Camplife and Confrontations.
"You're back much earlier than I expected, everything okay?" Rukia's voice greeted as they trekked back into the camp. Ichigo and Chad glanced at each other, they were both pretty exhausted after digging though many pounds of snow.
Rukia, Orihime and Renji were sat around the fire. Most of the snow around camp had been cleared away and a pile of stacked firewood had appeared since they'd left showing that their friends had been busy as well. Kon obviously was lazing by the fire, not a care in the world.
'Everything okay? Okay as in there are glowing orbs that have not only been seen near camp but have also shown themselves to be hostile? Or okay as in they found some of the bodies of the first expedition with some clue as to what happened?' Ichigo thought sourly as he pulled out the leather-bound booklet.
This notebook recorded much of the first expedition, at least from the eyes of one of the mercenaries. The persons last thoughts and the events leading to their death, and the deaths of several others. He had a lot of time to skim through it on his way back, though there was too much to read in one go.
He and Chad had spent a few more hours just digging up and around the buried carriage they'd found, the skeletons of two horses and three other people all found buried under the snow. Luckily it was only the one carriage, meaning there was two more somewhere with people who hopefully had less gruesome deaths.
"What's the matter?" Orihime asked, a deep frown on her face. He could always count on her to wear her emotions on her sleeve, whether she knew it or not. He decided he'd start off with the enemies they'd encountered.
"The area we went to clear isn't safe, remember that glowing ball you saw the other night, Orihime?" She gave him a slow nod. "Well there's more than one, and they're not friendly. They seem to have some control over ice or at least mist, as soon as we entered the trees he found ourselves blinded by a heavy mist." He started as he took a seat by the fire, Chad standing beside him.
"Once we went deep enough in they revealed themselves and circled us, they seemed to be led by a bigger one which looked humanoid. We don't really know what they looked like, the mist was way too thick to see though. They seemed to be able to control Ice Wraiths though, since that's what they attacked us with." Ichigo stated, pulling out a bottle of Ice essence he'd gathered from their remains.
"Control Ice Wraiths?" Rukia asked, a deep frown now playing on her lips. Ichigo just nodded, waving her concerns away.
"The big one set them as a trap, blinded us so we couldn't see them and then led us right too them while they circled us off. Don't worry, it's the type of trick that only works once. After that they just fled and we couldn't find them, not even any tracks left behind it's like they just vanished." He continued, frustrated. Rukia seemed to share his annoyance.
"So you're saying that I hired trackers who can't track? Why do I feel like I'm wasting my money." She complained, a roll of her eyes accompanying her words as she sat further back into the boxes that acted as her chair. Ichigo grinned, happy he held out on informing her about the notebook.
"Didn't you also hire us to help you find out about some temple?" He questioned jovially, he opened up the notebook and continued. "Like, find clues such as; 'Day 23, The antechamber was beautiful, the week we spent breaking through the boulders suddenly feels worth the effort-'" He was quickly cut off as Rukia dashed across to him, swiping the book from his hands.
Her hands were shaking and for once it wasn't due to the cold. She flipped through the pages, skimming so fast he was sure she was only reading one in every ten words. After a few moments of seeming to make sure it was authentic, after coming to the conclusion it was she looked back up to him.
"Where'd you find this?" She asked, her voice showing no room for jokes. He scratched his chin, knowing she was going to demand to go back out straight away. The same reason he was hesitant to tell her before nightfall.
"Avalanche knocked a carriage down a massive cliff face, we found the remains. Four skeletons in total, six if you include their horses. The one Chad found had the book on and survived the initial fall, by some miracle. Though they seemed to have broken their leg and was buried in the husk of a tree, probably froze or bled out." Ichigo stated, matching her serious demeaner. Her hands had yet to stop shaking.
"You need to take me there, I need to see if I can find any other clues." She stated, quickly picking up her scarf and other warm clothes. Renji was quick to plant his hands on her shoulders stopping her, though she glared heavily at him.
"Calm down, we only have a few hours of daylight left, going out now will only end in you freezing to death." The red head stated, for once Ichigo was glad to have him there since Rukia actually listened to his words. She nodded to her childhood friend be she turned back to Ichigo, her glare increasing tenfold.
"First light, one of you will lead me there." She demanded, he just nodded.
"Sure, I'll go but that doesn't solve the issue of these floating orbs that attacked us. They seem to be smart enough to set traps and they know we're camped here since Orihime spotted one the other night. We need a plan to defend camp." He stated, they now had to have a fighter at camp at all times which was stretching the little man power they had even thinner.
"… Renji, how did you fare with that spell I tried to teach you?" Rukia asked, instantly Renji's cheeks matched his hair as he spluttered an answer.
"… Well, ya know I never was all that adept with magic." He replied, his eyes suddenly taking an interest in his boots. "Maybe I could start with something a bit easier?" He continued sheepishly. Rukia didn't look pleased.
"Can you use it or not? A fire spell will help a lot against these creatures" She pressed causing him to slump heavily, a sigh of defeat escaping his mouth.
"About half the time, the other half it just explodes in my face." He admitted reluctantly, Ichigo wanted to chuckle but he felt it'd be in bad taste. Rukia sighed heavily but didn't look surprised.
"Whenever you have free time you need to practice, against creatures of ice like Ice Wraiths it'd be useful to have such an attack. Orihime, would you like to learn a new spell? It's a more refined version of a fireball, I can write down the instructions for you if you like." She looked to the restoration mage who shook her head politely.
