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“Hyto’s collar.” I motioned Hanna over to sit beside me. “This woman saved my life. She’s to thank for me escaping.”
“We’ll take you home as soon as you’re ready to travel. And we’ll get that collar off you.” Roz stroked my hair back away from my face. I pressed my lips together.
“Where’s Smoky?” I looked up at him, dreading yet needing to know the answer.
“Looking for you. He’s on the rampage. He went to the Dragon Reaches to find out what he could about Hyto . . .”
I turned to Vanzir. “The other night . . . I don’t know when—I’ve lost track of the time—you came to me . . .”
“I still don’t know how I got out there, but when you told me you were in a cavern near the Skirts of Hel, I remembered what Iris had said about her journey and thought that maybe . . . just maybe . . . so Roz and Shade brought me along with them.”
“We weren’t quite sure where to look, so we have been looking as we came up the mountain from the portals,” Roz said. “You told Vanzir near the Skirts of Hel, but we weren’t sure in which direction. It took some doing to get our bearings, but it helped that I’d been here before.”
“We have to get out of here.” I struggled to sit up. “I can’t let my presence put Howl’s people in danger.” The Elemental Lord would be able to handle Hyto, but his people weren’t quite as powerful as he was.
“Lady Camille, it is true you are a threat here, but we will not ask you to leave until you are ready,” Kitää said. She pressed a mug of soup into Hanna’s hand and gave us soft bread and meat. We both gulped down the food, along with big steins of heady beer.
I wiped the crumbs off my mouth. “I need to get home. Hanna—you’d better come with me. If Hyto finds you, he’ll kill you. I don’t know if you can adjust to life over Earthside, but until we’ve somehow managed to destroy Smoky’s father, you need protection.”
“I’m not the one he’s after,” she said, softly brushing a stray strand of hair out of my face. “My dear, I’ve done what I set out to do—help you escape. I really haven’t thought further than that. I thought I might search for my daughters . . . in hopes they still live.”
I grabbed her hand. “You don’t dare run off now. Hyto will seek you out, and he will kill you for your part in this. Do you want to chance your daughters’ lives to him? At least come with me until we’ve found a way to deal with him.”
She smiled softly, then knelt by my side. “You are a caring woman. I hope I can call you my friend.” Then, after a pause, she added, “Yes, I will come with you. Warn me of things I need to be aware of. I’ve heard that Earthside has wonders unheard of in the Northlands and in Otherworld, but I will miss my home.”>We took turns guarding each other as we stepped outside the snow fort to relieve ourselves, and then we spread out our cloaks and snuggled beneath them to generate as much warmth as we could. We didn’t dare build a fire, but the snow packed around the sides sheltered us from the worst of the wind, and if we lay facing each other, we were warmed by each other’s breath.
Sleep did not come easy and neither of us felt like talking, so we dozed, listening to the howl of wolves in the distance. Shortly after moonrise, I woke, sensing something was going on. I slowly peeked over the edges of the fort, up the slope toward Hyto’s cave.
Fire. Fire was burning near the top of the mountain. I could vaguely make out where it was coming from—sparks were lighting up the sky near the cave. Hyto had returned and discovered we were gone.
I quickly woke Hanna and we scooted as far back in the shadow of the boulders as possible. My stomach lurched as we watched the pyrotechnics. I tried to keep my thoughts away from what might happen if he found us. A low rumble and we could hear the sound of a small avalanche racing down the slope, but I searched, reaching out, and could feel that it wasn’t heading toward us, so we stayed put. Hyto must have set it off in his anger.
Another flare and the upper forests began to burn. A loud roar filled the air—this time Hyto rather than tumbling snow. It echoed all the way down the mountain to where we were, and it took everything I had to keep from screaming. I began to cry, silently, the tears freezing on my face. As my shoulders shook, Hanna drew me into her arms and I hid my face against her shoulder.
We clung to each other through the night, unable to sleep, as the show continued. Toward morning, before dawn hit, she leaned close and whispered, “We should go. Now, before first light. We may have a chance to cross the glacier in the mists . . . if we wait till they clear, he’ll see us.”
I nodded, staring out across the wide ice fields. The mist was thick; it would be dangerous, but we had no choice. My stomach lurched as she pressed another piece of bread and some jerky into my hands, but I knew we’d need the fuel and so I ate, chewing mindlessly, forcing it down my throat.
“Do you think he can find me from this collar?” I tugged on the fucking leash around my neck.
“I don’t know,” Hanna said. “I just know I don’t want to chance cutting it off you and having some spell kill you or something.”
When we finished, we packed up our rucksacks and headed out, cautiously creeping over the sides of our fort, trying to keep low to the ground. We skirted through the fields, from boulder to boulder, crouching as we went.
The rocks from the alluvial deposits were sharp and dangerous, and more than once, my ankle began to turn before I caught myself. The mist rose in swirls, like ghostly sentinels, and now and then I’d hear snuffles and movements in the fog, but we couldn’t stop, couldn’t chance finding out what they were. We had to reach Howl’s cave before Hyto decided to fly lower.
The upper tier of forest was burning brightly, even in the new snow that had begun to fall, and I bit my lip, feeling a hollow sadness at the loss of the woodland. Hyto didn’t give a fuck about the land, about the creatures who might be making their homes in the forest. All he cared about was his rage.
Another hour and we paused for a quick rest. The mist was starting to lift, even as the snowfall was growing deeper. With a ragged pant against the cold, I tried to gauge how long till we were near Howl’s cave. It couldn’t be that far away. And then I glanced up and saw the opening to Hel’s Gate. Iris had confronted Vikkommin there and destroyed him for good. We were near.
“Hurry,” I whispered. “We’re almost there. We have to hurry.”
We slid down the icy slope, crossing as fast as we dared. And then a roar filled the air again, and I glanced back at the mountain.
“Hyto! He’s out and searching. Hurry!”
Hanna said nothing, just pushed ahead as we scrambled forward, trying to keep our footing on the slippery glacier. I fell once, but she yanked me back up, and even though the jarring pain in my wrist told me I’d broken my little finger, I ignored it, biting back the pain. My forehead had hit a sharp rock, but I’d only grazed myself and drops of blood were streaking down my cheek.
Hanna tripped next, and despite the pain in my finger, I helped her up as we scrabbled for footing. We were almost off the glacial field when a noise in front of us took us by surprise.
