Lady of Nyv

Ona awoke groggily the next morning. Her eyes burned as she rubbed them open. Her lack of sleep was slowly catching up to her, it seemed. At once, the events of last night crashed down onto her exhausted mind. She groaned loudly, her breath feeling exceptionally dry against her parched throat. She reached into her bag and withdrew her skin. She took a long, deep drink from it, feeling the water soothe her throat.

She watched the other men awaken slowly. They deliberately made enough noise so that they could wake up the men around them, without causing any echoes throughout the tunnel.

Ona glanced down the dark passage. She wondered how many days it would take for them to reach the South. She craved the open land and fresh air, despite only having been in the cave for a day and a half.

As she surveyed the nearly claustrophobic area around her, her eyes met Dom’s. He winked at her casually, clearly finding last night’s events to have been of everyday occurrence. She felt a pain in the pit of her stomach, sharp and stabbing. She inhaled deeply, holding the air in her lungs for a long time. Finally, she exhaled, feeling calm and ready to begin her day.

The men began to gather their things, light more torches, and organize themselves into a narrow line. They kept their chatter to a minimum, thankfully. Ona had no idea if there was something living in this cave, and if there was, she certainly didn’t want to disturb it. They had lost men already – they could not afford to lose any more.

Ona picked herself up, replaced her skin in her bag, threw it over her shoulder and lit a torch. She hoped to exit the cave today – she could not have her men sleeping in here another night.

A few moments later, the men were ready to leave. They held their torches high and marched South, Ona in the front, flanked by Kol and Dom.

Ona could tell by the way Dom looked at her that he wanted to speak, or more likely – brag, about last night. She worked hard to avoid his gaze, focusing on only the stone path and icy walls that surrounded them.

They marched quickly. Ona could sense that she wasn’t the only one who wished to reach the South and leave this tunnel far, far behind.

As Ona led the long line of men, she thought of the South and what she imagined it would be like. Northern rule would be a good thing for the Southern people, she decided. They would adore her and graciously accept the Northern king as their own. She imagined how easy it would be to take over the South. There hadn’t been a war in years, so she doubted that the Southern people would expect anything of the sort. T’was more of an invasion than a war, Ona reasoned. They would come in peace.

After what seemed like a few hours, the chatter had died down to a minimum and Ona’s thoughts dwindled. She focused on the blazing embers and fierce energy of the flames on her torch. As the red, orange, blue and yellow colours mixed in her sight, she heard a noise. Quickly, she halted her men and motioned for them to be quiet and stay still.

Ona walked forward in the tunnel. As her torch illuminated the path before her, she realized that the tunnel veered to the east a few paces from where she was standing.

She pressed herself against the slimy, cold cave wall and walked toward the dramatic curve of the path.

When she reached the corner of the wall, she peered around the edge, using her torch to illuminate her view.

At first, there didn’t seem to be anything there. As Ona was scanning the area she heard a voice call.

“Ona!” Dom called, wishing to know where she had gone.

Before she could call back and tell her men that she was okay, something moved in the darkness before her.

A great form rose in the darkness, its large green eyes opened quickly, staring into her soul.

“Monster!” Ona screamed to her men.

As they ran toward her, she withdrew her ax from her belt. She threw her torch onto the monster, hoping to injure it in some way. The flames rolled off of its skin as if they were water. The torch landed on the stone floor and the flames burned out.

The monster raised itself onto its feet, towering above Ona. She raised her ax and brought it down onto the monster’s foot. It screamed like a tortured animal and tried to crush Ona with one of its other feet.

She dodged the blow and raised her ax again. She cut off the monster’s foot this time, and it writhed in pain.

The men were attacking the animal now, too. With the monster distracted, Ona pulled out her dagger. She placed it between her teeth and began to climb onto the monster. She had to cut off its head to make sure it would be dead.

She grabbed hold of its scaly flesh and began climbing onto its back. She struggled to stay on the creature as it moved back and forth between blows from her men.

She began climbing onto its long neck. As she was plunging the dagger into the throat of the monster she felt a searing pain in her thigh. She did not look down, instead, she gritted her teeth and continued to plunge the dagger into the monster’s flesh, slowly cutting its head off.

She severed the spine of the monster and it fell to the stone floor with a large thud. Ona was thrown from the monster’s neck and into the icy wall. The breath escaped from her body and she couldn’t call to her men.

“Where’s Ona?” They were shouting to one another.

They called her name, searching for her in the darkness. She tried to reach out to them, but she couldn’t move. She was fading in and out of consciousness. As she struggled to hold on, she felt nothing but pain.

Then, all at once – release.