"I'm not good at destruction magic, it always fizzles out. Danica says it's because I don't want to hurt anyone." She admitted slightly abashed. That sounded pretty on point to Ichigo, he doubted she would hurt a fly. Though Rukia didn't seem pleased.
"And you two? Don't suppose you have any talent for magic?" Rukia asked as she turn to the two hunters. From her tired gaze she already knew the answer. They both shook their heads, neither had tried magic, preferring instead their own skill rather than spells.
"Never came up, but we'll be fine we'll just fight as we always have." Ichigo reasoned, she didn't look shocked as she shook her head in annoyance. She grudgingly sat back down, the notebook opened on page one as she began reading through at a steadier pace.
Ichigo glanced to Chad, both hunters just shrugged as they were seemingly dismissed without a word. They both took of their heavy gear as they joined their teammates around the fire.
"Plan for defence?" Chad asked simply. Ichigo didn't reply at first, he knew that Rukia had spent almost all the money available to her to put together this team but he wished she'd just allowed her brother to help a little more, even a few more men and this expedition would be a lot safer.
"We're going to have to split up a lot, can't afford to leave camp or Orihime undefended. Tomorrow when I leave I want you to do some patrols around the immediate area, see if you can find any hiding places the glowing things could be at. One of us will have to be here at all times, losing the horses or any supplies would be a disaster." He reasoned, glancing to the pair of horses asleep in their makeshift stable.
Apparently they weren't talking quietly enough as Renji overheard and added his opinion into the matter. The redhead sat himself closer to the pair and gave them a confident smirk. Ichigo cast a glance to the girls on the other side of the fire, they didn't seem to have heard them.
"It's good you two want to look out for everyone and all, but you two aren't the only ones that can fight. I'll put a stop to any Ice Wraiths that try attacking camp." He claimed, his smirk told the hunters that he was confident in his claims. Ichigo wasn't convinced.
"You mentioned before that you were good with a sword, and I'm sure you'd be able to fight off the odd bandit but in the end you're a farmer now and no doubt rusty. Relying on you would be too risky." Ichigo stated frankly, in his eyes it was the truth. Renji wasn't a reliable fighter. The redhead didn't seem happy with that though.
"What you think that because you're some bigshot Thane that you're better than me? Sure I might not fight for a living, but I keep myself trained and in shape!" He argued, his tattooed face now contorted into a scowl which could rival Ichigo's own.
"I don't think I'm better than you, I'm just more experienced and better trained." Ichigo shot back, matching his scowl pound for pound as the leaned towards each other till they were nearly butting heads. In the back of his mind he wondered how someone like Renji got close to a family like the Kuchiki's, he was much too brutish and rough around the edges to have gained the respect of Byakuya.
"Better trained? I trained with one of the Companions! Who'd you train with? A bunch of wild dogs?" By now they were stood up from their seats as they argued. Ichigo almost brandished his weapon there, thinking he was insulting the hunters, at least until he remembered he knew nothing about their Lycanthropy.
"Please, whoever trained you would be put down in an instant against any of our hunters!" Ichigo stated, a cocky smirk playing on his lips.
"Oh yeah? How about we see who's better with a sword then?" He asked drawing his odd blade. Behind Ichigo Chad shot up out of his seat, a hand placed on the hilt of his mace.
"Will you two shut up! I'm trying to read!" Rukia shouted, both men actually stumbled slightly. Both forgetting about the angry Kuchiki. Orihime gave them both a weak smile, clear uncomfortable with the hostility in the air.
"If you're going to fight do it somewhere else, I'm trying to work!" She continued, Ichigo briefly noted she was already several pages through the notebook. Ichigo and Renji glanced at each other, wondering if it was worth pissing off Rukia to continue their fight.
"Fine then, let's take this out of the camp, I'll determine whether or not you can keep to your boasts." Ichigo stated, behind him Chad lowered his stance as well, happy to watch if Ichigo was happy to fight.
"Always happy to knock punks like you down a few pegs!" Renji spat back as they headed off to the tree line, behind them Chad lit a torch and followed a few steps behind. When they were out of sight past the tree line Rukia let out a frustrated sigh. They could still see the light from the torch on the border so they knew they hadn't gone too far.
"Why did I have to hire a bunch of hard headed idiots?" She complained. She massaged her temples to try and sooth the headache she could feel coming on. Orihime gave her friend a reassuring smile.
"I'm sure they'll get on better the more they get to know each other." She offered, hopeful in her friend to get along.
"They better, I don't want to deal with them like this every night."
"So what are we doing? First to yield?" Renji asked, readying his blade. Chad stood off to the side holding the torch to light them while the two fighters went head to head. Ichigo shrugged in indifference.
"Whatever, won't be a long fight anyway." Ichigo replied cockily. Though he didn't think much of the farmer, he at least had to respect the weapon he carried. It looked weighty, which would make its swing powerful and the pickaxe like protrusion was no doubt capable of punching though armour and flesh alike. Though it was impractical, much like his own weapons.
"We'll see about that!" Renji claimed as he dashed forward, a strong horizontal strike. Ichigo ran to meet him. He blocked with his larger blade, using it almost like a shield before stabbing forward with his smaller blade causing the redhead to have to back off.
Ichigo had the advantage, he could block and strike independently. Renji's sword was built to take out someone in heavy armour, someone slow, Ichigo wasn't slow. Ichigo pressed the advantage slashing in a cross-pattern against the flat Renji's blade as he brought it up to defend. The red head did manage to block but was sent stumbling from the force of the attack.
