Storm Princess 2: The Princess Must Strike

by Everly Frost

  I slip off my shoes, step onto his feet, wrap my arms around his waist, and hold on. Howl turns the corner as Cassian lifts off the ground. There’s only just enough room for his wings to stay aloft.

  Howl seems more perturbed than angry. “What are you doing?”

  Cassian says, “What you asked: making sure she stays alive.”

  “Very well. Take her back to the mine. But Princess,” he addresses me. “You will bring me Prime’s heart by the end of the week. Otherwise I will bury Baelen Rath under a mountain of rock.”

  And the Storm with him.

  I shudder so hard that my knees knock against Cassian’s legs. He zooms up and out of the wide window, taking me with him.

  24

  We fly in silence. The moon is a large white circle above us. I wonder if Incorruptible still thinks and feels like the Storm still thinks and feels. I suspect it’s a bit different because Incorruptible became a stable part of nature and the Storm, well, she is a deliberately unstable one.

  “Hideaway helped the Queen,” I say into the silence between Cassian and I. My loose hair cascades between us. Cassian is wearing armor but it’s made of thick leather straps so it’s not too uncomfortable against my cheek. After we first ascended, once he was sure we were far enough away from the palace, he stopped mid-flight to tie parts of his armor around me, making sure I won’t fall.

  “The Queen wanted to find out more about human weapons—guns I think they’re called. The King thought Hideaway put the Queen in danger and wouldn’t forgive him. Not even when the Queen said it was her idea. Anyway…” I shrug. “I thought you might want to know.”

  “I do. Thank you.”

  I clear my throat. My voice is small. “When you… said that you found something to care about a month ago…” I was too angry when he told me, but I’ve had time to think since then. A month ago was when I arrived at Mount Erador. I guess I find it difficult to believe that he means me.

  He starts to speak but stops. Starts again. His voice is scratchy in the night air. “I felt something when you leaped from the cliff’s edge with that dagger in your hand and smashed through Howl’s shield. It was the night you first got here. Do you remember it?”

  “Of course.”

  “You sliced through Howl’s deep magic like nobody ever had before. Even the Priestesses. They tried getting through his defenses. Died trying actually. They weren’t strong enough. I watched them die and I… gave up. I followed him out of self-preservation.”

  He swallows. “But you broke through. Without even realizing what you’d done. You were terrifying and ferocious and… I had no reason to fight Howl before you did that. You changed everything. With one strike.”

  He stops talking and doesn’t start again. When I came to Erador, I had a singular purpose: to save Baelen. But now I need to do so much more than that. Howl has taken his people prisoner, enslaved them in his thirst for power. And worse, he is in league with the Elven Command who have succumbed to sorcery.

  For weeks, I’ve been mining side by side with gargoyles who have shown me friendship and loyalty, courage and bravery. For weeks, I’ve been falling asleep cold and pushing away a hum in my ears that tells me which of the King’s bones to pick, ignoring a whisper telling me to choose the fifth tunnel, the fiery tunnel, the one that the gargoyles fear the most. But it calls to me. It called to me the moment I first stood at its entrance.

  As we fly toward Mount Prime, I stare up into the light of the moon. I remember Badenoch telling me that he can sense Prime’s Heartstone, that it pushes him away. But it doesn’t push me away. It calls to me.

  The closer we fly to Mount Prime, the colder I become. At first it’s only my toes and fingers, but as we enter the mountain, my skin frosts over.

  “It’s happening again,” Cassian says, shivering next to me. “We need to get you to a hammock and get you warm.”

  “No,” I say. “Cassian, I think I understand now why this is happening. I think I understand why I’m so cold.”

  We soar down the first opening, the Cavity moments away. He says, “I don’t think I’m going to like what you’re about to say.”

  “You aren’t.”

  “Then don’t say it.”

  But I do anyway. “I need to go to the fifth tunnel.”

  We touch down inside the quiet Cavity. The gargoyles are all asleep in their hammocks above us. Three sleepy guards jump to attention as soon as they see Cassian, but he dismisses them. “It’s fine, I’ll take watch.”

