"That's..."Kaine seemed at a loss for words, his expression a mix of awe and fierce pride."Thalia, that's incredible.You've given us a fighting chance."
She hesitated, not wanting to dampen his sudden hope."There's a cost," she admitted."The glacenite affects the mind.It causes visions and hallucinations.Fear, dread, exhaustion.It can set in immediately, and the longer you wield it, the worse it gets."
"But it works," Kaine pressed."Against the Wardens' weapons, it holds."
"It works," Thalia confirmed."But I don't know if it's enough.Not against the force you're describing."
Roran opened his mouth, likely to argue further for evacuation, but a movement on the ridge above caught Thalia's attention.A small convoy was making its way down toward the dock—three figures mounted on stocky ponies, bundled against the cold, followed by a handful of armed guards.
"Wolfe," Thalia said, recognizing the lead rider's distinctive silhouette."She must have seen the skiff approaching."
Kaine and Roran followed her gaze, their argument momentarily forgotten in the face of this new development.
"Good," Roran said after a moment."We need to tell her everything we've seen."
Thalia nodded, sheathing her glacenite blade."And show her what we've made.Then she can decide the best course of action."
But in her heart, Thalia knew that Kaine was right.Evacuating now, with so many refugees already within their walls and more arriving daily, would be nearly impossible.They would have to hold the keep—to fight with whatever weapons and strategies they could muster.
The pendant's pulse steadied against her chest, a rhythm that now felt less like a heartbeat and more like a countdown.Three days.Maybe four.Time enough to prepare, but not to escape.Not to save everyone.
As Wolfe's convoy wound its way down the mountainside, Thalia reached out, her gloved hands finding Kaine's and Roran's.She squeezed them once, briefly, a silent acknowledgment of their return and of the danger that followed in their wake.
Then she let go, straightening her shoulders as she prepared to face Wolfe and the decision that would seal their fate—to flee or to fight.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Dawn broke over Frostforge in shades of iron and ash, the sun a pale ghost behind storm clouds that hadn't been there when Thalia closed her eyes.She stood before the academy's massive portcullis, her ice-glacenite blade cold against her palm despite the leather of her gloves.The past day had blurred into a single, frantic moment—weapons distributed, battle plans hastily drawn, refugees herded to the innermost chambers.Now, as the first light crept across the fjord's still waters, Thalia wondered if any of it would be enough.
Sleep had evaded her, as it had most of Frostforge's defenders.After Wolfe had heard Roran and Kaine's report at the dock, the explanation for their mission cut short, the Head Instructor's face had hardened like the mountains themselves.Her decision had been swift and absolute: they would not abandon the academy.Not with thousands of refugees within their walls and more arriving daily, not with winter gripping the mountains in its merciless fist.They would fight.
And so they had prepared, transforming Frostforge from academy to fortress in a matter of hours.Every able-bodied person was armed—students, soldiers, even some of the hardier refugees.The forges had burned day and night, churning out glacenite weapons for those who could wield them without succumbing to the alloy's curse.Provisions were gathered, barricades erected, and escape routes secured should the worst come to pass.
All that remained was to wait.
The sky split open with a crack that shook the very stones beneath Thalia's feet.Lightning—jagged and unnatural—slashed across the heavens in strobing patterns of white and blue, too precise to be born of nature's chaos.The bolts illuminated the fjord in sharp, painful flashes, revealing the silhouettes of ships where there had been none before.
"Thalia."Kaine materialized at her side, his face grim in the lightning's glow.He'd spent the night in the forge as well, crafting weapons until his hands blistered.Now those hands gripped an ice-glacened hammer, the handle wrapped in leather to shield his skin from the alloy's malice."They're earlier than we expected."
She nodded, unable to tear her gaze from the spectacle unfolding across the water.A wall of storm—identical to the one from her glacenite-induced hallucinations—crawled across the fjord, devouring the morning light.It rose higher than the tallest mast, a living darkness that filled the valley before them, bristling with electricity.
Horns blared from the northern watchtowers—three long, mournful notes that echoed through the valley like the dying breath of giants.The signal was unmistakable: enemy forces approaching from the north.From the Golem Fields.A two-pronged attack.
"They're flanking us," she realized, the words bitter on her tongue.
"Not just from the north," Kaine said, pointing westward.
Thalia followed his gesture and felt her stomach drop.Dark shapes drifted through the storm clouds to the west—canvas balloons held aloft by wind currents that behaved too deliberately to be natural.The Wardens were manipulating the very air to position their forces.
"We're surrounded," she said, the words barely audible over the mounting wind.
"No."Kaine's voice hardened."Not yet."
Below them, the courtyard had erupted into controlled chaos.Wolfe stood at its center, her commanding voice cutting through the din as she issued orders."First and second battalions to the Crystalline plateau!Third and fourth, hold the main gate!Move!"
Squadrons broke away, racing to their assigned positions.Thalia recognized faces among them—Felah, her thin frame now covered in leather armor slightly too large for her; Daniel, his bronze skin ashen with fear, but his jaw set in determination.And there, a flash of familiar faces among the refugees she'd tried to train in swordsmanship.Thalia had forbidden the teenagers from taking up arms with the rest of Frostforge's defenders, but some of the refugees, those of fighting age, had been permitted—or required—to join.
Thalia's chest tightened.They were so unprepared, despite the hours of training she'd crammed into the past weeks.But without them, Frostforge stood little chance of repelling the invasion.
