Anthelme and his horse came out of the forest next to him. "What is this place?" the valet asked.
"Clearly, someone lives here," the Prince said. "Come on."
"Sire," Anthelme said. "We need to get to the Exalted Warrior's Tower before nightfall. The instructions were quite explicit. If we are late, you will be disqualified from the Rituals."
Varian was already on the other side of the shed, where a well stood. The crying seemed to be coming from inside the well, but the source of the moaning was a woman, dressed in what looked like a set of leather body coverings, lying on the ground, a large wound in her leg and her arm at an unnatural angle beneath her.
The Prince jumped off his horse and rushed over to the woman. As he knelt beside her, he was surprised to see that she was conscious. He'd seen large men, soldiers by trade, with smaller injuries, who had passed out from the pain.
"My child, my daughter," the woman cried, grabbing Varian's cloak with her good hand, which was covered with blood. He assumed it had come from her leg wound.
He grabbed the scarf from his neck and wrapped it around her wound, even though the bleeding had slowed. He hoped it was a result of the cold and not that she had lost too much blood.
"My daughter," she said, pushing his hands away from their ministrations. "She is in the well. It is deep. She fell. I tried…" The effort to speak was too much for her, and she collapsed.
"Anthelme," Varian called, checking that the woman still lived. "Hold this here to stop the bleeding."
The valet, sobered by what he saw, hurried to the Prince's side. "I will find something to splint her arm."
"No. Deal with the bleeding first. We don't want to move her any more than necessary."
As soon as he was sure Anthelme had everything with the woman under control, he stood up and went over to the well.
The inside was so dark he couldn't see the child, but he could hear her crying. His heart lurched as he realized the sound was fainter than before.
"How long has she been down there?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at the woman, who watched him.
"Most of the day," the woman said, her voice breaking. She stifled a sob and continued. "I was gathering wood for the fire and Moonwhisper was playing. I carried a load into the house, and just as I came out, I saw her climb up and fall over the side. I raced to try to catch her but slipped on a patch of ice."
She motioned with her head toward a glassy path in the snow. "I lost control and slid into the stones on this side of the well. One of the sharp ones gashed my leg, and when I fell, I must have broken my arm."
"You rest now," Anthelme said. "We'll take care of everything."
Varian grabbed a rope from the pack on his horse's back and tied it around his waist. He looked down into the well and concluded it was very deep from the sound of splashing and the child's sniffles.
"Do you have another rope?" he asked the woman lying near him.
She was drifting in and out of consciousness, apparently allowing herself to finally let go now that someone else was aware of her daughter's plight. "Rope," she muttered, her eyelids fluttering as she tried to keep them open. "Barn."
She indicted the building with a weak wave of her hand. Varian ran as quickly as he could over the slick, icy ground.
The farm, such as it was, was smaller than the private courtyard outside of Varian's apartment, and that was barely big enough to take a stroll in when he needed to think.
The barn was also small, and the only animals inside were one cow and two sitting fowl. However, Varian did find several impressive lengths of rope looped neatly into coils.
As he hurried back to the well, he wondered where the woman's husband was. Had he died or was he off hunting for food for his small family?
When he got back to the well with two of the rope bundles, Anthelme had taken blankets off the horses and covered the woman.
"She's out, which is a blessing," the valet said. "She needs medical attention. I used my calming ability to do what I could for her pain, but she's injured beyond my ability to comfort her."
Varian nodded as he tied the ropes together. His hands were nearly numb from the cold, but he worked as quickly as he could. "Find some blankets from the house. Start a fire inside as well, if there isn’t one already. I'm going to get the child." He tied the rope to the saddle of his horse and led the animal as far from the well as possible.
"Be careful," Anthelme said.
Varian returned to the well, and climbed over the side. Obsidian Twilight had been well trained and stomped through the top layer of ice to plant his feet.
As soon as the Prince had gotten over the wall of the well, Twilight walked slowly to lower him down the dark tunnel.
The trip seemed to take hours. Twilight was a smart horse and never moved fast enough to cause Varian to hit the side of the narrow well. Still, the chill air threatened to take his breath away.
Suddenly, the air was warmer and he could hear a soft snuffling sound. The child still lived, and for that, he whispered a prayer to the Holy One.
The water smelled stale, and the Prince’s heart contracted at the thought of the woman lying in the snow above him struggling in such primitive conditions. When he got her daughter to safety, he would see what he could do to help her.
A moment later, his foot hit the water, and he yanked on the rope holding him. Immediately, Obsidian Twilight halted.
