Of Ice and Shadows

by Audrey Coulthurst

  “She’d encourage us for sure,” Denna said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “She’s always had a mischievous streak. Did I tell you about the time she wrapped me up in furs and tried to convince a tradesman at a party that I was a cat he should purchase?”

  I snorted. “That sounds like something I would’ve tried to do to Thandi. Although mostly I just threw him in the manure pile anytime he made me angry.”

  “If only his subjects knew he’d once been King of the Dung Heap.” Denna laughed.

  “More than a dozen times over.” I smirked, but a twinge of unfamiliar regret needled me. My relationship with my brother had always been antagonistic, but maybe it hadn’t needed to be. If we had tried harder to overcome our differences of opinion instead of taking opposite sides of every argument, would the rest of our family still be dead? It was pointless to think about, but the question still rose up in the back of my mind to taunt me.

  The twilight shadows deepened as we rode over gently rolling hills past fallow fields carved out of the forest. All the houses we saw were closed and dark, their windows shuttered. There were no lanterns hung outside front doors, no other travelers on the road. It felt empty in a way it shouldn’t have. Even Flicker seemed ill at ease, his head up and ears swiveling back and forth worriedly.

  “The keep should be over the next rise. Where are the people?” Denna asked.

  “Something definitely doesn’t seem right,” I said. “Let’s get off and approach on foot through those trees over there.” I pointed to a copse of evergreens at the top of the next hill. “We need to make sure it’s safe.”

  When we reached the trees, I drew Flicker gently to a halt and braced my arm for Denna to use as an assist to dismount. We left Flicker tied to a tree and crept into the woods. On the other side of the copse we had a clear view down into Duvey Keep, a stone fortress inside a high wall.

  “There are riders in there,” Denna said, puzzled.

  I squinted, trying to see enough in the fading daylight to make sense of the scene below. Several people on horseback were inside the walls of the keep. At first I thought they were doing skirmish drills, until one of the riders veered closer and I got a better look at his horse. It had the distinctive convex profile and high neck set typical of a Sonnenborne desert-bred. In one smooth motion the rider nocked an arrow and stood in the stirrups, preparing to let it fly. Fear twisted around my spine. It wasn’t a drill—the keep was under attack.

  My stomach heaved and I grabbed Denna by the sleeve, tugging her behind a thick tangle of bushes.

  “What’s going on?” she whispered, looking equally shaken.

  “Sonnenbornes are attacking. Their horses look just like the ones Kriantz had with him in Mynaria. That snake had bigger plans all along.” Grief rose to choke me. Speaking Kriantz’s name consumed me with memories of the night my best friend Nils had died—the night I’d been abducted from the castle and Denna had chosen to forfeit her crown to come after me. In some ways, that night had broken us both forever. In others, it had made us both whole for the first time.

  “His people must be more united than we thought,” Denna said.

  “But why in the Sixth Hell are they here?” It was true he’d given the impression that several tribes had only recently joined together beneath his banner—that they wouldn’t do anything without his signal. But for the Sonnenbornes to be here now spoke of a plan far more complex and organized than he’d made it seem.

  “They could be trying to take an outpost at the Mynarian border,” Denna said, her voice grim. “The keep would make a perfect settlement to fortify for attack.”

  “Six Hells,” I said.

  “Perhaps they plan to retaliate for Lord Kriantz’s death,” Denna continued, fear making her voice rise. The Sonnenbornes didn’t know who had killed their leader—only that it had happened on Mynarian soil. Denna had dealt him a swift and fiery death by calling down the stars with her magic. Though she’d saved my life, I knew that night still haunted her.

  “Hey,” I said, taking her hand. “You did what you had to. You saved me.” I leaned over and softly kissed her cheek. The fear in her eyes eased a little bit, so I pressed my lips to hers just long enough to feel familiar warmth blossom in the pit of my stomach. The truth was that the terrifying memories haunted me, too. Sometimes the smoke of the campfires along our journey had reminded me of that night, the scent of forest and flesh burning, the way the earth had shaken as flaming stones rained down from above.

