A knot formed in Blaze’s throat. “Cap-captured.” What did she care anyway? He was still an orc. He had deceived her one too many times.
Princess Sapphire slammed her fists against the stone. “I can’t bear this. If we stay in the city, they will all die in the battle.”
“And if we leave?” Blaze asked.
“The people may have a chance to flee. Cernonos won’t divide his forces to chase after women and children. He’ll go for the kill—me—and then head straight for Dwarfholm Bastion.”
That made sense to Blaze. The people would have to pack well for their journey. They would need time. Heading out into the Frostbyte Reach unprepared was suicide.
Orktag the Crook-Eye Orc shaman ascended the stone stair to the top of the wall. He was limping.
“We have to slow Cernonos’s army down,” Blaze said. “We have to buy the people time. Is there any chance, any weakness we can exploit?”
Orktag ground his teeth. “The demon Cernonos used his own essence to activate the Iron Collar. Some believe him to be mortal. He claims to be a demigod. Either way, he will be weak until he reaches a spawning point. He’ll need to recharge.”
Princess Sapphire pointed to a dwarf soldier. “You, get a map. I want to know where every spawning point is within five miles of the line between Foruk’s Falls and the Black Blood Peak.”
The look in her eye turned from concern to a determination as cold as forged steel. “Cernonos controls the jotnar. If we can stop him, there is a chance to save Foruk’s Falls. But we must catch him off guard. We have to attack before he reaches the city.” She turned to Blaze. “I want my armor back.”
“I’m done playing princess for the day,” Blaze said. She and the princess exchanged clothing in a guardhouse and emerged just as a dwarf wearing pewter-rimmed spectacles unrolled a leather map onto the stonework of the city wall.
As Blaze leaned over to look at the Foruk’s Fall’s tactical map, a freyjan handed her the blue robe the princess had left near the tunnel entrance, muttering some apology about its condition.
Blaze lifted the robe to sweep it over her shoulders, then paused. The robe was a wreck. It was torn in several places and stained with grime and soot from her journey and the battles she’d fought since she’d arrived at the Frostbyte Reach. The robe had provided extra warmth. The Reach at night was brutally cold, and she still ached from the afterchill.
Once, the robe of the Ember Mage had made her superior. Like that staff, the blue ember robe had set her above the ordinary people.
Around her, dwarf soldiers wearing plain brown fur-lined coats stood shoulder to shoulder along the battlements. All the same, and none of them seemed to care that they were no different from the others—glad to stand and fight together.
I would be one of them, she thought, knowing that she couldn’t. She wasn’t a dwarf or even from the Reach.
Why had she always insisted on fighting alone? Here was an army worth fighting with, a cause worth fighting for.
Without a word, she slipped away from Princess Sapphire and the spontaneous war council and stepped toward the watch fire.
Gripping the cloth of her ember cloak, she plunged her hands into the flames. The cloth turned yellow, then white, and finally flaked away in bits of red-rimmed ash that rose in the heated plume and drifted over the city toward the frozen river below the famed ice-bound falls.
“What are you doing?”
Blaze turned to see the princess standing up and staring at her. A gap had appeared between the dwarf captains. She stepped over the map and moved close enough to share a private conversation. “Blaze?”
“I’m . . . cleaning up,” she said.
The princess glanced down at the fire. “Do you think ember robes grow on trees? That’s a mark of your Order.”
How could she explain this to the princess? Princess Sapphire had been the one who had saved her, the one who had promised that she would be an Ember Mage.
I was.
“Princess Sapphire, do you . . . do you remember me?” Blaze asked. She had to know. She had to have the courage to ask. “I’m Blaze . . . from Midway?”
The flames of the watch fire seemed to freeze. Even the war council and the entire wall guard seemed to hold still, eavesdropping until they heard an answer.
“Midway,” Princess Sapphire nodded. She did not hesitate. “The girl with the spark.”
Had she known this whole time?
“Yes,” Blaze said. “And you told me someday I’d become an Ember Mage. You promised it.”
Princess Sapphire spoke, “And I see you have.”
