“I will have failed to return you home if you return home as a corpse.” She pouted, but I didn’t have the time for it. “I’m off to find Khem.” Khem was one of the Aena court, and he worked in mechanics. He had invented a few useful gadgets in his tenure at the palace—but, of course, they were all at the disposal of the ice dragons, now. When he’d met Michelle, he had treated her like the princess she thought she was. Michelle had insisted that he come, naturally. She couldn’t travel without some food for her ego.
By the time Einhen wore his mantle and cap of bear fur, Khem carried the shield of his house, I’d all but forced Michelle to eat leftovers of the breakfast stew before we left, and the satchel slung over my back brimmed with furs, weapons, and food, lunch was already being prepared.
We didn’t speak as we left behind the light and noise of the shelter’s cavernous foyer. The tunnel which led above ground was claustrophobic, as the earthen walls smothered all sound and surrounded us in darkness.
It was only when we reached the wide wooden door, set into the ceiling which now crowded down against us, that any of us attempted to communicate. We all went still and exchanged glances. “It may have sealed shut again with ice,” I said. I wondered if Einhen and Khem had even seen what was out there. “It appears that the ice dragons now have control of the weather itself.”
“We know,” Khem replied, morose. “When we were driven from the city, it was a bright day. But after settling into the shelter, when we moved to return and gain information, we opened this door to the most dangerous storm of wind and ice we had ever seen.”
“And that is why you’ve stayed?” I wondered, preparing my sword to spear the slat between the door and the ceiling, cracking the ice which might have formed in the nighttime hours. “For fear of the environment?”
“We have stayed because the queen willed it so,” Einhen said.
At this, I grimaced and nodded. I was glad that she had not seen me leave.
I slammed my shoulder into the door, sending it upward against the shattering ice formed atop it.
The world outside was a blistering white.
The sun had risen a quarter into the sky. Had our days somehow lengthened? Was it not noon? Sunshine filtered onto us as pale and cold as reflections on water, trapped behind its sheen of cloud. The snow, powdery and crisp, lifted to our upper knees and thighs.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s go.”
We moved through the tundra under the shadow of clouds and trees for hours. There was no shelter; we ate as we traveled, exposed to the elements and any roaming predators. I passed Michelle a bun of wheat, and this time she did not balk. She grabbed the food and tore into it like a beast as we walked. I felt a twinge of victory at this—like the pride of a parent who had finally broken the tantrum of a willful toddler.
It was a short-lived feeling.
“Where the hell are we?” Michelle demanded, looking to me for the answer. “You don’t even have a map, Theon.”
“I hunted with my father in these wildlands for an entire season every year while the women harvested,” I explained, my voice patient with superiority. “My brother and I would chase each other on horseback through these fields, and hide in its hidden wells; I know it better than I know myself.”
Michelle grimaced, but relented. “I could go for one of those horses right about now,” was all she said.
Her gaze moved to Einhen next. He’d shown no interest in her since the voyage began, so he had unwittingly become her latest target. “Why do you keep doing that?” she asked, gesturing to his face, tilted up toward the opaque sky.
“There are fleeting slivers of stars revealed when the clouds part,” he answered her, not turning from the sky, blinking away snowflakes. “I’m trying to see the planets to verify what I believe is happening.”
“And what is that?” Michelle asked sweetly.
“Their positions have altered inexplicably.” His voice was low, almost inaudible over the wailings of the wind. “Like returning to a room to find that the chess pieces on the board have been rearranged.”
“That is riveting.” Michelle paused to let her insincerity sink in. “How long do we have before we reach the city?” I had stopped counting how many times she had asked.
“I see the spires of the watchtowers now,” I informed her tersely. “We will be at the gates within the hour if we do not stop.”
Michelle had been insisting we stop as many as three times per hour so that she could cuddle with Khem and warm up again.