  “Or what if their plans are more elaborate than we thought, and they’re trying to cut off one of Mynaria’s most lucrative trade routes?” she said, always ten steps ahead.

  “You’re right,” I said. “They’d be positioned to do either of those things. We need to get out of here.” Keeping Denna safe was the only thing that mattered to me, but I also doubted my brother would approve of his sister—or his envoy—getting murdered by Sonnenborne raiders. That would start the very war we’d set out to prevent.

  Denna’s brow furrowed. “If the Sonnenbornes are already this far into Zumorda, there are two things we have to do: tell Thandi, and get you to the queen as soon as possible.” She spoke with the kind of authority I’d heard her use back when she’d still been my brother’s intended consort.

  “I like it when you talk queenly to me,” I said with a flirtatious wink.

  A brief smile broke through her distressed expression. “Truly, though. The queen will be on your side if they’ve attacked her people.”

  “Let’s ride north,” I said, already walking back toward Flicker. “I doubt they’ll send scouts until they’ve secured the keep.”

  “We need to make sure the Zumordans win this battle first.” She grabbed my hand to stop me. “I can use my magic to help them.”

  I looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Walking into this fight could get us killed.”

  “What better way to win allies than to help the Zumordans?” she asked.

  Fear flickered in my chest. “We can’t. What if something goes wrong?” As much as I loved her, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that her magic sometimes scared me. Ever since she’d summoned the stars to save me from Lord Kriantz, her powers had become less predictable, and they’d only been steady as a green-broke colt in the first place. Less than a week ago we’d gone hungry one rainy night because Denna couldn’t start a fire and it was too wet for the sparks from my flint and steel to catch. A few days later, she had a nightmare, and before I could wake her up she’d set her bedroll ablaze, charring it past salvation.

  Frustratingly, Denna ignored my objection and carried on. “We could climb that tree by the wall. That first building looks like it might be the stables.” She gestured toward a stone building just inside the keep. Half doors lined the side, and a second-story window stood wide open as though no one had gotten there to close up the barn for the night. “There should be a good view from the hayloft.”

  “Hay is flammable,” I said. “Your Affinity is for fire.”

  “Then we’ll make that useful,” she said, and before I could stop her, she was on her feet, sprinting toward the stables.

  I cursed and took off after her.

  If I had an Affinity, it would definitely be for trouble.

  TWO

  Dennaleia

  IN SPITE OF MARE’S OBJECTIONS, SHE FOLLOWED ME. She would never let me run into a dangerous situation alone. I just wished she trusted my Affinity half as much as I trusted her.

  Even if getting involved in this fight was a terrible idea, part of me longed to try to use my magic again. While my powers had been erratic and hard to access for much of our journey, over the past few days I’d felt magic building. I worried that if I didn’t let some of it out, it was going to spiral out of control like it used to in Mynaria. Now that I knew the scope of the destruction I could cause, the thought of losing control frightened me that much more. I didn’t want to hurt anyone—especially Mare.

  I hoisted myself clums
ily into the tree next to the keep wall, and Mare followed with more grace. The distance between the tree and the wall was farther than I expected, and I had to swallow my fear as I scrambled from a flimsy branch onto the stone. The greenway between the wall and the barn seemed to be clear, so I wasted no time sliding awkwardly to the ground. Mare leaped down a few seconds later, hitting the ground in a controlled roll I envied and couldn’t imitate.

  Before we could move toward the building, an older man and a blond boy who looked about my age sprinted into the greenway with a rider at their heels. I stood frozen in horror as the horseman raised a thin metal javelin and plunged it through the man’s neck from behind. He fell forward onto the protruding javelin, sliding down the weapon to leave a streak of gore on the bright metal.

  “Father, no!” the boy screamed, whirling to face the Sonnenborne rider. He held up his hands, and flames lit in his palms.

  My breath caught. I’d never seen anyone wield magic like mine before, and it dispelled my secret fear that I was alone in the world.

