In Ice We Burn (The Liftsal Guardians Book 1)

by Alexandra Moody

  Sloane could feel her unease building as she stared through the wall. Why did she feel so nervous all of a sudden?

  A flicker of movement caught her eye through the ice, and she froze as still as the wall beside her. Her heart leapt into her mouth, and her stomach plummeted into the snow by her feet. Something was out there.

  She didn’t breath as she waited. Then after a minute of total stillness, she slowly exhaled. She was being silly. It had been nothing. She wanted to laugh, but her eyes caught the flicker of movement in the shadows again, and she took a quick step back from the ice.

  Something was definitely lurking in the darkness beyond the wall.

  Sloane instinctively gripped her dagger tighter, squaring her shoulders as she looked into the darkness. She would not be afraid, though her insides squirmed uncomfortably, and she could feel her body pulsing with an influx of adrenaline.

  Whatever prowled behind the wall stuck to the shadows, but ever so slowly it began to move towards her and Sloane unconsciously took another step back.

  She couldn’t see its face, but it was the same height as a human. She tried to reason that perhaps it was one of the guards, but the Unfaih were much taller than the figure through the wall and much more steady and certain in their movements.

  A small part of her wanted to run, but she refused to move. It wasn’t in Sloane’s nature to run away, though her instincts were screaming that she was in danger. It was unnerving to feel her body have such an intense response.

  The figure prowled closer to the wall, and Sloane gasped when it stepped from the shadows and into a patch of moonlight. What she saw was anything but human. Its hair was as white and ghostly as the moon above, and its skin as dark as the ravine behind it. Tattered material hung from its skeletal frame and long claws curled at its fingertips.

  Its blood red eyes landed on Sloane, and it slowly opened its large mouth to reveal long pointed teeth that shone black in the moonlight. Sloane’s heart felt like it stopped beating as she looked into the eyes of pure evil. She couldn’t move and terror flooded her like she’d never felt before.

  The thing reared its head back and wailed a screeching, blood curling noise. With its head still raised to the sky, it began to run at the wall like a rabid animal. It hit the hard ice, and clawed its long, sharp nails against the frozen barrier, salivating as it looked towards its target—her.

  Sloane stumbled backwards a few steps, her eyes never leaving the creature, as its movements grew more frenzied. It suddenly became still, and then dug its long, gnarled claws into the ice and slowly began to climb.

  ‘Run!’

  Sloane turned to find Rhyn behind her, his long sword drawn as he eyed the creature clambering up the wall.

  ‘Run, Sloane. Now! Don’t look back and don’t stop until you’re back in the hut.’

  Sloane stood frozen in terror, unable to make her legs move. What was that thing? Rhyn slapped her across the face, which seemed to wake her from the spell she’d fallen under. ‘Go, now!’ he yelled.

  She suddenly felt awake. She could feel the cold air against her skin and the bite of Rhyn’s slap on her face keenly. She opened her mouth to talk back at him for slapping her, but something landed effortlessly in the snow right behind him. A dark creature with long, pointed teeth and vicious, red eyes that were trained on Rhyn’s back. The creature lifted itself from its landing crouch with rapid movements that revealed how deadly it was.

  She could see the beast was moving to launch at Rhyn. It would be on him before he had a chance to turn and defend himself. Without giving it a second thought, Sloane lifted her knife and threw it towards the creature. The blade whipped smoothly through the air and landed right between the monster’s eyes.

  Rhyn’s eyes darkened and he turned swiftly in response, his sword at the ready. The beast tumbled to its knees and Rhyn sliced his blade through its neck with one powerful swing. The creature’s head thudded softly on the snow, its body drooping to the ground after it.

  Sloane moved closer to the creature. Its skin was black as tar and as dark as the night. It was shrivelled looking with bones that jutted out sharply against its withered skin. There was no life in its red eyes, and she swiftly moved to pull her blade from its skull. Her knife was dripping in the creature’s black blood, and she screwed up her nose as she wiped it clean on the snow beside the severed head.

