The Frost Fervor Concordance Box Set

by Tom Hansen

  “You said that.”

  “No, I mean she didn’t look like an older version of you, I meant she looked just like you, like she was twenty years old.”

  Synol chuckled. “That’s why Papa married her, she looked so young.”

  But she wasn’t.

  Ynya wasn’t sure how to interpret that realization, either.

  Was her mother incredibly blessed by the Gods, or was she just fooling everyone around her all this time?

  Synol finished cooking and divided the meal into thirds. She and Ynya and began to eat in silence.

  As they did, Ynya couldn’t help but test touching her mother’s magic again and again. Each time she did, the shock lessened. Knowing it was coming and preparing herself for it helped.

  After a half dozen tries, she was still no closer to figuring it out. She put the final bite in her mouth and looked up at Synol, who was barely halfway done with her meal.

  “I think I’m going to head to bed early. I have a feeling something big is going to happen tomorrow.”

  Chapter Three

  Finny returned before sunrise, changing from her feral form to her human one just as she entered their camp. She was naked, carrying her old clothes in one hand.

  It wasn’t the first time Ynya had been awake all night to observe this habit. Too many thoughts and worries swirled in her head all night, keeping her mind from clearing and preventing much-needed rest.

  Finny frowned at Ynya for a moment before donning her clothes once again.

  They shared too many of these unspoken glances lately, but Ynya could never bring herself to bring it up during the daytime, or follow Finny when she left during the night. Likewise Finny had never brought up the fact that Ynya was frequently awake when she returned to camp.

  “Synol, it’s time to wake up.”

  “What’s going on?”

  Ynya sat up, her eyes not leaving Finny’s face, still smeared with blood. Ynya gave her the sign to pay attention, then pointed at her own mouth.

  Finny noticed the sign and her eyes widened. She turned and wiped her mouth off with the sleeve of her coat. Cleaned, she pointed out over the ridge.

  “There are a little over three-thousand soldiers amassed already, with more coming in by the hour. The camp is laid out in a logical and hierarchal manner, meaning they are very organized. Any new troops arriving are directed to a pre-determined location. The Frost Queen is planning something with her soldiers, that is for sure.”

  Synol looked over at Ynya. “If all the soldiers are here, then the rest of the country might be safe?”

  “We killed over a hundred soldiers, possibly more before going to find Finny, and Hyndalskyr has to be one of the most remote districts in the realm. I’m sure she’s leaving solders to keep an eye on the citizens in other districts, but this many coming together means she’s gathering all her available resources for something big.”

  “Taking back the Hyndalskyr district?”

  Ynya shook her head. “This large an army would be overkill for something like that. It’s all fishermen and small villages. A hundred would be enough if they just coordinated properly.”

  Synol pounded a fist into her open palm. “Then we just need to summon enough earth, wind, and fire to kill these bastards right where they stand. That should put the fear of the Gods Below into the Queen. Once they are all dead, we can just march into the Castle and take Meki back.”

  Despite the early morning, Synol’s expression seemed like that of a battle hardened soldier. Her eyes gleamed with an intensity Ynya had never seen before.

  Ynya was both proud and a little scared of Synol at that moment. It was amazing how much the two had changed roles since they began their adventure.

  Regardless of the gleam in Synol’s eye, however, Ynya couldn’t shake the fact that something was amiss this morning. The air about them was tinged with smoke, something that should feel normal given a large encampment of soldiers not too far away, but there was something else going on. Ynya just couldn’t quite sense what it was.

  The rhythm of the world somehow seemed off.

  Finny smiled. “I like this idea. If we take them out now, before they have a chance to fully wake up, they will never know what hit them.”

  “We can’t just sneak around to get inside?” Ynya asked.

  Finny shook her head. “Fellsstrond Castle is built into the mountain, and there is only one entrance, through the front. I suppose we could backtrack and follow the tops of the Razorclaws and climb down the mountain to enter through a window, but that’s our only other option if we want to make it to Meki.”

