Veins of Ice Read online

  Red and black gonfalons hanging from their crossbars fluttered in the wind. In their center was an outline of a flame, the emblem of the Fires. The mood of the Fire district was one that resonated with wealth, strength, and personal success. It felt too uptight for her liking.

  They left the downtown area and headed towards the outskirts of the Fire district where the factories were. The factories belted out plumes of white steam into the air as they operated at maximum capacity. Their buildings stretched far and wide to accommodate production.

  “I was surprised when Captain Valmar told me that you requested to join my team in an act of goodwill,” Asher said, breaking the silence between them.

  “I felt like a change,” Karena replied, and out of her peripheral vision saw him glance at her. She didn’t meet his gaze, and he returned to looking at the road.

  “I see.”

  Their conversation ended. She was tempted to talk to him, but it was her turn to be the mysterious one. She hoped whatever questions he had would drive him crazy.

  Asher turned onto a wide, gravel driveway and drove up to the monstrous building sitting at its end. The foundry’s five story building crouched on the ground like a beast. Each story was like three residential stories combined. The first level covered the most ground, and included storage tanks and other conjoined buildings before the foundry ascended vertically into the air. She had had no idea it would be so big.

  Underneath the foundry’s belly, a locomotive with its cars still full of ore sat motionless. The toothed conveyor belts that were used to transport the ore into the facility had been swung around, but had stopped a few feet shy of the cars. They had probably been close to beginning the unloading process when the factory had been shut down out of safety concerns for the workers.

  Under the loom of the foundry, a security officer paced in front of the freight cars. He carried a Harrington rifle in his hands. She became uneasy. Even though it was obvious that they were cryptid hunters, they would need to introduce themselves to the armed, security officer. Her blue eyes and hair color gave her elemental affinity away. Waters and Earths weren’t treated with much, if any, respect or kindness in the Fire district.

  “We’ll gear up first, and then talk with him. He already knows who we are, and that we would be coming first thing in the morning,” Asher said, cranking back the parking brake and removing the key from the ignition.

  “What’s his name?”

  “Steve, but you won’t need to talk to him, one of us will.”

  His protective tone made her skin tingle and the window next to her frost up. Luckily, he jumped out of the truck’s seat before he could see this. Karena kicked open the door, hopped out, and went to the back of the truck where Blade and Jinx had lowered the tailgate and climbed inside. They geared up. She slung a rifle across her back, dipped a higher-powered taser gun into her holster, nestled a couple of knives into the top of her boots and around her forearm, and wiggled her hands and fingers into some gloves.

  She waited with her helmet under her arm as the others readied themselves, and looked out across the driveway. Rumblings, distant grinding, and the violent whooshing of air marred what was supposed to be a tranquil morning. She couldn’t see the other factories through the rows of trees that hemmed the property, but she could see the wooly towers of steam rising above them to the heavens.

  When everyone had geared up, they headed towards the security officer. She tagged along at the rear of their small group. Their boots crunched on the gravel. Karena looked at the size of the building and despaired. They could spend all day in there searching for the creature and not find it.

  “I assume you’re Steve?” Asher greeted and extended his hand to the equally, powerfully-built man.

  The security officer let one of his hands leave his rifle to shake Asher’s hand, and promptly returned it to the barrel of the weapon.

  “I am. Do you need my assistance, or shall I stay out here?” Steve asked.

  “We’ve got it covered. Do you know where the creature might be?”

  “Nah, I don’t, but I think it’s a sure bet that it’s in the rafters.”

  Asher nodded.

  Steve continued, “Right this way. I’ll let you in through the employee door, and take you to the work floor entrance.”

  He strode over to a metal door at the front of the building on their right. He thrust a key into its lock, jerked it to the side, and went in first. They trailed after him, and entered a hallway that shot away to locker rooms, a cafeteria, and a break room. They could smell stale, rotting food. Everyone truly had left in a hurry if they had abandoned their meals. Asher felt the same sense of foreboding she did, and powered up his taser rifle and set it to high. There was a whirling whine and then a low, barely audible hum. Its charge pack glowed a faint blue under the barrel. The rest of them did the same. Ahead of them, Steve took no notice.

