Bryntar glares at him. “Where are clothes?”
“Drying.”
Smoke furls out of her nose, but she says nothing.
He leans over to grab his clothes and winces.
I take the torch and shine it over his back. A swollen, ugly bruise travels down his spine. “You are hurt.”
“Just a bump.”
“You have much luck,” Uncle says. “Not many survive a bearran.”
“Let me help.” I run my fingers over the bruise and down the muscles of his back. Music sings in my heart. Entranced, I am lost until the burning in my fingers shocks me.
“Are you all right?” Uncle asks.
I flush and pull away from Daniel. “Of course.”
Daniel pulls on his clothes. “Thanks.”
Uncle hands me fur gloves and a coat. “To keep out the cold.”
I take them eagerly. “I am grateful.”
He shoves a bag at Daniel.
Daniel smiles as he takes out dried strips of meat. “Finally, some real food.”
Uncle grins. “Fortune smiled on us when the bearran thought we were the food.”
Daniel laughs. “Tell me what happened.”
Uncle picks up his spear. With leaps and jabs, he acts out the killing of the animal. The torchlight stretches his shadow in wild movements across the meadow.
I try not to listen and watch Daniel’s entranced face.
When the story is over I turn to Bryntar. “Did you see the young Ice Lords?”
“No. Not allowed here.”
“Kids break rules.” Daniel says. “Part of growing up.”
“Not here. If caught, the penalty is severe,” Uncle says. “To be branded an outcast is worse than death.”
I am an outcast. But for the love from Bryntar and Taroc I would not be here now. “What if the Ice Lord is the heir to the throne?”
Bryntar hisses. “He should not be heir.”
“Justice and knowledge serve a leader,” Uncle says.
“How about arrogance?” Daniel asks.
His unguarded jealously surprises me.
“He has courage as well,” I say.
“If he gets caught by the elders, it will not matter,” Uncle says.
“Finish eating,” Bryntar says. “We leave.”
“We have this delicious dried meat,” Daniel says, holding out a piece to me.
I ignore him. “Will we find other food on our journey?”
“Nothing you would eat,” says Bryntar. She stalks to the lake, pulls up green plants with pulpy brown pods and stuffs them in a bag.
I fold up blankets and shove them inside another bag. Daniel shoulders the rope and we follow Bryntar’s torch as she leads us to a small trail through the ice. I gaze back at the meadow and wonder how many more dangers face us.
“I will protect you with my life,” Uncle says as he trots behind me.
“Hope that it will not be necessary,” I say.
Walls of ice rise above us. We walk single file. I dislike the confining silence. “Tell me about your life, Uncle.”
“I roam the island. My home is the land, even though I am still under orders when the Kepyrs need me.”
“After what they did to your family?”
He hides his underlying rage well. “I accept my destiny.”
I touch his arm. “I cannot tell you how sorry I am. It is not your fault that my mother chose to disobey the law. You should not have suffered.”
“Was it not her destiny?” he asks.
“I do not believe in destiny. She made her own decisions.”
“You can choose to believe what you want. That does not make it the truth.”
I refuse to think about his words. I have to believe I have a choice for my life.
The gorge narrows. Giants of ice hover in cold silence, so close I can touch their frozen, unmoving surface. The twisting, confining passage closes in on me. Flashes of torch fire do little to relieve the depths of complete darkness. A shiver strikes deep into my bones.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Crossing
We plod along the narrow path. Fog closes around us, wet and heavy. I walk in silence, unable to talk. Tension grips my chest. I wait for the sun.
Bryntar stops when we reach the entrance to a wide cavern. “Be careful. No talking.” She holds her torch high.
The cave is a fantasy of ice. Magnificent spires fan out like the spiky petals of a gigantic flower. Folds, layers and twists of ice texture the cave in majestic grandeur. Strange markings on the walls in a language I cannot understand glimmer under the ice. Across the floor, clusters and pillars of blue ice turn purple in the red glow of the torch. Mist curls around, making everything look like a magical kingdom floating in clouds. I touch the clusters in awe of their beauty and watch a drop of translucent liquid slide to the floor.
