"So... run it by us again." Efrideet groaned as Saladin requested this action. The Iron Lord in training dragged her feet, drooping.
"I've done it a million times, Lord Saladin! I've lost count of how many times you've had me recite his file!" She whined. Skorri looked back at their young companion. The Warlock had her arms crossed, robes wrapped around her, shivering slightly. Skorri always did hate the cold.
"This could be either a new ally, or a new enemy. Memorize him." she reasoned with the Hunter, who scowled at her.
"Easy for you to say! You're a Warlock!" she protested as Saladin attempted to make his way over a large boulder. His foot slipped, and Skorri steadied him.
"You know, Sal, it would probably easier for you to climb a mountain if you took all that heavy plating off." she reasoned, ignoring Efrideet's protests, having to yell because of the wind that raged around them. To top it off, it was beginning to snow, and would soon be a full-out blizzard. The Titan grunted in response.
"That would be like asking Timur not to drown himself in coffee every morning; it's not going to happen, Skorri." he replied. "Efrideet! The file."
The Huntress let out a groan as he finished climbing the boulder, leaning down to help Skorri up.
"Warlord Felwinter-03, revival date unknown, age unknown, Warlock of the Voidwalker specialization, prefers to keep to himself, he's the only Warlord we know of who's owned a mountain, and if you ask my opinion, he's downright insane and we should reconsider any alliance with him because damn shanks this place is cold! Who would want to live here! He's crazy!"
"You say all Warlocks are crazy." Saladin rolled his eyes as he reached down to help her up. She gripped him by the wrist, and he pulled her on top of the boulder. "If we succeed in convincing Warlord Felwinter to join us, this mountain could serve as an ideal base of operations for us. Most Fallen activity is here in Russia for some reason. That little place of ours in Old Chicago is just... well, you've notice the smell."
Efrideet wrinkled her nose, and Skorri shook her head.
"I think I've become nose-blind to it, actually." the Warlock said. "But that place just sucks all the inspiration out of me. Think of the view we could get up here!"
"Yeah; if there wasn't a blizzard trying to knock us off the mountain. Seriously, this guy must really want to be left alone if he lives up here! Can't we just signal his Ghost and be done with it. 'Hey Felwinter-03, could you come down off your death trap mountain for a few moments? We'll spare a cup of tea!'" Efrideet attempted to mimic Saladin's voice and failing. The Iron Lord frowned.
"I do not drink tea."
A loud bang from up above interrupted whatever conversation might have ensued from that as Saladin stepped up onto another rock.
"Fallen!" Skorri alerted them. Efrideet pulled out a hand cannon, and Saladin had a rifle in his hand faster than the eye could blink. Skorri's head was erect, her pulling a fusion rifle from her back. "Looks like we're not the only ones looking to pay Felwinter a visit!"
"Quickly! Climb!" Saladin ordered, scrambling over the rocks and boulders with renewed haste, clumsy in his heavy armor. Skorri followed after him, and Efrideet let out a heavy, expletive sigh.
"Let's go towards the people who are trying to kill us, on a deathtrap mountain with a clumsy Titan and a blizzard and I can't feel my toes damn you Felwinter-03! Your choice of real-estate leaves so much to be desired!" She said to herself before following after her mentors with cat-like grace. She got frustrated when Saladin kept blocking her path.
"Ugh! Titans!" she groaned. He yelped as she grabbed onto his belt, and climbed over him.
"Efrideet!" he exclaimed, yelping as she stepped on his head by accident.
"Sorry, sir; you're just too slow!" she chirped as cheerily as she could when she was freezing cold. Her eyes caught sight of a Fallen up above, and she took aim. The body tumbled down the mountain, and Saladin stopped it with one foot.
"It's the House of Kings!" he announced, yelling over the mounting blizzard. "It would appear they may think this a good tactical point as well!"
"Lord Saladin, Felwinter lives up here all on his own; he doesn't hire anyone! He won't be able to fight these guys all off on his own!" Efrideet yelled back.
"He's a Voidwalker, he'll be able to hold up a while if they make it through the blizzard!" Skorri told them.
"Lady Skorri, have you looked at any pictures of this guy? If he came out into this blizzard, I'd be surprised if he wasn't blown off the mountain!" Efrideet asked. "I didn't think Exo's came that skinny-looking, but dang!"