  Ynya wanted to argue. Something about this plan just seemed ill-advised, but at the moment, and without the clarity a good night’s rest usually brought, she couldn’t think of anything else that might go wrong. Even if they killed half of the Frost Queen’s army, that was half the soldiers they had to deal with. They could always regroup and take out another half, then again.

  Sooner or later, they were going to have to make it through that mass of soldiers to get to the gates, so it was either sneak through, and deal with them on the way out, or rout them now and have an easier time once they rescued Meki.

  Either way, they were going to have to do something. She hoped that their actions wouldn’t put Meki’s life at risk. Sneaking in seemed to be the most prudent way to keep Meki safe. Ynya worried what the Frost Queen might do if she found out half her army had been destroyed. But the other two wanted to try to frontal assault approach, and Ynya was outvoted.

  The three devoured enough food to feed a large horse. They would need significant energy if they were going to make any serious dent in the troops.

  Finny led the sisters to the top of another rise overlooking the valley. As the sun rose to the east and cleared out the fog in the valley, Ynya got her first true look at the Frost Queen’s lair.

  Fellsstrond Castle wasn’t much of a castle, per-se. The whole thing had been carved into the sheer cliff-face of a mountain hundreds of years ago before the Queen took over and remodeled to her satisfaction. A gaping opening at the bottom allowed entry, and scattered up the side of the cliff were dozens of cutouts, many with balconies, allowing light and air into the structure.

  Inside must be a maze of rooms, staircases, and corridors. It would be a nightmare to navigate once they got in.

  Assuming we get in alive.

  Spread out before the castle was a large open plain where the three-thousand soldiers camped.

  The campsite was huge, half a mile in each direction, if not larger.

  Finny wasn’t kidding, there were a lot of them here, and they were organized.

  All of the army’s meticulously laid out tents faced the center, where there was a large circular space devoid of any structures. To the north of the clearing, mirroring the massive mountain cliff to the north, was a large tent where the leader of the army most likely resided. Four slightly smaller, but equally impressive tents ringed the center, possibly lieutenants or captains of smaller divisions.

  “We ready?”

  Ynya didn’t bother nodding. She would follow their lead, and call upon her magic when instructed. “Are you pulling up the flammable gas again?”

  Synol squirmed, “I don’t think I can make a wall large enough to go around the entire camp. Finny, can you use your wind to collect everyone into the center? Then I will raise up the walls.”

  Finny nodded, and turned toward the mass of tents. Wind tousled her hair as she pulled magic to her.

  “Go!”

  Synol knelt, placing open palms to the rock beneath her. All around them, slight tremors in the earth rumbled, a testament to Synol’s impressive magic.

  Finny stood by her side, hands low to the earth while she swayed with an unseen breeze.

  Magic swelled around the two, so much that Ynya took a cautionary step back. It still stunned her how much raw energy each of her sisters controlled, and how easily they manipulated such large areas of their world
through their power.

  Ynya had never known power that immense. Hers was more personal, focused, but was also severely limited in scope. While they could cast spells far away from themselves, she needed to touch something in order to heat it.

  In her chest, Ynya’s heart beat soundly against her ribs.

  Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

  She knew she was excited, but her heart beat was so prominent it distracted her from her sister’s casting for long enough that she glanced back to the center of the camp, where two lone figures stood.

  A chill ran down Ynya’s legs and arms at the sight. Where once there had been an open plain, devoid of anything but unspoiled snow, two shadowy figures now stood.

  Ynya felt the surge in magic climax as Synol and Finny finished pulling their energy to them and set to release it in a catastrophic display of prowess.

  Ynya concentrated on the center again. Why, with thousands of soldiers, would two lone figures be standing in the center…and why would they be staring up at this one spot on the mountain?

  Terror gripped Ynya.

  We’ve been spotted!