He spotted Renji's eyes widening a bit, no doubt surprised by the force behind his swings. The red head didn't let it deter him though as he regained himself, going instead for an under-hand slash which forced Ichigo back.
Chad watched on as they continued to trade blows, well half watched, he kept his focus around them as well. His sense may not be as refined as Ichigo's but he'd still play his part as best as he could when it came to looking out for enemies. With that in mind his allowed his eyes to wonder around the area to make sure no glowing orbs would catch them by surprise.
He understood why he and Ichigo would have to be split up more, but he didn't like it. Their oath was to watch each other's backs to fight for the other person. He was sure that he'd spend a lot of time beside Orihime these coming days, after all that was the main reason Ichigo had come on this trip, to protect her.
He slowly allowed his attention to return to his friends fight, and to his surprise it was pretty even. Renji was attacking with adequate speed and his strikes were powerful due to his blade, but not to the level Ichigo should be struggling. It took him a few moments before he noticed what was wrong.
Ichigo was tired. There were a few beads of sweat on his head and the swings with his lager blade was slower than usual. It made sense, they'd spent most of the day in the cold digging snow and trekking back and forth to camp. Even Sado's own muscles ached from the labour through the day, and Ichigo wasn't as well built for it as he was.
Still, both of the fighters seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Ichigo kicked forward into Renji's chest after a parry of the redhead's heavy blade. That didn't hinder the redhead as he'd have like as the farmer spun from his low position the back of his blade aimed for Ichigo's knees. Before he could be tripped however he stabbed his large blade into the ground causing the pickaxe like blade to bounce off.
Though it did nought to stop Renji springing back up with a heavy uppercut into Ichigo's face sending the hunter back a few paces as he released his larger blade to hold his nose. Renji picked up his blade and came back in with a power over head slash, confident in his win. Instead Ichigo flipped his smaller blade into an icepick grip and held the heavier sword at bay.
The two struggled against the others blade, both refusing to allow the other to gain ground. Ichigo pulled his hand away from his nose, looking at the blood gathered in his palm. It'd do no good to try stopping the bleeding, it was hard to slow a popped nose in battle so he ignored it the best he could as he formed a plan for his next move.
He quickly released the blade struggle by allowing his blade to slide down Renji's causing the farmer to stumble forward. Ichigo dashed past him grabbing his larger blade from the ground and almost as one they both turned back to each other, their blade poised in attack.
Just as the larger blades were about to clash however Ichigo pulled back, showing the flat of the blade as Renji's blade struck. Instead of a block however Ichigo had allowed Renji's blade to travel through the hollowed out middle of his larger blade, effectively trapping it and its pickaxe like tip made it hard to dislodge.
With a quick tug his pulled Renji's blade from his hand and released his own grip on the blades as he shot forward headbutting the disarmed redhead sending the farmer sprawling to the ground. Ichigo was quick to plant his foot on the Renji's chest keeping him pinned as he lowered him smaller blade to the redhead's neck.
"My win." Ichigo stated with a smirk. Though with the bleeding nose and popped lip it hardly looked dignified. Renji gave a muffled grunt as he too held his now bleeding nose, a large bump was already forming on his head. If Ichigo was honest, revenge played a little part in that last attack.
"You two should go see Orihime, if she isn't already asleep." Chad said as he walked over to the pair of bloody nosed fighters. Ichigo gave his nose a quick wipe, a sigh of annoyance as he realised he now had to wash these clothes before the blood dries.
"Damnit, was the headbutt necessary?" Renji complained as he pulled himself up, cradling his nose. Ichigo gave a shrug as he went to retrieve their weapons.
"Probably." He stated a small grin playing on his lips, always happy to get a bit of payback. He quickly separated the two blades, tossing Renji's to his feet while he sheathed his own. Renji strapped his blade back to his hip.
"Rukia's not going to be happy, is she?" Ichigo mused, almost fearing the midget's wrath. Renji gave a shuddering nod.
"Are you both idiots?" Rukia asked bluntly as they sat on some boxes as Orihime tended to their injuries. They both lowered their heads, saying something could make it worse.
"So instead of just sparring you go and beat each other black and blue? If we didn't have a healer on us this could have hindered us for the next few days!" She continued. Chad wisely chose to say nothing as he stood to the side. Rukia gave a finally mumble of annoyance before she did an about face and walked to her tent.
"You better be up on time Ichigo! First light!" She called over her shoulder before taking refuge in her tent. Ichigo and Renji gave a sigh of relief to be out of the way of her.
"Damn midget." Ichigo complained, pouting like a child who'd been scolded. Orihime gave them a warm smile as she finished up healing them. Their injuries weren't serious, she's was mainly stopping any swelling or bruise that might have appeared.
"You should be good to go now, I'd recommend cleaning your gear first though you got some blood on it." She stated, to which they both nodded.
"Sorry to keep you awake longer then you had to be, thanks for to healing." Ichigo replied, standing from his seat and quickly checking his nose had healed right.
"Take it easy next time okay? We're all friends here." She replied. Ichigo wanted to tell her that he was only her and Chad's friend, but he felt like she wouldn't approve so instead he just nodded. It's not like he dislikes the others, he just barely knew them.
"Right, well I'm off to wash these since I need them for tomorrow. Chad, you should get some rest too." Chad just nodded as he took his leave with Orihime, both heading into their respective tents. He let out a sigh, it was too dark to be washing clothes but he'd left himself no choice. He grabbed a torch and headed for the stream, Renji following along.
