She glared daggers at him as she watched him move away, feeling like he’d just ruined her perfect sunset. She took a moment before setting off after him. She hated to leave her view of the sunsets but was even less keen to walk the stairs at night. So she hurried after Rhyn as they began to walk across the flat plain between the castellum and the cliff edge.
Rhyn was silent as they walked, which wasn’t surprising. Sloane wished he’d talk to her though. There was still so much she didn’t know about Ellysia, that she was desperate to understand, and Kai had told her that Rhyn held all the answers.
She had no idea how to ask him though, so she was surprised when he spoke to her first. ‘Why are you so desperate to go back to your people?’ he asked.
Sloane was surprised by his question. ‘I would’ve thought it was obvious,’ she responded.
He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. I was in the World of the Woods when you crashed. I watched your camp when you first arrived. The men looked at you like you were vermin, even after you went back for the man who was injured. The rest would’ve left him for dead. Why would you want to go back to that?’
‘You were there all that time?’ Sloane asked.
He nodded and waited for her answer.
Sloane paused as she tried to think of how to answer. ‘I did something before we landed, which those men all held against me. I was never meant to come to the World of the Woods, and they were angry that I did. Those men aren’t the reason I wish to return.’
‘Then what is?’ he asked.
‘My brother and sister,’ she replied. She didn’t want to talk about them with him. She didn’t want to talk about any part of her life with him, so she shut her mouth and refused to say any more on the subject.
‘Why were you in the World of the Woods?’ she asked, attempting to deflect any further scrutiny of her life.
‘We get certain items from over there. Trees don’t grow easily in our world so it’s mostly wood for our shelters and tinder for our fires. I was leading a supply party when I saw your ship crash. I sent the others back and came to investigate.’
‘Why did you watch us for so long?’
Rhyn stopped to look at her. ‘Wouldn’t you do the same?’
He had her there. She would’ve done exactly the same if their situations had been switched. ‘And you really didn’t take the other team?’
‘No,’ he replied, quietly.
Her shoulders slouched and she turned away from him, looking towards the stairs they’d arrived at. The suns had disappeared, and dusk was quickly fading into night. She could see the stars beginning to awaken overhead, and it was growing increasingly difficult to see. The treacherous areas on the steps had already become impossible to discern. In another ten minutes it would probably be hard to see the steps at all.
She glanced back towards the castellum. The frozen castle was glowing, and its walls sparkled like one of the stars in the night’s sky. She felt like they should probably turn back and wait until morning. Rhyn must be mad to want to attempt the steps right now.
‘I’ll go first,’ Rhyn said, moving towards the top step. ‘Put your hands on my shoulders and follow me down. I know these steps better than I know the lines on the backs of my hands, and you will struggle without my help.’
If Rhyn was game to try the stairs, she didn’t want to chicken out, but placing her hands on his shoulders felt all kinds of wrong. She clenched her teeth together and did it anyway. She didn’t enjoy showing weakness, but she also didn’t have a death wish. She wouldn’t make it down alive without his help.
‘Don’t let go,’ he said, as she touched her hands down on his shoulders.
They took the stairs slowly, though she suspected it was for her benefit rather than his. Rhyn was steady and sure as he moved, and it made her despise him a little more.
She tried to hold her hands lightly on his shoulders and hoped she wouldn’t need to use him to steady herself. This made her move stubbornly slow, as she attempted to prove she didn’t need his help.
Neither spoke as they descended, and Sloane focused all of her energy on the challenge the stairs provided her.
When she neared the bottom of the staircase she smiled. She hadn’t once needed his help. She lifted her hands off his shoulders, feeling more certain of herself. She was about to tell him she’d be fine the rest of the way, when her foot slipped on the edge of the icy step below. She fell forwards, gasping as she tumbled down the steps and towards the sheer cliff face that lay only a few feet away.
Rhyn had already moved and was a step ahead of her, but he turned so quickly, moving unnaturally fast, and managed to catch her in his arms.
Her heart hammered with shock, and she could feel the adrenaline pulsing through her body. For one quick instant, she had felt certain she was going to die, and the surprise still hummed through her veins.
It took her a moment before she registered she was in Rhyn’s arms, and she quickly righted herself, though Rhyn still held her by both of her elbows.
‘I told you not to let go,’ he said. There was no hard edge to his voice as she might have expected. He almost seemed as shocked as she was that she had slipped. He coughed, clearing his throat. ‘Are you ready to keep going? We’re nearly at the path now.’
She wondered what he’d do if she said no but had no inclination to find out. She wouldn’t be bested by a set of stairs. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said, her voice softer and more fragile than she’d intended.
He placed her hands on his shoulders and continued down the stairs. He was slower this time, clearly thinking she was incapable of making it the rest of the way down without falling again. She would normally be livid at him for treating her that way, but she was too shaken to complain.
When they made it to the pathway, Sloane took her hands from his shoulders so quickly it was as if his back were made of fire. She refused Rhyn’s offered hand. Instead, she stubbornly placed her hand against the rock wall to steady her as she went.
