink of fully breaking down after witnessing Niel surely give away their position. For she learned the ice trolls had bad eyesight but were not completely blind.
"You crazy bitch, what the hell were you thi-"
Again, Yulla was cut off. This time by her own accord as her teeth clamped shut after watching Niel pull out a small knife from the back of her shirt. She said nothing else as watched Niel just stand at the ready, waiting for something. And before Yulla could blurt out another question, her answer came to her with a frightening boom.
The whole area shook as the explosion roared to life, causing the goats to immediately run and yell in a panic. And although Yulla could not understand them, she knew that the ice trolls that stood guard were roaring nothing less than curse words. Yulla was too astounded to utter a single world. However, her shocked state did not save her from flinching hard away from Niel as the crazy witch snatched Yulla's torch from her hand, pinched more green powder into it, and chucked that one as far away as she could as well. Same as before it only took a few minutes for the torch to explode with a great bellow. And although Yulla knew this explosion was coming, she was nonetheless frightened by it. She could even feel her pants soak with piss after being so shocked. Normally, her of all people, would have been utterly embarrassed and felt outright disgraceful, but after everything she has been through, she could give less of a damn. Niel on the other hand was completely unfazed.
Yulla watched as the crazy witch ran towards and tackled the first goat she came across, wasting no time as she held the animal down and slit its throat open wide. Yulla simply watch astonished from afar, too paralyzed to move. A mistake she would quickly regret as she continued to watch Niel, in one swift motion, drink in some of the goat's blood directly from its neck, draw bloody symbols on her across each of her cheeks and along her throat, and then whirl around to spit, with astonishing distance, a glob of blood at Yulla's eyes.
Yulla initially yelped loudly in surprise but soon afterward found herself screaming. The glob of blood burned at her eyes as she felt the sensation also pass through them and into her head. She kept her eyes closed the entire time, seeing nothing but images of her past. Riding her first horse with her mother, cooking meals with her father, getting knocked into the mud by her candidate sisters during their sparring matches, fishing alone on a calm lake, and watching the sunset on a hillside with her family and later even her candidate sisters on their last night before heading out for their trials. And although she did not get along with any of them, Yulla still felt a certain fuzzy joy watching, wonder eyed along with the rest of her sisters, as the starry night sky came into full view. So many memories, both sweet and terrible, flooded her vision. Making her wish that she could have seen her family again. And even wishing that her arrogance did not stop her from making at least one friend among her sisters. Maybe then she would have had the courage to succeed with their support. And maybe then she would not be in this hel hole, dying in the midst of chaos caused by the very same bitch that killed her.