Chapter 15: Commander Gillius

On the king’s orders, I was sent to investigate kidnappings in a village to the north of the capital. I was sent with 5 other skilled soldiers, Inor, Goshe, Jorn, Weise, and Vice Commander Yupris. All of these soldiers were hand selected by me for this investigation, and they were soldiers I was extremely proud of. They were all exceptionally talented in their own right. I could only be afforded this small team for this expedition, but with these guys at my back, I knew we couldn’t lose to any threat. 

“Commander Gillius, I am ready to report what the village chief has told me.” The Vice Commander was standing in front of me ready to give his report. He had spoken to the head of the village on my orders to see what information we could gather. We were currently standing outside of the chief’s house, and I was ready to receive the report. “Yupris, give me the details.” 

“Yes sir! According to the village chief, those that were abducted had all ventured out into the forest towards the mountains. 3 children, 5 men, and 2 women were all abducted…” It angers me to think that the perpetrators would abduct even women and children, but I must maintain my composure as a soldier. It is our duty as soldiers of the kingdom to make sure the people remain safe in their lives. It is a failure of the kingdom if we can’t get to the bottom of this, “go on.”

“Yes sir, The chief has told me that a few men went to investigate the disappearances, and they found large footprints leading towards the mountain. I already sent Inor, the scout, to investigate the footprints.” 

“Well done, when he arrives with what he can gather we will decide what we should do next.” Inor is probably the best scout in this entire kingdom, and he should be able to tell us what kind of beast the perpetrator is.

By the time the sun started to set, Inor had finally returned. From his expression, I could tell that whatever he was about to report wouldn’t be good, but we needed to know what we are dealing with. “Go on, give the report.”

“Yes sir, I was able to determine from the tracks that the perpetrator was a troll…” We should be able to easily deal with it if it is a normal troll, but judging from his expression I could tell we were dealing with a higher variant. Inor continued to speak.

“I found several broken branches from trees, and there was dried blood on a few of them. I followed the tracks all the way up to the side of a mountain, and from the distance I could observe a cave. I didn’t get too close to the cave, but from a distance of about 200 meters I was able to notice frost on the opening of the cave.”

Hmm, it must be some higher variant of a troll which can utilize frost magic. This is very troubling, but as the kingdom's soldiers sent to investigate we have to do something about it. I also trust that my men can deal with a frost troll. We are the kingdom's finest for a reason. If we were all to get done in by a frost troll, then the king would lose face. That is something I will never allow. The people need to know that the soldiers will protect them. Also, if I were to run away right now from a frost troll, then my honor as the commander will be tarnished.

“I understand, Vice Commander!” I called out to the vice commander, so I could give him my orders. “Yupris, you will stay in this village with Goshe, and I will take Inor, Jorn, and Weise to the cave. If we aren’t back by sunrise tomorrow, then send word to the king, and have them send their best reinforcements.”

I looked over to Inor, Jorn, and Weise. I feel bad that these men drew the short straw, but us 4 should be able to take down a frost troll. They are soldiers with families, but they are still soldiers. Just like me this is their duty, and with the eager look on their faces I could tell that my previous line of thinking would ruin their resolve. I can only be proud of the men who stand before me.

After all of them affirmed my orders, me and the other 3 men who were designated to go set out. By the time we got to a safe distance from the cave the sun had set. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal for us. Weise specialized in support, and he could give us a spell that would grant night vision to all of us for 6 hours. After he gave us the night vision spell, I could better make out the entrance of the cave.

It was a large rocky entrance built into the side of the mountain, and from this distance I could see white frost covering the mouth of the cave. There were even bloodstains leading up to the cave. As a breeze came over to us from the mouth of the cave, the chill I felt sent goosebumps up my body. Along with the goosebumps came a sudden feeling of dread. It was like something was screaming at me, that if we went into that cave none of us would survive. 

I quickly shook those thoughts from my head, and I gave a silent signal to Inor to enter the cave. He would have to enter the cave first as he was the best at using stealth. He would come out later to report about what he had seen inside of the cave. Then if it wasn’t something insurmountable me and the rest of the soldiers would go inside and end these abductions. We all sat and watched as Inor entered the cave. We would all rush in if he gave a distress signal.