"Then lets try to get to him before they take this place!" Skorri yelled, blue skin paler than usual because of the biting cold.
With that, the Lords of Iron(and a half) renewed their efforts to climb.
Meanwhile, Felwinter-03 was completely aware of the oncoming Fallen threat. This wasn't the first time unwanted guests had come knocking at his door. Hiss little cabin up the way from the Vostok Observatory gave him an ideal view of the approaching enemy.
He'd installed a few defenses over the years; turrets that could seek out Fallen signatures. He had little to worry about. He could sit as his window and watch the Skiffs fall, drink a little tea while he was at it. Technically, Exo's didn't have to eat or drink, but he did so anyway; it made him feel more... real. That, and it helped defrost his internal sensors after a day of working in blizzards.
I should really add some vanilla to this chamomile. He thought as one of his turrets downed a Skiff, which went spinning into a place far below. Taking his cup with him, he crouched down near the hearth, and tended the fire a little bit.
"Efrideet!" Saladin yelled as the Skiff came crashing down. It hit the side of the mountain, and the smaller Hunter cam scrambling back towards them as a small avalanche descended the rocks. Saladin grabbed hold of Skorri, and dug his heels into the snow, bracing himself against the rocks. He reached out for Efrideet as she came closer...
And his hand brushed hers for a fraction of a second as the avalanche hit, sweeping her away. He screamed her name, but it was lost in snow. He couldn't breath, and he could feel Skorri thrashing beside him. The rocks he'd braced himself against held fast, and as the snow stopped moving, he clawed for the surface, for air, his vision starting to go dark.
He took in a sucking gasp for oxygen as his head breached the snow. He used it to scream.
"EFRIDEET!" he called. The blizzard didn't answer. The rocky terrain had been covered with a thick layer of snow and loose rocks. Skorri surfaced beside him, gasping.
"Do you see her?" she panted. "Did you see where she went? Efrideet!"
He extracted himself and his fellow Iron Lord out of the snow, calling out for the missing Hunter as he did so. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he screamed.
"EFRIDEET!" No female voice carried on the wind in response. He took a deep breath to call again, but Skorri stopped him, shivering violently, grabbing his wrists.
"Saladin, stop! You'll cause another avalanche!" she told him. She pulled herself out of the snow again, leaning against her companion for warmth. He put an arm around her shoulder, now shivering himself, and looked around the snowscape desperately.
"Carbon!" he ordered. His ghost materialized in front of him, and he had to catch it before the winds blew it away. "Can you get a tag on her Ghost?"
"I can try, but there might be too much interference because of the storm." Saladin held the little being close to his chest, putting a hand between it and the direction the wind was tying to blow it in as he parted his shell, scanning the area. He directed his eye towards the cliff.
"She's somewhere on the cliff! Saladin, a Ghost can't come out in this kind of a storm; if she dies, he won't have time to revive her, and he'll be kicked out of her armor systems after a while." If Efrideet dies in this storm, there may be no bringing her back! Saladin's shivers escalated with a violent shudder.
The two Iron Lords waded their way towards the cliff. Carefully, he leaned out to look over the side of the cliff. It was shear, with no visible foot or handholds, not that even a Hunter would be able to scale a cliff in this weather.
Well, Perun might, but Efrideet was not Perun. Nor was she crazy enough to attempt it, like Timur might be. Bretomart might have been stubborn enough to try.
"Efrideet!" He called down. There was an outcropping of rock down below, and he thought he could see a limp form in a pile of snow down at the bottom. "Efrideet!"
No voice carried to him, but he thought he saw the snow shift. Or perhaps that was merely a trick of the wind. He turned to Skorri.
"We have to get to Felwinter! He may have a way to get to her!" he told her.
"Saladin, we can't just leave her here!" the battle bard protested. An idea popped into his head.
"Can you use your fire? Warm her up a little? Could you reach her with your fire, Skorri?" Shivering, the Sunsinger crouched at the edge, leaning out a little way, and reached down with one hand. She shuddered, and flames wound their way down her arm, body adopting a goldish glow, fire spreading from her fingertips before dissipating. Her light went out with a violent shiver, and she looked up at Saladin desperately.
"It's too cold, Saladin! My fire, it... it won't work!" he shook his head, and put an arm around her shoulders. Solar light was known to become unstable in too cold conditions. Felwinter is her only hope now...
