Version 2.0
As Halvar and Hawthorn ventured deeper into King Umbar's lands, the terrain began to shift beneath their feet as they followed on the last spotting of the ice spiders. The dense forest gradually gave way to the rugged landscape of the western Umbar mountains, though lower down from the mountains of the clans, it was still a treacherous and difficult path, carrying many crevasses and caves. The air, crisp and thinning, carried the scent of the earthy undertones of moss-covered rocks.
The duo navigated the winding mountain paths, their steps echoing through the hills and lower mountains. Halvar, guided by the eyes of his eagle, led the way nocking a rock out of the way that bounced and echoed as it fell down the mountainside.
"If Aloe is going to be anywhere in these lands it would be here," Halvar remarked, casting a glance at the lonely quiet craggy peaks.
Hawthorn nodded, his eyes scanning the distant slopes and hidden recesses. "If a creature like Aloe is going to be anywhere it would be living like a hermit away in the mountains. I trust that you can find him Halvar it's why I asked you to come." He said not waiting for a response from Halvar and continued.
Their path meandered through narrow ravines and along precipitous ridges, where the sheer drop on one side contrasted sharply with the towering rock on the other. The echo of their footsteps blended with the occasional call of mountain birds, as they traversed through small paths.
As they ascended higher, the vegetation thinned, and patches of alpine meadows adorned the slopes. The altitude brought a refreshing coolness to the air, and occasional gusts of wind carried the invigorating scent of alpine flora.
Halvar's sharp eyes scanned the towering peaks, and the keen gaze of his eagle, soaring high above, provided an aerial perspective of the rugged terrain. It was through this watchful eye that a subtle movement caught Halvar's attention.
A single rock dislodged itself from a high ledge, tumbling downward in an unremarkable descent. Narrowing his focus, he noticed the skittering legs of an ice spider, just catching the hind legs as it slipped easily through a craves, disappearing so easily right before his eyes.
"Hawthorn, I think I found it," Halvar pointed toward the cave's hidden mouth. "An Ice Spider just disappeared over that ridge into a cave."
They quickly adjusted their course after many days of search and made their way toward the cave entrance as mountain winds carried the chill of high altitudes. As they approached the concealed cave, the winds stopped whipping, and the air felt heavy in their bodies as a rich fragrant of iron started to fill their noses.
As Halvar and Hawthorn ventured deeper into the cave, the atmosphere shifted from the harsh exterior of the mountainous terrain to a cool, damp subterranean. The entrance adorned with a scattered mosaic of bones from various creatures was as scary as could be with scratches and scars running all over the floor and walls.
The cave's interior seemed to contract to a narrow passageway as its walls navigated them through twists and turns, echoing them like a mirror as it followed along with them.
Quickly, the path opened up into a vast cavern, a cathedral of stone adorned with a single aperture at its zenith. A beam of light, a divine spotlight, pierced through the opening, illuminating a solitary Heart tree standing proudly amidst the shadows.
The Heart tree stood entirely stationary without any wind in the cavern as small crystals clung to the nearby walls, and caught the light to cast prismatic reflections across the cave lighting it up.
Towering stalagmites and stalactites, formed over centuries, created a sculpture garden around it. The rocks glistened with moisture, as the slow dripping nose bounced around the walls, humming in the cavern.
Right next to the Heart tree, a small puddle gathered beneath a stalactite that hung from the ceiling. The rhythmic drip of water echoed softly, as its drops ripped in the water at constant intervals, distorting the reflection of the Heart tree.
Not far from that puddle Aloe sat working on the ground, surrounded by an array of runes and bones of creatures. "Well, I wasn't expecting, this," Aloe said, his voice bouncing around the cavern, seemingly sounding every part of the cavern, slithering around them. "I was expecting Brandon, Hother, or even Harmond, they do seem quite set on stopping me. But I was not expecting this. A Human, and a Child of the Forest. Here to stop me?"
"Something like that," Halvar said, looking around the cavern trying to spot the ice spider that came into here.
"How very brave of you to come here just the pair of you," Aloe said, standing up from his work seemingly becoming bored of it now.
"Who said we were alone," Hawthorn said.