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We sat and watched the mouth of the cave for any sign, but after 15 minutes Inor still hadn’t come out. We waited still, the cave could have been larger than we imagined, and if there was fighting, we would have heard it. We waited, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, but there was still no sign. Then I heard Jorn beside me. “Commander, what should we do? It has been an hour, and he still hasn’t come out.”

“There is no choice, we will have to enter the cave, and hopefully we will run into Inor somewhere inside. The cave must be larger than we thought.” Both of the men next to me nodded at my orders, and we headed up to the entrance of the cave.

We steadily made our way into the cave, and I had confirmed my fears. The cave continued on a downward slope, and there was dried blood leaving a trail down the cave. I nodded to my soldiers, and they understood my silent order as we began to make our way down. The cave twisted and turned as we went down, and the air started to grow even colder. I gave a silent order to Weise, and he used “Warmth”. It was a spell that would keep our body heat at a reasonable temperature in this cold cave.

What was creepy was that the inside of the cave was completely silent. The only sounds were the echoing of our footsteps on the cave floor. The further we went down the more I started to feel uneasy. Finally, when we were going down another slope, I could hear something faint around a bend in the cave. It was a muddled crunching sound. When we rounded the bend there was a large opening once the cave started to flatten out.

The crunching noise grew louder and echoed throughout the cave, and as we entered through the opening what I saw filled me with horror. Standing there at the center of a large opening in the cave was a large black beast. It was covered in fur and had it not been bent over it would have stood at least 13 feet tall. Its arms were massive and it had huge sharp claws on the end of its long arms. 

It was clear that Inor had been mistaken about the footprints by just looking at the beast. This was no troll, the head of the beast was like that of a wolf's only way more massive due to its size. Clutched in its claws was the dead body of Inor. Blood was dripping from the beast's massive fangs, and by looking at what it was currently doing. We could all tell what the crunching sound was coming from earlier as it bit down on Inor’s head we heard another crunching sound, and the chill from earlier came in waves. Coming from the beast's mouth was a frosty breath which was visible.

As the beast looked towards us newcomers I could tell my comrades were frozen in fear. Hell, even my legs were shaking as it looked at us with that sickening grin. I shook the fear from my body forcing myself to be calm in this moment. I yelled out. “Men, ready your weapons!”

Seeing my composure, followed by me the men readied their swords; however, no amount of soldier training could have prepared us for what happened next. The beast dropped Inor’s body, and his corpse hit the ground with a thud. The beast grinned at all of us as blood dripped from his canines. He got down on all floors, and then suddenly my vision went dark.

It wasn’t that the beast had blinded us. No, the beast had countered our night vision spell. After that I heard a low growl followed by a sickening scream off to my left where Weise had been. I looked to my left, but in the darkness my eyes hadn’t adjusted. I couldn’t tell what was happening. I heard the sound of metal to my right, followed by a thud.

I could tell the beast had already quickly bested my comrades, and for the first time ever in my life, I ran. I started to run back up the cave. I needed to get out of here. I needed to tell the king. I have never heard of a beast like this. It was clearly intelligent, and it had been toying with us.

I ran faster than I had ever ran in my life, and occasionally while going up the cave, I swear I could feel the beast’s breath on my neck. While the beast was chasing me, it did something I didn’t think such a beast could do. It actually spoke in the human tongue in a deep growly voice that echoed in the cave. “Hahaha, your fear makes chasing you more fun!”

When I could see the night light of the moon coming from the exit of the cave, the noise had stopped. I could no longer hear the beast chasing me. Relief was starting to tug at my heart. I had hoped that disgusting beast would leave me alone, and I was beginning to think that maybe it would just toy with me and let me go. I didn’t want to die like that, being eaten by that foul beast. 

As I exited the cave though, I felt a sharp pain on the side of my head, and my world started to spin. No, it was clear when I could see my own headless body and the laughing beast what had happened. Slowly my vision went dark.

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