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“Dig for survivors!” she screamed, voice hoarse. Anyone caught beneath the snow wouldn’t have long before they suffocated. Their shields would buy them some time, if they’d been able to form them before the snow crashed down on them, but it wouldn’t be long.

One of the water-forged immediately joined her, a sky-blue ball forming in her hands. She climbed, stumbling over the snow with one hand, staring at the ball held in the other.

“Here!” the seer called, directing those starting to help them dig.

Iryana almost cried with relief as they pulled someone out of the snow.

More joined the search, the water-forged leading them as best they could with intuition or forgings. They pulled more and more from the snow, but as the minutes ticked by, the dead outnumbered the living, until all they were doing was pulling out bodies.

She felt dead inside.

They shouldn’t have waited, should have left as soon as the avalanche risk was discovered. These deaths were on her.

Sliding off the pile of snow, Iryana steeled herself. There was no time to fall apart.

Iryana ran into the other leaders right outside the temple. They were all breathless, faces grave. Guilt wracked through her.

“We can’t stay here,” she gasped, unable to think of anything else. “We should have already left…”

“We all agreed before,” Pyetar cut in quickly. “It was a calculated risk and we all bear the weight of this.”

She offered him a small smile. It helped a small, very small, amount.

“We move forward,” one of the water settlement leaders stated.

They all nodded. It was all they could do.

Pyetar sucked in a breath. “We need to get people calmed down and figure out the best way to get to the caves as safely as possible.”

“Then we meet in a couple hours? Make a plan?” Rakoshya suggested.

“Yes, I’ll bring the maps,” Pyetar said heavily.

Iryana took a shaky breath. “Have everyone start preparing now. We head out first thing in the morning.” She had to do better. Had to fix this.

Chapter Forty-Four

The First stayed in her room while Iryana went to inform the rest of the clan. It took a while to gather them all, plenty of time for Iryana to worry how they’d take it. Her whole body was tense, her breathing erratic, but she smoothed her face.

They had squeezed into one of the bunk rooms where most of the clan had been sleeping, people sitting on beds and leaning against the walls. They all looked rattled from the avalanche.

She decided to just get it over with. “We obviously can’t stay.”

The change in the room was sudden and extreme.

“There are some ice caves higher in the mountains that are our best chance of riding this out,” Iryana explained quickly. “We will be more exposed to the dakii and have to hike along some less-than-ideal ledges and through a crevasse field, but we should be able to make it by the day after tomorrow if we leave early in the morning.”

They all knew the dangers of being on crevasse fields, where the snow could obscure deep chasms and cracks in the ice. To cross those, especially with the earth shaking as it was, could be deadly.

“Is that really safer?” Tonhald asked, holding his wife and daughter close. He looked pale.

Iryana winced. “Safer than here. With Limhiz’s staff, the ice caves will hold and keep us safe from any avalanches. I won’t say getting there won’t be dangerous. It will be.”

“Who determined it’s more dangerous here?” Uncle Dinhal asked.

“Some of the 18th’s scouts have been—”

“Can we trust them?” Darsha interrupted, Edvar adding, “The 18th came from lower in the valley. Didn’t they? What do they know of these mountains and avalanches?”