"What's up with the big guy? He doesn't seem to like talking much, I've been trying to get a conversation out of him since well left Whiterun." Renji asked as he came beside Ichigo.
"He's just quiet, he's like that with everyone. If he doesn't have to speak he won't." Ichigo replied with an indifferent shrug. That was fine in his eye's Chad being quiet was just Chad being Chad.
"Yeah but it makes him hard to read, I can't tell if he doesn't like me or just doesn't notice me." Renji continued, glancing at the gentle giants tent as the left camp. He always found it hard to believe that Chad was the same age as him and yet was so quiet.
"He doesn't mind you." Ichigo replied simply. In truth even Ichigo didn't know how Chad felt in more detail than that. After a few more minutes they reached the flowing stream, shards of ice flowing along with freezing water. It wasn't something he'd like to take a dip in.
Without a word they pulled off their torso armour, leaving themselves exposed to the freezing elements. It was like feeling what little warmth you could produce instantly being stolen and replaced with ice.
Wasting no time Ichigo placed his armour into the water, allowing the streaming water to pull all the wet blood away from the clothing. When in the wilds it was imperative to have cleaned your clothes of blood so that other hunters don't pick up on its strong scent.
"Damn those are some nasty scars." Renji observed with morbid curiosity. Ichigo glanced down, the long angry scars from his battles with Movarth and his coven still bright red. Orihime was an amazing healer, but not even she could brush away the scars that were left after the fight. It didn't bother him though, he was used to scars by now, all of the hunters had at least a few.
"...Looks recent? Those vampires in Morthal I heard so much about?" Renji continued. He had his own set of scars. A nasty stab wound in his side and the remains of a bite on his arm from when he got into a fight with a wild dog as a child. Though the wounds he'd received had never been life threating save from the chance of infection, Ichigo's were the signs of someone who'd been put through a meat grinder.
"Yeah, we were outnumbered pretty bad, wounds like this were inevitable." He candid response was a little unsettling, or at least in Renji's eyes.
"I take it this is what you meant by more experienced? More life-threatening fights?" Renji asked as he began clearing the blood from his armour. Ichigo shrugged, eyes locked solely on the stream of water as it slowly turned red.
"I guess... but you did surprise me, you fought better than I would have guessed you were capable off." The hunter replied, pulling his cuirass from the stream inspecting it to check for any remaining blood.
"I don't need pity, I'm a farmer I know when someone is exhausted and you still won. You were right the first time when you said I was rusty." Renji replied, by now the cold on their bare torsos was starting to get uncomfortable though neither spoke up about it. His hands were shivering from the ice-cold water and skin turning paler the longer they spent out here.
"I may have been a bit tired but you still fought with skill, we should spar more until you can brush off that rustiness. For now though we should head back before we freeze to death." Ichigo said as he stood from the riverbed, his now clean armour hanging by his side as he held the torch.
"Sure, I'm more than happy for a rematch." Renji replied with a small smile. Maybe this hunter wasn't too bad after all.
Rukia had woke him at first light, just as she'd promised. He'd left his clothes near the fire to dry out overnight and thankfully the fire had stayed lit allowing him to get ready for the day's trek with no issue.
Well that had been the plan. Instantly after starting out the trek did he notice the first problem, a pair of distinctive bags under Rukia's eyes. That and bookmark sticking out near the end of the note book also told him she'd barely slept at all during the night, definitely unfit for a trek in these conditions.
The other problem? She was in a bad mood as a direct result of her lack of sleep.
"Are you sure this is the right way? I don't see the cliff face you mentioned!" She complained ten steps ahead of him. He wanted to tell her that she was burning her energy too fast, which in her case wasn't much with her lack of sleep but he knew better than to say as much.
"It's beyond this wooded area, you can't see it past the snow and trees till you're up close." He replied calmly as he kept pace. Barely ten minutes ago did they enter to small wood, they'd made good time since he and Chad had already made a path here.
She either didn't hear him or didn't care what he'd said as she continued forth. Soon enough his words held true as the came to a stop in front of the remains he and Chad had dug up. The small hill of snow has been moved into several small mounds, several broken shovels dug into their tops like flags. The decayed wood of the tools had meant they'd gone through many before they'd finished, they were just lucky that the crates had been carrying tools.
The crates they'd uncovered had mainly comprised of tools but that wasn't all, one crate had sets of winter clothing stuffing it to the brim and two others with pots and pans as well as other cooking gear. No doubt this carriage had been designated for the carrying of all the gear needed for the expedition.
The skeletal remains had been lined up where the hill had once been. Four skeletons held together mostly by old ragged clothing which had yet to perish. The skeletal horses had also been gathered a small distance away though with less care.
Rukia looked at the gathered remains with something akin to fear, her sudden rush to get here had been halted as she took two unconscious steps back. Ichigo stayed a step behind her as she regained her breath and composure. He had to remind himself that she was from a city, that to her bodies of those that had died held some weight.
'Would I react like her if I'd grown up with my family?' He mused to himself. He'd been dragging bodies and cleaning up their remains as a slave for years. By the time he was free he didn't feel much at the sight of the deceased... did that make him bad? He didn't want to think about it.
"So what do you want to look for? This was everything that was buried." Ichigo promptly stepping past her toward the remains. Overnight some snow had fallen though the gaps in the trees to cover them slightly.
"The person who wrote this booklet, she was one of the mercenaries my mother hired. She wrote a little when she was trapped by the avalanche, but she never mentioned who was with her by name. I want to see if any of them were my mother." She replied shakily, she was quick tried to regain herself though as she came to stand beside Ichigo.