“This cave is unstable,” Daniel whispers.
Uncle says, “Spread out to balance our weight.”
I step inside the wonderland. The ice is firm under my feet although tiny fractures design the floor like delicate vines. We separate and cross the cavern.
I dare not breathe or think of anything except getting to the other side. I take a small, slippery step. Balance before taking another. Another. My shadow spreads across the wide expanse in the wavering light: around fantastic formations, under heavy icicles and between jagged shards that hover over our heads. I shiver in the eerie silence.
Bryntar stops before a gaping hole. She crawls under icicle teeth. Daniel and Uncle slide in after her.
I take a last look at the fragile beauty of the ice cave and push my bag through. Sun filters from far above, making the icy teeth look like shiny knives.
I bump one small icicle and gasp. No. Visions of the whole cave crashing down upon us flash through my mind. I quickly slide my boot to catch the icy shard. It drops and sticks on the fur. I do not breathe as it slowly melts.
Chills shiver down my back. I creep into an icy tube that rises to the surface. I suck in light, but there is little to fill my hair. I shove panic away.
Bryntar claws up the wall of jagged crystal. “Follow me.” She scales the column of ice with ease.
“Tie this around your waist.” Daniel throws the end of the rope to Bryntar and wraps it around himself. He passes it down to me. He uses his knife as leverage and moves up the ice with skill.
Uncle secures the rope around us. “You first.”
I grab a frozen icicle that juts out of the wall and start to climb. Lacking light, my muscles weaken. I reel in sudden dizziness. My boots slide on slick ice. I hit my elbow and bite back a cry.
Uncle catches me. Shoves me higher. “Keep going.”
My hair hangs, lifeless and nearly empty of light. Breath comes in gasps that sting. I strain to see through blurry eyes.
“I cannot make it.”
“You must,” he says.
My fingers slip from a small crevice and I swing, suspended, the rope digging into my waist. At a slow, steady pace I am pulled up and out of the hole.
Sun blazes across the ice in piercing brilliance. I suck in the brilliance of light and close my eyes.
Daniel removes the bag from my neck and encloses me in his arms. His heart races next to mine. “You okay?”
This is where I belong.
“Are you all right?” He wipes bright strands from my face.
I blink. “I am fine. Thank you.”
His worry fades and barriers close around his feelings.
Uncle heaves himself over the edge. “She is well?”
“Her super-self.” Daniel’s warmth disappears. “We need to stay tied together.” He moves as far away from me as the rope will allow.
The Ice Mountains stand in silent glory before us. Glaciers glisten among protruding black rocks. They rise above remote Kepyr villages, ridges, valleys, forests. I gaze across the seas. There is only endless water in every direction. I will never escape this island. “Where do the Ice Lords live?”
“There.” Uncle points to a higher summit in the distance. Anger sears through him.
“You do not like the Ice Lords?” I ask.
“They hold Keprys in slavery. We need freedom.”
“Kepyrs cling to old ways,” Bryntar says. “Your leaders like control.”
“You take their side?” he asks.
“Laws must change,” she says. “Not happen. Unless . . . ”
“Do not say it.” I turn from her gaze. “Where is the lagoon?”
She points toward an outcropping of black rock. “Stay in my tracks.”
“You order like an Ice Lord,” Uncle says.
Bryntar glares at him. She strides toward the outcropping. An inch of snow crunches under her taloned feet.
“Did I say something wrong?” Uncle asks.
“You do not know her story,” I say.
“I’d like to know,” Daniel says.
“It is hers to tell.”
Daniel strides away, being careful to walk in Bryntar’s tracks.
“Watch out for crevices under the snow,” Uncle says.