Her progress along the small goat track back to the village was painfully slow. She was getting tired now and just wanted the whole experience to be over and done with. She was shaken from her fall and felt besieged by a series of vulnerable emotions that coursed through her. She passionately hated feeling anything less than strong, and she especially disliked that Rhyn had seen her that way.
They turned a corner and before them lay the white snow of the valley, shimmering faintly under the moonlight. Small red glows of firelight could be seen emanating from the huts in the village and wisps of smoke reached up for the stars high above.
Sloane stopped for a moment to collect herself. She chewed down on her lower lip and took several steadying breaths. She was being silly. Of all the dangers she’d faced in her life, tumbling down some stairs was nothing.
She jumped as Rhyn placed his hand on her arm. For a second, she’d forgotten he was even there. ‘We need to get you back to the hut,’ he said.
She nodded and allowed him to guide her back. When her eyes landed on Orelle’s small hut she sighed with relief. She never thought she’d be glad to see the place, and for once she couldn’t wait to return to its confines.
Orelle must’ve heard them approach because she came to the front of the hut as they walked up the pathway.
‘Sorry we are so late, Mother. The stairs were quite treacherous tonight and took some time to navigate.’
Sloane glanced up at Rhyn’s face as he said this. She was surprised he didn’t gloat over Sloane’s fall or explain to Orelle that she was the reason for the hold up.
‘I will leave you here,’ he told Sloane, before turning and walking back down the path.
She watched him walk away from the hut’s light and disappear into the darkness. Tonight she’d seen a different side to him, and she didn’t totally hate it. That didn’t mean she had to like him though. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked up to the stars.
She pushed her feelings down and pulled o
n the strength she felt in her core. She would not be weak. She would not allow a few minor mishaps to make her feel anything less than strong. After all, today hadn’t been a total disaster. Rhyn was considering giving her some freedom, and once she had that she could start searching for a way to escape. She frowned as the thought entered her mind. Since when had she sat back and waited for anyone to make decisions about her life?
She didn’t like the idea of waiting for Rhyn to make up his mind, and she especially despised the thought of putting off her search for the rift. She’d always taken charge of her life, and she didn’t need Rhyn commanding her freedom. No, freedom was something she needed to take for herself.
She had to take action and, after the eventful day they’d had, Rhyn would never guess that she would try anything tonight. She felt a thrill at the thought of the possibilities before her. Any tiredness she felt disappeared and excitement coursed through her. Trying to find the rift would be risky, but she’d been trapped for long enough and she already knew exactly where she wanted to start her search.
***
In the cold shadows of darkness, Rhyn watched the human girl as she stared up at the stars. There was something so vulnerable about her as she huddled her arms around her chest, her face uplifted, with the moonlight glowing down upon her bright, almost white hair. All of her bravado was gone, and the cold animosity that normally occupied her expression when he was around was stripped away.
There was something about her that was beautiful, in the moments when nobody else was around. In those precious moments, when her guard was down, her expression softened and the cold, hard determination she always wore, like a suit of armour, disappeared.
She was the reason he had stayed to watch the human’s camp when they had crashed in the woods. He had found himself intrigued by her and couldn’t understand the animosity her people held towards her when she’d done so much to help them. He understood it a little better now that he’d spent some time with her. The girl was impossible to be around.
When he had finally run out of excuses for watching her camp and decided to leave, she had followed him. She was surprisingly good at tracking, and even better at moving silently through the woods. He hadn’t even realised she was following him until it was too late. Once she’d seen the rift, he only had a handful of options. Returning her to her people was not one of them.
He’d been stupid to knock her out and bring her back. He wasn’t even certain why he’d done it at the time. His father would have wanted him to kill the girl. But, when it came to it, he couldn’t do it. Lying there unconscious, she looked so beautiful and vulnerable that he couldn’t end her life. So he’d done the only thing he could and took her with him.
Now there was no undoing what he’d done and no way back. He couldn’t let her go; not now that she’d seen the rift and entered their world. She’d bring her people back in droves, and he couldn’t risk it. No, she’d have to stay there and learn to live with his people, whether she liked it or not.
He couldn’t understand her, but more importantly, he couldn’t understand how he felt about her. When he was with her, he couldn’t tolerate her. But as soon as he left, he found himself wanting to return. It was the oddest feeling he’d ever had, and he found himself slightly obsessing over it.
Her face began to transform as she lowered her eyes from the sky and turned towards the hut. Her walls were back in place and there was a look of cunning determination in her eyes. He would have to tell the glacies to be extra careful on their watch of her tonight.
He had to remember she was his prisoner there and, despite any weaknesses she had shown tonight, she was a fighter and would relish in the opportunity to stick a dagger in his back. Although, she had clearly failed earlier today.
He laughed softly to himself as he recalled the look of joy on her face when she’d managed to get a sword to his neck. Then, the look of total loathing that had covered her features when he outmanoeuvred her. He was glad she didn’t go and ruin things by killing him.