"Hold on, Efrideet! Help will come!" he called down hoping she could hear him. With that, he and Skorri turned, bracing themselves against the storm ahead, and preparing for Fallen resistance. Please, oh, please do not let the young Lady fall to this storm.
They were surprised to meet little resistance from the Fallen. A Dreg or Vandal here or there, but everything else seemed to have been deterred by the storm. Skorri, in her thin robes, seemed to be giving in to hypothermia, barely shivering, and walking weakly at Saladin's side. We certainly picked a good day to visit. He thought dryly. They were at some kind of observatory, with plenty of cover if the need came for Skorri to be revived. But Efrideet had no such luxury.
Felwinter, Felwinter... where would he build his home? With so little space to work with, he probably had the smallest halls of any Warlord yet; there weren't many places he'd seen so far were a palace or house could fit. In fact, it was a feat of engineering that Felwinter had built anything on this mountain in the first place. None of the observatory buildings looked lived in...
There! Across the twin peaks, a bridge swayed in the wind. On the other end of the bridge... was a small cabin of sorts. He could see the warm lights of fire through the windows. He approached the tower the bridge led out of, leading the weakened Skorri along. His armor was thick enough that he wasn't in the same state she was in, and he could only imagine what Efrideet was going through right now.
He jumped slightly when a gun came out of the wall, just above the doors that led to the bridge. Ah, so it may not have been the weather that deterred the Fallen after all. Felwinter was clever, a Warlock indeed if he had managed to horde tech like this.
"Please," he told the gun, for there had to be a camera in there somewhere, "we need your help."
Silence, and then...
"No. I will not be your Sherpa." came a terse, mechanical male voice. The gun retracted, and Skorri made a miffed noise.
"We don't want you as a Sherpa. Our companion was thrown off the mountain, we can't get to her. You know the terrain; if you don't help, she will die." he begged. Please listen, Felwinter! Not a whole lot of Warlords were the agreeable sort. Felwinter, who seemed to be very much a recluse, may be no different.
Silence. And more silence. And yet more silence, every second ticking by costing the Iron Lord to-be more and more. And then...
The doors opened with the creaking of gears, revealing a very small Exo in fur-lined robes. His facial plates were a combination of gray and dark gray-blue, and his optics were a rather unique light purple color. They seemed to pierce right through both Iron Lords, and his eyes wandered almost immediately to Skorri.
"Get her inside. I'll help you find your lost companion, but that's it." he told them, robes whipping around in the wind. There were ropes wrapped around his torso, shoulder to waist, with an assortment of climbing gear attached to go along with it.
"Thank you." he told the Exo gratefully, half dragging Skorri across the bridge, which swung dangerously with the wind but did not fail. He reminded himself that Felwinter was a Warlord, potential ally or no, and that this could easily be a trap. Trap or no, Efrideet will die if he doesn't help.
Felwinter opened the door of his "palace", revealing a shockingly simple design. One almost wouldn't think he was a Warlord, if not for the throne placed in the back of the building, maybe simply for the sake of athstectics; it didn't look well-used. Why would it? He lived so high up, Saladin doubted he got visitors very often, and even then, only the brave few. He'd heard Felwinter had little time for fools, and had little mercy for those who wasted his time or intruded on his home.
There was a warm hearth in the center of the room, with couches on either side, and a rather warm-looking chair near one of them. This chair, unlike the throne, looked like it was frequently sat in. There were pelts hanging from the walls, and thick blankets were folded on the backs of the couches and the chair, and there was a still-steaming cup of tea on a small table next to the chair, likely to have come from the pot that hung over the hearth. A hall to the side most likely led to Felwinter's quarters.
Saladin led the freezing Skorri over to one of the couches, and undid the belt of her robes. Now in her stock armor, he forced her down onto the piece of furniture, all the while enduring mumbled protests about Efrideet and nothing in particular. He threw the wet robes to the ground near the hearth, and looked up to see Felwinter strapping a furry bundle to his back, having first equipped a fur-lined cloak over his shoulders. In his free hand, he offered Saladin a similar cloak.
