Page 143

“This isn’t about—” she tried to get in.

“They have their great walls, surely they don’t need us.”

She looked around wildly, seeing her grandmother had followed her in and now stood at the far side of the room. The First was just watching, waiting to see what Iryana would do. It felt like a punishment, forcing her to face the consequences of her actions.

Her family loudly proclaimed their suspicions, not even caring that the runner, a soldier from the fortress, could hear everything they said.

“Stop!” Iryana screamed, chest heaving as she stared at her clan in betrayal. “Your hatred for them is making fools of you all.”

That silenced them.

“Do you think these attacks on our post aren’t going to get worse? The entire point of this alliance is that we are stronger together!”

She locked eyes with Edvar and Kladara, then Tonhald and Teshya. “If we want the 18th to have our backs when we need it, to come when we call, then we need to help them too.” She was so desperate for them to understand.

“I’m with you, Third,” Uncle Dinhal announced, a few others nodding at his words, softening a bit. But plenty of the clan looked away, refusing to meet Iryana’s eyes as she dragged her gaze across her clan.

She didn’t have time to convince them all, and she couldn’t bring herself to force them. Not after everything with Pyetar.

Iryana squared her shoulders.

It felt weak and cowardly, but Iryana announced, “I’m going to help. Any of those willing to do the same, get your gear and meet me in the courtyard.”

Then she spun and raced to get ready.

She was grateful for the bright glow of the quarter moon and the snow that reflected it.

Uncle Dinhal, Uncle Byorsh, Levek, and Tonhald most surprisingly, plus a few of the village fighters, had all joined her. It was a bigger group than she’d expected. They raced out of the Yuresh Valley as fast as they could manage, taking the packed trail that followed the frozen river. The snow wasn’t as deep over the ice, the wind constantly blowing it toward the shore, but it was more exposed. As she expected, the dakii were all at the fortress and not in the valley.

She had managed to get a few more details from the runner, mostly that the fighting was just outside the wall. And that there were all sorts of monstrous creatures involved. Fear propelled her faster than was probably wise.

It was the middle of the night when they neared the fortress, and Iryana was terrified of what she might find.

She heard groaning and cracking before they even emerged from the trees.

They stopped short when they came to the river, the fort looming on the bank across from them. Large chunks of ice had been ripped out of the river, and what was left moaned and creaked. She caught glimpses of a pale, scaled creature knocking through the ice from below.

The rope crossing would have been taken down given the ice and the new threats. So they raced for an undisturbed part of the ice, but the pale creature was there, hissing at them and destroying their path.

“It doesn’t want us to cross,” Iryana gasped. She didn’t know whose side Voordiza was on, but the river creature undoubtedly belonged to the goddess of water.

“I think there’s only one,” Uncle Dinhal pointed out.

Levek immediately caught on. “We split up then. We just have to time it right.”

They split in two, one group leading toward a bridge of ice and drawing the monster. The moment it was preoccupied with breaking up that way across, the other group darted across. Then they lured the creature back toward them, letting the others make it too.

The moment they were all on the right side of the river, Iryana led them around the great wooden wall, signaling the few remaining soldiers on the wall-walk. They pointed toward the main gate.

Then Iryana finally got eyes on the fighting, and she couldn’t help but gasp. There were so many monsters. She tried to analyze what she saw as they raced toward them. It felt like she moved so slowly in the snow.

She finally saw Noshtiz’s creatures—that was the only thing they could be. Huge creatures larger than the dakii—like oversized badgers but with metallic spikes down their backs—were trying to get into the fortress. Some headed for the gate, others kept trying to dig beneath it, sending snow and dirt flying into the air. There were only a few left, but there were dozens of dakii.

Several of Limhiz’s armored bears fought the dakii and the badgers, clearly trying to protect the humans. The dakii didn’t seem to care who they were fighting, the badgers or the soldiers of the 18th. They were just carnage, ripping and shredding, fur that was almost silver in the moonlight splattered with red.

The soldiers fought back. Arrows and other projectiles rained down from the top of the wall. Soldiers fought at its base, but they were so much smaller than the rest, so much more hindered by the snow and cold. Yet she understood why they hadn’t stayed behind their walls. The wall wasn’t as helpful against creatures who could just dig beneath it.

The fight had clearly been migrating based on the patches of ripped up snow, splatters of black, red, and gray, and the piles of bodies, soldier and monster alike.