  The only thing that needs watching is me.

  I step off Cassian’s feet. As soon as my bare feet touch the rocky ground, ice crystals spread out from them. I must have been hurting him again but he didn’t say anything. I rub my hands together and puffs of ice waft up around me.

  I’m a walking snow storm. “I have to go to the fifth.”

  “Not alone.”

  “You can come with me.”

  “I mean that you should take your team.”

  He’s right. “Will you wake them for me? Jasper and the other team leaders as well. I need them to be part of this. It’s not about me finding a heartstone to take for myself. They need to know that.”

  He frowns down at me. “What is it about then?”

  “Finding a heartstone for all of them.”

  He doesn’t understand. I don’t exactly yet either, except that a plan is forming in my mind, a plan that might free us all.

  I wait at the entrance to the mine shaft. I don’t expect the gargoyles to trust Cassian so I stay in plain sight even though the cold is killing me. Perhaps literally.

  Cassian keeps his distance as the others make their way to me, wiping the sleep from their eyes. It’s the middle of the night. The coldest time.

  Jasper is the first to reach me. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”

  I resist the urge to hug him. I want to tell him that Elyria needs help, but it will only worry him and I need this plan to work first.

  “I need you all to come with me to the fifth,” I say, not mincing words.

  Llion is the quickest to get on board, his golden eyes flashing in the dim light. “I don’t understand why you’re asking us to do this, but if we’re going to the fifth, we need to prepare water, protective clothing—”

  “You won’t need it.” I point at my feet, my hands, the ground I’m standing on, and the rock wall directly behind me, all covered in ice. “I need to go quickly, I’m afraid. I don’t have much time.” Already I sense my heartbeat slowing, the ice eating away at my insides. “Cassian?”

  He flies forward, snatches me up, and plummets down the mineshaft with me. I don’t have time to wait for the others to make their decision. “You’re freezing up,” he says, swooping across the entrance to the first tunnel and down the next mineshaft.

  I catch my breath after the sudden motion forces the air out of my lungs. “I hope I’m right about this or I’m going to need your help. Big time.”

  By the time we reach the fifth tunnel, my teeth have progressed from chattering to jaw-locked. A blast of warm air up the mineshaft is the only thing keeping me alive. We touch down and Cassian soars toward the nearest flame. It sizzles and dies as soon as we reach it, the fiery surface freezing over as I approach.

  I force sound out of my throat. “Let… me… warm… my… feet…”

  Cassian allows me to slide to the ground but doesn’t touch it himself. When my feet connect, it’s like heaven. Heat, glorious heat, shoots up into my legs. I run for the nearest tower of flame, disappointed when it sputters and diminishes as soon as I get near it. I hurry to the next one. Each time the flame dies and my body absorbs the heat. Every time a fire warms me too much, my body reacts, freezing the fire down.

  When I’m warm enough to function properly again, I look back the way I came to see that the tunnel where I walked is free of flames. Its hot surface has turned black, coated with a glossy-looking substance.

  Cassian touches down on the ground and I gath
er from his expression that the floor isn’t scorching anymore. The other gargoyles join us, crowding into the tunnel, looking around, touching the cool walls.

  This time, I can stop to speak to them. “I freeze every night, but only here on Mount Prime. Here… Prime’s heart calls to me. I tried to stop listening but it didn’t work. Prime’s heart wants to be found.”

  “No, Lady Storm. Please.” Badenoch is the first to step forward. The pale scars across his chest are highlighted in the glow around us. “If we find the heart, we have to give it to Howl.”

  “Do we?” I look around me. “Tell me why.”

  “We can’t control it and we can’t use it against him. Rhain tried…”

  “Because he tried to control it alone. Howl is one gargoyle. We can beat him if we work together. I know we can.”

  “Lady Storm…”

  “It calls to me, Badenoch. I have to believe that’s for a reason.”

  He’s worried. I would be too if I were him, but he eventually nods, taking a massive leap of faith with me.

