Scientific Sorcery : 29 River vs Sleigh

I said a quick bye to Cali, ignoring her protests and demands for me to come back at once. She continued to yell as I walked away.

Whistling a jaunty tune, I adjusted my backpack, grabbed a shovel, and waited for Stormy to leap onto my shoulder before heading towards the river.

The crisp winter air nipped at my face as we made our way to Glinka's domain. Snow crunched beneath my feet, and the dead trees creaked in the wind. As we approached the riverbank, I slipped my Astralscope goggles on, the world shimmering into a new perspective.

The river's edge was alive with spiritual energy, pulsing and swirling in ethereal patterns of silver, green and light blue. I began filling my bucket with the most spiritually potent rocks I could find, each one glowing with Glinka’s aura through the lenses of my Astralscope, featuring all sorts of aquatic ghosts.

As I worked, I felt a presence watching me.

Glancing up, I saw her. She sat atop her rune-covered rock, a faceless silver-blue figure woven from floating water droplets. Her form and vague dress shimmered and rippled, constantly in motion yet somehow perfectly still, perhaps frozen due to the ice now covering her.

Glinka observed me in absolute silence, her lack of features making it impossible to read her intentions. I couldn't help but feel mild unease under her scrutiny. Stormy, perched on my shoulder, let out a soft "mrrp" of concern.

"This isn't a deal," I told Glinka. "I'm not touching your water. I'm just relocating rocks from here to over there, because I can. This is what people do - take rocks to build houses.You can retrieve the rocks yourself, if you care for them. Or not. Sadly our magic is incompatible. I do wonder what would happen if I made a remote that controls your river-ness," I added to my rant.

The river didn't answer.

The bucket quickly filled with spiritually charged rocks, all the while I was acutely aware of Glinka's unwavering, intensifying gaze. The silence of the dead forest and the frozen river was almost oppressive, broken only by the occasional howls of wind and the clinking of stones as I added them to the bucket.

I used my Astralscope to examine Cali's sleigh from a distance. Through the lenses, I could see a shimmering silver-blue field surrounding the vehicle, extending about one metre out in all directions. 

It was an impressive sight, the thick magical barrier pulsing with an otherworldly energy. I wondered if it was designed to strike anyone down who purposefully attempted to get inside the sleigh’s box, because I had dismounted the horses from the front frame without any issues whatsoever.

Staying just outside the effect area, I began throwing Glinka's rocks under the sleigh. As each stone landed, I watched with fascination as light green-blue radial waves began sparking against the silver-blue of the ward. It was like watching two opposing forces clash in a miniature magical battle.

As more rocks accumulated, small, white magical lightning started to strike at Glinka's stones from now visibly glowing silver runes covering the sleigh. The intensity of the magical conflict grew with each passing moment. 

Suddenly, Glinka's face snapped towards the sleigh, her attention completely focused on the magical disturbance.

Intrigued by her reaction, I stepped directly in front of the river's avatar. I moved left and right, waving my arms, but her gaze remained transfixed on the sleigh, staring right past me as if I wasn't even there.

"You can't see or hear me at all, can you?" I asked Glinka. A hypothesis began to form in my mind. Perhaps nature spirits couldn't see or hear men at all. It would explain why male witches and male sorcerers just weren’t a thing in Thornwild. 

“Are nature spirits simply blind and deaf to the actions of men, is that it?” I asked Stormy who was intently staring at Glinka from my shoulder.

“Mrrrrr,” Stormy shrugged.

I waited for the sleigh to run out of power. I did not. I returned to my rock-gathering work. Glinka glared at the sleigh that was harassing her rocks, paying no attention to me whatsoever.

Exhaustion was beginning to set it. Moving magical rocks around that didn’t belong to me, was interfering with my otherwise limitless stamina. 

I had to approach this in another, more efficient way.

I looked at the megalithic pillar-rock Glinka was inhabiting. The wave-shaped runes along it had to be carved by the people of Svalbard long ago. It was people, human belief had manifested Glinka’s avatar in this exact spot of magical power. Belief created potent spiritual manifestations.

I grabbed the shovel and began to dig a trench around the rock column, exhuming it from the ground.

It was late evening by the time I was done. Keeping away from the extra-magical column housing Glinka’s spirit I swung a large log against its back. The column shuddered and fell forward onto a pile of logs.

I grabbed the rope attached to the column and began to slowly roll it towards the sled. Thankfully, it wasn’t parked far from the river as Cali had likely travelled along the frozen river from Bernt to Svalbard.

In about two hours of extremely tiresome labour, I got Glinka’s sideways-tipped column to the edge of the carriage.

