Sloane smiled. The story was like a fairy tale. She wasn’t certain about the part where some orb chooses who is right for you, but it was clear that Orelle had known Vas was the one for her straight away—orb or not.
It sounded magical, but Sloane wasn’t interested in finding someone to love. The things she wanted in her life were too dangerous. She would rather never have a family than risk putting the people she loved in danger, the way their father had done to them. If it wasn’t for him, their mother would still be alive and Rowe wouldn’t be scarred the way she was.
‘Where is Vas at the moment?’ Sloane wondered.
‘Vas is the ruler of our kingdom. While the other villages are quite self-sufficient, every twenty-five years he will go and visit with all the village leaders. He’s been gone for over a month now, and I imagine it will be another month still before he returns.’
‘You must miss him.’
‘Yes, very much so. But I can still feel him here in my heart, so I know he is okay.’
Sloane heard the sound of footsteps crunching on the snow outside, and the two of them fell silent. An older man opened the front pelt to Orelle’s house and smiled at her in greeting. Sloane was surprised to find he didn’t look as young as everyone else in the village. He looked to be in his forties, with crinkles around his eyes and his dark hair greying at the sides. His eyes were a muted shade of green like the colour of frosted grass in the early morning. They were filled with the kind of intelligence that could only be gained through lifetimes of experience.
His gaze briefly settled on Sloane, but there was no fear in his expression like there had been in the other villagers’ earlier that day.
‘Sloane, this is Lorian,’ Orelle said, introducing him.
Lorian surprisingly extended his hand to shake Sloane’s. ‘It’s nice to finally meet you, human,’ he said, grasping her hand tightly.
‘Err, you too,’ she replied, as he dropped her hand from his.
‘I hear you’ve been giving young Rhyn some trouble.’
‘Some,’ she admitted, making him smile.
‘Well, don’t give him too hard a time.’ He chucked. He turned his smile on Orelle. ‘I heard about Kai’s choosing. I came to offer my congratulations.’
Orelle beamed in response. ‘Thank you, Lorian. I am very excited.’
‘As am I. He deserves to be happy.’
Orelle nodded solemnly in agreement. Kai’s happiness clearly meant the world to her.
‘He will find his one. I feel sure of it.’ He patted her on the shoulder and she smiled up at him, grateful for his words. ‘Can we speak in private?’ he asked her.
‘Or course,’ Orelle replied.
‘I’ll leave you two to talk,’ Sloane said, taking the hint and excusing herself from the room.
‘It was nice to meet you,’ Lorian said, before turning back to Orelle. The two of them fell into speaking Unfaih as Sloane walked away.
She had felt uncomfortable with the villagers staring at her earlier, but this man’s quick acceptance of her was stranger still. She listened to them talking softly in the other room. She had been picking up the language and could tell they were talking about her. They were speaking quickly though, so she couldn’t be certain of what they said.
Once Lorian left the hut, Sloane returned to the living room. ‘Who was that man?’ she asked Orelle, as she came and sat at the table with her.
‘One of the elders,’ Orelle said. ‘I think you would like him.’
Sloane gave her a questioning look, but didn’t say anything in response. She didn’t want to like any more of the Unfaih. She was already growing attached to Orelle, and even Kai. She didn’t need another person tying her to this world.
Over the next few days Sloane spent her time mapping out the village. She kept to the main areas at first, because Unfaih eyes seemed to watch her wherever she went. But after several days they became a little less interested in her, and she decided to begin exploring around the villagers’ residences in search of the rift.
She was running up a pathway to one of the huts when she stopped in her tracks, surprised. In front of the hut was a small girl building a snowman. She looked to be about eight years old and had the delicate features of a china doll. Most women in the village were stunning, but she hadn’t seen a child yet—let alone one with such perfection. She had the most gorgeous button nose and massive clear blue eyes. Her hair was deep brown, similar to most in the village, but there was just so much of it all hanging to her waist.
