by K. M. Shea
“You are smitten with that wretched princess—enough that you would defy me to keep her alive.” Tenebris stepped over Farrin’s prone body. “When I saved you from those stinking pits, you told me you would be my defender, and now I discover you long for my enemy?” Tenebris tisked and crouched down next to him.
Everything in Farrin screamed for relief. His lungs burned, and his heart was stabbed through. He clenched his jaw and refused to let a sound escape even as his vision blurred. The pain was unimaginable. In all his life, he had never encountered a pain so terrible and all-consuming.
“At least your senseless feelings can amuse me,” Tenebris sighed. “Did you really think she would fall for you—a creature of slaughter and death? You are the same gladiator savage I pulled out of slavery, covered in the blood of others, Farrin Graydim. If she knew what you were, she would be filled with disgust and hatred. You have fallen too far, and her light will never reach you.”
Farrin’s ears rang, and everything grew dim. Just when he thought he was about to pass out or die, Tenebris wiggled a finger, and the curse retreated, sinking back under Tenebris’s skin.
Farrin gasped for air. His body ached all over, and his muscles shook. Even with the pain gone, he still couldn’t move. He was numb, and what bits he could feel screamed with pain.
Tenebris stood and dusted off his knees. “I advise that you re-center yourself, Colonel Graydim. I will not accept another disappointment due to your affection for the Verglas Princess. If you fail me again, your entire regiment will suffer with you.”
Tenebris left without a backward glance, and a cold sweat broke out on Farrin’s forehead as he coped with the brokenness left in his body from Tenebris’s curse. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe.
He’s right. The small, hopeless thought burned in his mind in spite of his physical pain. Rakel, loyal to her country and to her people—though they treated her with contempt—could never look past the blood I’ve shed and the innocents I have killed. If she knew…
The flickering hope he had carried deep in his chest, the one that flared whenever he was near her, snuffed out.
CHAPTER 7
AN UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT
“Grandma said she has syrup snaps packed, so if you want some, Princess, we can ask her!” Gerta’s enthusiasm was infectious as she waved her red-mittened hands in the air.
“Perhaps after we arrive at Tana.” Rakel tucked a blanket tighter around the little girl. “What do you think, Kai?”
Kai shrugged, but he stayed huddled close between her and Gerta. He hadn’t said much since discovering his magic, although he had brightened when Rakel asked him to come with her to Tana. He—and his mother—were coming, along with little Gerta and Hilda. Privately, Rakel knew it was necessary for Kai to come with for the sake of his magic, but she didn’t know if it was wise for Gerta to come with them as well.
Now, witnessing Kai’s ashen little face, she was glad. Gerta was bright and bubbly and would cheer up her friend.
They were in the second wave of civilians and soldiers traveling to the newly established outpost. General Halvor and a number of the magic users and soldiers were already there, finishing set-up. Rakel had chosen to travel with the second wave, mostly because Steinar insisted on leaving when she did, and he had agreed to wait for the second wave if she did.
“Where is Frigid?” Gerta strained her neck to look around. Most of the soldiers walked or rode mountain ponies, but many of the civilians rode in sleighs pulled by reindeer or plump ponies—like Rakel and the children. Behind them, a pair of ponies pulled a sleigh that contained the frosted chunk of ice that encased Farrin Graydim’s broadsword.
“Oskar has him.” Phile shielded her eyes as she scanned the party. She rode her horse but didn’t stray far from Rakel’s sleigh. “He’s pulling a load of goods.”
“This is so much fun!” Gerta declared. “The sun is out, and the snow is melting. Soon the flowers will perk up!”
Rakel winced at the observation. “Yes, spring is coming,” she agreed and exchanged glances with Phile. Their road was still frozen over, and the hills that smoothed around them like mushroom caps were covered with snow, but the trees in the forest that meandered around the hills dripped water from melting icicles fused to their branches.
“You’re worrying needlessly,” Phile said. “You’re not alone anymore.”
Gerta looked back and forth between them. “Pardon?”
“Nothing,” Rakel said, smiling down at the girl. “Gerta, Kai—”
Rakel was cut out by the sound of a horn. She stilled. “That’s not one of ours.”