We plod ahead while the sun moves through the sky. I am thankful for the bit of warmth, although it is still so cold that the ice does not melt. Daniel and Uncle chew on meat as we walk. I eat one of the green plant stems. It is fibrous and the brown pod is dry. I need sleep more than food, but do not feel safe on this exposed mountaintop.
Large spikes of ice push through the frozen ground in shades from lightest blue to deepest turquoise. Frozen snow spreads under our feet in wide, tiered curves, rutted with cracks and dirt.
It is the black mountain and the lagoon hidden in its depth that draws me forward. Events have pushed me to this place, this glacier of bitter cold.
Bryntar trudges ahead. Even with her growing dread, she is determined to give me my desire. Daniel is in no better place than I am—a stranger to this island, unable to return home or be free from the threat of death. Uncle is sworn to me, an allegiance of blood.
I slow my steps and my uncle joins me.
“Am I selfish to want a life without fear?” I ask him.
“All life faces fear,” he says.
“Not when they are born.”
“That is true. We must live fully for as long as we can.”
“How do you do that?”
Regret fills his face before he smiles. “You choose your life by your thoughts. The people of this island lack control to create good. Their evil formed Aru. Your mother and father wanted to save life. Is it fair that they created you for that purpose? Not to you. Because they did, you are tied to the life or death of this island and everyone and everything here.”
“I hate the burden.”
“Life exists. We create the meaning.”
His words cut into me. There is nothing to say that excuses my selfishness. For the first time, I realize darkness resides inside me. I am no better than anyone on this island. My heart feels like the glacier beneath my feet—cold, scarred and torn with cracks and ridges.
The sudden tug on the rope around my waist makes me stumble over unexpected bedrock.
“Run!” Daniel shouts and runs back to me.
Huge golden-brown wings block out the sun and flap in great gusts of wind. Sharp claws snatch my hair. I jerk into the sky.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Descending
The bird screeches and shakes me. I bite my tongue and warm blood drips down my chin. A sour smell of fear fills my nose.
“Don’t let go,” Daniel shouts.
The wind whips me back and forth. Wings whap in great gusts. My hair stings and I clutch it with both hands. The rope tightens around my waist. I cry out as I am pulled in two directions. The bird falters, but does not lessen its grip.
“Let go! We catch you!” Bryntar yells.
I release one hand and aim a shaking finger at the taut rope. Bright light severs it. I stab a wisp of light into the bird’s foot. It screeches and releases me.
Shouts assault my senses. Wind tears across my face, but flashing visions capture my attention—of Bryntar’s gentle touch, Taroc’s lessons, Daniel’s kiss. I close my eyes and wait for the inevitable.
Three sets of entwined arms break my fall. We hit hard. I cry out as our bones grind into unmoving ice.
“You all right?” Daniel’s worried eyes meet mine.
“I think so.”
He gently pulls me up.
Bryntar’s relief sweeps through me.
“Why didn’t you shoot it down?” Daniel asks Uncle.
“It is forbidden to kill a Golden One.”
“It could have killed her!”
Uncle hangs his head. “Forgive me. It is hard to change old ways.”
I watch the giant bird soar away.
“Everything dangerous on this island is too big,” Daniel says.
My head feels as if pierced by a thousand needles. I inhale light and relax.
A loud crack splits the air. The ground trembles under my feet. Great heaving chunks of ice break through the surface and split the glacier.
“Jump!” Bryntar sweeps me into her arms. She leaps the fissure that divides the glacier like a curving black snake. “To the mountains. Stay together.”
Uncle races close behind, gathering the rope that used to connect us to the others.
Daniel trips on a fissure that opens under him. He disappears with a yelp.
“Daniel!” I wiggle out of Bryntar’s arms and run to him. “Pull, Bryntar!”
Uncle leaps for the rope.
I run and peer down into a bottomless hole. Daniel clings to a small ledge. He is safe.
Bryntar and Uncle pull Daniel up and over the edge.
