Chapter 7 –
The Passes of the Frost Fangs
Kratos' axe whirled through the air, enchanted ice sharpening its edge as was evident by the clean stream of blood that followed the decapitated head.
"It's so bloody cold here, I think there is Frost in my stump. Again!" Mimir shivered, as the Axe returned to its master's side, cutting the limbs of another in its path. "I thought we were done with the cold after Fimbulwinter, but nope. Here we are!"
Thrungva glinted brightly to the side as Freya cleaved through the hearts of the men and women who had ambushed them as they made their way through the Skirling Pass of the Frost Fangs.
"They are just a small scouting party, I think. Meant to pick off stragglers from what few clans try and rear mountain goats here." She said as her magically enchanted blade flashed through another raider.
She used her Vanir magic to manipulate the roots of the trees around them, and captured the remaining attackers, forcing them to kneel in submission.
Kratos' axe whirled through the air again, as it cleanly chopped the heads off three of the four captives.
Interestingly, there was no fear on the face of the last captive. Instead, there was a fanatic smile, as if he had awaited death to take him his entire life.
"The cold gods will send me back. They will send us all back!" He shouted, "Then we will have our revenge."
Kratos grunted and swung his axe again as his head rolled off too.
"They will return as wights," Kratos said. "We burn their bodies."
"Aye, brother. That is exactly what he meant." Mimir commented and Freya began using her vines to gather the scattered corpses of the men and women that had attacked them.
"They were cannibals." She said, "The child's skull and human meat around their supposed captain's neck indicate that they were terrorizing some settlement east of the fangs somewhere. None of the meat is rotten. So perhaps, instead of a scouting party, this one was a returning raid."
Kratos did not hesitate to use his blades to light fire on the gathered bodies, the roots acting as kindling. The cursed fire would burn through everything, and the white walkers would have nothing left to reanimate.
"Now, where has our little guide gone off to?" Freya mused as she looked around at the skies.
Her question was answered by a loud caw of a bird, and she saw a black raven perched atop a snow-tipped rock. It had watched the ambush from atop its perch with a keen eye, observing anything of note that it could see under what little light the dark clouds allowed to be illuminated.
The bird had become their guide a few miles north of Mance's camp with the few supplies and directions he could provide them.
Kratos had been annoyed by the bird and had attempted to scare it away. It had been Freya that had pointed out the odd features of the bird, and from then they had been on edge around it, knowing that they were being watched by someone they did not know. But the bird had remained helpful, as it helped them avoid having to cross other camps and settlements of tribes in and around the haunted forest, and by the base of the frost fangs.
"I still don't trust it." Mimir said, "Reeks of manipulation, like Odin."
"Neither do I." Freya assured him, "But, it has been of good help till now. And I am pretty certain it won't be able to follow us deeper into the Fangs and the lands of always winter. The cold would make it impossible for a bird like this to survive."
"We will follow it till it leads us into danger, or till it is able. Then we will go our separate ways." Kratos finally said as he waited for the bird to take flight again.
The raven gave another caw and flapped its wings as it started to guide them through the winding roads of the Skirling Pass.
Skirling Pass was high atop the Frost fangs, and one of the only paths that led into the regions controlled by the ice river cannibal tribes. Further north from the Lands of Always Winter. It was a shallow pass, unsuitable for traveling for a large party. The Rocky path could be very dangerous for a weary traveler, as the sharp icy rock edges were known to the graves of many a wildling that tried to brave the terrain.
The winding turns of the pass itself were a labyrinth, dangerous enough for any traveler without a proper guide, or experience.
The crow led them through the pass, the chill of the high mountain unable to deter their travel speed, as Freya's magical fire kept them warm. It took them three days to travel through the pass, having already traveled well over a month since they departed from Mance's camp.
At the end of the path, atop one of the higher peaks of the mountains, sat a lone ashen tree. Similar to the one the Gods had first arrived nearby.
The raven perched itself on a low branch of the tree, using the red leaves as a blanket as it shivered from the icy cold. As it stared pointedly at Kratos as if pleading with him to touch the bark of the tree.
"What will you do brother? I think it has reached as far as it can go, and wants you to touch the tree." Mimir asked.
Kratos observed the tree, a similar presence emanating from it as it had the first time he had noticed when they had arrived. Only this time, instead of mild curiosity, there was a plea for him to touch the tree.
Sensing no real hostile intent behind the presence, Kratos obliged only to be pulled from the place, and he found himself in a dark and damp cave. Its cramped and branching tunnels were full of similar ashen roots. Stalagmites and stalactites littered the floor and roof of the dark cavern. Skulls of various creatures are placed in stone niches on the walls. The cave has chambers full of bones, shafts that plunge deep into the earth, and a place where the skeletons of gigantic bats hung upside down from the ceiling. Kratos grunted in annoyance as he heard the cawing of a murder of crows from deeper in the cave, the noise reminding him of Odin and his ravens.
Kratos grunted in annoyance, as he followed the vines, and sounds deeper into the cave, making a note that Freya and Mimir were not with him, and neither were his weapons.
The route steeply descends to a great cavern opening on a black abyss, with a swift river six hundred feet below. Near a natural bridge across the abyss, in the midst of wooden shackles, fashioned like a throne, sat a nearly rotting human figure.
The wooden shackles were pierced into the very flesh of the figure. Its singular eye was blood red, an ashen root pierced into the other. The pale skin and dried blood trails from its eyelids were eerily reminiscent of the tree that Kratos had just touched.
