"A few minutes," Thalia conceded."Just to see how it affects you."
She retrieved her glacenite sword and offered it to Zanaya.The girl took it with both hands, adjusting her grip clumsily.The blade dwarfed her, but she held it steady, her thin arms surprisingly strong.
Zanaya gave the sword an experimental swing, the motion awkward but earnest.Then another.And another.Her face remained composed, focused on the weight and balance of the weapon rather than any unseen terror.
Eventually, Thalia cleared her throat."Do you feel anything?"she asked."Like the blade is draining your energy?Do you hear anything strange?"
Zanaya shook her head."No.Should I?"
Thalia exchanged a glance with Brynn, whose eyebrows had risen in surprise."The glacenite causes hallucinations," she said."Even if they're taking a while to set in, you should be feeling their effects to some degree."
One of the other refugees stepped forward—a boy with a scar running down his cheek."Let me try," he said.
Felah, watching with wary eyes, held out her glacenite sword.The boy took it and mimicked Zanaya's motions, his form equally unrefined, but his expression clear and focused.
"Nothing," he confirmed after around a minute of waving the blade."It feels like any other sword."
One by one, the refugees tried the glacenite weapons.None of them showed any signs of the distress that had afflicted Thalia and her companions.They wielded the blades awkwardly, inexpertly, but without fear.
"How is this possible?"Ashe murmured, watching as a girl no older than fourteen parried an imaginary blow with Rasmus's sword.
Thalia studied their faces—the hollow cheeks, the shadows beneath their eyes, the wariness that never quite left their expressions.And suddenly, she understood.
"Their nightmares are more recent," she said quietly."The fall of Verdant Port.The Wardens.Death and destruction all around them.What more can the glacenite show them that they haven't already seen in these past months?"
Brynn nodded slowly."Constant fear has dulled the alloy's mental toll.They're...inoculated against it."
"Let them train with us," Thalia decided."If they can use the glacenite without suffering its effects, they might be our best defense against the next attack."
The refugees formed pairs, mirroring the stance and basic movements that Thalia demonstrated.Their enthusiasm was palpable, but their inexperience was equally evident.Footwork that should have been fluid was clumsy and hesitant.Guards were held too high or too low.Strikes lacked power and precision.
Thalia paced along the sidelines, calling out corrections and feeling the pressure mount with each passing moment.They might withstand the weapon's curse, but without proper technique, they'd be cut down in seconds against a trained Warden.
"Zanaya, keep your elbow in!You're exposing your side," she called, then pivoted toward another pair."Don't lock your knees.Stay flexible, ready to move."
Brynn appeared at her side, watching the chaotic practice with a critical eye."Frostforge's defenses are fractured," she murmured."Half our fighters are too green, the rest are too vulnerable to the alloy's effects."
"We have no choice but to work with what we have," Thalia replied, though she couldn't deny the truth of Brynn's words.
"The Wardens won't wait for us to be ready."
"I know."
They watched in silence as the refugees continued their awkward drills.Despite their determination, it was clear that they were far from combat-ready.Weeks of training might give them a fighting chance, but Thalia doubted they had weeks.
Finally, as the sun climbed higher in the sky, she called a halt to the training.Weapons were lowered, and breaths came ragged in the cold air.Felah and Rasmus staggered away, pale and sweating, the lingering effects of the glacenite still evident in their unsteady movements.The refugees stood tired but steady, unmarked by the alloy's mental assault.
Thalia stripped off her gloves, her fingers stiff with cold.They still weren't ready.The Wardens' next assault would test every weakness she'd seen today, and she wasn't confident they would survive it.
A sudden, rhythmic thrum against her chest pulled her from her thoughts.The pendant Kaine had given her pulsed with a steady beat, warm against her skin.She pressed her palm against it, feeling the metal vibrate with life.
Kaine.Her fingers closed around the pendant.
The pendant's pulse was strong and regular, and at once, Thalia knew what it meant.He was alive.He was out there.And somehow, inexplicably, Thalia knew that the rhythm that ticked within the pendant, like a small, metallic heartbeat, was a deliberate signal from him.
He was returning to Frostforge.He was close.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