  Steve stopped in front of another metal door. A steel bar had been hastily placed across it to make sure that the door stayed shut.

  “Is there something we need to know about?” Jinx asked.

  Steve lifted the steel bar up, and let it fall to the ground. The loud clang echoed and deafened them.

  “It’s a precaution and nothing more. We found claw marks on some of the equipment, and a few of the thousand pound rigs were misplaced, so whatever it is, it’s strong,” Steve said, looking at them, his face empty of any deceit.

  Steve held open the door for them. Asher stopped in the doorframe to listen and observe what was before him for a moment. He crept out onto the factory floor, and Blade and Jinx followed after him. Karena felt Steve’s stare on her. Steve didn’t say anything, but she felt his eyes on her back as she walked onto the factory floor.

  “I’m going to keep watch at my usual post,” Steve said to Asher. “I’ll leave this door closed, but without the metal bar on it.”

  “Alright. Thanks for letting me know. Hopefully, we’ll get this wrapped up quickly.”

  “Best of luck to all of you. Let me know if you need anything or have any questions.”

  Steve closed the door behind them. They put on their helmets, and slid down the visors. They surveyed the area. Steel machinery stood motionless and silent. The furnaces and billows waited to be used again. Workstations were like gaping holes. It boggled her mind to think that this was only a small section of the foundry. There was still much more to it.

  Chapter 12

  Asher headed for a flight of stairs. Karena brought up the rear, and frequently looked up, even though her vision was obscured by catwalks and more machinery. On the second floor, a rounded, cylinder-like machine stretched out before them for over a hundred yards. A handrail bordered it, and steps ascended to the top of it. She had no idea what it was for. As it was, she was still trying to figure out what the foundry was like when it was operational with all the noise, the commotion, the heat, and the fumes as the hot ore was refined, melted, and then poured into molds.

  Asher continued to lead the way, and they went up more stairs. Their boots clanged on the grated, steel walkways. The catwalks had tiny holes in their flooring for drainage, and short, toothed spikes stuck out of them so that their shoes could adhere to the catwalk. Her hand glided over the railing, and the other held the muzzle of her rifle, at the ready in case something flew towards them.

  On the third floor, sheets of metal about to be carved with a fine saw lay on expansive tables. She glanced below at the floors they had left. Pulley lines snaked across the open spaces and between floors. Transportation rigs resting on them held supplies and partially finished product. The foundry was designed for a reason, so that there was an assembly line-like order to it, but she couldn’t see it.

  They abandoned the stairs, and walked out onto a catwalk and under the shadow of a machine. The giant machine arched up and over them like a horseshoe, creating a short tunnel.

  Karena heard a series of squeaks through her helmet. She stopped, and waited under the me
tal structure. The others hadn’t heard it and kept walking. It felt as though something was staring at her. The hairs on the back of her neck did their antenna dance to warn her that she was in danger. Karena turned around.

  At the entrance of the machine-made tunnel, looking at her upside down from on top of the tunnel, was a snake-like head. It cocked its head at her. Its long, forked tongue flicked in and out of its mouth while its slitted eyes traveled up her height. Its tongue disappeared and the reptile-like creature seemed to suck in its breath, snorting as it did so, like someone with a cold that was trying to keep their nose from running before they could grab a tissue to collect all the mucus. A fan of skin around its neck flared up. Whatever the creature was, of which she could only see its head, it was preparing to spit.

  Her blood raced inside of her. Run, run, run. Stand and fight if you must. Embrace the chill and we will unleash frozen, white rust. Though her elemental essence sang to her in a war cry, she wanted to try using her taser rifle first in order to see what damage it was capable of doing to this lizard-like cryptid. She raised her rifle, and pressed the trigger. A blast of blue electricity blew out of it in a star-shaped, energy bullet. The reptilian creature saw it, and with lightning-fast speed, disappeared with a shriek. Its talons skittled across the metal machinery above her.

