A Queen of Ice (A Trial of Sorcerers #5)

Chapter 11

11

A small group stood before the wall at the western edge of Qwint. It was the same wall that wrapped around the entirety of the city in a protective embrace. From the ground, Eira realized once more just how imposing the structure was. It was twice as impressive as any of the towering buildings in the heart of Qwint. She hadn’t fully appreciated just how fortified it was when she’d entered the city by sea, given the circumstances of her entry.

The group was an assembly of familiar faces, new acquaintances, and men and women whose names Eira hadn’t bothered to learn. Lavette and Yonlin stood off to one side behind them with the contingent of ministers who had regarded them warmly—even who had gone out of their way to escort them from the front door of Lavette’s building. Opposite them were a group of ministers who looked far more skeptical. They were here to see if Eira got cold feet, no doubt. Drogol’s ally was among them. Knights that fanned before them.

Of all the people present, Eira, Cullen, Olivin, Alyss, Yonlin, and Ducot were the ones who were prepared to venture forth. They all had a pack of essentials weighing down their shoulders.

“Three days,” Morova reminded them for what was the tenth, maybe fifteenth, time. “Based on our intelligence, Carsovia will be moving their prisoners now, which means they will cross through the main road just west of here in one to two days. That will be?—”

“Our best chance,” Eira finished with a determined nod. Drogol’s ally had worked her magic on the Hall of Ministers after Eira had left, securing their mission to focus on retrieving Allun. “Our supplies will last only three days,” she echoed something else they had told her. Though, Eira suspected they could make a fourth day stretch, if they had to. “We’ll be back in time.”

“We will only open the door on the dawn of the fourth day, so do ensure that you are,” Drogol’s ally said curtly.

Eira gave a slight dip of her chin.

Their goodbyes were brief; most of the parting had happened the night before, along with their planning.

Fen would be taking the ministers to Solaris. He knew the Shattered Isles and Adela’s routes within them—he could avoid her so there were no unfortunate crossing of paths. And if they did happen upon the pirate queen, Fen could ensure that they made it out alive.

Crow might be a better choice for coercing Adela, given how close she was with the pirate queen. But it was precisely because of that proximity that Eira wanted Crow watching over their ship in the harbor. It had been relinquished from Qwint’s control, but Eira knew that it wouldn’t take much for the ministers to decide to reclaim it. And, should that happen, Eira trusted Crow to do what was necessary to keep their vessel safe.

As for Lavette, she was going to stay as their eyes and ears with the ministers. Varren wasn’t about to leave her side…especially not to return to Carsovia. And none of them were about to ask him to do anything otherwise.

The farewells were brief. When Eira shifted from giving Crow hasty reminders, Lavette took her hand. Without warning, she pulled Eira close, arms going around her shoulders, holding her tightly. Eira hadn’t thought they were the sort to share tearful embraces, but?—

“They’re telling you three days, but you have two,” she whispered hastily. “I heard rumors of it this morning. They’ll move to deem you dead before full time is up. I’ll stall as I’m able. Be early.”

“Thank you.” That was all the gratitude Eira could offer for the warning. If they clung to each other much longer it’d look suspicious.

“This way.” The leader of the knights before them gestured with a nod of his head and guided them toward the wall.

The rest of them stayed back at the city’s edge, watching as they ventured into the strip of barren earth between the vertical buildings and steep wall. No architect dared to venture too close. No citizen would consider living within a breath of Carsovia’s border. It was as if the earth itself was poisoned.

An arm snaked through hers. Alyss took a step closer.

“We have to do this,” Alyss whispered. Though, Eira didn’t know if the solemn reminder was for her, or if Alyss spoke for herself. Eira tensed her bicep and Alyss’s eyes swung her way.

Eira inhaled sharply. Somehow, in a breath, she saw Noelle standing there. Looking up at her, questioning that unending wondering.

Why?

“We’re going to be fine,” Eira whispered to Alyss. “ All of us.” I’m not about to lose another friend .

“I know,” Alyss mouthed more than spoke. She dared a brave smile. But it didn’t reach her eyes. “It’s just another thing to get over with.”

“And we’ll be stronger for it.”

“One of these days, I’ll have enough strength and won’t need it tested.” Alyss laughed softly. “I’d be fine if that day came sooner over later.”

Rather than guiding them through the formidable steel gates that dominated the sheer face of the wall, the knights led them to the side. The one in charge rotated his bracelets, glancing back at them, as if resenting them for making him share this secret. Pursing his lips, he snapped his fingers, and the stone rippled and redesigned itself, retreating like a curtain to reveal a narrow stair that led down beneath the wall.

“Carsovia always has knights trained on the gate,” the knight explained as they descended into the darkness. Eira drew in a breath, about to ask Noelle for light. Instead, the air burned her lungs, the question unasked, as a glyph flickered into existence over Olivin’s shoulder. “The moment it opens, they’ll strike.”

