Of Ice and Shadows

by Audrey Coulthurst

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Wymund said, mopping at his beard with a rough-spun napkin. “The road to Kartasha isn’t the safest. It skirts close to Tamer territory, and they’ve been roaming more than usual since the drought started. We’ve had trouble with them scaring people off the farmlands closest to the woods.”

  “Forgive my ignorance, but what’s a Tamer?” I asked, starting to feel like there was no end to what I didn’t know about Zumorda and its people.

  “Odd folk, really,” Wymund said. “Instead of taking manifests, they keep familiars—companion animals they’re so closely bonded with that they can see through their eyes and hear with their ears. Tamers fancy themselves protectors of the natural land.”

  “And they can use their Affinities to turn the forest against anyone who dares to trespass in it,” Periline added.

  “They don’t sound like people I want to meet,” I said.

  “No, definitely not,” Wymund agreed. “A guide can make sure you avoid them and also allow us to get word to the Winter Court about the attack. We could use the Court’s help tracking the children who were taken. I’m afraid we may not have an extra horse to spare for your maidservant, though. The few stabled here are privately owned—Zumorda has no cavalry.”

  I didn’t mind continuing to ride double with Denna, since it would allow me to keep her close, but a kingdom without any warriors who fought on horseback was unfathomable to me. However, it meant my brother’s offer of cavalry might carry more weight.

  “I hope we’ll reach the Winter Court quickly enough,” I said. “Or is there some other way to send word of the attack?” I trod carefully, not sure how permissible it was to talk openly about magic.

  Wymund shook his head. “Communicating quickly across great distances takes an enchanted object or someone who can cast high magic. Farspeakers are rare. We lost our last one to a honeyshine addiction. He went freelance in Kartasha, last I heard.”

  “No one misses Hornblatt,” an older female soldier said, her dry tone suggesting that there were a lot of stories behind the statement.

  “I’m pretty sure there are still roaches in the east barracks,” a man added.

  I shuddered involuntarily.

  “He always had cats.” Periline sniffed haughtily, as though cat ownership was among the worst character flaws she could imagine.

  “Yes, yes, Tum Hornblatt was a character,” Wymund said, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s a pity, though. I’d give the man a barrel of honeyshine to get word to the Winter Court before the queen leaves.”

  “Then we’ll have to hurry if we can,” I said. If Denna would just wake up. Worry made my stomach churn.

  “I know exactly who to assign to you, and I’ll speak to him tonight,” Wymund said. “Can you pass the mutton salad?” He gestured to a plate sitting in front of me that held a large ring of something shiny and translucent in which chunks of meat and unidentifiable green vegetables were suspended. “Salad” was not the word I would have used to describe it. I gingerly picked up the plate and passed it to him.

  “Thank you so much,” I said. “We’ll travel as quickly as possible. It’s crucial to make sure Zumorda is fortified enough to prevent these kinds of attacks from happening again.”

  “Yes,” Wymund agreed. “Hopefully the soldiers I sent there for the queen can return with the court’s response.” He didn’t say anything more about our reasons for hurrying, but I knew instantly what the shifty look in his eyes meant. He wanted both of us gone as soon as Denna could stay upright in the saddle.

  “Perhaps I should check on Lia,” I said. I’d barely touched my food beyond the soup, but I was too worried about her to be hungry.

  “Of course,” Wymund said. “I’ll have Alek meet you at the stables when you’re ready to leave. He’s a seasoned soldier, well traveled, and familiar with Kartasha even if he hasn’t been back in a while. In the meantime, please feel free to attend meals as you need.”

  “Sir,” Periline interrupted, “is it wise to send Alek away on the heels of an attack?”

  “It’s not ideal,” Wymund admitted. “But we need to put safety first. Alek is the only one with enough strength to control things should they get out of hand.”

  They exchanged a glance that deflated me—they were talking about Denna.