Phile popped Foedus out of a sheath on her belt. “Nope.”
A line of soldiers dressed in black and crimson uniforms drifted out of the trees and stood on top of a hill to the west.
We’re under attack. “Children, stay here,” Rakel urged as she slipped from the sleigh.
“Princess!” the leading officer—Colonel Danr—shouted.
“Coming!” Rakel shouted as soldiers and magic users scrambled into position. Rakel felt a pang of longing for Halvor—this was the first time she would enter combat without him—but she set her shoulders and joined Colonel Danr at the front of the caravan.
“Limited foot soldiers.” Snorri pointed at the incoming forces, who marched down the snow-crusted hill. “Most are decorated officers—magic users. That is Tenebris.” He raised a finger to point to a smudgy character standing on the top of the hill.
Rakel stared in disbelief. “He’s sending his men down without him?” Halvor always fought with his men, and Rakel herself was usually among the first to fight.
“Can you act first, Princess? Farrin will soon be on you, drawing you off,” Colonel Danr said.
Rakel extended her fingers, feeling the cool, restless snow coating the hillside. “Keep your men back,” she warned, and then she pulled.
The snow coating the hillside rushed down the hill in an avalanche, throwing soldiers to their knees and rolling them down the hill. Some resisted and stayed standing, but their formation was ruined.
Rakel, watching wildly for Farrin, then covered the hill with a layer of slick ice. Instead of dragging the temperature of the ice down, she nudged it up so a little bit of water and condensation beaded on the ice, making it extra treacherous.
The ice took down almost all the soldiers and some of the officers. A number of the magic users started using their powers, trying to counteract Rakel’s magic.
The mercenaries, when they recovered, tried shooting arrows down at the Verglas army. Rakel raised an ice shield, blocking all the shots.
“Line up! Magic users, at your will! Archers—on my signal!” Colonel Danr shouted.
“I don’t see Colonel Graydim anywhere,” Liv said. She stuck close to Snorri—her assigned guard for the trip.
Rakel’s brow furrowed. “Or any of the magic users under him.” Is this a trap? Why isn’t he here? Colonel Danr nodded, and Rakel shattered the ice shield.
“Now!” Colonel Danr shouted.
Verglas archers fired arrows at the enemy, engaging troops. The Chosen magic users swept down the treacherous hill, drawing closer.
The Verglas magic users met them.
Frodi and Eydìs teamed up and went after a group of four magic users. Ragnar stayed behind them and summoned his elf-friend, Genovefa. They stood by Steinar, smiting anyone who struck out at them.
“Princess!” Crow shouted. He flew past her, almost slipping on a patch of snow. “You gotta attack Tenebris—he’s about to launch his magic!”
Rakel ripped her gaze from the battle to Tenebris, but it was already too late. Inky black magic leaked from him, snaking its way down the hill.
It didn’t hit any of his soldiers, but he seemed to be feeling out the group. Instead of affecting the entire caravan, he hit a small group of five Verglas troops.
“Liv,” Rakel started.
She was already running, Snorri at her back. Phile met t
hem as they reached the archers, and she helped Snorri grab the struggling soldiers and hold them so Liv could touch them.
It worked as smoothly as it had the time Rakel was cursed. As soon as she laid her hand on them, the magic was neutralized.
“What can I do, Colonel Danr?” Rakel asked.
The commanding officer roared, “Pikemen, in position!” then turned his attention to her. “You know your magic best, but I don’t think it would be wise to use it at full power.”
“You think it’s a trap?” Rakel asked, having guessed as much herself.
“The absence of Colonel Graydim feels too convenient,” he said. “If you extensively use your powers and are…er…unavailable, it will be all too easy for a second force to overpower us.”
“You want me to use my powers, but not enough to activate my price,” Rakel said.
“Yes.”
Rakel nodded and eyed the chaotic battlefield. “I agree.”
“Good luck, Princess,” he said.
“To you, as well.” She turned to a wave of incoming soldiers and froze their weapons in blocks of ice, debilitating them. Next, she caged two Chosen magic users and encased an additional one in a glacier of ice when another oily stream of magic crept across the field.
