"Stay close," Kaine ordered, releasing Thalia's arm to draw his own sword.The familiar ring of ice-steel leaving its sheath grounded her, pulling her back from the edge of shock.
She found her own weapon already in her hand, though she had no memory of drawing it.Her trained reflexes had outpaced her conscious mind, responding to the threat while she was still locked in disbelief.The hilt felt strange against her palm, as if she were holding someone else's blade.
Thalia's eyes remained fixed on Wolfe, who now leaned heavily against Marr's supporting arm.The arrow's black shaft protruded from her shoulder at an obscene angle, its tip having done what should have been impossible—pierced ice-steel armor as if it were parchment.Thalia had helped forge enough ice-steel in the Howling Forge to know its properties intimately; no ordinary arrow should have penetrated it, not at that distance, not with such apparent ease.
A shadow fell across the amphitheater, plunging them into premature dusk.Thalia looked up, her breath crystallizing before her as the temperature plummeted.Where a clear winter sky had stretched only moments before, storm clouds now boiled and churned, their undersides pulsing with barely contained electricity.They had formed with unnatural speed, gathering like predators drawn to blood.
"Isle Wardens," someone whispered, the words carrying in the sudden hush that fell over the crowd.
As if summoned by the name, the wind rose, shrieking across the Crystalline Plateau with a fury that tore at clothing and stung exposed skin.It lifted the fine layer of frost that perpetually covered the ground, sending it swirling in dizzying patterns.The air crackled with static, making the fine hairs on Thalia's arms stand on end beneath her armor.
"Get the first-years inside!"Marr's voice carried above the wind, his authority undiminished despite the blood staining his glass-thread cloak where he supported Wolfe."All first-year recruits, fall back to the keep!"
The wind's howl transformed into something else—a chorus of voices, unintelligible but unmistakably human, coming from the direction of the Golem Fields.Thalia turned, her grip tightening on her sword, and watched in horror as dark figures swarmed over the eastern edge of the Crystalline Plateau.
Isle Wardens.Dozens of them, clad in close-fitting leather armor of black and dark blue, their movements as fluid as the sea they commanded.They crashed through the wooden barriers of the amphitheater like a tide breaking through a failing dam, splinters flying as the structure gave way beneath their onslaught.
"Impossible," Ashe breathed beside her, echoing Thalia's own thoughts."How did they cross the Golem Fields?"
The valley stretching between Frostforge and the adjacent peaks was a graveyard of failed constructs—a maze of erratic golems, abandoned experiments, and damaged war machines.It was a kill zone that had claimed the lives of countless trespassers over the years, a natural defense augmented by generations of Frostforge's most dangerous and unpredictable creations.For the Wardens to have traversed it undetected, let alone in such numbers…
But there was no time to contemplate impossibilities.The attack was here, now, unfolding with the inexorable logic of nightmares.
"Move!"Thalia shouted, breaking free of Kaine's protective stance.All around them, the amphitheater was disintegrating—Wardens pouring through breaches in its walls, students and soldiers scrambling over benches and barriers in desperate retreat.
Through the chaos, Thalia spotted a cluster of first-year students huddled against one of the few remaining sections of wall, their young faces blank with terror.They were cut off from the main flow of retreat, trapped between a collapsed section of seating and the advancing Wardens.None of them appeared to be armed; they would have come to witness the tribunal, not to fight.
Without conscious thought, Thalia was moving toward them, her sword a comforting weight in her hand."This way!"she called, gesturing for them to follow her toward a gap in the chaos."Stay together and run for the keep!"
The students broke from their paralysis, surging toward her with the desperate energy of drowning swimmers spotting land.But as they moved, a figure detached itself from the mass of attacking Wardens, intercepting their path with predatory precision.
He was tall, his wiry frame belying the fluid strength with which he moved.His face was painted with intricate designs in blue and black, partially obscured by the hood of his cloak.In his hands, he wielded a trident made of metal so dark it seemed to swallow light rather than reflect it.
One of the first-years—a girl with braided hair and terror-wide eyes—stumbled as the Warden moved to block their escape.The others faltered, bunching together like startled deer.
Thalia's training took over, pushing fear and confusion aside.She charged forward, angling her body to intercept the Warden before he could reach the students.Her shoulder connected with his midsection in a solid check that sent him staggering back, surprise flashing across his painted features.
"Go!"she shouted to the students without taking her eyes off her opponent."Run!"
She heard their footsteps retreating, but kept her focus on the Warden, who had recovered his balance and now regarded her with something like amusement playing across his lips.He spun the trident in his hands, its wicked tines gleaming with a dull, hungry light.
"Southern girl playing soldier," he said, his accent thick, nearly intelligible."Brave but foolish."
Thalia didn't waste breath on a reply.She settled into a fighting stance, sword raised before her in the classic Frostforge defensive position—blade vertical, left foot forward, weight balanced to allow quick movement in any direction.Order continued to dissolve around them, the sounds of combat rising from all sides, but her world had narrowed to this single opponent, this immediate threat.
The Warden struck first, lunging forward with surprising speed, the trident aimed at her midsection.Thalia sidestepped, bringing her sword down in a counter-strike aimed at his extended arm.He twisted, avoiding the worst of the blow, but her blade scored a line across his leather armor.
The Warden's smile widened, teeth gleaming white against his painted face."Not bad," he acknowledged, circling to her left."But not good enough."
His next attack came from an unexpected angle, the trident sweeping toward her side.Instinct took over.Thalia raised her sword to block the strike, bracing for the impact of metal against metal.
As soon as the blade connected with the black metal of the trident, there was a sound like ice cracking.The familiar weight of her sword vanished, leaving her holding nothing but the leather-wrapped hilt.The blade had disintegrated into small shards and dust, scattered across the sparse, trampled grass at Thalia’s feet.
Thalia stared at the useless hilt in her hand, incomprehension freezing her in place for a crucial heartbeat.The Warden's triumphant laugh penetrated her shock just as he drew back the trident for a killing blow.
Time slowed as the trident descended toward her chest.She wore ice-steel armor, but it would never withstand such a direct strike from a heavy weapon—and she knew that it, too, stood no chance against this mysterious, black trident that had shattered her perfectly forged blade in a single blow.Thalia's mind raced, calculating angles of escape, but her body seemed leaden, still reeling from the impossible destruction of her blade.She had been trained to fight, to kill if necessary, but always with the assumption that her weapons would function as expected.The loss of her sword was like suddenly losing a limb—disorienting, crippling.
A blast of frigid air from beside Thalia struck the Warden squarely in the chest, knocking him backward with enough force to send him sprawling.Ice crystals formed instantly across his armor, creeping up his neck toward his painted face.
