Book One – Chapter 14

With a panicked scream, Nagrak toppled sideways, tumbling down the slope in a chaotic blur of flailing limbs. As he crashed through jagged ice and rock, the sharp edges tore through his leather clothing and sliced deep gashes into his skin. Each impact jarred his bones and wrung sharp gasps from him. Blood slicked his exposed flesh. The staff he had so proudly claimed was ripped from his grasp, its twisted form vanishing into the darkness. His head smacked against an outcrop, sending bright bursts of agony exploding through his inner eye’s vision. The world spun violently, leaving him disoriented and gasping for breath.

His descent came to a brutal halt as his body slammed into a narrow crevice carved into the slope. The jagged walls of ice and stone caught him mid-fall, stopping his momentum with a bone-shattering impact. The force of the collision broke through the surface beneath him, the ice groaning and cracking like thunder. A gaping chasm yawned open.

The staff crashed through the opening, disappearing into the cavern below. Nagrak did not follow. His larger frame slammed against the edges of the crevice, wedging him in place. The jagged rock caught on his ribcage, pinning him awkwardly against the fissure’s wall. His right arm was wrenched upward during the fall, the jagged edge of an outcrop catching beneath his elbow. The pressure twisted his limb at an unnatural angle, jamming it so tightly that every attempt to move sent stabbing pain shooting through his shoulder and chest.

He hung suspended, his legs dangled helplessly over the void below, offering no leverage to pull himself free. Sharp rock protrusions dug into his chest and back, holding him in place like a vice. He tried twisting his torso, hoping to slide out of the crevice, but the more he struggled, the more the jagged edges bit into his flesh, threatening to crush his arm completely.