“Snorri, Phile!” Rakel pointed to the incoming stream of magic when they looked to her.
Phile gave her a thumbs up. She grabbed Liv’s wrist and dragged her after the dark magic, Snorri stalking in their shadow.
The earth groaned as a Chosen magic user knelt and shook the ground like an old rug.
Rakel staggered when the earth shuddered. Use as little magic as possible, how to… “Oh.” Rakel formed a slew of snowballs with ice cores and pummeled the magic user in the head. The magic user toppled, and the earth was still once more.
This is much easier without Farrin. Rakel thought, a little in awe of how effortless it was to use her magic against magic users without the colonel brandishing his sword at her. Unless Tenebris uses a large amount of his magic, we will win.
Happy with this realization, Rakel countered a few more magic users and stopped some soldiers, when she saw a streak of black out of the corner of her eye.
Tenebris, still sitting on the top of the hill, was sending down a river of his cursing magic—more than he had used in his test run. Oddly enough, it wasn’t aimed for the heart of the Verglas forces, or even for the front lines. The black, tarry magic oozed down the hillside, crawling towards the outer edges of the formation.
Rakel gave herself a little boost of ice to peer over the battlefield so she could see where it was going. “No,” she whispered. “Kai, Gerta!”
Kai was kneeling in the snow, making soldier snowmen with Gerta’s help. He probably intended to send them out to attack. But they were at the edge of the battlefield, and no one was there to save them.
Rakel ran, staggering through the battle, searching wildly for Liv and Snorri. She didn’t see them. Snorri was either hiding the purifier, or they were still dealing with the last wave. “Phile!” she yelled, almost tripping over the thick skirts of her Bunad. “Kai, Gerta, move!” She ducked to avoid the meaty fist of a giant Chosen soldier.
“Gerta, Kai, get out of there!” Phile yelled. She came from the back of the formation and also sprinted towards the children.
Her horror mounting, Rakel realized neither she nor Phile would reach the children in time. The sludgy magic slithered towards them like a deadly snake.
They were going to be cursed. They’re children—they won’t survive it! Rage consumed Rakel, making her body numb. She couldn’t lose Gerta and Kai! I’ll kill him. I will freeze the blood in his veins! She reached for her powers, gathering them with such strength—
“Children, move!” Phile’s roar knocked Rakel from her cloud of anger.
“No.” Rakel shook her head as she ran, frightened for the children, and terrified by her own thoughts.
Gerta and Kai turned to gawk at the Robber Maiden. “Phile?” Gerta said, oblivious to the danger.
“Move!” Phile yelled, her voice cracking as the ghastly magic pounced.
“No!” Rakel lunged between the children and the oncoming curse, wildly throwing her magic up in front of her—though she knew it would be hopeless. Crow said nothing would stop Tenebris’s magic.
Her ice rang—like a sword sliding out of a sheath—and bloomed like a flower with Rakel at the center. She braced herself for darkness and the horrors that lived there, but when the curse brushed her icy shield, there was a knockback as loud as a clash of thunder. Light sparked between the two forces, and the ground shook.
Emboldened, Rakel leaned against her ice structure and pushed. Her ice exploded, folding up again so it was no longer shaped like a flower, but a shield. When the two powers collided, Rakel felt pain—like someone scraping sandpaper across her arm—but Tenebris’s powers were thrown backwards and faded.
Her knees shook, and she stared up at Tenebris, trying to fathom what had just happened.
The Chosen’s leader seemed to understand, for he turned from the battlefield and walked away. One of his officers shouted “Retreat!” The Chosen magic users fled—fighting flames, ropes, and Genovefa—to follow Tenebris. The troops, however, had mostly been defeated or frozen in blocks, and remained stranded with Verglas forces pouring in around them.
Rakel’s heart painfully hammered in her chest.
“What just happened?” Phile asked, sounding shaken. She was kneeling on the ground with an arm around each of the children, who were huddled into her shoulders.
“I…” Rakel furrowed her brow and tried to gather her scattered thoughts. “I think my magic repelled his. But…how is that possible?”