He figured it was something like that, honestly though he wasn't sure how she would tell. The remains of clothes wouldn't tell them much and there wasn't much in the way of facial features to recognise.
"In that case, there was only one other female. This one here." He replied pointed to the skeleton in question. It had been in the carriage when they uncovered it. The skull was heavily cracked which was no doubt the cause of death.
"My mother, she had gold wristband that she wore everywhere. Two amethysts were imbedded into a charm that hung off it... can you check for me, please?" She asked, the fragility in her voice was clear. She turned away from the remains, not having the stomach to gaze upon it any longer.
He felt sympathy build up within him, how would he react if this was possible his mother? He didn't want to imagine it. He knew they would likely find her mother's body sooner or later, she knew it too but he only know did the weight of that hit him as he looked into the shallow eyes of the skull.
"Sure." He nodded, going to kneel by the side of the suspect. He pulled up the tattered arms of the clothing that still stuck to the bones, trying to be as respectful as he could as he looked for the jewellery.
The left hand and wrist was completely barren with nothing in the way of jewellery and on the right hand was a simply silver garnet ring. A cheap piece of jewellery from someone of no doubt humble origins, and a far cry from anything gold. He felt a little relief but he knew that there would be more bodies at the other carriages.
"No sign of it, just a garnet ring." He reported as he stood from the skeletons side. Rukia turned back to him with a fake smile. Her eyes looked heavy, her tiredness looked ten times worse than it was just five minutes prior.
"Thanks... sorry, I'm not used to seeing to sort of thing. It's harder than I thought it would be to deal with." She admitted as she allowed her gaze to fall back to the remains at his feet.
"You should rest for a moment. I'll dig them each a grave then we can head back." He replied, this was something he'd never done before. He'd dug some small graves for a few wolves in the years past but never for someone he didn't know.
"Right, I'll just take notes of the what they were carrying then... give me a call when you're done." She stated, seeming to get a bit more control of herself as she walked over to the crates he and Chad had uncovered.
He picked up one of the shovels, and with a sigh he went back to digging. His muscles still hadn't recovered from the day prior but he felt like this was the right thing to do. The digging wasn't easy, the ground being mostly frozen and more often than not he'd dig straight into rock.
It took a while, but soon enough he had four graves headed with a stray plank acting as a tombstone. They weren't tidy, they weren't even and they sure as hell weren't pretty but it was the best he could do.
"Do you have a carving knife?" Rukia asked from behind him. She hadn't helped with the digging, not that he minded with how tired she was. Instead she had busied herself taking note of anything useful from the crates. Eventually she'd sorted out a box that she wanted to take back to camp.
He pulled out a small carving knife, one typically used to skin an animal. Always useful to have one on hand, especially when you're a hunter. The Kuchiki heir took the blade with very little enthusiasm as she knelt in front of the grave of the person who wrote the notebook. Silently she carved the woman's name.
'Thunalla'
Neither said anything as they rested near the crates of supplies. Rukia handed him his knife back without so much as looking to him. She looked dead on her feet by now, her lack of sleep catching up to her fast.
"You should rest for a little bit, then we can head back to camp. I'll see if I can come up with a way to bring this crate back with us." He stated, looking over the crate. Rukia had filled it with some fabrics, and he could see some of the metal tool heads in there too. Much too heavy to carry.
"I'll be fine, I'll help you. We need to build a sled out of this scrap." She replied, putting on a brave face. Ichigo wanted to tell her to simply rest but he could tell pushing it would no doubt start an argument.
"Fine, you work on the skis I'll get its frame together." He relented, she was his boss in the end. He went over to where he and Chad had piled the remains of the carriage. Instantly he spotted a piece of its decking which had been snapped into a small piece of the original. He ripped it from the pile. Rukia did the same with a snapped wheel of the cart.
He was quick to cut it into shape, a short rectangle. It wasn't much, probably enough for a crate or two though. With his carving knife he slowly made a few holes in which to run rope through, luckily some rope had been persevered in boxes so that wouldn't be an issue.
In the end he ended up with a wooden rectangle with two ropes that he could pull it by and another rope alone its edge to tie the crate down. It wasn't bad, though he was sure Mila could do a much better job.
Rukia brought forth her contribution, the snapped pieces cut into four curves ready to be fitted to the bottom of the sled. Again, he was thankful that this carriage was transporting mainly tools as he found himself a hammer and pulled out a few old nails from the remains of the carriage so that he could fit the four curved pieces of wood to the bottom without much issue.
"That should suit our needs, though maybe we should take some of this scrap wood back to camp so we can make a sturdier one." She mused. There was a lot of good wood here and a sturdy sled could be useful when they ascend higher up the mountain they may not be able to take the horses.
"For now let's load up and head back." He stated lifting the crate with obvious difficulty. For a moment he feared placing it on the sled would snap it in half, but thankfully it held albeit with a loud creak of discomfort.
He went about throwing ropes over it and tying it as securely as he could so that it didn't move around too much when he pulled it along. With any luck he wouldn't lose it over a cliff. When he was about half down tying it in place Rukia drew his attention away.
"Ichigo, when you said about thick mist yesterday... Did you mean kind of like that?" Rukia asked gesturing over his shoulder. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he looked into the wood and spotted the familiar encroaching mist.
It poured forward like a viscous cloud through the trees, hugging the ground as it surrounded them. Slowly they were blinded as it filled the area, he could hear Rukia stepping closer to him so they could keep in each other's sights.