Blaze shook her head. “No. I’m . . . I am not a member of the Order of Ember,” Blaze said. She didn’t care who heard it. It was time she spoke the truth. “That’s why I don’t have a staff.”
The princess seemed surprised.
“Haven’t you seen my eyes when I summon fire?” Blaze said. “Red—like the demons from the spawning points. Like the jotnar after it was captured. Red!”
Princess Sapphire studied Blaze’s face. Her blue eyes were piercing, like they were looking so deep into Blaze, they were seeing her past.
“So you were banished. What did you do?” asked Princess Sapphire.
“A sparring match—one of the usual upstarts trying to challenge me,” Blaze shook her head. “The instructors knew better than to test my strength. But the new mages and the apprentices—they all wanted a shot at the prodigy, the girl with the red eyes.” Blaze tasted the bitter words on her tongue. “And what could I do about it? He knew what I was capable of.”
“Who?” asked the princess.
“One of the older boys. He was trying to prove himself.” Blaze wrapped her arms around herself, feeling a lot smaller than she had a moment before.
The princess folded her own arms, standing like a mother, or a judge waiting to hear the tale and pass down a sentence.
A lump formed in Blaze’s throat. “I was supposed to channel my attack to his staff—it’s far easier to absorb fire that way.”
“You didn’t.”
Princess Sapphire’s abrupt manner made the whole confession a lot easier.
Blaze nodded.
“And?”
“He was . . . he didn’t defend well.”
“Dead?”
Blaze shook her head. “No. But he won’t ever be the same—blind.” Tears found their way into Blaze’s eyes.
“And so it was your fault,” the princess concluded. “Wholly and completely.”
Blaze bit her trembling lip. Now the tears ran in two streams down her cheeks. “Yes.” The word escaped like a dagger being drawn out of her. “I was too angry. I was too out of control. I hurt people when I don’t mean to.” Blaze had confessed her failure to the very person who had promised her success, the first person to believe in her.
The princess in blue-tinged armor folded her arms and stared coldly. Now she knew. The “Ember Mage” her father had sent was no eminent magician, but an outcast. One of the wall guards glanced over. Now they all knew.
“And the Crook-Eyes?” asked the princess.
Blaze started. She wasn’t sure what Princess Sapphire meant by that. It must have shown in her face.
“The Crook-Eye tribe. You’ve made your peace with them,” said Princess Sapphire. It was more of a command than a question. Blaze winced. It certainly felt like the princess was seeing right through her. Blaze didn’t know how to answer that.
“I . . .” said Blaze. She wasn’t sure she could finish her sentence: . . . am just getting to that.
But was she? Was she really? Blaze couldn’t honestly say she was.
And then, Princess Sapphire simply nodded. “Are you with us or with them?” she asked.
Blaze thought before she answered. She wasn’t fighting for Cernonos or the Rimefrost Orcs. She certainly wasn’t on the side of the Dark Consul. But was she really with Princess Sapphire? Could she really swear her allegiance
to an alliance that included the Crook-Eye tribe? She had always fought alone. This would change everything.
She would have to commit. She would have to forgive. Right now, she couldn’t do that.
Blaze took a shaky breath. A spark lit within her and then faded, something different, something new and utterly strange.
It faded, and in the moment, she thought of Dreck. Such a silly, simple orc-monk. He made it so hard to hate him. And now he was captured by the enemy, and this time they knew he wasn’t one of them.
“I’m not sure,” said Blaze. She couldn’t meet Princess Sapphire’s eyes.
“You can’t fight alone forever, Blaze,” said Princess Sapphire. Blaze wanted to reply, but she still couldn’t find the words.
Bort and Tort barreled past her and dove nearly headfirst into the war council. “What’s this—gambling without us?” said Bort.
“Oh—not planning!” Tort moaned.
“You two—stay,” Princess Sapphire ordered. “This is our only chance to save Foruk’s Falls. We must stop Cernonos. He controls the jotnar.”
Blaze pushed her hands in her pockets and stepped between the stout and warm-looking dwarves. It was strange standing next to dwarf adolescents with bushy, black beards. Their helmets came level with her chin.