  A lone screech filled the air with its harrowing call from beyond the wall. Sloane slowly turned to look at the ice, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end and chills rippling down her spine. She saw a pair of red eyes appear behind the ice, followed by another, and then another.

  Rhyn grabbed her shoulder. ‘What are you doing? Go!’ he urged.

  She didn’t need telling again. She turned and began running back the way she had come, up the valley trail.

  Her legs burned as she pushed them harder. The night that had earlier seemed so quiet had turned into a living nightmare. The lone screeches of the creature were no longer solitary. Sloane could hear more of them now, calling out together with a noise so terrifying, it made her blood run cold and heart turn to ice.

  The noise slowly grew louder, and Sloane glanced back over her shoulder. The fires atop the wall were gone. Those things had breached the top.

  She shivered and turned to keep running, trying desperately not to check over her shoulder as she went. She was nearly back to Orelle’s hut when she heard the sound of footsteps chasing hers. She tried to move quicker, but she already knew that whatever was behind her was much faster than she was.

  The footsteps quickly gained on her, until finally she had to look.

  Another creature from beyond the wall of ice was behind her. Its legs almost blurred as it ran, its movements so quick her eyes couldn’t distinguish them. Her stomach pitched at the sight and she knew she couldn’t outrun it. She’d have to fight it if she wanted to live, and the kitchen knife she held was her only hope to survive.

  Sloane turned and readied herself as the thing came closer. She considered throwing the knife at it, but it was moving so quickly she couldn’t be certain she’d land the shot. She’d downed the other creature so fast that she had no idea what to expect from this one; no clue what kind of fighting technique it may use. She was surprised when it didn’t stop, or even pause, as it came at her.

  It simply threw itself at her, lunging its jaw towards her neck. Sloane somehow managed to throw the creature aside, using its own momentum to throw it off her. That didn’t stop it though. Instead, it came at her again, just as vicious as before.

  Its long, jagged claws swiped at her and she ducked, only just missing the blow. She kicked her leg out, striking the creature’s knee out of its socket, but it barely seem to realise as it continued to stagger towards her.

  The creature was strong and didn’t appear to feel pain, which only made it more terrifying. Without any hesitation it threw its entire body at her, not blocking any blow or attempting to protect itself in any way. Its chest was wide open and Sloane plunged her dagger deep into it, before ducking under the creatures flailing arm and rolling to safety in the snow. She looked up to see the monster had barely slowed down. It came at her again with blind ferocity and she stumbled backwards, now without any weapon whatsoever, her dagger clearly protruding from the creature’s chest.

  Sloane felt the colour drain from her face. She was up against something invincible. Something she couldn’t beat with her hands alone. She turned and ran for the hut again, but the creature lunged at her and managed to grab hold of her legs, pulling her down to the ground.

  She tried to kick it loose, but it was too strong and it slowly dragged her kicking body closer. From this close she cold smell the putrid stench that came from its mouth and feel its ice cold breath against her skin. Its eyes were hungry and filled with dark urges, and the intensity with which it focused on her caused chills to run down her spine.

  She screamed as one of its claws cut through her leg. The adrenaline p
ulsing though her numbed the pain slightly, but Sloane knew the cut was bad from the way her leg throbbed and her pants were quickly becoming soaked in blood.

  An image of her sister flickered in her mind. She would do anything to protect her, and to fight her way back to her sister’s side, but some battles were impossible to win, and Sloane knew she was well and truly outmatched.

  The creature drew its body up, readying itself to finish her off. She closed her eyes; her only hope was that it wouldn’t hurt.

  But the blow never came, and when Sloane opened her eyes after a moment, the creature no longer towered over her. Instead, it had fallen back, cowering as it made its retreat.

  Sloane sat up and turned to see a glacie stalking up behind her, its metal beak glinting as it snarled at the creature. It took to the air and then harpooned its body at the creature. It whipped through the air like an arrow, its wings folded back and its beak spearing forwards. The glacie clamped its metallic beak around the creature’s throat and slammed it into the snow. With the monster pinned to the ground, the glacie began tearing it to shreds with its steel talons.