“Liv couldn’t purify the curse as it attacked—we tried it on his second pass. Maybe it has something to do with power?” Phile said.
Rakel shook her head. “It can’t be. Sunnira hit me with one of his curses.”
“Being able to defend against his powers and being unaffected are two different things,” the Robber Maiden said.
Rakel clamped her hair—which was half free of its braid—to her neck and shivered.
“It’s a good thing, Little Wolf.”
“Then why does it feel so…ominous?” Rakel asked. She wrapped her arms around herself and opened her mouth, wanting to tell Phile about the blinding rage that had consumed her when Tenebris almost touched Gerta and Kai, but nothing would come out. Since the first day I fought back against the Chosen, I decided I would not kill. How could I so easily abandon such an important principle? What is wrong with me?
“Do you think he faked it?”
“No,” Rakel glanced at the hill on which he had stood. “He was very angry when he left.”
“How do you know?”
“I could feel it,” Rakel grimly said. “Like a bad stench in the air.”
“Princess!” Oskar pushed soldiers aside so he could reach her. He wore a scowl on his face; Colonel Danr sprinted at his side.
“Princess, that was marvelous!” Colonel Danr said.
“That was asinine,” Oskar corrected. “You ran head-first into a curse. Why didn’t you tackle the children and move out of the way?”
“But now we know that her magic can block Tenebris’s,” Colonel Danr said. “This will change our strategy and may be the key to winning!”
“That doesn’t mean her actions weren’t extremely foolish.” Oskar growled, and his eyebrows bunched together.
“Oskar, it’s done.” Rakel reached out and hesitated, holding her hand above his arm.
He glowered at Colonel Danr. “You’re worse than Halvor.” Instead of taking Rakel’s hand, Oskar bowed over it and backed away. “Don’t do that again,” he said to her. His green eyes were hard like granite.
Rakel nodded, promising more than Oskar knew. She forced the encounter from her mind.
Oskar sighed, growing smaller as his worry and anger deflated. “Right. Did anyone else notice our favorite Ch
osen Colonel was missing from that battle?”
Rakel and Phile nodded. “Indeed,” Colonel Danr said.
“Convenient,” Snorri said, startling the group when he popped out of Phile’s shadow with Liv in tow.
“We need to send out guards and prepare ourselves for another attack. Do we agree?” Colonel Danr asked.
Oskar nodded. “We’re only a few hours from Tana. If possible, I would like to send a messenger ahead, but…” He glanced at Danr.
“Done.” Colonel Danr strode away. “Rear guard, report to me!”
Rakel relaxed her shoulders. “Steinar?”
“Safe and sound,” Oskar said. “Genovefa was disappointed more soldiers didn’t try to attack him. Truthfully, I don’t think the Chosen knew we had the king with us,” Oskar said with a slanted smile. “You did well. Do you need to rest?”
Rakel shook her head. “I’m fine.”
“Good,” Oskar awkwardly tucked his hands behind his back. “If you’ll excuse me—Princess, Phile.”
Rakel watched him go and stifled a sigh. He has stood with me since I was sent to Ensom Peak, and I trust him implicitly…but I wish he would not hold me in such formality. She forced her lips into a smile and turned to Liv. “Thank you, Liv, for all you did.”
Liv fluttered her hands. “Oh, it was nothing.”
“No, it was important,” Rakel said firmly. “Without you, I don’t know how we would handle Tenebris. Thank you.”
Liv blushed and looked at her feet.
Pleased that Liv understood, Rakel turned her attention to Gerta and Kai. “I told you to stay with the sleigh so I wouldn’t have to worry about you.”
Gerta’s eyes glossed with unshed tears.
“They were attacking you,” Kai said.
Rakel glided over to them and kept her eyes warm although her voice was firm. “You’re just children. You don’t have to fight.”
“But I want to help,” Kai insisted.
“Me too!” Gerta said. “Them invaders have torn up Verglas—everyone says so.”
Rakel joined Phile in crouching next to them. “That may be, but for now, the way you can be the biggest help is to welcome back those from battle. They fight for you. Instead of disrespecting their sacrifice and insisting you don’t want it, you should put every effort into greeting them.”