  I can’t ignore the hum in my ears anymore. Cassian hangs back, but the other gargoyles follow as I head further down the tunnel, finally reaching a fork. One side of the tunnel veers left into a wall of flame. It’s almost impossible to see what’s behind it or how far back the flames extend. The other side veers right and is potted with random fires but extends much farther into the distance.

  At my elbow, Roar says, “The teams before us have been mining down the right hand side. Nobody can get through the wall of flame down that way.” He points left and gives me a wry smile. “I’m guessing that’s the way you’re going.”

  I place my hand out in front of me. I’m about to walk through a wall of flames and honestly, I’m not sure if I’m cold enough. I glance back, searching the faces of the watching gargoyles. Shadows flicker over them now that the fires have died down. I look past Roar, Welsian, Iago, and even Llion whose trust in me was the greatest from the beginning. Past Jasper whose loyalty has been unbending, to Erit and the other team leaders, all the way back to the gargoyle who took the most convincing that freedom is worth fighting for.

  Cassian hovers in the shadows. I wait for him to make a move. I wait a long time. Finally, he steps into the light, tucks his massive wings into his side and says, “Go on, Princess.”

  Fearless now, I step into the flames.

  Brilliant golden fire leaps away from me as if I’m the one burning it. The further I extend my hands, the further it retreats, conforming to the shape of my body for seconds before it begins to die. The rock wall hiding behind it glistens with threads of a rust-colored substance. It looks like copper, but I can’t be sure.

  “I need to get through this wall. I need a pickaxe… something… anything…”

  The gargoyles mumble and shift. Nobody brought anything. I didn’t exactly give them time to gather tools. I scrape my hand across the surface and place my ear against it. The touch of my skin cools any remaining heat. I can’t be sure how thick the wall is, but the hum is almost unbearable, calling me from beyond.

  “Excuse me, Lady Storm,” Iago says. “May I assess the situation?”

  I step back. “Of course. Thank you, Iago.”

  He studies the copper seam, tracking his finger across it from left to right, further up, and then down. He closes his fist and taps it at two points, one on the left and the other on the right, that consist of clear patches of rock without as much copper. “Here,” he says. “And over here. Beneath the main seam.”

  He gives way to Roar and Llion who focus on those parts of the rock. “How thick is it, Iago?” Roar asks, to which Iago replies, “About six inches.”

  Roar grunts an acknowledgement. I’m not sure how they’re going to break through. I don’t see any pickaxes.

  “Excuse me, Lady Storm,” Llion says, picking me up and putting me safely out of the way.

  There’s a pause as he and Roar angle their wings forward and brace. I press back against the tunnel wall, waiting with everyone else…

  They slam their wing daggers into the rock wall. Rock cracks and dust wafts into the air. They focus on the parts Iago showed them and follow the seam around in an oval shape. The pierce points they make with their daggers become dark dots, waiting holes. The wall cracks in multiple places but doesn’t break, fracturing beyond each impact point.

  Finally, they step back, chests heaving. Roar says, “Welsian?”

  “My pleasure,” Welsian answers, flexing his enormous arms and cracking his knuckles.

  He chooses two spots on opposite sides and fits his fingers into the holes, bracing his giant feet against the bottom portion of the wall. The others step back.

  Welsian’s muscles flex, strain. With a roar, he rips the wall right out from itself. Tiny shards scatter across the tunnel, but he’s left holding the main piece. I’m impressed. In fact, I’m impressed by all of it, from Iago to Llion and Roar to Welsian. I place my hand over my heart as Welsian leans the stone portion against the tunnel wall and gestures me inside. “Lady Storm. When you’re ready.”

  “Thank you.”

  A soft glow spills through the opening they made, alternating between golden and white light. It glints in my eyes as I step through.

  The cave beyond is several paces wide and deep, not big enough for everyone to fit inside. In the center, two pillars of stone rise up from the ground like two waves of molten rock that each froze in a crest. A stone sits at the highest tip of each.