  Karena whirled around. “Asher!” she shouted.

  The lizard-like cryptid appeared from on top of the other side of the horseshoe-like tunnel the machinery formed and tackled her three teammates to the ground. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was a juvenile wyvern, the likes of which came from the far north, past the Wildlands, from lands where dragons roamed in great numbers. It was like seeing a unicorn or a moving tree, but in a far less desirable way, one that didn’t strike her with awe, but with horror. It was turquoise-blue in color with black scales underneath. Though it was a juvenile, it was big compared to a human. It was a dangerous level seven, which meant it possessed problem solving intelligence, pack hunting social skills, and often killed for the sake of killing.

  Pinned to the metal catwalk, her teammates shouted. One of its clawed wings held Jinx down, and its taloned toes pressed down upon and dug into Asher’s and Blade’s back. They were unable to roll over to face their attacker. The wyvern’s neck frills flared open. Karena could only guess what it was about to do.

  Before it could spit its toxic, corrosive venom, Karena fired her rifle at it. Her feet sprung forward. She charged at it, firing round after round at the monster. The rifle bucked in her hands. But even when dialed up to maximum power, which should’ve killed a creature of that size, her rifle’s taser shots were unable to kill it. Its hide was too thick.

  After five hits into its hindquarters, the wyvern bounded upwards with a flap of its webbed wings. It flew out of sight, barking and screeching. The noise ricocheted off of their surroundings until she couldn’t tell where the wyvern was anymore

  Karena ran to her teammates, and stood guard near them as they recovered to a standing position. With her eyes lined up with her rifle’s muzzle, she searched the air for the wyvern.

  “We need backup now!” Karena said. “It’s a juvenile wyvern. I think it’s a Blue Frilled wyvern.”

  “Whatever it was, it was damn heavy,” Blade said, staggering onto his feet.

  “We need to get out of here. We’re leaving now,” Asher said, looking upwards and towards the other end of the catwalk.

  Eyes wide with terror, Jinx asked, “How the hell did it get into Sundarin?”

  As Karena was visually scanning the rafters high above her for signs of where it was or had gone to, Karena felt a whoosh of air behind her. Before she could process what it was from or react, talons slashed through her uniform and burrowed into her shoulders, sharp as knives. She screamed from the pain and from being lifted upwards. Her rifle dropped from her hands.

  “Karena!” Asher shouted, unable to shoot at the wyvern because she was in the way.

  Panicked, and in the grips of a monster, she watched the ground leave her. Her feet dangled in the air. The wyvern’s wings thumped against the air as it struggled to gain more altitude. It dodged metal pipes, chutes, and cables.

  She tried to raise her hands upwards in order to shoot a beam of ice at it, but couldn’t. Its talons in her shoulders wouldn’t allow for it and the pain was too much for her to handle. With her mind, she hurdled a flurry of ice particles at the wyvern above her. She spun the flurry tighter and tighter around the wyvern. Its icy grit hit her. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t injure the wyvern, but it might disorient it or bother it enough to make it let go of her.

  The wyvern released her and freed itself from the mini blizzard. She fell. The gigantic mouth of a grinding machine waited to catch her. Car-sized buckets of ore stood by to feed it when production started again. Inside of its gaping mouth was its jagged teeth. She threw her hands down, and a torrent of ice cascaded down onto the rollers of teeth. It coated the serrated blades in a protective layer. She fell into the wide chute, narrowly missing one of its crossbars, and smacked her head against the ice floor she had made. Though she was wearing a helmet, she blacked out.

  When she came to, Asher was shaking her. He had crawled inside the chute to retrieve her. She looked past him at the hole Blade had carved out of the machine’s side with his metal abilities so that Asher could.

  “Owwww, stop it,” she said, her shoulder on fire. The pain shot through her.