  Ynya focused on the two lone figures. No other soldiers looked up where the Oblique sisters stood on the rise. No one else stopped their jobs to turn and look, so why had two random soldiers walked out to the middle of a large field to do so?

  And why is one of them half the size of the other?

  Then it hit her.

  Both figures were too thin to be toughened soldiers.

  Ynya took a half step back at the realization. She wasn’t looking at two random soldiers, she was looking at the Frost Queen and Meki Oblique, standing side by side.

  Chapter Four

  “Stop!” Ynya yelled. She jumped at Synol, desperately trying to get her sisters to stop casting.

  Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

  Ynya’s heart pounded in her chest again, this time the beat was slower, purposeful.

  Ynya grabbed Synol’s arms and wrenched them from the ground. She took a step forward, then another.

  Lub…dub. Lub……dub.

  She did the same to Finny, tripping both sisters and careening them backwards into the snow.

  Ynya looked back at the two stationary figures in the distance. Neither had moved.

  Neither had even blinked, she imagined.

  Around her, all the pent-up surge in magic dissipated just before it crashed forth in a violent display of power. The rumble in the earth subsided, and the electrical charge in the air from Finny’s magic ceased, leaving behind a stringent smell on the morning breeze.

  Both sisters lay on their backs, bewildered looks on their faces.

  Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

  Ynya’s heart returned to normal, pounding rapidly against her ribs.

  What just happened?

  She’d managed to stop both of her sisters from killing Meki, that’s what had happened.

  “What did you do?” Synol spat.

  Finny jumped to all-fours, her eyes wide and feral.

  “I stopped you from killing Meki.”

  Synol narrowed her eyes. “Meki isn’t down there.”

  Ynya turned, pointing. “Right there, in the center. She is standing with the Frost–” Ynya’s voice failed as she stared at the blank area in the middle of the camp. Seemingly unbeknownst to the imminent destruction, soldiers milled about, readying cooking fires and doing their morning chores. Had none of them even noticed their leader standing among them?

  Did I imagine it all?

  Ynya’s heart sank “But…”

  Synol jumped to her feet, a look in her eye that Ynya hadn’t seen since they were in the cave with Synol’s husband.

  Terror gripped Ynya’s heart at that look. She had messed up bad. Maybe her overthinking of her use of magic was leading to hallucinations. “Synol, I swear, she was down–”

  Crunch!

  Something slammed into the ground at Ynya’s feet, blocking her view of Synol. It was large, white, and shiny.

  It was ice.

  Oh no.

  Another ice spike slammed into the ground to her side, then again, and again, forming a tight barrier around her body.

  Synol screamed and Finny roared. All around the three sisters, ice spikes fell from nowhere in rapid succession, trapping them in human-width ice prisons.

  Fiery rage flooded Ynya’s chest. She pushed the heat into her hands, grabbing one of the spikes and shearing it in half.

  Before her was Meki, standing side-by-side with what had to be the Frost Queen.

  The Queen was a lot shorter than Ynya had imagined. She had darker colored skin that was a rarity this far north.

  If Ynya had to pick someone to be the Frost Queen, she would have picked someone else. Hell, her own mother with her crazy eyes and wild untamed red hair seemed more likely to be an evil tyrant than this woman before her.

  Still, the Frost Queen was impeccably beautiful with smooth, brown skin, large sharp eyes, and a fierce stance that accentuated her slender, taut figure. She was muscular as well as feminine.

  She also had oddly pointed ears that Ynya had never seen on a human before. Long white hair cascaded down her back, glimmering like new-fallen snow in the morning light. Her eyebrows were also white, a stark contrast against her skin, but they looked good on her.

  Almost too good.

  Ynya couldn’t help but bathe in the sheer power the Queen held. A frozen edge clung to the air all about them, powerful and razor-sharp, ready to cut anyone who stepped out of line.

  “Meki!” Ynya called out. “It’s Meki!”