  I freeze to the spot.

  Two heartstones. Not one.

  I can’t find my voice. All air has left my lungs. I’m not sure how much the others can see from outside but I need Badenoch to come in here and identify which one is Prime’s heart.

  I whisper, “Badenoch!”

  The older gargoyle squeezes through the opening to the cave, needing to bend to make it through. His eyes shoot wide when he sees what I see. “Two!”

  I can’t raise my voice above a whisper. I’m in too much shock. “Which one is Prime’s heart? You’re his descendant. You can tell me, right?”

  He points to the golden one. As the light through the opening catches it, it reflects warmth, a sense of calm purpose. “It’s that one. But, Lady Storm, it doesn’t want me to be here.” He shifts slightly, his intelligent eyes studying the other heart before he takes a step back. “That other one… really doesn’t want me to be here.”

  The stone on the other pedestal is pure white, glittering, a diamond the size of my fist.

  At odds with what Badenoch feels, the white stone calls to me. Not like a compulsion that I can’t control, but like a kinship. A recognition of all the emotions I’ve ever felt and of who I am deep in my core. I step closer to it, studying its surface, the most dazzling stone I’ve ever seen, shining with an inner light.

  Oomph. Badenoch catches me, wrapping both his arms around my waist and pulling me backward. “Don’t touch it!”

  I allow him to carry me backward, placing me back on my feet at the entrance. He steps away from me as fast as he puts me down. “Forgive me for grabbing you but you can’t touch that stone. Nobody can.”

  “I know, Badenoch. It will kill me.”

  It’s not a stone.

  It’s a piece of the moon.

  It’s Queen Incorruptible’s heart.

  25

  Her heart must have fallen after she became the moon, embedding itself in Mount Prime beside the heart of the one she truly loved: Prime.

  “We need to tell the others.”

  Outside the cave, the fires that still burn deeper inside the fifth tunnel cast an eerie light across the waiting gargoyles. Cassian remains in the shadows at the back and I have to wonder, some sixth sense asks me, did he know what I was going to find? I now know that it wasn’t Prime’s heart that was calling to me all this time—it was Incorruptible’s. Together with reading her journal tonight, it doesn’t feel like a coincidence.

  Badenoch remains in front of the opening,
but defers to me, indicating that I should give everyone the news.

  I say, “There are two heartstones.”

  The news travels through the group like the flames that used to burn in the cave. The gargoyles’ responses vary from exhilarated to fearful, turning to each other, asking questions, but by far the most common is: “What does this mean?”

  “Badenoch has confirmed that one of the hearts belongs to Prime.” If that news is enough to cause a stir, the next will be worse. “The other heart belongs to Queen Incorruptible.”

  Shock ripples through the gargoyles, stunning them into silence. It’s thick and heavy around me until Jasper breaks it.

  He says, “That makes it the most deadly Heartstone, correct?”

  “But useless to Howl,” Llion says. “Only the King could have touched it.”

  Cassian speaks for the first time, lifting himself off the wall at the back. “Or someone with royal blood.”

  The other gargoyles step away from him. With everything that’s going on, I suspect they forgot he was there or who he is—Howl’s right hand. A dangerous threat in our midst. He seems content to ignore them as he strides toward me, forcing them to part as quickly as he walks.

  Cassian reaches me, his eyes blazing, towering over me, forcing me to tilt my head back. “Someone with the royal blood of a gargoyle Queen can use that Heartstone.”

  I stare up at him, confused. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”

  But my eyes widen as shocking realization shoots through me: the Storm!

  Cassian told me she was royal, that she was the heir to the throne before she became a force of nature. He’d arranged for me to see Incorruptible’s journal so I’d read it for myself.

  What if… Cassian somehow knows that the Storm has taken the form of a female with a mind, heart, thoughts, arms, legs, everything that means she can pick up a heartstone and use it. And what if… Baelen wasn’t brought to my room as some sick perversion of Howl’s but because Cassian arranged it. Maybe he knows that the Storm stays with Baelen.