As he turned and began his trek to Kai’s hut on the other side of the village, he tried to remind himself that Sloane wanted nothing more than to escape his world and get as far away from him as possible. But, his mind kept picturing the beautiful girl who stood there gazing at the stars as if they were lost lovers.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It was the middle of the night by the time Orelle went to sleep. Sloane lay in bed for hours waiting for her to return to her room and longer still for her breathing to become steady as she slipped into slumber. When she finally heard that same deep breathing continue for several minutes, Sloane eased herself from the bed and tiptoed across the floor.
She moved as quietly as possible, creeping from the bedroom and through the living area of the small hut. It was dim, with only the long dead embers of the fire to light her way, but her eyes were keen and she made it to the entrance of the hut with ease.
She paused by the long table at the entrance, before backtracking to a set of small drawers. She fished out a long knife from the top draw and then quietly eased it shut. The knife had good weight behind it, and she felt more comfortable with it in her hand as she pulled back the pelt at the entrance.
The glacies were both by the front of the hut when she walked outside. Their feathers hackled on sight and Sloane whispered, ‘mientuh,’ which she’d heard Orelle use several times to calm the beasts.
The two creatures didn’t calm though, as she’d expected. Instead, they ruffled their feathers and stood, towering over her.
‘I hope this works,’ she muttered, reaching for her back pocket.
One of the glacies cocked its head as it looked at Sloane, then flapped its feathers feverously as she removed several pieces of rashi. The pieces glowed gently in her hand, and the two birds clacked excitedly as she moved towards them with the food.
She threw the rashi in the air and over into a snowdrift away from the house. The glacies dove towards the food, fighting each other in their eagerness to get to it.
Sloane rushed to move past them while their attention was diverted and then began to run when she heard them quieten down. She hoped they wouldn’t come after her, and she tried to put as much distance as possible between the creatures and herself before they could realise she was gone.
She glanced over her shoulder when she reached the bottom of the path that led from Orelle’s hut. There was no sign of the glacies behind her and she felt confident that since she couldn’t hear them, they weren’t following her. She slowed her pace to a walk and took a heavy breath before decisively turning onto the valley trail. Her heart beat a little faster as she moved further away from the safety of the house. She was going to the ravine, and she had no idea what hidden secrets she would encounter there.
The world was so still and silent in the moonlight. There wasn’t the tiniest bit of a breeze in the valley, and Sloane felt like she could’ve heard the waves crashing against the cliffs at the other end of the village if they weren’t frozen solid. It was as if the entire world was asleep, and Sloane loved the freedom she felt as she stole through the hushed night.
Above her, the night’s sky was filled with stars, but there were no clouds to keep the warmth from daytime in, and the temperature was bitterly cold. Sloane pulled her cloak in close to her chest as she ventured closer to the ravine. Her cheeks had reddened, and her nose and ears felt the bite of the frosty air acutely, but there was nothing she could do to warm them.
She watched the path ahead of her cautiously, and held herself tightly, almost expecting a surprise attack at any moment. It wasn’t only the temperature that felt cold. It was more than that. She could almost feel the darkness of the ravine reaching out to her. There was something unnatural in there, she felt it in her bones with a dead certainty. It was unsettling, but she didn’t let it stop her. She urged herself onwards and pulled out the blade she’d pocketed from Orelle’s hut to hold lightly in her hand.
The towering cliffs loo
med ahead and in the gap between them was total darkness. As she looked closer, she could see the thick wall of ice that barricaded the ravine’s entrance and she shuddered as she took it in.
From one cliff face to the other it stretched, rising up so tall that Sloane felt certain it was there to protect something. She could make out small beacons of light moving along the top of the wall, which meant it was being manned. She paused to consider her best approach.
There were small patches of darkness on the wall, where the light from the guards’ torches failed to reach. She felt that aiming for those areas would give her the best chance of reaching the wall without being spotted. She wasn’t certain how she’d get past the wall and into the ravine, but she’d need to get closer to it to see what her options were.
Sloane was on edge as she approached the wall, yet she could feel her curiosity flaring with every step she took. What was in the ravine that needed such heavy protection? She suspected it could be the rift but didn’t want to get her hopes up too soon.
When Sloane reached the wall, she pressed her hands against the cold ice and tried to see beyond it. It was dark, but in the moonlight she could see snowdrifts beyond the wall. She was only going on a hunch that the rift was there, but she still felt disappointed when she couldn’t see the shimmering light of the rift back to Aeris through the thick ice. Just because she couldn’t see it from where she stood though, didn’t mean it wasn’t close by. She’d gotten this far and wasn’t about to give up because a wall stood in her way.
She slowly made her way along the base of the wall, looking for a way past it. She figured there’d be a door of sorts or perhaps stairs that would lead to the top, where the men stood watch. She’d have to avoid detection, but she was pretty good at that.
The snow was thick by the wall and her feet sunk deeply into it, causing her to stumble every so often. She kept glancing through the ice to the ravine on the other side. The total darkness in there was intimidating, and in the shadow of night, it almost felt like something evil lurked within.
In Ice We Burn (The Liftsal Guardians Book 1) Page 13
