“What are you doing?” Locke yells from the other side. “Move!”
I click the lighter, but it only sparks. No flame.
“Fuck,” I breathe, hitting it again and again. The creature bears down on me, roaring as it towers above and raises its arms. The flame dances to life and catches the fabric on fire immediately, spreading into a relatively large flame.
The creature roars and stumbles back, falling onto its ass in an effort to get away from the small fire.
“That’s right!” I say, waving the very small torch at the creature. It scrambles backwards, terrified of the heat. “Leave us alone! We don’t want to hurt you.”
“The fuck we don’t,” Locke snarls, rushing toward me.
“Let them leave,” I grunt. “It’s just protecting its babies.”
“And I’m trying to protect mine,” Locke spits.
My eyes jerk to his in confusion, but he isn’t looking at me. He’s looking at the creatures as they start to move away. The babies stick their tongues out at us one last time before the creature disappears, no evidence it was there at all. Not even footprints.
Which is good because the wind blows the torch out a second later.
I breathe a sigh of relief and tuck the prepared torch into my inventory in the place where the fabric had been.
NEW ACHIEVEMENT
You defeated a snow golem mother without violence. That takes some snowballs!
REWARD: this sick cloak.
Warning:any small tear or rip will render this cloak’s powers useless.
I stare at the cloak that appears in the air in front of me. It’s black in color beneath it with a snowflake pattern on the back, and there’s a thick shawl of black fur around the shoulders. A thick silver chain serves as the fastener in the front. Carefully, I take the cloak and the description message appears.
“Cloak of The First Snow,” I read. “When worn, you are resistant to cold damage. Oh, shit,” I say, looking over at Locke with wide eyes.
“Well, would you look at that,” Locke says, shaking his head as he studies the cloak. “Apparently, you were right after all.”
“I just couldn’t bring myself to kill the little ones,” I murmur, staring at the cloak. “I thought it would just keep them off us long enough to get away. Not defeat it.”
Locke studies me closely. “I envy you that.”
I blink. “What? Why?”
He tucks his hammer back into his inventory and looks away. “I would have killed them,” he murmurs. “And I wouldn’t have felt bad about it.”
Then he starts walking away, leaving me there to stare after him and his admission.
CHAPTER37
VESPER
“New zone unlocked,” Cipher announces in that too sexy voice as we walk from one snow-covered area into another. “Welcome to the Howling Wind Plains.”
“The Howling Wind Plains,” I repeat as I look out across the expanse before us. As far as I can see, it’s just flat and white. No trees break up the horizon. Nothing exists before me except for the icy snow and the freezing wind that suddenly whips around us and makes me tuck deeper into my new cloak. It’s warm inside it. So warm, I barely feel the cold on my body, but my face still feels it as we step into the new zone.
Within minutes, my lips are blistering and chapped. My nose is frigid, but I don’t grow any weaker and I don’t develop frostbite. Svetlana stays firmly tucked beneath the cloak. Its effects don’t work on more than one person at a time, but because it keeps me warm, she’s able to absorb my own warmth and remain alive.
Locke, however, isn’t nearly so lucky.
He’d put off drinking any of his winterberry wine for as long as possible, but by the time we step into the Howling Wind Plains, he’s pulling the bottle from his inventory and drinking one of the servings. Instantly, he warms up and doesn’t seem to be as effected by the cold as before.