  The fight was over in a blur of feathers and claws, and when it was done, the dark creature lay completely decimated on the ground. The glacie turned to Sloane and paced back to her. She could almost see the disapproval in its eyes as it squawked at her. It stretched its wings out wide and flapped them at Sloane, ushering her back towards the hut.

  Sloane was more than happy to comply. She stumbled though as she walked, and when she glanced down she could see blood pooling through the tear the creature had made in her pants.

  ‘I don’t feel so good,’ Sloane complained to the glacie, as they approached the hut. She felt like she was hot and cold all at once, and she could feel sweat building on her brow. She knew she’d been fighting, but she shouldn’t be this exhausted from it.

  When she pulled back the pelt and stumbled into the house, Sloane found Orelle waiting for her.

  ‘Orelle…’ she slurred, finding it difficult to speak. Even though she could feel the warmth from the fire, her whole body had turned ice cold.

  Sloane tried to step closer to the woman, who had deep concern clearly etched across her face, but her legs began to fail beneath her. She couldn’t feel them anymore, and she began to feel increasingly scared as the numbness crept up her body.

  She staggered towards the table that stood only a few feet from Orelle, but her vision was now seeing double and the edges were beginning to fade into darkness.

  ‘Ore…’ Sloane tried to say the woman’s name again, but failed as she fell forwards and collapsed on the hard ground.

  As the darkness pulled her under, all Sloane could think of were the monster’s wicked red eyes.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Sloane fell in and out of sleep for hours after her collapse. Her body would shake from the cold, only to sweat moments later from feeling too hot. She was delirious, and in the instants when she was nearly lucid, she could hear the worried whispers of the strangers who stood over her.

  ‘She’s one of them,’ one woman hissed.

  ‘She’s evil, give her to them,’ said another.

  ‘Out!’ someone commanded. ‘Everybody, out of here now!’

  The voices fell silent, and there was the soft padding of feet as people quietly left. Sloane strained to open her eyes, but instead she lost her tenuous grip on reality and drifted back to sleep again.

  She dreamt of many things as she flitted in and out of consciousness, each dream as dark and twisted as the next. She dreamt of the horrors she’d seen the night before, and of the sister she’d abandoned to come to Aeris. She even dreamt of Perry, who she’d condemned to freeze in a cryochamber. Her thoughts hurtled from one terrible memory to another, until she was finally consumed by her worst fear of all—the most dreadful moment of her life.

  It was ten years since that day when everything had changed, and yet Sloane could still smell the fresh batch of cookies that sat cooling in the kitchen. It had been dark and gloomy outside, unseasonably so. They’d been in the middle of a drought, but that day it had decided to rain. Looking back, she supposed it was fitting that it should all end in rain and thunder.

  She could remember the humidity in the air; the wet and heavy heat that wrapped around her. It was so different to the dry desert heat she was used to. She’d been dressed in her red corduroy pinafore and, like most days, she wore her favourite pair of Mary Janes.

  ‘Momma, can I have the cookies yet?’ she begged.

  Her mother had laughed. She had one of those beautiful laughs that seemed to light up the room around her. When her mother laughed, it made Sloane so happy that she’d often laugh with her in the hope that she could make the sound last just a few moments longer.

  ‘Just a few more minutes now…’ Her mother moved to walk with her to the kitchen, but she received a phone call. She pulled the phone from her pocket and raised it to her ear. Moments later the smile dropped from her face, and there was a look in her eyes Sloane had never seen before.

  ‘Sloane, go and get Rowena from the lounge and bring her to my bedroom,’ her mother said.

  Sloane wanted to complain, as she didn’t feel like playing with Rowena. What she wanted to do was to go to the kitchen and have the cookies she’d been promised. But, for once, she didn’t object. Her mother had sounded like it was an important job to do as she’d used her no-nonsense voice.

  Sloane rushed into the lounge and told her sister she needed to come with her, but Rowe was in the middle of a game with her toys and refused.