Glinka floated right above the column now. Her avatar radiated brilliant blue waves, hair flying in the invisible wind or perhaps floating underwater. She looked like a very annoyed Goddess now. With another pull, Glinka’s column breached the edge of the ward of the carriage.

I waited for the sleigh to do something. It didn't. I picked up another Glinka rock and threw it at the door. The rock bounced from a shield that came into existence around the door.

Magical waves pouring from Glinka's avatar struck the shield, warping it. The sleigh responded in kind.

Blinding white lightning struck from the carriage into the stone with a resounding crack, the air filled with the smell of ozone.

Stormy’s buried herself in my neck.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Now we’re talking business.”

I watched in awe as the magical battle involved greater and greater arcane forces. The air crackled with radiant energy as each lighting bolt fired. 

Glinka's avatar, now a wrathful-looking Goddess, faced off against the protective ward of Cali's sleigh.

Bolts of white lightning continued to strike Glinka's column, each impact sending shockwaves through the air, making Svalbard tremble. 

The river spirit retaliated, sending waves of blue energy cascading over the sleigh. The two forces clashed in a spectacular display of magical might, neither seeming to gain the upper hand.

As the battle raged on, I noticed the ward around the sleigh beginning to flicker and weaken. Cracks appeared in its shimmering surface, spreading like a web across the magical barrier. Glinka's power, fueled by the ancient runes, souls of humans that drowned in her and the spirit of the river itself, was slowly but surely overwhelming the Star-Shard's defenses.

Stormy peeked out from her hiding spot in my neck, her violet eyes wide. I stroked her fur reassuringly.

"Almost there," I murmured, more to myself than to my feline companion. "Just a little longer..."

Just as I thought Glinka was about to overcome the sleigh's defenses, the ward suddenly flared with renewed intensity. The silver barrier brightened, pulsing with an almost blinding light. It was as if the Star-Shard had tapped into some hidden reserve of power, pushing back against Glinka's assault with renewed vigor.

But Glinka was far from defeated. I watched as the river spirit raised a fist into the air, her form alight with barely contained fury. 

The sound of a deafening roar filled the air, and I realized with a start that it was coming from the river itself.

Instinctively, I retreated away from the riverbank, moving closer to the village. Stormy’s tiny body trembled against my neck. She could definitely tell that something terrible was coming. As we moved behind a large boulder to what I thought was a sufficiently safe distance uphill, I kept my eyes fixed on the unfolding spectacle.

Behind Glinka, the ice covering the river began to crack. The sound was like thunder, sharp reports echoing across the frozen landscape as fissures spread across the entire width of the river. 

My heart pounded in my chest as I witnessed the raw power of nature wielded by Glinka.

Suddenly, the ice exploded upwards. From the churning waters of the newly freed river, a colossal fist made entirely of water emerged. It was easily the size of several houses, glistening and rippling in the fading light of day.

"Oh sheeet," I uttered, watching the liquid hand loom above the ruins of Svalbard like an impossible tower, rays of setting sun breaking through it.

Glinka, her avatar still hovering above her fallen column, brought her own fist down in a decisive motion.

The watery fist followed suit, descending upon Cali's sleigh like a hundred-ton sledgehammer. 

The impact was catastrophic. The ground shook beneath my feet, and a shockwave of air, water and magic exploded outwards from the point of impact as the sleigh's ward shattered. The blastwave sent branches and logs flying. Dead trees around the river snapped, snow billowing outwards in all directions.

I hit the ground hard, air rushing from my lungs. Stormy yowled in surprise, digging her claws into my shoulder to keep from being thrown off.

As I struggled back to my feet, I saw that Glinka's avatar had crossed her arms, somehow looking smug even though she lacked a face.

I stared at the now slightly smoking, thankfully intact sleigh, the runework around its base looking blackened and singed.

I waited a few more minutes and relaxed as nothing else happened. Glinka simply sat back down onto her sideways column. I approached the sleigh cautiously, half-expecting some final trap or defense mechanism to spring into action. But nothing happened. 

The sleigh just stood there, defenseless and vulnerable, if somewhat wet.

Occasionally, weak sparks rained down onto Glinka's rocks beneath it to no effect. In a few minutes, they too stopped. The sleigh appeared completely inert now in the Astralscope goggles.

As I looked at the now warped ground, I noted a formation of an entirely new riverbed. It appeared as though the entire river Glinka had moved its course, now running about ten meters closer to the village, its edge now touching the back end of Glinka’s fallen column.

Damn!

The river spirit paid me no attention as I walked by her.

"Well, Stormy," I said, a grin spreading across my face despite my exhaustion, "shall we see what lovely treasures our blonde feline friend has been hiding?"

With trembling hands, I reached out and quickly touched the side of the vehicle. I didn't get zapped so I pulled the wet door handle open and climbed inside.