"What should we do?" She asked, her voice was frim as she gazed into the mist with no small amount of caution. Slowly the glowing orbs appeared one by one yet again accompanied by their chorus of chimes, and behind them like a shepherd was the humanoid spectre.
"Stay close, no matter what." Ichigo said as he slowly inched forward, drawing his blades as he walked. Either there were more traps laid ahead or the spectre was going to fight itself, and true enough as he drew closer to the ground burst forth. Six Ice wraiths burst from the ground, hissing in attack.
But like he'd told his friends when they were at camp, that trick only worked once. A quick lunge of his blade was the end to the first as he cut it in two and in the same motion he spun, allowing his blades to flare out hitting another three which were clumped too close together. He didn't even need to act as the last two were picked off by a pair of fireballs which blasted them into nothing, courtesy of Rukia.
All six taken out in a scant few seconds, something which caused worry in their enemy no doubt as it suddenly began fleeing. It seemed to glide along the ground as it moved, the series of orbs filtering behind it to cover the spectre retreat.
He glanced behind him, Rukia was stood with her hands outstretched ready to cast more spells. He wasn't sure she'd keep up if he went chasing after this creature... though she did her best as she came spiriting past him, jumping over the remains of the ice wraiths.
He chased after her, keeping his eyes out for more hidden ice wraiths. Rukia fired off a few more fireballs into the retreating forms of the glowing creatures. Most missed but one managed to hit one of the orbs leaving nothing behind except a pile of goo as they ran past.
As he kept beside Rukia he noticed that they were being led into a part of the wood that they hadn't travelled too yet. The wind was also picking up as the mist slowly became thinner to the point where they could almost see the spectre.
He only half focused on the chase as he slowly took notice of the sky, as the trees thinned out more and more of the sky became visible. When they entered the wood there was barely a cloud in the sky, now though the entire sky seemed to be covered in low hanging clouds. The snow was starting to get pretty heavy too. A storm was brewing, and from the looks of it a big one.
He and Rukia were almost upon their attacker now, Rukia had yet to cease with her fireballs as the numbers of the glowing orbs dropped to three. He had to admit, magic was useful. Just before he got into striking distance, the trees finally ran out.
He was instantly faced with a face full of wind, chilling him to the bone causing him to hesistate slightly as he took in his new surroundings. The treeline gave out into a snowy open space, enclosed in by a cliff face and the trees.
The spectre was now revealed to them in all its glory. In the open space stood the glowing spectre, now it's features were unhidden by the mist which had all but dispersed. It hovered on an icy mist, glowing enthreal blue and scantly covered in frosty wrappings. It was no doubt feminine, though it's hair was covered in a cowl of the same wrappings. He scanned it for threats, it held no obvious weapon apart from its hands which extended almost like claws of ice.
Around it hovered the three orbs, forward facing spikes and an icy mist which rolled of it seemed to be their only telling features.
"So, it was a Wispmother all along. Be careful, these can cast frost magic like it's second nature." Rukia voiced out from behind him. He could only just hear the tell-tale sound of a fireball over the harsh howling winds which kicked up the snow around them and sapped their heat.
"We need to hurry with this, the storm will get much worse before it gets any better." He replied, readying his blades as he matched the gaze of the Wispmother. By now though the snow fall was bad enough that he was sure their camp would be covered in several inches if not a foot of new snow before they got back.
Ichigo dashed forward, blade already primed to behead the ethereal woman as he leapt forward. As soon as his blade came close though the Wispmother suddenly burst into icy mist which separated into four clouds around him.
A Wisp took this chance to charge him, only to meet its end as he cut through the orb like butter. Though it did claim his attention long enough for those four icy clouds to reform into four separate Wispmothers that surrounded him, each with ice magic spiralling around their hands.
If there was ever a time to appreciate his reaction speeds, it was now as the four ghostly entities each fired am ice spike from each hand. Dodging eight ice spikes at such a range would be impossible, so a mixture of blocking and dodging was the best chance he had as he ducked behind his larger blade.
Two hit his larger blade as he swung his small blade to knock two more out the air at his side, the last four were the issue. He swung himself around, quick enough to absorb another ice spike into his blade but not quick enough to stop its twin which ripped past his shoulder. He fell back to the ground in a half roll, narrowly avoiding the last two that shot past his face.
He quickly got back to his feet in time to see one of the Wispmothers burst into searing flames. The flames almost looked appealing in the snowstorm that surrounded them. Rukia came running to his side, her hands alight with magical fire.
"There's only one real one, the others are just shades." She stated. The three remaining ones continued to hover around them, the two wisps protectively swaying around in front of them. Ichigo brought a hand to his shoulder the bleeding wound dampening his clothes.
"Didn't feel like a fake that hit me." He replied sourly. He hated opponents with tricky abilities, they always got in the cheap hits.
"They are all capable of using magic, but all but one of them will die as soon as it's hit." She continued. He nodded, readying his blades for another attempt. "And be careful those Wisps will sap your strength if they get too close." She finished firing another volley of fire at the Wispmothers.
Ichigo ran forward, ignoring to biting cold at seeped into his arm though the wound on his shoulder. The smaller Wisps tried getting in his way, but they were mere inconveniences as he barrelled past them, cutting each one down before had time to steal his vitiality.