  “Besides, most of our energy will go into fortification,” Wymund continued. “So far our scouts have been surveying in every direction and have seen no signs of the Sonnenbornes other than on the main trade road, and we have a force tracking them. It’ll likely be a while before they try anything again, especially now that they think we have high magic on our side.”

  Periline deferred to her lord, but I could see that she wasn’t as certain as he was.

  “Thank you so much for your help and generosity,” I said, extricating myself from the table and hurrying out of the dining area. My mind reeled with all the new information Wymund and his people had given me. Between Thandi bestowing me with the power of an official ambassador and how complicated the Zumordan political system seemed to be, I desperately needed Denna’s wisdom.

  When I opened the door to our shared room, I was surprised to see Denna lying on the cushions by the hearth instead of on the cot where she’d spent the last day. The herb witch sat beside her, filling sachets with dried herbs.

  “Did she wake?” I asked softly.

  Sarika nodded, and at the sound of my voice, Denna stirred.

  Emotion welled up in me as her eyes opened, though she stayed lying down.

  “Mare?” she said.

  “I’m here.” I sat down as close as I could without crowding her.

  “Thank the Six.” She laid a small hand on my thigh.

  “I was so worried,” I said, barely more than a whisper. Her eyes were already closing again. I wished I could hold her in the waking world just a few moments longer, but she needed to rest.

  “She’s had a tea of willow bark and peaceroot to help with her headache and quell her gift,” Sarika said.

  “How long until she’s well enough to travel?” I asked.

  “A few days, perhaps. But she can only take the herbs for so long. If you’re planning on traveling while her powers are suppressed, you’ll want to do that soon.”

  “We will,” I said, gently tucking some loose pieces of hair behind Denna’s ear.

  “My work here is done, I think,” Sarika said. “I’ll be back to check on her each day.”

  “I can’t thank you enough,” I said, and meant every word.

  “Of course.” Sarika gathered her things and showed herself out of the room.

  Denna’s chest rose and fell evenly with her breaths. I stretched out beside her until I could feel all of her body pressed up against me. Comfort washed over me, pushing aside my fears and doubts. She was alive. She would be all right, and we had a plan to get to Kartasha. Tomorrow I would write to my brother, letting him know what had happened and where I was headed next.

  For the first time since the attack, I felt something like hope.

  Wymund’s work on the fortifications began the day after my meal with him. Soldiers and servants worked side by side to clear the keep grounds of debris and repair the damage Denna had done. Inside, craftspeople studded huge split logs with wooden spikes to reinforce the keep’s walls. Scouts returned each day with clean reports—no sign of Sonnenbornes. It was possible that the attack had been an isolated incident, though every time I tried to calm myself with that thought, my gut told me I was wrong. Even though the keep bustled with activity, the three days it took Denna to recover dragged on interminably.

  On the day we departed, I’d just saddled Flicker when a bowlegged person more mountain than man strode into the barn leading an equally enormous dark bay horse with hooves the size of pie plates and a head like a battering ram. I’d assumed the horse was one of the keep’s plow animals.

  I approached the man with caution as he tossed a saddle onto the massive horse, wishing that Denna
were well enough to do this instead. She was the personable one.

  “Hello, you must be Alek,” I said. “I’m Mare.”

  The gigantic man looked down at me with an expression as lively and readable as the face of a boulder. “We leave as soon as Wymund comes to see us off. Don’t forget to tighten your girth.”

  “Right,” I said, deeply annoyed by his tone. Who was this man to tell me to check my horse’s girth? I’d been riding since before I could walk and training horses for eight years. Every first-year rider in Mynaria knew to check their girth. I stalked off before I could say something regrettable. Clearly I’d met the only person in the world worse than me at social pleasantries. I covertly scowled at him, then met Denna outside, where we could mount up.

  “Mare!” Wymund’s cheerful voice echoed across the stableyard.

  I halted Flicker and turned toward Wymund, and my horse nudged my arm as if to ask why we we’d stopped. He seemed as eager to get going as I was.

  “This is Sir Alek of the Misty Plains,” Wymund introduced the man.