"Can you hear me?" he said softly. In the darkness, he couldn't see the child, but he could hear quiet sounds of movement in the water. "I'm here to take you back to your mother."
He closed his eyes and focused, drawing on the powers of his mind. With an expansive gesture of his hand, the cave lit with the soft, warm light of a dozen small globes floating in the air.
A small hand touched his leg then pulled back quickly as though surprised.
"It's safe," Varian said, reaching down to the small child, who appeared to be only a few years old. "Come to me, and I'll take you up."
The child grabbed his hand. Varian reached down and scooped her up into his arms. He opened his coat and tucked her inside.
Even as she shivered against him, he could feel strength in her little body. She clung to him as though understanding he meant safety.
Emotions flooded through him in a rush like he'd never felt before. He thought of his son, so recently dead.
Many times he'd held his son, Cyprian, against him this same way. Painful memories drifted through his consciousness as Obsidian Twilight pulled them upwards. He remembered watching Cyprian sleep or listening to him babble, trying to learn to speak.
He remembered lying in bed with Elizabeth Louise, the baby between them, thinking that life could never get better than this.
Then he thought about the little girl he’d never known. What if she'd been allowed to grow and flourish on Tellan?
If things had been different, if Violetta hadn't run off, how many times would he have held his own daughter to calm her fears, perhaps even warm her after a day of playing in the snow?
His heart broke. He hadn't felt like this when Violetta had told him what she'd done.
Then, it had been more a feeling of betrayal, of being lied to, of losing a possession.
Now, though, he knew the extent of what she'd taken from him. He'd lost a piece of himself the day she’d left their child to die, and he hadn't even realized that piece was missing.
Until this moment.
He had to find his daughter. He had to know what had happened to her. Until he did, he'd never be whole again.
Obsidian Twilight brought Varian and the trembling girl to the top of the well, where Anthelme was waiting. Her mother was no longer on the ground, and a glance at his friend told Varian that she was safe and warm inside the house.
Anthelme took the little girl, who was no longer crying, and wrapped her in a blanket. Varian stared for a few seconds after the valet had headed inside.
Varian untied the rope from around his waist.
He wound his own rope into a bundle, fastened it to Twilight's saddle, and then led the horse into the small but serviceable shelter beside the house.
As soon as he'd finished replacing the ropes in the barn, he hurried into the house as well.
Anthelme had laid the woman on a pallet on the floor in front of the fire, where she appeared to be resting comfortably.
By the time Varian arrived, the child had been cleaned up and changed into warm clothes. Now she sat on the valet's lap eating bread and nuts.
"She looks happy now," Varian said, standing in front of the fire. He swallowed the lump of emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. What would it be like to be feeding his own child in happier circumstances?
Anthelme shrugged. "Children are very resilient. I checked her, and she's uninjured."
The Prince motioned with his chin to the woman sleeping on the floor. "How is her mother?"
At this, the valet's face sobered. "She needs a doctor or at least a healer with more skill than I have. She'll eventually be fine, but when she wakes up, she'll be in a lot of pain. It will take her some time to heal completely."
"I will go out and see if I can find someone," Varian said. "Are you set here?"
Anthelme nodded. "Go ahead. I'm going to find some more food for this little girl, and see about getting her settled down for a nap."
Varian took a long sip from the mug of warm liquid sitting on the table. "I'll be back as soon as I can. If I can't find a healer, we'll figure out a way to take her with us to the Tower."
"That will slow us down," Anthelme said. "You'd risk missing the Ritual deadline."
The Prince shook his head. "That can't be helped. I won't leave this woman in the situation she's in now. I wouldn't be able to sleep, worrying about what happened to her."
Anthelme smiled. "If the Dragons could know this about you, they wouldn't be so eager to slaughter you and the whole royal family…"
Varian waved his hand to stop the words. "Let's focus on one crisis at a time, shall we? I need to get going. I didn't see any other houses nearby, so I might have a long ride to find a healer for her."
"Right. Go."
The sun was beginning its descent toward the horizon and Varian knew he had to hurry. If night came on and the woman and her child were not cared for, he and Anthelme wouldn't make the deadline on the invitation.
Still, he knew he couldn't just leave them, no matter what it meant to his own plans. That woman could easily be incapacitated for some time and unable to care properly for her daughter. The thought of that little girl left all alone made his heart pound in his chest even though it felt like ice ran through his veins.
His own daughter had been left alone, and by her own mother. Had the child been frightened? How long had she lain on that rock before someone found her? What if someone hadn't found her?