‘Hello,’ the child said in Unfaih, as Sloane continued to stand and stare at her.
‘Hello,’ Sloane replied, hoping she had used the Unfaih word correctly. She was getting better at the language, but was by no means proficient.
The girl walked up to her. ‘Are you here to play with me?’ she enquired.
‘No.’ Sloane responded. ‘I’m running.’ She ran on the spot to reiterate the words she felt uncertain of.
The small girl giggled. ‘I’m Emha,’ she said, switching to English. ‘I also love to run.’
‘You speak English?’ Sloane responded, laughing at herself. She must’ve looked like a fool trying to have a conversation in Unfaih.
‘Yes,’ Emha replied. ‘My mother taught me, though I’m still not very good at it.’
Sloane shook her head in wonder. Not good? She spoke English like it was her natural tongue. How could a child so small, speak two languages so flawlessly?
‘I’m Sloane. How old are you, Emha?’
‘I’m seven years old,’ she responded proudly. ‘How old are you?’
‘Eighteen,’ Sloane responded.
‘Hmm, you’re young too,’ the child said, sounding surprised.
Sloane wanted to laugh, but stopped herself. She was probably the closest in age to this child in the entire village. It must be so lonely to grow up with no other children to play with.
‘What do you do for fun around here?’ Sloane asked.
Emha’s face lit up and a hint of mischief crept into her eyes. ‘I like to explore,’ she said.
Sloane grinned mischievously back at the girl. ‘I like that too. It’s actually what I’m doing now. I’m exploring the village.’
Emha shook her head. ‘There’s nothing exciting to see here. If you want to explore somewhere good, you need to go to the castellum.’
‘You think?’
Emha nodded eagerly. ‘Yeah, I wish I was allowed to go more often. There is so much to find up there.’
‘Like what…’ As Sloane spoke, she caught sight of some movement behind Emha. The door of the hut at the end of the path burst open, and Sloane took a cautious step back. An Unfaih woman raced outside, grabbed Emha and pulled her away from Sloane.
‘Stay back!’ she warned Sloane, her words spat with venom. ‘Don’t you dare hurt my daughter.’
Sloane put her hands up to the woman. ‘We were just talking. I don’t mean any harm.’
‘Go away,’ she shrieked. ‘And don’t ever come near us again!’
Sloane took several steps back. ‘I’m sorry. I would never hurt her.’ But the woman wouldn’t hear any of Sloane’s words as she dragged the girl back to the hut. Emha smiled sadly at Sloane as she was pulled inside, then the hut door was slammed firmly shut.
Sloane stared at the door for a moment, before turning to jog back the way she had come. She was troubled by the woman’s reaction to her. She honestly appeared to believe that Sloane would hurt Emha, which was crazy.
She didn’t return to Orelle’s straight away. Instead, she headed for the ruins of an old burnt and abandoned hut she’d found at the other end of the village earlier in the day.
When she got there she pulled a dagger from her belt and began to practice throwing it at a piece of wood that still stood in the ruins. She smiled every time she threw it, and the blade sunk deep into the spot she’d been aiming for.
After several rounds of sinking the same shot, Sloane decided to move even fu
rther away from the mark. This time she could barely see the dark black smudge on the piece of wood she was targeting.
‘You’ll never hit it,’ Rhyn called out to her, as he approached.
She ignored his quip and breathed deeply in through her nose, pushing the outside world away. She raised her hand and, with one swift movement, let the dagger loose.
It hit the piece of wood but, even though she couldn’t see the mark, Sloane instinctively knew she’d missed it.
‘You distracted me!’ She turned to Rhyn and accused him. ‘What are you even doing out here?’ she asked, as she began to walk to the target to retrieve her knife.
‘What are you doing here? It angers the spirits to visit the site of a banished Unfaih.’
She glanced at him, her eyebrows raised and her lips pursed. ‘Angers the spirits…’
He nodded, his eyes darting to the ruins.