  “We’ve met,” I said, nodding curtly at the man, who stared down at me with the frown that was apparently permanently engraved in the stone of his face. Where Denna’s eyes were clear as green sea glass, his were murky as stagnant water. A crooked scar zigzagged horizontally across his neck as though he’d once nearly been decapitated—probably by someone he’d been rude to.

  “This is Lia, my maidservant.” I gestured to Denna.

  She curtsied prettily, and Alek gave her a short nod in return, then mounted his horse with more grace than I would have expected of someone his size. Astride the beast he looked even more imposing, in spite of the decidedly plug-like demeanor of the horse, who was already tugging on the reins to reach for a few blades of withered grass.

  “Thank you for your hospitality, my lord,” I said to Wymund.

  “May our swords always meet on the same side of the battlefield,” he said to all of us.

  Alek stared at me, expecting me to respond on behalf of the group. My mind raced. Every ritual response I knew had to do with the Six Gods, because that was the custom in Mynaria. One of the few things I knew about Zumorda was that they didn’t worship the Six. Denna whispered something in my ear, but I couldn’t quite make out the words.

  Alek sighed, apparently giving up on me. “And may our shields always be side by side.”

  My cheeks burned with shame. Every time I started to feel like I was doing something right as an ambassador, I managed to make a new mistake.

  “Now get out of here,” Wymund told us. “And stay out of trouble in Kartasha.” He gave Alek’s horse a few hearty smacks on the rump, to which the animal displayed no reaction.

  “We will.” I’d be perfectly happy to lie as low as possible until we reached the Winter Court. Until we got to Kartasha, the fewer people who knew I was in Zumorda, the better. The people of Sonnenborne probably wanted me dead as punishment for Lord Kriantz’s death. If the tribes he’d united under his banner managed to stay organized, trouble was surely headed our way.

  We rode out the gates of the keep and headed southeast on the dusty road with a dry, cold wind at our backs. I thought a weight would lift when we finally left Duvey, but Alek’s presence made that difficult. I hadn’t necessarily expected the person assigned to ride with us to be happy about it, but Alek seemed positively dour. Denna stayed silent behind me, focused on conserving her strength for the ride.

  After the first day of travel, my worst fears had been realized: Alek’s horse walked at the speed of a heavily burdened ox, Denna looked pale as a ghost by the time we made camp, and both Flicker and I were practically jumping out of our skins, feeling held back. I didn’t want to push Denna too hard, but if we missed the opportunity to talk to the queen while she was still in Kartasha, it might set us back an entire season. We couldn’t afford that—not with a Mynarian city already under siege.

  When the sun sank low enough to make the mountain in the southeast glow with amber light, the three of us dismounted near a stream to settle in for the night.

  Alek hitched his stocky gelding to a tree.

  “You, go gather some branches for lean-tos,” he barked at me.

  I stared at him, wondering if he was oblivious of the fact that I was a princess or if he usually ordered everyone around like hired help.

  “We haven’t untacked our horses,” I said.

  He stared back at me, unmoved. “Only a green soldier would untack his horse before making camp.”

  “It’s cruel to leave your horse saddled when his comfort should come before your own.” The pitch of my voice increased as my anger rose. My family raised the finest warhorses in the Northern Kingdoms. There was no way a Zumordan foot soldier who rode a plow horse knew more than I did about the animals I’d worked with my whole life.

  “I can gather the wood while Mare untacks,” Denna interjected.

  “No,” Alek and I both said, glaring at each other.

  Denna sighed wearily.

  “You sit down and rest,” I said. “I’ll take care of the horses, and then I’ll gather the gods-damned wood.”

  “Leave my horse be,” Alek said. “I’m going to go find us some dinner. If anyone attacks us before then, I’m not going to be the fool who gets caught with his mount unsaddled.” He clomped off into the woods, leaving me seething.

  I ranted to Denna as I took care of the horses. “What in the Sixth Hell is his problem? ‘I’m not going to be the fool who gets caught with his mount unsaddled,’” I mocked. “If he can’t ride bareback well enough to outride an enemy, how can he even call himself a soldier?”