“A covert strike is our best chance,” Princess Sapphire said. “He needs to recharge at a spawning point. He’ll be vulnerable then.”
“But after—” Blaze called over to the huddled group.
The princess spoke over her. “We wait until he gets to the spawning point and starts the recharging process, if he hasn’t already,” she said. “He’ll be open to an attack then, especially one from behind.”
“That is nuts,” said Tort. “With respect, Your Majesty.”
Bort reached around behind Blaze and slapped the back of his brother’s helmet. “How is that respectful?” He gave a belch to emphasize the point.
“Blaze, I know you want to go after the hostages,” Princess Sapphire said, shaking her head. “But we can’t divide our forces. We have one goal—Cernonos. He goes down, so does his control of the jotnar.”
The words came with another stab of pain.
“Great,” said Blaze.
Princess Sapphire, crouching with one knee on the ground, gave a sigh. “This isn’t the best plan—it isn’t really a plan at all . . . more a prayer.” She gestured to the city. “A jotnar can knock down these walls like building blocks—freeze entire city blocks. I shudder to think what a dark jotnar, fueled by rage and hate, can do. I know how hard we worked to free the city. But for anyone who stays, these walls will be their tomb. We have to take the fight to Cernonos.”
Bort grunted. “Sounds good.” Tort swung his ax up to his shoulder. “When do we start?”
Princess Sapphire pointed at them. “I like that attitude. Gather your men. We leave in ten minutes at the west gate. Let the soldiers make their goodbyes. Leave none to guard the city.”
She turned to the dwarf with the spectacles. “You’re the Jarl here, I assume?”
“Yes, my lady,” he said.
“Order the evacuation of the entire district. No one takes the Torch Road. They’ll be expecting that. It’s too dangerous and there’s no chance of escape if Cernonos’s army catches you inside those tunnels. Flee to the plains or Dwarfholm Bastion with as little as possible. The dark jotnar will spare no women or children. The collar it wears is a thing of evil made for destruction.”
“Yes, Princess. I shall see to it.” The Jarl summoned his captain of the guard, who summoned a sergeant, who gave three long blasts on his horn. Heads popped out through windows and doors as the recently freed villagers exchanged looks of disbelief.
“The dark jotnar approaches,” cried the sergeant. “By order of the Jarl, the city must be evacuated immediately. None shall stay. Flee to Midway or Dwarfholm. Wear as much warm clothing as you can. Take supplies to make fire. Pack food for the journey. But take no cart or wagon—only what you can carry on your backs.”
“Princess,” Blaze asked. She was just so tired. She didn’t think she could walk another step. “How are we going to make that journey now? We’ve been up all night and the day before. We can’t stop to rest—but I’m so tired I can barely . . . what are you smiling about?”
“You’ve never ridden the Everlight Express?” said the princess. She was grinning from ear to ear. She beckoned for Blaze to follow her.
Blaze followed Princess Sapphire, surrounded by several dozen dwarf soldiers and Crook-Eye Orcs to the west gate. But they did not go through it. Princess Sapphire turned aside toward what looked like a battered, old, emerald-green barn just inside the closed city gate.
“We disguised the entrance when the orcs came,” explained a dwarf with a poufy hat. He opened the barn door. They had swept the straw into a mound on one side and opened a trapdoor in the floor. Beneath it were stone steps that spiraled downward and softly burning oil lamps on the walls. A low whistle sounded from deep in the earth.
The soldiers clambered down the steps in a rush of clanking armor, disappearing from view.
“What is this place?” asked Blaze.
Princess Sapphire motioned down the steps. “See for yourself.”
Blaze was curious. So she descended the spiral stair after the soldiers. It went down several flights until she could hear the soldier’s voices and the hiss of machinery. She took the last flight of steps three at a time and rounded the corner.
The staircase opened up into a large, hollow cavern with a low ceiling.