She wanted to laugh. She’d never taken him to be superstitious. The place did have some bad vibes to it though—there was no denying that. ‘What did they do to get banished?’ she asked.
‘That doesn’t matter,’ he said, pushing his hands into his pockets. ‘I came to find you because I’ve received a complaint from one of the villagers about you.’
‘Is this about Emha? Because we were just talking and I didn’t do anything wrong.’ Sloane reached the knife and wrenched it out with slightly more power than she intended, causing her to over balance and stumble as she pulled back.
She ground the back of her teeth. She hated making mistakes in front of Rhyn more than anything. He already thought she was some weak human, and she didn’t want to go and prove him right.
‘Why were you talking to her?’ Rhyn asked.
She paced back to her spot to throw the knife again. ‘I was being friendly, or is that not allowed?’
‘The rest of the village is wary of you after the other night. You need to lie low for a little while.’
‘How about you just return me to my crew and you won’t have to worry about how low I lie.’ She faced the target, trying to ignore Rhyn’s presence.
Sloane sensed him come up behind her, and he pulled her shoulder around so she would look at him.
‘I’ve allowed you to roam freely here, but you keep pushing the boundaries. This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t tried to escape the other night.’
‘And I wouldn’t have left the hut if I had been told about the crazy demons that haunt your streets at night. You can’t just leave me in the dark about things that are important and expect me to adhere to your stupid rules.’
Rhyn’s blue eyes darkened. ‘I can and you will. You are a prisoner here.’
‘So I’ve heard before,’ Sloane scoffed. ‘You really need to stop piping on about that. Do you let all your prisoners carry weapons?’ She flipped the dagger in the air and easily caught it. When she did it a second time, Rhyn’s hand swiftly stole it from the air before she could catch it again.
‘You wouldn’t have a weapon, if you didn’t keep finding more every time I confiscate them. There are only so many times I’m going to bother taking these daggers away from you.’ He passed the dagger back to Sloane, who now smiled smugly.
‘If it makes you feel any better, I don’t plan to use them on you any time soon,’ she said.
‘Yes, I’m sure I will sleep well tonight knowing that,’ Rhyn responded, rolling his eyes at her.
Sloane moved past Rhyn and began to walk up the pathway that led back to the rest of the village. ‘And you don’t have to worry. I won’t try to talk to anyone else,’ she called over her shoulder to him.
She couldn’t help it though, if they decided to talk to her.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The next day Sloane went on her run, but this time she had a goal in mind other than mapping the village. She wanted to talk to Emha again. Her gut told her the girl would be useful. She might even be able to help her find a way back to her crew. The only problem was that Emha’s mother was completely convinced that Sloane was evil. She didn’t know how to prove to the woman that she wasn’t a threat, especially when she wasn’t always able to persuade herself.
Sloane decided the best way to talk with Emha was if she could meet her somewhere away from the hut where her mother wouldn’t see. So, when Sloane left in the morning, she had a plan in mind.
She slowly crept up the pathway to Emha’s hut, pausing when it came into view. There was smoke billowing out of the chimney, but she couldn’t see the girl or her mother around. The place was quiet and she couldn’t hear sounds from within the cabin. Sloane suspected they were out, but didn’t want to take any chances.
Keeping to the edge of the pathway, she snuck towards the hut. Emha’s snowman stood in the snow outside the front of the hut, and Sloane took a second to admire it. The girl had done a good job finishing it off, though it looked more like a snow-glacie than a snowman with its tall neck and burgeoning wings.
She quickly knelt down and scratched an arrow into the snow pointing down the path she’d come. As soon as she finished it, Sloane ran back down the pathway before anyone could see her, and then drew another arrow when she reached the valley trail.
She didn’t know when Emha would find the arrows, but Sloane knew the girl wouldn’t be able to resist the challenge they presented. She continued to draw arrows at each turn she made and hoped it wouldn’t take Emha all day to find them.
Sloane went straight to the ice balcony that jutted out over the cliff and began to wait. She was surprised when, only an hour later, Emha arrived at the cliff face.