"Who are you?!" Kratos growled as he made his way across the abyss.
The pale men observed him for a few seconds, not giving him an answer.
His answer came not from him, but from beside the wooden throne in form of a song.
"The Old Gods return, yet too late they answer our call.
The games of men build a world where there is no room for them, or us.
The Bloodraven sits on his shackled throne, in the hopes of magic and men.
A shield from the battles of the gods of Ice and Fire.
This is but our final song, before the great game of men yet to come.
Too late will the promised champion come, to a world with but the very end of myth or magic.
Oh, Great destroyer!
Oh, Championed savior!
Why have you come?
Will you doom this world to its misery?
Or will you save its magic, in our long dwindling?"
Kratos' annoyance was immeasurable, as he turned to observe the small diminutive figure that had sung the song. It was shorter than a human but larger than a child. It had nut-brown skin, with golden-slitted eyes. And it was staring at Kratos with fear and reverence.
Both emotions did nothing but annoy and anger Kratos.
"Speak plain!" He commanded.
This time, in a raspy voice the pale man replied "They speak as plainly as they can. Theirs is the True Tongue. Only leaf can speak any other. I am Brynden Rivers. The one they call bloodraven. We do not have much time, God of War. Once you know what you seek, find me in this cave. We have much to discuss."
This only served to anger Kratos further.
"Get out of my Head." He commanded, and he could see that his will was too strong for whatever magic the bloodraven was using to enter his mind. Pain etched on the pale blood-streaked face, and Kratos once again found himself at the end of the pass.
The crow that sat atop the tree cawed in pain, as it flapped its wings wildly.
Freya was crouched over him, as she had been using her magic to wake him up.
"Brother! Yer awake!" Mimir cried as Kratos stirred and stood up.
"What happened Kratos?" Freya asked worriedly, while Kratos turned and glared at the crow on the perch.
"Bloodraven, I do not take kindly to those that mess with my head. This is your only warning." He growled. "If we have need of you, we will find you."
The bird frantically flapped its wings, as its head seemed to bob in a nod, and it flew away.
Kratos grunted in annoyance again.
"What happened, brother?" Mimir asked softly.
Kratos grumbled but recounted what happened in the cave with the bloodraven, as he began his trek down the pass, and finally into the Lands of Always winter.
"Well, this reeks of a prophecy. One that they seem to put a lot of faith into." Mimir said. "And the creature you described sounds a lot like the children of the forest, that Mance had spoken about."
Kratos scoffed, "Their belief in prophecy. There is nothing that is written, that cannot be unwritten."
"I am more concerned about Bloodraven being a shield to them, from the battles of gods of Ice and Fire. They don't mean us, do they?" Freya asked worriedly. "I mean, Kratos does wield both Ice and Fire. He fits the description."
"It will not do us well to dwell on the prophecies of old cave wizards and delusional creatures." Mimir said, "No matter how much the man might have looked like me!"
"He did not have horns," Kratos replied. "And he had one red eye."
"Bah, that just means I am the better one. My horns make me seem quite fetching." Mimir boasted.
They continued their banter for the rest of their journey north, as they traveled along the western base of the Frost Fangs, using its natural presence as a shield from any would-be raiders, and cannibals that resided on this side of the mountains. The Skirling Pass was long behind them. Though they all kept the song of the children of the forest in their minds.
They traveled for another week or so, resting as they saw fit, now resorting to hunting what little game they could track in the icy tundra.
It was on the ninth day after they had left the Skirling Pass, that they arrived on a short icy hill. Once they were on top, they could see the icy stretch of the lands of always winter. It was littered with hills, like large Stalagmites, gigantic spears of ice rose from the earth. The sharp icy hills rose gradually in the north with no vegetation anywhere in sight.
Far into the distance, was a giant temple made of snow, with blue fire that lit the braziers of the towers of the temple, and even from this far they could tell that the fire was colder than ice itself.
And littered throughout the various icy hills, they could see different large monstrous creatures, with blue eyes. Some were giant spiders, mammoths, ferociously large bears, wolves, and lions. A top of all of these creatures, like paladins made of ice, sat White Walkers. Marching and patrolling the dark land. The sun had never touched this land, as thick black clouds blanketed the sky as far as they could see.
High beneath the dark cloudy sky, they could see at least a dozen shadow figures circling the lands. Riders sat perched on the backs of the winged icy creatures there too.
"Helheim," Mimir muttered. "Exactly like Helheim. Why does the land of the dead exist in the mortal plane?"
"We will find out," Kratos said as he started descending the hill.
"We will need to avoid the gaze of the dragons and their riders. We don't want to garner any unwanted attention if we can avoid it." Freya said as she followed him into the labyrinth of ice.
"We stick to the base of the ice hills. And climb only when we must." Kratos said. "We make for the temple in the center. The answers we seek lie there."
"Oh, bugger," Mimir muttered. "My stump is going to remain frozen for the rest of the way isn't it?"
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A/N: Well, that was a fun chapter to write. I am not very happy with the Bloodraven intro, may add a few things later.
Kratos and company don't trust him, they can realize that he has an agenda of his own as well. And about the white walkers, fuck the show, especially the last 2 seasons. I wanted to see ice spiders, and mammoths, like they're written in the books. But what we got was the stupid Night King. Yeah, no. Fuck that.
I hope you liked this chapter. I increased the word count significantly.