The Wispmothers were trading volleys of magic back and forth with Rukia. The Kuchiki Heir was doing a good job of putting pressure on them but she wasn't as practiced at avoiding attacks as they were. A small gash had opened near her ankle and a few other attacks had come close to hitting. Luckily, the Wispmothers had to turn their attention to Ichigo as he came back into close quarters.
The Wispmothers may have skills when it came to magic and tricks, but they didn't have armour or weapons. So when Ichigo got too close they began firing blasts of ice at him in attempts to slow or stop him, it was all futile though as he dodged in and out of their blasts before getting close enough to cut a Wispmother completely in two with a single swing of his blade. Another shade.
With only two Wispmothers left the chances they get the real one increased greatly. Rukia gathered a fireball between both her hands a larger fireball than the ones she was using before and fired it into the middle of the two ghostly figures causing them both to stumble back from the flames.
Ichigo picked his target, the one closest to him and ran it through completely impaling it. Unlike the others this one didn't die in a single hit, meaning it was the real one. The Wispmother gave a silent scream as its clawed hands tried reaching for him, before it could do anything though he slashed his second blade across its neck killing the creature. In the corner of his eyes he spotted the last Wispmother dissolving into mist and Rukia putting out the flames in her hands.
The wind grew louder in their ears, now that they weren't so focused on their fight they noted that the storm had gotten a lot worse. His arm was almost numb now, and Rukia's pale complexion had gotten almost deathly white.
"We need to find somewhere to hold out from this storm." He stated as Rukia walked over to him with a limp. The wound above her ankle no doubt causing her discomfort. She nodded, one of her hands firmly held her hat in place.
"Over there, I saw a cave entrance before the snowfall got so bad." She replied, pointing over to the far corner of the area. Sure enough he could see the hints of a cave in the cliffside behind the heavy veil of snow.
The propped each up, giving each other support as they began moving toward the shelter. The storm only seemed increase in power, suddenly winds were strong enough to push against them as the cave drew closer.
The cave had a very low ceiling and it was more of a tunnel really but was wide enough to set up camp in. It went far back as well, further than he could see but that wasn't saying much as there was no light source inside.
They rushed to a small alcove in the cave, out of the way of the trapped wind which howled past them. Rukia sat down heavily as she inspected her leg wound, it wasn't serious but it was in a painful area. She had a few grazes and scrated, maybe from the flying shards of blown up Ice Wariths but nothing too serious. Ichigo pulled a couple of potions from his satchel for them. Instantly it alleviated the pain as well as sped up the healing.
"The storm doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon." Ichigo mused, wiping the blood from his should as he looked outside the cave. He could barely see the treeline they had come from through the harsh snowfall.
"Will we be able to get back to camp tonight?" She asked, though she was noticeably shivering. He wasn't doing much better. The storm showed no signs of slowing, in fact it was doing the opposite as the winds grew louder by the minute.
"Unlikely. We're going to need a fire." He mused, the treeline seemed miles away when he looked at the chaos outside the cave. He tied down his cloak tighter and fastened his smaller blade tightly to his side. He glanced down at Rukia, her leg had mostly healed due to the potions but at the same time she seemed like she needed her rest.
"Wait here, I'm going to get some firewood." He stated as he held his larger blade, it wouldn't be the first time he'd used it as an axe. She nodded, her eyes fluttering slightly as she pulled her cloak tighter around herself for warmth.
"Don't be long." She replied, her voice muffled as she buried her head in. He rolled his eyes as he started his trek to the trees.
As soon as he was back into the open he felt himself being pulled in all directions by the wind, his hair sprawling back and forth as the wind kept changing direction. Every flake of snow that hit his exposed face felt like he was being hit by tiny needles.
'I hope this doesn't last the entire night...' He thought to himself as he felt what little heat he had leave him. He pushed through the winds until he reached the treeline, he wouldn't have long enough to cut down a fully-grown tree, nor did he want to.
After a few minutes he came across the perfect tree, not too thick and fairly tall so that he had enough wood for the night if needed. It didn't take long to cut it down, just three heavy strikes to its bark and it toppled, mainly due to the wind pulling at its leaves.
Usually dragging along a small tree like this wouldn't be too much of a problem, it's something they had to do often back at the grotto, but it proved to be a challenge getting it back to the cave with the wind pulling back on its bushy leaves. By the time he got it in he felt like he'd been pulling against an adamant horse for an hour.
"Stupid mountain, stupid storm." He mumbled as he pulled it to the alcove Rukia was sat it. After the effort of getting the tree here, making a fire out of it felt easy. In half an hour a healthy flame was burning away in front of them, the rest of the tree set aside as firewood.
"I didn't realise how cold I was..." Rukia mumbled as she felt heat enter her body for the first time since they set out this morning. She was sat cross-legged with her cloak covering her like a blanket. Ichigo sat next to her, simply happy to be out the cold.
"How are you feeling? You still look half dead." Ichigo asked. Her eyes still had bags under them and it was clear she was a still working herself to the brink with little sleep.
"I'm fine, you act as if you always get a full night sleep." She complained with a heavy eye roll. Ichigo didn't fancy telling her that werewovles always struggled with sleep.
"Did you find out much in that notebook at least? I only skimmed through a few pages." He asked, if she'd spent her night going over it then she must have at least got something useful. If not he'd be pretty disappointed. She gave him a huff.
"Of course I did! The woman who wrote it, Thunalla, was a pretty detailed with her days here. It didn't take my mother long to find the entrance to the ruins, the mages she had with her were talented with scrying and narrowed the area to search thoroughly." Rukia reported, pulling the notebook from her waist.