  The rider leaned down and blew a handful of powder into the boy’s face. The flames sizzled out, and the boy collapsed to the ground. I couldn’t help the anguished sound that escaped my lips.

  Then the rider spotted me. Fear shot through me like lightning as he drew a thin, curved sword from a scabbard on his back and dug his heels into his mount to urge it forward.

  “No!” Mare shouted.

  I raised my hands and reached inside myself for my magic. The patches of numbness on my arms that had been there since I saved Mare stung with pins and needles, as though they were trying to come back to life. I gritted my teeth against the pain, grateful for the way it purged my fear. Blue flames engulfed my palms, and I tried to push the magic forward to form a wall. Instead, a fireball burst from my hands and swallowed the rider. His horse sat back and stopped hard, rearing up in fear and confusion. I dodged to the side with my heart in my throat, frightened for my life and for what I’d just unwittingly done. The horse whirled around and galloped back the way it had come, the burning rider flopping on its back until the horse dislodged him in front of the stables.

  “Denna!” Mare ran toward me.

  “I’m fine,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. This had been my foolish idea, and I had to see it through. “Inside. Now.”

  Grabbing Mare’s hand and tugging her toward the back of the stables, I cast a worried glance at the boy we were leaving behind. My boots crunched over broken glass where a lantern had shattered inside the back door. Hoofbeats sounded nearby and shouts echoed from outside. We needed to find a hiding place. Mare darted past me up a hayloft ladder. I followed her, scrambling up the splintery wood. We ducked to avoid the ceiling beams, making our way past stacks of hay and alfalfa that still smelled sweet as summer.

  A wide window on the wall over the barn’s main entrance gave us a clear view of most of the keep. We crouched beneath the hay forks hung on either side of it, cautiously peering out at the battle below. Guilt consumed me when I saw another Sonnenborne riding up to the boy whose father had been killed in front of us. She dismounted, slung him onto her mare’s back, and then used a tree stump to vault back into the saddle.

  “Are they taking prisoners?” Mare whispered.

  “It looks that way,” I said. “I wish we’d done more to help him.” The thought of the boy waking surrounded by strangers, knowing his father was gone—it cracked me in half.

  The Sonnenborne urged her mount into a canter, guiding the mare around a much larger band of her people engaged in battle with keep soldiers. The riders intermittently darted past heavily armored soldiers who were trying to fend them off on foot, but the fight was far from ordinary.

  I clung to the edge of the window, terrified by everything I was seeing. An enormous hunting dog with a sleek brown coat pulled a Sonnenborne from his horse and tore out his throat. Farther away, a mountain lion leaped out of the underbrush and sank its teeth into a horse’s jugular, instantly dropping the animal to the ground. The horse’s rider flew off and was impaled with a keep soldier’s spear before he could even try to stand up. The animals fought with the same precision as any mercenary.

  “Why are the animals acting so strange?” Mare whispered, her frightened eyes meeting mine.

  “Maybe they’re controlling them with magic?” I speculated. The thought sent a little spark of wonder through me, even as my sorrow and revulsion over the bloodshed grew. I forced myself to look back outside. If I wanted to help stop this, I couldn’t retreat into my own fear.

  Another Sonnenborne rider charged for the soldier who had killed his comrade, but a blue glow engulfed the rider and he was liquefied like he was made of water. His horse bolted, scrambling over fallen bodies in its haste to escape. Seconds later, another of the Sonnenbornes was stopped in her tracks by some unseen force that made her clutch at her throat in a panic until she collapsed to the ground.

  The Zumordans were definitely using magic. Energy crackled over the battlefield, creating an answering hum in my own body. Warning tingles sparked down my arms as though I’d stuck my hands in a patch of nettles. Power felt like it would burst out of my control if I didn’t use it. As terrified as I was, part of me felt exhilarated—and that sickened me. I clutched handfuls of my cloak in an attempt to steady my shaking hands, trying to channel my fear into confidence. Surely it couldn’t be that difficult to run off these people. All we needed were a few fires to create chaos and give the keep guards an advantage.