A long platform made of carefully laid stonework stretched into the darkness on either side. A few feet in front of that was a tunnel. And at the edge of the platform, sitting on a pair of rails, was a line of wooden carriages linked together and painted emerald green with golden trim. Someone flipped a switch, and the whole train lit up with bright, warm golden light. The steel wheels glowed. Even the rails lit up like slender tails of shooting stars, streaking off into the darkness of the tunnel.
A whistle blew, and the steam engine began to turn.
“All aboard!” shouted someone from the main engine.
A conductor hurried over to Blaze and Princess Sapphire. “Welcome to the Everlight Express,” he said, his smile beaming. He held out a hand. “Tickets, please.”
Princess Sapphire folded her arms and glared. She looked about as accommodating as a rattlesnake.
“Right then—no tickets,” he said, looking down at the floor. “To your coaches. Next stop Black Blood Peak foothills on the . . . the . . . unfinished line.”
“We wouldn’t normally travel that far down the line, but these are dire circumstances,” said the princess.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Blaze muttered under her breath.
“Perfectly safe,” Tort said, bustling past her. “So long as it stops before the gap.”
“What gap?” asked Blaze.
“The one where the track ends right before a bottomless pit ten fathoms deep,” said Bort.
Tort whacked him on the back of the head. “How can it be bottomless if it’s ten fathoms deep, numb-beard?” he asked.
“Perfectly safe!” Bort echoed, clapping Blaze on the back. “Now choose our coach. We’ve got six hours for rest and relaxation—do I smell braised mutton?”
“Yes!” she said. The smell of the warm meal set her stomach churning in expectation.
Blaze hurried along the train and hopped into a coach near the rear with Princess Sapphire. The small fighting force filled most of the train of coaches, but there were enough empty seats to give Blaze and the princess their own coach.
Princess Sapphire climbed the steps and opened a hatch. Inside were four dwarf-sized plush seats facing each other and two bunks overhead. Apparently, the dwarves of the Frostbyte Reach didn’t mind sleeping in close quarters. The cabin was inviting and by far the most comfortable, cozy-looking place Blaze had seen since leaving the
king’s castle in Crystalia.
Blaze paused at the threshold. “What about them?” asked Blaze, nodding to the city above. “Shouldn’t we take the villagers with us?”
Princess Sapphire shook her head. “We’ve filled most of the seats. I know this looks like comfort, Blaze, and it is, but these tunnels do not lead to safe havens. They lead to the enemy. We are going into battle. They’re better off out there in the Reach. They’ll find their way.”
“I suppose . . .” said Blaze. She felt guilty.
“Blaze, you’re a soldier. And I need you to be at your best when we launch our next attack. And that means getting proper sleep.”
“Maybe I could get used to this,” said Blaze. She really did need some rest. She followed Princess Sapphire inside and settled into one of the plush velvet seats. She practically melted into it, it was so soft.
“There’s nothing quite like it,” said Princess Sapphire. “And right now, this is what our soldiers need most.” That made more sense to Blaze.
Princess Sapphire lit a small coal stove in the car as the train began moving forward with a clickety-clack sound.
The train paused for a split second, then lurched ahead on the tracks, pressing Blaze backward into her seat.
“What’s pulling us?” Blaze asked.
“A gear system fed by underground streams. Quite ingenious—if a little loud,” said Princess Sapphire.
“Yeah, but it’s wonderful,” Blaze said. She had never experienced anything like it. It wasn’t the uncontrolled roll of mine cars. Nor was it the methodical plodding of a pack mule. It was something new entirely. To be carried up a mountain tunnel by a metal carriage—it was like magic.
The conductor’s voice sounded through a pipe. “Expected arrival in five hours, fifty minutes.”
“Our route is meandering since the carriage train can’t climb the steep canyon,” the princess explained. “Should be long enough for a short nap.”
She opened a drawer and withdrew a silky blue nightgown. The warrior princess wasted no time in throwing off her armor, changing into the nightgown, and tucking herself into one of the upper bunks. It was the most incongruous sight Blaze had ever seen—a warrior climbing into a soft bunk in a nightgown. She had always suspected that Princess Sapphire slept in her armor.
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