"Turns out the entrance had been buried when a rock formation collapsed on it, spent most their time mining it out. Other than that though, she didn't see much of the ruin. Mother had limited the people allowed past the antechamber to herself and a few others. Seems she didn't trust the mercenaries much. Seems her intuition was right since Thunalla reported that a few of them were going to try pocketing some of the treasure they found." Rukia continued, flipping the pages until she reached one at the back.
"It didn't come to that though, after only a few days in the ruins it all went wrong. Thunalla didn't see what happened inside the ruin but whatever it was unleashed what she called 'ice spirits' upon them. In her last note she explained that some tried to fight and were killed, while she and a few others tried escaping but ended up getting knocked off the side of that cliff by one of these spirits that gave chase. She wrote that last note while trapped in that tree, I'd hoped that one of the people that tried escaping with her was my mother." Rukia finished, snapping the booklet shut.
Seeing a frown on Rukia's face wasn't uncommon, she was pretty moody when she wanted to be. Though seeing fully blown sadness was something new to him, in this last day he'd seen more than once that the small Kuchiki really despaired over her mother's expedition. He couldn't blame her, this expedition of hers was less a treasure hunt and more like trying to find closure.
"You think these 'Ice spirits' are more Wispmothers?" He asked, he didn't like the idea of fighting against more magic users. Rukia shrugged, a first time he'd seen her do that.
"The entire ruin was made to house a tool of great ice magic, something which could no doubt attract being like Wispmothers and Ice Wraiths. So it's not a farfetched idea." She replied.
"Great..." He complained. To his surprise she gave him a small laugh, again, that was a first. She really seemed to be lowering her guard around him, that or her lack of sleep was sending her crazy. He wasn't sure which was more likely.
"You think you'll be able to use those notes to help find the entrance?" Ichigo asked as he laid back on his elbows. If they were able to get of the mountain sooner then he'd be happy, they had barely got here and he'd had his fill.
"Definitely, I'll know when we're in the area. From there we just have to search rock faces for the entrance, if their camp is still around after all these years then that will no doubt give away the location." She replied confidently. That gave him some relief at least.
He pulled out some wrapped dried meat, they wouldn't be making it to camp tonight if this storm didn't let up so he may as well eat now. The salty meat wasn't the tastiest but it would keep him from going hungry.
Rukia followed his example as she pulled out her supplies as well. Though unlike Ichigo, she pulled out a loaf of bread with a small cutting of a cheese wheel and some wrapped meat of some kind, though not salted or dried. Clearly, she wasn't used to packing foods which would perish slower. He decided not to comment on it.
He quickly finished the last of his meal and got up to keep an eye on the entrance, he didn't want more Wispmothers sneaking up on them. He hated being further from the fire than he needed to be, but at least it kept him from getting too cold. He placed himself firmly atop a rock, at the entrance to the small alcove so that he could see in both directions of the cave.
Snow had started building up at the mouth of the cave, to the point that there was a small hill along the ground. The howling winds had yet to subside, but maybe it was thanks to that he was able to notice something that should have been there.
He turned to look behind him into the darkness of the unexplored cave. He didn't know how it had slipped his notice till now, maybe fatigue or the fact he was rushing around half frozen. Either way he'd somehow failed to notice the draft of cold air hitting his back.
'A second entrance?' He thought to himself. He glanced at Rukia, she was on the verge of dozing off now so she'd be no help. He jumped off his rock, intent to investigate as he pulled a torch from his bag, simple cloth wrappings at the end of a stick covered in troll fat. With only a small spark from his flint he had it alit.
The walk through the tunnel was eerie. The winds that sounded like distant calls add to the perpetual darkness ahead of him didn't make it the most comfortable. He noted that the cave had a slight incline, nothing serious but he could no longer see the cave entrance as he ascended.
The cave widened out gradually till he reached the end, at which point he found himself in a wide cave mouth, though the entrance was mostly a frozen wall of snow and ice. He spotted a small crack in the frozen wall from which the winds blew through.
"This must be on the other side of the cliff, it's not a cave it's a tunnel." He stated as he glanced though the icy crack. Though the thick veil of snow that was falling from the clouds was an expanse of snow fields leading up to a higher point on the mountain.
The passage here was only a slight incline with very stable ground, perfect for the carriage. He quickly made his way back the way he came, intent on telling Rukia her problem of getting the horses up the mountain was solved.
It seemed his message would have to wait. As he entered the small alcove he was greeted by the soft snoring of the sleeping Kuchiki wrapped tightly in her cloak. He sighed to himself as he placed himself back on top of the rock he'd kept watch from.
"Suppose it can wait till morning..." He mused as he set in for his guard duty.
And that's this month down, I think there will be one or two more chapters to this part of the story and then we are on to new pastures.
This story is really burning me out currently, but I guess that's expected after such a long time writing it. The speed that I'm writing for it has dropped massively and I more often then not find myself stuck with what to write leading me to sometime write only a hundred words or so. I'm unsure when the next chapter will be hopefully it'll be on scheduled but I doubt it. Sorry.
I'm thinking I'll start a new story that I can put some effort into while I try getting my focus back for this story, I have lots of things planned out for this story but I'm struggling to write it now. This is the longest I've written a story continually for and it's really talking its toll so i hope that if i shift gears I'll be able to get back into the habit of putting words down.
If I do start another story, then it'll be posted within a few weeks or i may just end up taking a little rest to see if that helps instead. either way this story will continue, just not at the rate that I've previously been doing so.