"Show me where you lost her." it was less of a query and more of a command. He threw one of the blankets over Skorri, whole curled in on herself in an attempt to warm up, and pulled the cloak over himself, pulling up the hood. The fur lining tickled his face, but it was so warm! He went for the door, and heard Felwinter shut it behind him. Once off of the bridge, he broke into a run, only occasionally stopping to make sure the small Exo was still behind him.
She wasn't sure what happened exactly. One moment, she was running for Saladin, his hand outstretched. The next, she was being thrown against the rocks. One of the them struck her in the head. Or maybe she was knocked out when she fell? She didn't know.
All Efrideet knew was that when she woke up, it hurt, and it was as cold as Radegast on a monday morning. She shivered, and tried to curl in on herself, but a groan of pain escaped her as agony shot through her whole leg when she moved.
Ugh, I must've broke it everywhere! She decided. It hurt most near her hip.
"Lady Skorri?" She called out. "Lord Saladin?"
Only the howling cold answered her. She was half-buried in snow. She tried to extract herself from its freezing grips, but the pain in her leg stopped her. She almost called her Ghost out, before realizing that the poor little thing would probably get swept away the moment she came out.
She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, still laying down, shivering. Maybe they're still looking for me? Maybe they're getting help? Felwinter probably had climbing gear, and the cliff above her didn't look like it could support Saladin's heavy armor, or even Skorri's light frame, either. There weren't any holds that she could see.
Please, please let it be they're going for help. Don't let them think me dead...
"This is where she fell!" the Titan(Felwinter hadn't caught his name) in ornate armor yelled. Felwinter looked over the edge. There was definitely someone trapped on that outcropping, half-buried in the snow.
He hastily set up his climbing gear, four ropes total. "When I tug twice, pull her up."
With that and no other words, he began to repel down the side of the mountain. The Exo had been doing this for years now; he had no fear of the winds, no matter how much they might try to blow him off-course.
When his feet finally struck ground, he brushed snow off of the fallen Hunter's face to reveal a young woman now sheathed in frost. He took his glove off, and checked for a pulse. Thready, but it was there. He took the bundle off of his back, quickly undoing it. He assembled the thin poles that came with it, and slipped them through the loops on either side of it.
Gingerly, he removed the rest of the snow from the young woman's body, and rolled her onto the makeshift stretcher. He tied the blanket he'd brought over her, to keep her in place, and then went to work with tying the ropes along the poles.
Once she was secure, he tugged on the ropes twice. Slowly, she was hauled up, and Felwinter waited patiently for the ropes to be thrown back down to him. Now came his test. The Titan would either help him, or leave him to the storm, and Felwinter would really know where his intentions lay. He waited a long time, in which he felt his plates beginning to ice over, and he rolled his shoulders, hands still held behind his back, still waiting.
A rope, weighted with a rock to keep it on it's track downwards, nearly fell directly on his head, unraveling before him. Felwinter-03 let a small Exo smile creep onto his face for a small instant. Very well, then. So that's who you are...
He grabbed the rope and climbed.
Back in Felwinter's shelter, Saladin watched as Efrideet slept on peacefully, covered in a mound of blankets. Color had returned to her face somewhat, and her breathing was a little stronger. Skorri was deeply restful as well. He longed to join them, to crawl under a blanket before the hearth and let himself drift to slumber. But there was still a Warlord to deal with, and though he had helped them, the Titan did not fully trust the Exo.
He stood watching the dark-skinned Human, hands folded behind his back, observing him, measuring him like a scientist would a test subject, or a hunter would potentially dangerous prey. He'd stripped down to some lighter robes, and Saladin had removed his upper armor and the heavy plating on his legs, now standing before his goal with a black T-shirt on his back, and the warm fire's heat on his skin.
"You're with the Iron Lords, aren't you?" Felwinter asked, breaking the silence. He didn't sound upset, or surprised, or angry. Maybe a little bit curious, maybe a little bit apprehensive.
"Yes." Saladin told him. "And if you've heard of us, you'll know what we're here for."
"Indeed." The Exo nodded, and walked away, back turned to him and the others, to stand in front of one of the windows, looking out into the storm ravaging his home. "I have to say, I'm surprised I caught your attention. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I like to keep to myself."
"You haven't been causing us or anyone else that much trouble." Saladin assured him. "We would like to call you an ally, but seeing as you've done no harm to the people of your region, we see no reason to harm you if you refuse."