  ‘She won’t come,’ Sloane announced, when she got to her mother’s room. She’d tried her best to get Rowe to come, but she could be difficult when she was playing.

  Her mother was still on the phone, ‘George, I know you won’t get this message until you get back, but they are in the area. I’m going to go to the Academy and get Ash, then travel to Esther’s house. I know it’s far, but we should be safe there at least.’

  ‘Momma, are we going to visit Auntie Esther?’ Sloane asked.

  ‘Yes, dear,’ she said, smiling down at her. ‘George, if something should happen…’ she cleared her throat. ‘I love you, George.’

  She placed the phone down on the bed and continued packing one of her suitcases. Sloane could see a tear smudge on her mother’s face, but she didn’t say anything. It seemed like something serious was going on, and that was usually the time when the adults would tell her she needed to be quiet.

  There was the sound of a car pulling up on the gravel outside, and Sloane’s head snapped up to look at the window. Her mother ran over to the window and pulled the curtain slightly aside. She glanced outside, before quickly pulling it shut again.

  ‘Sloane, where’s your sister?’

  ‘Downstairs. I told you she wouldn’t come!’ Sloane replied.

  Her mother’s eyes widened and darted towards the door. ‘I need to go get your sister. Honey, can you do something for me?’

  Sloane nodded eagerly at her mother. She wanted to help. She could see how stressed she was.

  ‘I need you to sit in the secret hiding spot, just like we practiced. Do you think you can do that for me?’

  Sloane’s little face frowned, but she nodded all the same. ‘Will you be hiding too, Momma?’

  ‘No, sweetie. Not today. Come on, in you get.’ Her mother pulled back the bookcase to reveal a small room hidden behind it. Sloane entered the tiny room and stared back up at her mother. She’d practiced hiding in there plenty of times, but it had always been with Rowe before.

  ‘Momma?’

  She leaned in close and kissed her on the head. ‘Now, no matter what, you need to stay absolutely silent. Okay?’

  Sloane nodded. ‘Okay.’

  ‘Promise?’

  ‘I promise.’

  Her mother then pulled her necklace from around her neck and placed it over Sloane’s head. It was a heavy silver thing that her mother always seemed to wear with
a strange swirling symbol across the front of it. Her mother never took it off though, and Sloane had never worn the necklace herself before.

  ‘I’ll get you to look after this for me too. It will keep you safe.’

  Sloane nodded, tears of worry welling in her eyes.

  ‘I’ll be right back with Rowe.’

  The last thing Sloane noticed before the bookcase door closed was another tear joining the smudged one on her mother’s cheek. She heard the door click shut, and then her whole world went silent.

  It didn’t stay silent for long though. Seconds later, her mother gave a pained scream from the bedroom. Sloane desperately tried to move so she could see her through the small crack in the door, but she was out of sight. She could hear masculine voices speaking in a harsh guttural language, and the sounds of furniture crashing against the walls.

  She wanted to call out to her mother, to see if she was okay. She kept her mouth tightly shut though. She’d promised her she’d stay silent, but she felt so scared and she didn’t know what to do. She cowered in the corner of the room, drawing back as far as she could.

  Sloane could still hear her mother’s drawn out breaths for what seemed like hours, while the men tore their house apart. At one point she thought she could hear Rowena cry out too, but she couldn’t be sure. Eventually the men left, and the house grew quiet again. Still, she could hear the sounds of her mother whimpering in pain.

  ‘Momma?’ Sloane called to her softly. She wasn’t certain if she could talk yet, but she wanted to check her mother was okay. ‘Momma?’ she called again, slightly louder. Her mother did not respond and the sounds coming from her slowly quietened, until they couldn’t be heard at all.

  Sloane peeked through the crack in the door, to see if she could see her mother, but all she could see was blood pooling as it ran across the hard wood floor.

  She tried to open the door, but she didn’t know how to open it from the inside. She pushed with all her might against the door, and still it wouldn’t budge. So she sat back and cried, and waited for her mother to come and let her out.