  The only question was whether I could get my Affinity to cooperate.

  “I’m going to try something,” I said, cupping my palms and releasing just enough of my magic to make a small flame dance in my hands. It flickered erratically.

  “Are you sure you can control it?” Mare watched me with wide eyes.

  I tried to tamp down my worry that she was afraid of what I could do. Instead I turned my focus to a wooden cart that had overturned near the battle. My powers boiled up with the force of a geyser. The rush of magic pushed aside my fear, and I welcomed the pain that accompanied it. I shoved the energy toward the wagon, and the magic flooded out of me in a rush that made me dizzy.

  Flames burst from the wagon with a roar. The Sonnenborne horses shied away from the fire with their eyes rolling in fear. One of the riders fell off, finding himself on the receiving end of a spear to the gut. My vision darkened at the edges as I struggled to rein the magic back in. I needed to calculate my next move even if the powers were telling me all I had to do was set them free.

  I glanced over at Mare to see she’d pulled out her bow and nocked an arrow. Her first shot struck one of the Sonnenborne riders in the arm, disarming him enough for one of the keep soldiers to knock him out of the saddle. Shouts echoed from the courtyard as the foot soldiers did their best to take advantage of the opening they’d been given.

  “They’re in here!” a voice said in the Sonnenborne tongue.

  They’d found us.

  “I’ll check out back,” someone else replied. “If they’re magic users, take them alive.”

  I whirled around, clamping down on my magic as hard as I could and sidestepping away from the window into the shadows.

  The hayloft ladder creaked as someone ascended. I held my breath, terrified we were about to be discovered by the enemy. Footsteps drew closer until a Sonnenborne warrior appeared, the blade of her short sword glinting in the dim light. I shot a quick glance to Mare, who was frozen in place, eyes wide, her back against the wall next to the window. With our adversary’s next step, Mare would be in the woman’s line of sight. Mare’s bow was useless against a sword at close range, and she knew it.

  With a yell, the woman charged at Mare.

  Mare screamed. There was no time to use my magic. I snatched a hay fork from the wall and thrust the handle into the swordswoman’s path. She tripped over the tool, wrenching it from my hands as she pitched face-first out the window and landed with a sickening crunch on the flagsto
nes below.

  “By the Six, Denna . . .” Mare stepped toward me, and an arrow whizzed past, barely a handbreadth from her face. She shrank back.

  Rage coursed through me, white hot with magic. I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. The last of my fear evaporated. I didn’t care who saw me. I didn’t care what I did. The direction of the wind shifted as I drew on more magic, reaching so deep inside myself I might as well have been hollowing out my own bones. I set flames on the wind and power spiraled out of me, twisting out of control. A gale rose, sweeping through the barn and jerking at my hair and cloak, loose pieces of hay providing fuel for the fire.

  A wave of flaming debris undulated in front of the stables, waiting for my direction. The Sonnenbornes fell back, shouting and pointing at the fire seething overhead. Yes, that was what I wanted: to push them away. And they were giving me the perfect opportunity. I released some of the swirling gale toward the Sonnenbornes, trying to guide it above the keep soldiers so that no one on the defensive side would be harmed.

  I might as well have tried to fence in a charging bull with embroidery string.

  The swath of burning debris knocked down two keep soldiers and set them ablaze before slamming into the Sonnenbornes and surging higher. Horses bolted before the flames could reach them. I felt strangely detached from my emotions as riders fell and burned. Their bodies provided more fuel for my fires, which crept across the dead grass in search of more victims. Screams echoed through the keep grounds—not screams of bloodlust or battle, but of terror and death. The only thing holding back my horror was the overwhelming magic coursing through me. It drained me and it fed me at the same time, making me feel more full and alive than ever before. The bright blazes grew until a wall of flame arched across the courtyard, feeding on anything that might burn. Dimly, I became aware that Mare was screaming.

  “Denna!” Her voice sounded as though it were coming from leagues away. “Stop!”