  Meki threw out her hands. Another spike slammed into the ground in front of Ynya. “Halt, before you do something you will regret!”

  Ynya reeled, bumping against the icy spikes behind her back. Had…Meki just cast an ice spell?

  “Meki?”

  Ynya glanced around. Both of her sisters were also cocooned in their own smaller icy version of what Synol had planned for the camp below.

  No one moved, but the fiery rage in Ynya sprang up again at notion that Meki had been the one to cast the icy prison cells and not the Frost Queen.

  Meki didn’t even have magic! She was too young! She hadn’t bloomed yet!

  Words from their dying mother echoed through Ynya’s memories.

  Promise me you will rescue them all, don’t leave any behind. Meki will be blooming soon and you need to be there before it happens. Keep them safe.

  Ynya had failed yet again. They had taken too long to arrive here, and the Frost Queen had gotten her talons into her sister.

  Ynya flared her heat once again and melted the ice around her, vaporizing it so fast that it cracked and sputtered. Dozens of smaller chunks fell to the ground.

  “Ynya Oblique.” The Frost Queen spoke. Her voice was foreign, with a thick syrupy accent unlike anything Ynya had ever heard before. “It is so nice to meet after all that I have heard about you. I’m quite impressed with how fast you reacted to keep your sisters safe.”

  The woman’s voice was like rubbing your face with silk. No wonder she had become the queen of the north. No man would be able to resist such a sultry voice.

  Ynya herself was having a hard time resisting as feelings she hadn’t felt very often percolated to the surface.

  The Queen stepped forward, side by side with Ynya, focusing on Synol and Finny in their individual icy prisons.

  Ynya reeled at the sheer strength of magic flowing off the woman. Like large ice sheets calving off a floating glacier, she exuded so much power that excess rolled off of her body.

  No wonder this woman ruled the land. She was the most powerful mage Ynya had ever met.

  She was power incarnate, and incredibly alluring to boot.

  She was also very close.

  All Ynya had to do was reach out, grab the Queen, and pour heat into her head. For a split second, she imagined herself ending it right here, right now. All it would take was a fast motion from her, and the four sisters would be headed home after a wa
rm breakfast.

  All this lead-up, all this preparation, and pain, had led up to this singular moment.

  But Ynya’s mind caught up with her reaction, and she wondered if it would be that easy. Take one life to save another?

  No, this was the Frost Queen and Ynya was barely an arm’s length away. The tyrant of the north! Thousands had been captured, tortured, and killed in her name.

  Ynya’s magic disappeared in the next heartbeat.

  Ynya searched inside herself, for the magic that was supposed to be there. Just like if she had been stabbed by one of the Skarmyord, her magic still hummed, but was so diminished that she couldn’t access it. The wells had run dry. She looked down, checking her body for puncture wounds, but she saw none.

  Just being beside this woman made my magic stop?

  The Queen snapped her fingers, and the remaining icy prisons shattered, falling to the ground in a pile of glittery dust.

  Synol glared at the woman, while Finny stared openly, her bright eyes wide with alarm.

  The Queen spoke.

  “I formally welcome the entire Oblique clan to my home at long last. I’m surprised that you took this long to meet me. I thought I made it very clear to my soldiers that you were allowed safe and swift passage. And yet, for some reason you took your sweet time meandering to meet your sister.”

  She chuckled to herself in her high-pitched accented voice. “Perhaps you thought you still had to sneak? Maybe you didn’t realize that you were all my invited guests?”

  She turned, her robe flaring out behind her. “Still, I’m glad that you are finally here, because I have a feast planned for your arrival and we should hurry before the food gets cold.”

  The Queen turned to face Meki. “Do be a dear and escort your sisters to the dining room. I don’t want to keep the chef waiting much longer.”

  Meki looked up at the woman and nodded with a slight bow. “Of course, Mother.”

  Chapter Five

  Mother?