  “The practices are just different here,” Denna said. “Besides, even if he’s a fighter, he’s probably not cavalry.” Her voice sounded weak, and I wondered if it was the peaceroot tea she’d continued drinking to quell her gift. She settled under a tree, sitting on the new bedroll she’d gotten in Duvey.

  “I don’t care if they’re different. He shouldn’t treat me like I’m five years old,” I said.

  “You’re right, he shouldn’t.” She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. “Can you try not to fight with him, though? We’re lucky to have a guide.”

  “I know,” I said. “I’m sorry. I just get this feeling he doesn’t like me for some reason.”

  “He doesn’t have a reason to like us,” Denna pointed out. “Think about how most Mynarians feel about Zumordans. The same thing probably applies in reverse.”

  “Maybe,” I said. But other people at the keep had mostly been curious or wary, not overtly hostile and rude like Alek.

  “Or perhaps someone he cared about was injured during the attack at Duvey because of my magic,” she said, her voice wavering.

  “No. Don’t blame yourself.” I crouched beside her and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Wymund wouldn’t have sent him with us if that had been the case.” I didn’t mention my other suspicions—that he’d sent Alek as a way to manage Denna, possibly even to spy on her. Alek hadn’t shown any evidence of magical abilities, but if there was one thing I’d learned about Zumorda so far, it was that appearances could be deceptive.

  Denna straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath, but I knew I hadn’t convinced her.

  “Hey.” I sat down the rest of the way. “The important thing is that we’re on this journey together.” As harrowing as it had already been, I wouldn’t trade anything for that.

  “I’m grateful.” She slipped her hand into mine, the connection reminding me that Alek had left us alone together. Her green eyes looked almost gray in the fading light and her cheeks pale in contrast to the soft pink of her lips. Just looking at her made my breath catch.

  I leaned forward and whispered into her ear. “If you kiss me, I promise not to argue with Alek . . . at least until after dinner.”

  I felt her smile against my cheek as she turned her face toward me, and then her lips met mine in a kiss that made my pulse race. The feel of her in my ar
ms made the rest of the world fall away, and for a few minutes, our problems seemed as distant as the stars.

  “It’s getting dark,” she murmured between kisses.

  “The damned wood, I know,” I said, reluctantly rising back to my feet.

  “Maybe I’ll feel better about everything when we get to Kartasha,” she said.

  “I know I will. I just want to get the conversation started with the queen so Thandi can send a real ambassador and we can focus on finding someone to help you with your magic.” The sooner we did that, the sooner we could have a real life together.

  By the time Alek returned with a mesh bag filled with fresh fish, I had both horses untacked and curried, two lean-tos built, and a fire started. It hadn’t been hard work to find dry wood—a solid third of the trees seemed to be dead. The drought Wymund had mentioned was evident all around us. I’d had to clear a wide swath of ground to make it safe to start our fire.

  Alek looked around the camp. “I told you not to untack my horse.”

  I fumed but stayed silent, remembering my promise to Denna.

  “She was just trying to help,” Denna said.

  Alek sighed, then wordlessly started jamming gutted fish onto sticks in a way that suggested he’d like to be doing it to me instead.

  “So what can we expect in Kartasha?” Denna asked, her tone light. She was clearly trying to reduce the tension before Alek or I decided to push the other into the fire.

  “A lot of nonsense,” Alek grumbled, positioning the fish near the fire’s coals. “The guardian of Kartasha is not someone you want to trust.” The firelight made the lines in his face even deeper. “As for the grand vizier, she’s powerful, but don’t underestimate the guardian’s influence on her.”

  “How do you know the guardian of Kartasha?” Denna asked.

  “Laurenna and I grew up in the same slum,” he said. “Took different paths.”

  His tone made it clear that no further discussion was welcome. I sighed. Wymund had seemed to think Alek would be helpful to us, but given his lack of desire to share useful information, that didn’t seem to be the case.