As I mentioned a few weeks back, when we were trapped in the ice caves below the North Pole Village, we saw goblins in the ice.
They were a horrible sight – even frozen.
Dimis fainted.
Eomar and Gimlitin drew their swords.
“They can’t harm us, “I said, trying to reassure them. I suspect they have been frozen in there since the last Goblin war – some 60 years.
“I saw Goblins when I was a young elf,” Eomar said. “I had hoped to never see them again.”
“Gimlitin,” I said, “do you have any idea how far down we are?”
“No. I have never been this deep.”
Dimis began to wake up – thanks to the care being given to him by several dwarves and elves.
The minute he saw the Goblins in the ice, he bean to swoon again.
“Pull yourself together,” Eomar said. “We have to protect Santa.”
Although that was not strictly true, it was enough to stir Dimis awake.
“Let’s move away from this ice face so we don’t see the goblins,” I suggested.
We walked for a short distance down a curving tunnel. We sat on some fallen ice blocks.
Gimlitin shook his lantern, which was beginning to dim.
“The fall must have damaged it,” he said.
“We don’t know how long we are going to be down here,” I said. Maybe we should alternate lanterns to make sure they don’t all lose power at the same time.”
They all agreed this was a good idea, so we turned off most of the lanterns.
The icy walls reflected the light form the few lanterns we kept on, so it was not too bad.
“I fear we will run out of food before our light goes, ” Eomar said.
I have never known goblins not to have some food about,” Gimlitin suggested. “Maybe they had some with them.”
He, Eomar, and several of the elves and dwarves went back to where we had sen the goblins to search. I stayed with Dimis.
“Thank you for searching for us,” I said. “Are there search parties out?”
“I was alone,” he said, blushing. “I was following you.”
“Oh?”
“I wanted to go with you all into the tunnels, but Eomar said no. So I followed behind. Then I got lost I was wandering all around until I heard your voices. Then I fell through.”
“Ah,’ I said. “So they may not have even begun to search yet.”
I saw the frightened look on his face, so I added, “But they will.”
Eomar came back.
“We see some packs in the ice near the goblins. It might be supplies. Gimlitn and his dwarves are carefully chipping away at the ice.”
It took two hours of chipping, but they finally freed a pack. Gimlitin brought it to the tunnel where we were sitting.
The pack was stiff, and broke as we tried to get it open.
Inside was bread!
“This looks like elf bread,” Eomar exclaimed.
“Ill bet they stole it years ago.
“I wonder how 60 year old bread tastes,” Gimlitin said.
“Elf bread never goes bad,” Eomar stated.
“But it does get hard,” I said, tapping it against the floor.
“All we need do is warm it up,” Eomar said.
We held the bread above some lanterns on high. The bread got softer – though not completely unthawed. But it got to the point were we could chew it.
“We saw more packs,” Gimlitin said, “We will dig out another one in the morning.”
“We have enough bread in this one pack for several days,” Eomar said. “If we are careful.”
By this point, exhaustion was overtaking us all. We needed sleep. So we huddle together.
Soon, the tunnel was filled with the sound of snoring.
(Tomorrow: Rescue)
