Escape from Tyrstoftir

Part one of a serial of the Refugees of Tyrstoftir

by Skye Hirgardil Sjöström (Skyde Ceawlin)

It had been a long trek from the frozen lands of Tyrstoftir. The land had seemed to simply...ERUPT...without warning, or at least that was what she was thinking.  Some had said that the gods were angry over some perceived slight, but having arrived too late to make that distinction, all she could remember was the sound.  Not just one, but a cacophony of them.  People shrieking in fear, the cracking of the ice as the mountain began to calve, the roar of the waves as they angrily beat at the ice, the howling of the North wind as it swept through, knocking things about.  It was thus that the fires had begun.

A haze had settled over the mountain and it was difficult to tell between ash from the fires and haze from the fog or even snow from the freakish blizzard that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.  She could now understand the phrase her barbarian slave had uttered once--"hell has frozen over." She had blindly made her way through the snow, counting her steps and hanging onto the railing of the long bridge that separated her from the other land mass.  The wind whipped at her furiously, nearly drawing her over the edge repeatedly, but she had finally made her way across and then had breathed a sigh of relief when she had heard the welcome voice of her mate shouting out orders over the veritable symphony of screams.  After finding her family, she had retraced her steps and set to packing.  Most of her things had still been aboard the ship, as they had only arrived a scant few days before the cataclysm began. Her companion's fleet of ships was waiting in the harbor and she had hurried to scrounge up packing supplies, finally relying upon her furs and clothing to do so in order to pack everything in a more efficient manner. 

The wind was beating a fierce tattoo against the door and she remembered how difficult it had been to force it open with the wind pushing just as determinedly from the other direction.  After what had seemed like an hour of pushing at the door, it had finally swung back, nearly ripped from its hinges.  She and Nikias had battled to get the remaining trunks down to the docks amidst the buffeting winds and turned back to look up at the land as a loud *CRACK!* rent the air... an avalanche came tumbling down, obliterating everything that lay in its path. As they watched, it crushed their home, burying it beneath the ice, fires erupted along the tree  line and then a second crack was heard and the whole island shifted.....