  He stopped, checked his gloves, and saw the blood. So that she could hear him better, he pushed up his visor.

  “Come on, we have to get you and everyone else out of here,” he said. “Jinx had to scare it away because it was trying to get inside and finish you off.”

  She heard a whisper of something sliding against metal. She reached up, and drew Asher’s visor down. His eyes softened as he beheld her in them.

  “Thanks,” Asher said, and put his arms around her and behind her back. He lifted her upwards into a sitting position.

  There was a loud bang.

  “Asher! It’s here again. It flew past my barrier,” Jinx called, her voice strangled by fear and panic.

  And there it was, hanging upside down like a bat from one of the crossbars Karena had narrowly missed hitting on her way down. Its jaws reached for Asher’s helmet. She yanked Asher down. She opened her palm to the creature. All of her elemental essence surged through her arm, and she released the massive amount of dense energy. An icicle, twisted and sharp, materialized and fired like a bullet from her hand. It ripped through the monster’s mouth, spearing it, but missing its brain.

  Instead of retreating, it pounced onto them and thrashed around. Sticky, dark red, reptilian blood flew everywhere from where it bled. It roared and screeched. Its tail slammed into Karena’s side. It stepped all over them until Asher knocked it back with a carefully timed fireball. It fell onto its right side, and flapped its one free wing. He grabbed Karena, and dragged her out of the machinery and onto the catwalk by the grinding machine.

  “Trap it, Blade!” Asher shouted.

  Blade extended his hands, and looked as though he was trying to crunch a small box. The machinery she had left, groaned, and the top part of it crumbled. But the wyvern wiggled out of it, first its wings, and then its body before Blade could close it all the way. Jinx launched spells at it, but the wyvern threw itself over the side and out of sight.

  There was a loud crash and the catwalk heaved under them. Karena waved her arms around in an effort to keep her balance. She turned, and there it was, a stone’s throw away, with murder in its eyes. The wyvern’s weight was what had caused the catwalk to shake. It wasn’t backing down, or giving them a chance to escape.

  Asher leapt forward and placed himself between the wyvern and she. He let loose a volley of fireballs. They struck the wyvern, but it didn’t retreat.

  The wyvern responded by opening its frills, and spitting, which ignited upon contact with one of Asher’s fireballs. The flaming mass of venom cut
through the fireball and splashed onto him. He shouted, and then the shouting took on a more dire note when the venom burned through his uniform. He erupted into flames to try to burn off the venom. The temperature soared into furnace-like heat.

  Frightened from feeling the heat blistering her skin under her uniform, Karena ran away and sprinted past Blade and Jinx.

  “Karena, it’s coming straight for you, keep running!” Blade shouted, and metal thundered around her as he tried to stop it.

  She heard the sound of wings flapping behind her and the scraping of its claws as it maneuvered around the hulks of metal in there. Ahead of her, the catwalk sharply veered into a ninety-degree turn. Beyond it was a voluminous cavern of space that stretched from one towering beast of equipment to the other, a distance easily the length of a park.

  Just as she started to slow in anticipation of making the hairpin turn to take the stairs, the wyvern knocked one of its wings into her. The world tossed, and she was thrown forward and under the railing. She fell, landed on a hard surface, rolled, and dropped onto a floor of some kind, having been spared falling to her death. Gears cranked and spun to life. Whatever she had fallen onto or into accelerated forward. She stood up, and watched a docking station and the stairs she was going to take depart from her. With her heart pounding inside of her chest, she looked around and realized that she was in a trolley cart.

  Like a shark about to attack its prey, the wyvern circled around the trolley cart. Panic ensued. She was leaving the cover of all the machinery, where it had been difficult for the wyvern to maneuver through. But out in the open space between two vertical towers of equipment, it was in its own element. It barrel rolled past her trolley cart. She was as helpless as a fish dangling from a hook above water. Even with her ice powers, it would be challenging to fight the wyvern.