The girl laughed happily as she casually hopped onto the ice balcony. ‘That was fun,’ she said.
Sloane smiled in response. ‘I’m glad you liked it. I was a little worried you might not see the arrows. Is it okay for you to come here?’
Emha considered the question. ‘Being here is okay; being here with you is definitely not. My mother will not be happy at all if she finds out about this.’
Sloane chewed on her bottom lip. This morning she’d felt fine with leading the young girl astray, but now she felt a little guilty. She actually kind of liked Emha and didn’t want to get her in trouble.
‘You don’t have to stay,’ Sloane said.
‘No, this is way more fun than sitting at home and reading. What are we going to do?’
Sloane smiled. She loved how Emha was so quick to jump on board. ‘Well, I was actually thinking you might know where we should go explore. I really don’t know this place well enough.’
Emha crossed her arms as she thought. ‘We can’t go to the castellum, which is the best for exploring. I’m only allowed to go up there if my father takes me with him while he trains. But maybe we could go to one of the caves?’
‘What are the caves?’ Sloane asked.
Emha’s face transformed, and she looked delighted. ‘You haven’t seen them?’
Sloane shook her head.
‘Oh, the caves are the best. You’ll see when we get there.’
Sloane could feel Emha’s excitement rubbing off on her as the two of them set off to find the caves. They kept away from the village and followed the path that crept along the edge of the cliffs, high above the frozen sea below. Sloane wondered where the caves could be located, but struggled to guess. When Emha headed directly for the cliff edge, Sloane reached out and took her shoulder, turning the girl to face her.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked.
‘You’ll see,’ Emha responded, with an eager smile. Sloane frowned and allowed her hand to drop from the girl’s shoulder. Emha continued determinedly towards the cliff edge.
Sloane felt uneasy about allowing the child so close to danger, but the girl was mature for her age and seemed to know what she was doing. She kept her close just in case though.
They neared the edge of the very sheer drop, and Sloane peered down at the unmoving sea far below. A few wispy clouds hugged the cliff face today, and she could only just make out the frozen waves t
hrough the thin veil of mist that hovered above the ocean. Her gaze was drawn to a narrow set of stairs leading down the face of the cliff, which started several feet along from her.
The sight of the stairs cut into the jagged rock wall made her stomach drop a little. There was no railing to the staircase and the steps were just a little too narrow for it to be considered safe. Heck, they weren’t even close to being safe.
‘We’re going down there?’ she asked. Were these people mental?
Emha smiled and nodded before beginning her descent down the steep narrow steps. Her feet seemed certain as she made her way down, and she kept close to the wall, far away from the open air and the sharp drop on the other side. At least the girl had some sense. Sloane followed Emha and felt a rush of gratefulness that she wasn’t afraid of heights. It was a long fall down to the ocean far below.
When Emha disappeared into the side of the cliff ahead, Sloane began to feel a thrill of excitement and hurried to catch up with her. What she found was the mouth of a dark tunnel. Emha had almost disappeared from view in the darkness, and Sloane raced to catch up with her.
‘This place is pretty dark. I can hardly see a thing.’
‘It gets better,’ Emha responded, her high-pitched voice bouncing off the tunnel walls.
She followed Emha deeper into the cave. There was almost no light now, and Sloane kept one hand against the cold rock wall to guide her. The air in the cave was moist and the wall was damp, and Sloane could hear the echo of pattering water as it hit the ground. The cold wasn’t as piercing as it was outside, but it did seem to get cooler the further in they went.
‘Are you okay?’ Emha asked.
Sloane snorted. ‘I should be asking you that. Where is this place?’
‘It’s not much further,’ Emha responded.
As if Emha’s words had echoed down through the cave to turn on a light bulb, the pathway before them began to lighten. It became brighter and brighter until they reached a huge cavern that practically sparkled.
In Ice We Burn (The Liftsal Guardians Book 1) Page 16