The stairs ended at a landing, barely large enough for all of them to cram into. Opposite the last stair was a dark hole, a single steel rung of a ladder glinting in the light of Olivin’s glyph.

“Down that way. There’s only one passage. You’ll go down before up again. Be careful with your magic; you don’t want them to sense you.” The knight stepped back onto the stairs, paused, and glanced over his shoulder. “Good luck.” With that minimal encouragement, the knight left them, starting back up the stairs, as if he were all too ready to leave them behind.

“Shall we?” Eira looked to the start of the ladder.

“I’ll go first,” Alyss offered. “That way if we’re in a real pinch, I can sort the stone.”

“You heard him about magic.” Olivin glanced at his small, spinning glyph.

“I’m not going to let us—” Alyss stopped short. “I won’t let us die. We’ll be careful, but safe.”

“I’ll take up the rear, then,” Ducot said. “My magic is more of a blunt tool than yours, but it’ll work in a pinch.”

They were more words than Eira had heard from him in weeks. Perhaps having a mission was what they all needed. Especially when that mission involved an opportunity to fight against Carsovia once more.

Had they taken on this task truly because they had to, or because they were all ready for any excuse to fight? The question followed her down into the depths. That was one of the many bright spots to her future with Adela. There would always be a distraction whenever she needed one so long as she kept pushing forward.

The deep tunnels started out narrow and condensed into suffocating. The air was thick and stale, a poignant blend of earth, the sweat that rolled off them, and lingering dread from whatever poor souls had slowly carved out this place with pickaxes. Each of the walls bore the scars of their labors: toiling in the dark, using physical effort over magical for fear of discovery.

“Brace yourselves,” Alyss whispered, somehow sounding both near and far at the same time. Sound played oddly off the damp walls. “Narrow, here.”

Even with the warning, the tunnel condensing around Eira threatened to squeeze out her breath. It was as if the earth had swallowed them whole, gulping them down past one jagged wall at a time. Yonlin’s ragged breathing was the first sign of the panic that was beginning to thread through them.

“Yonlin.”

Eira looked over her shoulder, the worry in the way Olivin said his brother’s name sparking fear within her. Something was wrong .

“Yonlin,” Olivin whispered, hastier than the last.

It was almost impossible to see Yonlin with how narrow the cave had become. He was on the other side of Olivin and the long shadows that the glyph cast almost completely obscured him.

“Yonlin, what is it? What’s wrong?” Olivin’s panic rose in time with his brother’s ragged and hasty breaths.

“Dark… Small…” Yonlin rasped. “No way…out.”

The words struck Eira at her core. In that second, she understood.

“Alyss, widen the cavern,” Olivin demanded.

“But the magic…” Alyss was understandably uncertain.

“Alyss—” Olivin’s tone was so harsh it was almost a growl.

“Yonlin,” Eira interrupted him. She still couldn’t quite see the young man. But his hasty breaths continued, every exhale filling the passage with hot panic. “Yonlin,” Eira repeated, a little louder.

A sharp inhale, a pause. Eira slid her hand across the wall, wedging it between the rock and Olivin’s stomach. He tried to move to give her space, but there was nowhere to go. Even her level head was threatened by the reminder of just how tight the passage was. How long they’d been still. The claustrophobic heat from just their bodies made her dizzy.

“Yonlin,” she said again, her hand breaking through flesh and rock to make it to the other side. Stone pressed into her wrist, sending pins and numbness up the length of her arm. “Here.”

He sucked in air and didn’t immediately exhale. Eira held her breath, too, stretching as far as she could. Some shifting. Two fingers brushed against hers and Eira hooked them as though she were his only lifeline—afraid that if she let him go now, he would be lost to them.

The golden light of Olivin’s glyph reflected off of two eyes that turned to her. Eira could only see one, but she focused on it with the same intensity with which she still hooked his fingers.

“You’re not there.” She emphasized every word and all the other unsaid meanings that were wedged between them. “They don’t have you anymore. And they never will ever again.”

His breathing leveled and his fingers squeezed hers in return.

“I have you— we have you. You’re safe.”

“Thank you.” His words were barely audible.

“You can do this,” she reassured him before withdrawing.

“Eira?” Alyss asked.

“We’re fine. Press on.” Eira confidently spoke for Yonlin. She could confidently surmise what he was feeling—a potent mix of misplaced shame and heady determination.

After what felt like an eternity, the tunnel opened up once more. The covert passage was long and tedious, but safe. So none of them were in any hurry to rush the process. The faint echoes of their footfalls were in chorus with the plops of water.

They reached the end. It was a curve of stone that the faintest glint of pale sunlight ran along the edge of. One last, narrow zigzag of passage and they’d be out. Back into enemy territory.