“Good luck, Guardian Aila. We’ll keep the flames going,” Claire said.
Aila nodded and pulled up her mask as Ryan turned around and then started to run toward the north and into the snow and wind. He was covered in furs. He had grown with Aila, his speed causing a trail of snow to be thrown up behind him.
“Close the gates,” Logan said after a few minutes. The doors started to creak and groan, the old timbers pushed back into position once again.
Claire walked toward the long sloped walkways that rose up to the twenty-meter wall.
Logan followed her as she walked.
There were warm houses every twenty meters. Along the wall, wrapped in waterproof skins, were the gnome cannons and weapons. Stones and rolling wood were in good supply. She looked back toward the stronghold that stood there. The cold wind didn’t affect it as defenses stacked upon one another: cannons ready to be filled and fired, casting areas prepared for mages. Her eyes moved down the stronghold to its base and she looked down, as if she could see through the ground to the rest of the stronghold below.
“Something on your mind?” Logan asked.
“The last time we waged war against the Drafeng, we didn’t know what was happening. We served to remove chaos and then found out they were only the precursor to an invasion. Now we know that an invasion is coming but half of the world has been waging war against the other half. Some prepared and kept their word, as your family did. Others forgot.”
Some just stood by the side. Claire felt shame as Logan Icearm looped his fingers into his belt and let out a sigh that left behind a large cloud in the cold mountain air.
“I thought that the stories that I was told were just that—stories that were meant to teach me. Now, as an adult, I see the truths behind them. They weren’t just stories. They were lessons and talked about the lives of others. Meant to make me question the world, what I was seeing in front of me and know what was right from wrong. I’m not a perfect dwarf. I doubt that anyone would say that they were perfect. If they did…” Logan gave Claire a look and she smiled slightly in agreement.
He turned back to the north.
“We should look to the past for help and information, but our future hasn’t been written out. I will fight against those who attack my people, who attack Dena. That is the oath that I made. Maybe that is foolish, but I can do it with a clear conscience.”
“So, what can we do?” He turned to Claire with a dwarven grin.
“We can fight and hope that we make enough time for Dena to come together.”
“Seems a lot more straightforward now.”
Claire shook her head at the dwarf and looked at the north, the familiar peaks and valleys. Her smile stilled as she remembered several lifetimes ago, when she had stood on this wall, when she had stood in the Northern Basin where the Drafeng arrived last time.
To win, we will need the Guardians. The enchantment didn’t work, but I checked them; they are still undead and bound to me. If I was able to destroy my heart, then it would release my hold over them and then they would be free undead, able to raise themselves. If not, with me gone and without them being bound, then Aila can raise them.
She bit her lip, a decision made, but she couldn’t help feel her heart twist. She looked down. Her hand curled up over her chest as she felt her heart, to the south.
He’s my heart and my world, but won’t it be worth it—my life for the people of Dena? Even if I’m not a Guardian anymore.
She trembled.
“You’re not wearing much. You’ll catch a cold out here,” Logan said, seeing her shiver.
He didn’t know that liches weren’t affected by the wind and snow, but they couldn’t escape their hearts.
A Skeleton's Duty (Death Knight Series Book 4) Page 9