"Your main concern isn't me, but the position in which I live." Felwinter stated, matter of factly, turning his head look him in the eyes, causing the black man to look away in slightly embarrassed acknowledgement.
"True, that is part of it. But we've heard of your talents with the void as well. You would make a great ally in our fight." Felwinter rarely descended from the peak on which he lived. When he did, it was to kill Fallen. He rarely interacted directly with the people in his territory, though there were many(simply because he was the one Warlord in the area who didn't really harass anyone), but he always made sure to send a rather violent message to hostile trespassers.
Like the corpse of a rival Warlord the trio of Iron Lords had found at the base of his mountain. The message was quite clear; 'you cross me, you die.' They'd talked to some of the few locals that had seen him fight, and they said he fought like a maniac, like a wild animal gone mad, with the void. He'd once left the half-melted corpse of a Baron at the edge of the town, and periodically dragged the body around the perimeter over the course of several days.
"It stank up the whole damn place." one villager had said. "But he said the smell of it would warn the Fallen off for a good while. Boy was he right; we didn't see the four-armed suckers for months afterwards. They returned, and he killed another big one, did the same thing as before. Cept', he left all the bodies of the crew at the edge of the village that time. Complaints got so bad, we tried to pay him in a new set of fine leather robes in exchange he burned the corpses or get rid of him. He said no, continued with what he was doing. The place still smells a little, but the Fallen stay clear. He said, 'protection is worth a few bad smells'."
"I would... have to have some time to consider it." the Exo said thoughtfully, looking back out into the storm. "I take it you would want the throne removed?"
"Yes." the Iron Lord replied. A throne, no matter how little used, had no place in a sanctuary of the Iron Lords. "That would be preferred. As for expanding this place... Lord Silimar will find the task entertaining. The boy will finally have something to do."
Felwinter nodded with a thoughtful hum. "How far would you expand this house? Should I agree to join you, I would suggest digging into the side of the mountain, perhaps using some of the old Observatory facilities as a place of residence. I haven't had need of them, but perhaps you'll want to expand upon them as your population grows."
"Huh." Saladin gave a wry chuckle. "We don't get people joining that quickly. I doubt expansions will be necessary for some time."
"Longevity is nothing new to us Exos, but those of you organic chosen can now live possibly for centuries without aging." he replied with a hint of amusement. "I find it difficult to believe that your Iron Lords will remain together for so long and not have certain pairs tying the knot eventually. I find it very difficult to believe there is not a place in your group's future for children."
Saladin felt his face heat up, and not because of the fire, as the image of a certain reckless she-Titan crossed through his mind.
"Perhaps." he murmured. It was entirely possible that they would one day have to support children. There were a few couples among the Iron Lords, a few rings on fingers, but nobody had tried for children yet. The Old Chicago base was no place to raise a kid, and everybody knew that. That, coupled with the fact their numbers were too low to have any of the Ladies down pregnant at the moment; they needed all hands on deck until they had more people on their side. Maybe, if Felwinter joined them, one or two little ones could be born in the more isolated, somewhat safer mountain base to help increase that number, but that was a risk to be taken up for a later date.
"Sleep. I assure you, I have no intentions of ending your life while you rest." The Warlock told him, turning and walking down the hall and out of view. Saladin sighed, rubbing his face with his hands, shutting his eyes. By the Light, what a day.
With that, he found a blanket, curled up on the floor between the hearth and Skorri's couch, and fell asleep watching the flames, wondering if the Exo would stay true to his word, wondering if Warlord Felwinter would become Iron Lord Felwinter, wondering what tomorrow might actually hold.
You know, this was actually the first piece I started writing for this series. Originally, it was going to be an individual one-shot, but the people had spoken, and they wanted more Iron Lords. So, I started writing about the Iron Lords. Up until this point, this one-shot has sat half-finished on my flash drive, and I finally decided to dust it off and complete it.
Not sure where I want to go with the next one. I'm long overdue to return to the Gheleon side plot, but part of me really wants to write a little bit about the transfer from Old Chicago to Felwinter Peak as well. Might be a while until the next update while I hammer that out with my brain.
I'm glad to have gotten such a reaction from the forklift chapter, LoL, and Broken, you are very much welcome to the fluff.
I'm also very glad I managed to get our favorite Sherpa out here finally as well.
And without further ado, read and REVIEW!