Varian's heart nearly stopped as that thought came to him. What if his daughter had been in icy water like the little girl he'd saved? What if no one had been there to pull her out, to make her warm, to feed her? What if she'd frozen to death and been the meal of some scavenger animal?
Until his son Cyprian had been born, Prince Varian had never believed he could love another person so totally. However, he knew that kind of love now, and he loved his daughter that way without even knowing her.
He had to find someone who could care for the child back in that house. Someone who would make sure that no matter what happened to the mother, that little girl would be safe, warm, and loved.
Chapter Eleven
Moonrazer and Lucan halted the horses at the foot of the Amarana Glacier. Neither spoke right away.
"It's amazing," Lucan said eventually, his voice barely above a whisper.
Moonrazer nodded. "I never get tired of looking at it." She saw him shiver a bit despite wearing what appeared to be three coats and a heavy woolen cloak over it all. "The Navin drove us away from here over two hundred blizzards ago. Staffthrower IV was Exalted Warrior then, and she proved herself a coward by running away instead of facing them. She lost the Sword of Justice and the Ruby Medallion. She hid in an ice cave on this glacier until the Dragon Protector of the Sarl found her. Knowing how she had betrayed her duties, he refused to help her."
Moonrazer looked back at the mountain of ice. "She died up there."
She searched the face of the glacier for signs of the cave where she had found the Sword of Justice. Though she had looked for it many times since that day, it remained hidden.
Perhaps it could only be seen during the Confluence of the Three Moons, the time when the Sword and Medallion normally passed from one Exalted Warrior to another.
She thought of Staffthrower IV's skeletal form reclining against the wall, and offered a silent prayer on her behalf.
Lucan sighed. "And the Sarl remained away from Carrick until you found the Sword of Justice and Ruby Medallion again."
She scowled in confusion.
"Your friend Olaf enjoys telling the history of the Sarl. I think it's interesting that he isn't Sarl but he knows so much about your people."
"Olaf has no people of his own," she said. "He has become one of us almost as though he were born a Sarl."
"But he said you found the Sword ten… blizzards ago, but have only lived here about three."
Moonrazer nodded. "My people were scattered and only after the Sword was recovered could I attempt to reunite them. It took a long time to regather the army. Then we returned and drove the few remaining Navin away."
They were silent for a while, content to admire the magnificence of the glacier. Even though she had seen this sight many times, the immense variation in colors that could appear in mere ice and snow always took Moonrazer's breath away.
This evening she saw shades of bright pink mingling with vivid greens and whites brighter than any common snow anywhere on Carrick. Blues never seen in any flower danced on the surface of the glacier as a tiny waterfall splashed and froze immediately into drops of ice that tinkled like bells as they fell.
"I often ride out here," she said. "Something about this view helps me clear my head after dealing with all the petty squabbling I have to mediate."
"I can understand that," Lucan said. "It's beautiful."
"Most non-Sarl cannot see the beauty." She turned Wind Rider so she was facing him. "They are too distracted by the cold." She studied his face. "Why would you come to an ice world if you are not accustomed to the climate? Surely, the idea of being the consort of a ruler you had never met could not have been appealing enough to risk spending your life freezing."
He chuckled, and Moonrazer noticed a few little lines around his eyes that, rather than making him look older, made him look kind and trustworthy.
"It does seem like an odd place to go when there are plenty of warmer regions in the Known Worlds, doesn't it?"
She didn't trust herself to speak. She feared that she'd say something that would take the twinkle out of his green eyes.
Lucan stared off at the edge of the glacier as it started to break off into the bay. "I guess I just like adventure, and this world, I'm thinking, is full of unexplored mysteries."
"It is," Moonrazer said. "Were you always looking for adventure?"
"Not really. I started that after I had a falling out with my father and brothers. I wanted to get as far away from my home world as I could. I took jobs guarding noblemen or hunting convicts. Sometimes I set off on long journeys in search of treasure." He sighed. "It wasn't what I thought it would be. I did some… things I'm not proud of. After a while, I realized the futility of what I was doing.
"I wanted to put my sins far away from me. So, I went home and owned up to my responsibilities. After working with my father a month or so, we received the invitation to the Choosing, and he suggested that I come here. Seeing this world, though, makes me want to be an explorer or adventurer again."
"Sins," she repeated. "Does Janico not say that we are all sinners?"
He shrugged. "Perhaps, but that do
esn't mean we don't need to reform our lives if we can."
"Trying to reform your life is a worthy goal." Moonrazer watched a dark bird circle the top of the glacier.
"What is your story?"
Lucan's words made her look at him. He was smiling again and she had to tear herself away from staring into his eyes.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
"This is my home." The question confused her.
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