Chapter 10- Avalanche
"Did you find it?" I mentally sent to Cyduna early the next morning.
I turned over while I waited for Cyduna's reply. Pinkerpie's plump bottom was pressing into my groin and Shaelah's breasts were crushed up against my back. It was a perfect morning.
"I tracked it to an old cave," Cyduna sent back accompanied by a memory of the gaping maw of a cave, "There was the smell of death there, and many old bones, of animals and dwarves."
"It looks to be Vagash's old lair," I sent, then asked, "Did you ever catch sight of the beast?"
"No," Cyduna answered, "Whatever it is, it is very good at not being seen when it doesn't wish to be."
"I see," I answered with a mental nod of understanding, "You did well."
A sense of appreciation mixed with gratification was sent to me, and then Cyduna's mental touch faded away as she chided, "No Fennic! You do not bite your sister's tail!"
Turning onto my back, Shaelah snuggled in closer, pressing one breast into my side and settling the other so that it lay across my chest. She snuggled her head on my shoulder and slid a thick leg over my hips and curled her leg around my thigh. Pinkerpie mumbled at my vacancy behind her as her overly wide hips, for her size, and curvaceous bottom chilled. Flipping over, she grabbed a blanket and pulled it over her as she snuggled in on my other side.
----(!)----
A few hours later Shaelah, Pinkerpie, and I were hiking through the snow-covered mountains toward Vagash's lair. Mandalay was left behind because she was still young, only a couple of years older than Yarlyn who was twelve. She was also supposed to watch Fennic and Ealura, and keep them out of trouble. She already had a rapport with them. She would make a good huntress one day. So, I wasn't worried about her or the wolf pups. She would take care of them, and they would take care of her.
Cyduna led the way up the trail toward Vagash's lair. It was easy to follow. The rams' carcasses being dragged over the snow had compressed it making it as easy to traverse as a road. Well, maybe not a road. Better to say it was more of an old logging trail.
Smeared blood staining the snow only reinforced that we were on the right path. We all had to fight to remember to breathe, and more than once Shaelah hefted her heavy two-handed maul-axe. Aside from her weapon, she wore a heavy leather jerkin over ring-mail and a heavy leather belt girding her waist. It was cinched tight and decorated with a silver buckle with a stag on a mountain peak in carved relief bordered with a dwarven rope design. Thrust through loops on each hip she wore two tomahawks and in the small of her back was a thick-bladed knife. Over it all, she wore a thick brown cloak made of waxed canvas with a thick burlap lining and heavy a grey wolf pelt draped across her shoulders.
Pinkerpie wore a plain brown shirt made of heavy wool, waxed leather britches that were so tight on her bum and thighs that I was sure she might split them any time she squatted, and heavy fleece-lined boots that lace to her knees. Over her woolen shirt, she wore a heavy leather bra with fleece lining that showed above and below the cups holding her breasts.
I teased her that a bra was supposed to be worn beneath her clothing to which she had returned a nasty look and retorted snarking that it was armor and not a bra. Over her clothes and armor, she wore a cloak similar to Shaelah's, heavy canvas with a burlap blanket lining and a heavy wolf pelt on the shoulders. For a weapon, I gave her my Winchester rifle and two bandoliers of ammo. She also wore a belt on top of her britches and a regular belt that held more ammo. For close combat, she had two daggers sheathed and dangling from the belt behind her buttocks.
As for myself, I wore a heavy wool shirt with a heavy leather chest piece lined with small ring mail, fleece-lined leather britches, and fleece-lined boots to keep me warm in this frigid land. Shaelah said it was a colder spring than usual, but if this was spring what the hell was winter like?
To complete my garb, I wore a gunslingers belt and holster where I carried my M1911, and around my back, in custom molded leather holders, were clips of ammo. Additionally, dangling below my belt, on each hip, sheathed and hanging from straps connected to my belt, were Dragon's Call and Firebreather. Still, two of the best swords for hunters I knew of. To complete my gear, over everything I wore a green version of the cloaks Shaelah and Pinkerpie wore.
Halfway up the trail to Vagash's Cave, it began to snow, and then the wind picked up. Thankfully, the wind was in our faces and not on our backs. If that had been the case our scents would have carried on the wind ahead of us and given our approach away.
"We're here," Cyduna sent to me telepathically a couple of hours later.
Looking up, I signaled Shaelah and Pinkerpie to halt. Using my other hand I pulled the hood of my cloak back and scanned the area around Vagash's Cave. It looked different from what I remembered in the game. The way the mountains had come together, and the refuse piles in the clearing and outcrop overlooking the valley and Amberstill Ranch. It was all so much smaller in the game. In reality, the area was almost as large as a football field, and that made me nervous. That flat open snow-covered field was a lot of land to cover and not be seen by whatever we were hunting.
"Pinkerpie. Shaelah," I said quietly as I motioned them to come close as I knelt to draw in the snow, "You two skirt around the perimeter to the left. Cyduna and I will skirt around to the right. We will meet at the cave entrance and see what we see."
"What do we be hunting," Shaelah asked, "Would it not attack as soon as it do realize we do be here?"
"Yes," I answered.
"Most likely," Pinkerpie agreed then continued, "But, if it has been out hunting all night then it might be sleeping now during the daylight hours."
"Possibly," I replied as I looked up at the two women I had so recently come to care about, "Be careful both of you. I do not want to lose either of you today."
"Nor do we wish to lose ourselves," Pinkerpie said sarcastically while Shaelah said, "Aye, nor us ye."
They looked at each other, both a little surprised by the other's answer and then they giggled. I kissed Pinkerpie and Shaelah then we parted ways and began our final approach to Vagash's Cave.
It took a half hour to slowly skirt around the open, snow-packed area and come to the front of the cave. Pinkerpie and Shaelah were on the other side of the opening. Cyduna crouched right beside me. Slowly. Silently. We turned into the mouth of the cave. The only sounds were those of snow packing beneath our feet and our breathing.
Near the entrance we came upon the ram carcass torn apart and gutted, steam still wafting up from it. Further back the cave sloped downward and continued. The entrance was well-lit and bright but as we continued it grew dark, dank, and much colder.
I led the way, but several steps in I felt a sinking feeling. An abject despair. A gut feeling that we were walking into a trap. Visibility was nil. We could light a torch without giving away our presence and location, and we were on this beast's turf. I came to a halt and grabbed Pinkerpie and Shaelah as they came abreast of me.
"Stop," I sent to Cyduna.