The ice shifts with an air-shattering boom. We bolt away. The hole closes as fast as it appeared.
I cannot stop shaking.
“It’s not done yet,” Daniel says. He grabs my hand and we scramble with Bryntar and Uncle over ground that splits and thunders under our feet as if alive. Then all is still and silent, as if there had never been such deadly movement.
We gasp for breath, but do not stop running until the black outcropping of rock rises before us.
I collapse on the ice, heart thumping and unable to breathe in light.
Bryntar retrieves the torches from her bag. “Light them.”
I relax and ignite the torches. She gives one to Uncle.
“Deep breaths. Only darkness below.” She vanishes between the rocks.
I suck in as much light as possible.
Daniel takes my arm. “You still want to do this?”
Any other time I would long for his touch. There is only one thing on my mind now. I can almost feel the lagoon beckoning me. “I have come too far.”
“It’s okay to change your mind.”
Ignoring the reproach in his voice, I bite my lip and turn away. Before me are many dark caves and gaps in the mountain. One small irregular hole radiates Bryntar’s faint light. I lower my head and crawl through. The torch gleams on an oval of shiny, black rock that expands into a long corridor of warmer air. Voices carry behind me.
“You cannot change her mind,” Uncle says.
“Do you know what’s going to happen?” Daniel asks.
“No. I can only hope.”
“That’s not good enough to stake my life on.”
“Then why did you come?” Uncle asks.
“She saved my life.”
I hurry to catch Bryntar, ignoring the regret that keeps growing stronger in my heart.
She takes one look at me and says, “You need rest.”
“I need the lagoon.”
She turns me toward walls so glossy that my reflection stares back at me—a stranger drooping with fatigue.
“Maybe a short rest.” I slump to the floor.
Daniel and Uncle join us and I am thankful for their companionship.
Beads of sweat drip down Bryntar’s face. I feel her emotions as she fights her memories of the last time she was here. Her
love for me pushes her through them.
Deep shame fills my soul to have no words of comfort.
Uncle runs his hands over the walls and turns to Bryntar. “How long have you lived?”
“Nine hundred seasons.”
He blinks in surprise. “Has the mountain ever erupted?”
“Not in my life.”
“These walls were formed by a volcano,” Uncle says.
“How do you know?” I ask.
“I saw one in your father’s books.”
A knot twists in my stomach. “You knew my father?”
“Not his name. Your mother kept that secret. She talked about him and their dream for the island. He was in line to be the Ice Lord leader.”
“Line changes with greed,” Bryntar hisses.
“Who is their leader now?” And what if he is my father?
“Ryz-IL,” my uncle says.
Daniel jumps up and paces. “If he is your father, would it change your mind?”
“I do not know.”
He glares at me. “I couldn’t save my family. I sure can’t save this island. Tell me. What’s so good about being normal?”
“You cannot understand.”
“Don’t you get it? You’re risking all our lives.” He snatches the torch from Uncle and disappears down the tunnel.
Unable to look at Bryntar and Uncle, I jump up to follow Daniel. “Daniel, wait.”
His torchlight flickers far ahead as he sets a grueling pace over jagged stones that fill the tunnel floor. Bryntar rushes past me since they are still tied together. I walk slower to conserve my breath and Uncle stays at my side.
“Tell me about my mother.”
“She was gentle and kind, yet her inner strength far surpassed most Kepyrs. She carved wood and was considered an accomplished artist. Kadiya was braver than any warrior, than anyone I have ever known.”
Her name was Kadiya. I shudder as the memories of her death wash over me. “Bryntar saved my life.”
“It was meant to be.”
“Do you believe something greater controls us?”
“Perhaps. I do not know. My people worship Aru—a creation of Kepyr and Ice Lord. They bind us to the old ways to keep the power. What created them? Why is it against our laws to create someone like you?”
His questions confuse me more. “Why would my mother risk our lives?”
Enchantress Sacrifice Page 13