Aloe just smiles before continuing. "I do have to give to you, I was not expecting anyone to be willing, to come, to these mountains. If you could I would like to know your names."
"Hawthorns the name, and I will be your undoing," Hawthorn said, his conviction riding through him like a thousand horses in galop. Halvar more cautiously decided to stay silent, hoping to blend more into the background.
"I don't believe I have ever had the pleasure of meeting you before, young sapling. How is it that I offended you so, that you would so vehemently come for I," Aloe said, starting to move around the observing Hawthorn.
"You helped the Others in the destruction of these lands. I came here to put an end to you, to put my family at peace so they may rest and end your abominations."
"Very ambitious; I can respect that. But are you going to be enough? This human is not going to be able to help you; they offer very little."
"I can judge who is helpful and who is not. Don't presume to know what is best for me."
"So, headstrong, Hawthorn," he said as he continued to move around the Heart tree, unaffected by the confrontation. "I can see that you hold your family close," he remarked, looking at the locket around Hawthorn's neck.
"My family is always here, reminding me of what I live for, keeping my sanity which you have forgotten."
"Ah, Hawthorn, I have not forgotten my sanity."
"I would beg to differ," Hawthorn said as he removed another locket from his pack. "This belonged to you, did it not? Left at your first ritual and the monster that you created, cast aside by you. A locket made for your child, Aloe?"
"Very clever of you, Hawthorn," Aloe said, shifting all his attention to Hawthorn.
"Why have you abandoned your family? Why create these monsters as you become one yourself?"
"I did it for them," Aloe said, smiling sadly before his eyes flickered to the tree. "Apologies, Hawthorn. You have been an interesting conversation, but I have more important things to be doing." With that, he waved his hand, and from the intricate maze of stalagmites, ice spiders scurried out.
"As if we would end it here," Hawthorn said, twisting his hand. Great roots sprung forth from the ground, diving straight for Aloe.
Hawthorn wove the roots and branches into a spear sending straight to Aloe.
Aloe quickly mounted his ice spider that had hidden in the roof before descending and controlled it well as it leaped away from the grounds. As roots lashed out, Aloe moved and dodged, his spider moving gracefully and fluidly through the maze of stalagmites, using them as cover.
As he disappeared into the maze of rock Aloe raised a skeletal hand, before curling it and wiggling his fingers. Emerging from the depths of the cave an icy chill surged forth, plunging the cavern into cold. An ice-sculptured hand reaches around a stalagmite as it moves into the cavern.
"Fucking White Walker," Halvar says, drawing his obsidian sword.
It gave an icy screech before it led its wights into battle, charging into battle.
"You are not getting away like this Aloe," Hawthorn muttered before more of his roots surged out of the ground bartering away the wights that came before them, whilst Halvar attacked the White Walker. Breakbeak, his eagle, swooped into battle, cawing first before sharp claws clawed at its eyes as Halvar stopped its spear and went on the offensive.
As Halvar dealt with the White Walker Aloe rode his spider further into the cave, Hawthorn summoned his deepest reserves of power, and as Aloe moved, he sprang his roots stabbing straight into the spider before ringing around Aloe in a network of roots before quickly grasping a wrist.
"Commendable, Hawthorn, but still insufficient," Aloe remarked. He quickly flicked his hand. "Very well, come Isdråk." (Pronounce: The å is said like the au in Paul. So, Isdrauk.)
The Isdråk slithered into the cavern. Its sinuous body, adapted seamlessly to the confined space as it easily slithered through any gap. It unfurled itself before them, with a fluid grace, a serpentine dance that filled the mind with danger.
Within gaps of rocks that are slithered past, the Isdråk's frost-glow eyes cast a glow, captivating all who dared to meet its gaze. The orbs always followed them, framed in frost-covered vines that intricately adorned its eyes, as if breaking apart, and as it watched them draw their weapons closer its thin lips seemed to smile as its long tong licked the air. It hissed showing its powerful jaws cradled with formidable, slightly tilted back, serrated fangs, each a sharp glacial shard gleaming with an icy sheen.
The creature's fur-thickened scales shifted harmoniously with its surroundings changing with every colour it passed. Amidst the vast cavern, it seamlessly blended with the landscape, as it stalked the pair of them coiling and slithering between the rocks disappearing into them.