FULL NOVELXO Court of Ice and Ash: Chapter 29
you,” Tor said, tapping the tip of his blade back and forth on the table. “Finally.”
I scoffed and finished buckling the weapon belt around my waist.
After I gave my name, Ari laughed, like I’d told a joke. When no one else even smiled, slowly, the color drained from his face. He studied me for a long pause, then left faster than he’d come.
I hadn’t seen him in hours. Mattis took the news differently. He’d been mostly quiet but had asked to know everything. From my time as Legion Grey, why I needed Elise Lysander, the curse, to why I had not claimed the throne. He’d not left us since he heard the tale.
I added my axes to my belt, then looked at the room. The Guild of Shade was there, along with Mattis and Siv. “Prepare to leave when I return.”
The air outside was still heavy with death and blood. Most folk remained in their shanties, afraid to face a dawn after the attack. I did not blame them, but they would need to find a way to stand in this fight. Doubtless more death would come before it was over.
The royal longhouse was empty in the hall, but in the back chamber boots scuffed over the wood floorboards.
I tossed aside the hanging fur over the doorway. Ari stopped pacing, his hand on his chin. He met my gaze with a bit of awe and a heap of trepidation. “You came.”
“You asked for me.”
“I—” He shook out his hands. “I did not command it, I merely asked if you would be willing and—”
“Ari,” I interrupted. “What did you need? Have you heard anything?”
“Uh, well, I expect Ulf to return with his report soon. But there is . . . there is more I wanted to speak about if, if you would allow—”
“All gods,” I said, “say what you must say. I am as accustomed to ruling as you are to humility. Do not snivel, I beg of you, and be the leader you have been.”
“Forgive me,” he said with touch of annoyance, “but I am still grappling with the fact that the dead prince I have served, and believed in until months ago, is actually alive and has been all this time. I am still accepting that I have been dreadfully wrong, that I did not bring life to this land. Mere coincidence led me here. Not to mention, I am replaying every demand, every harsh word I’ve spoken, and hoping you will not take my head.”
If Elise were not in mortal danger and my desperation to leave were not so potent, I might take the time to laugh. He was nothing more than a body of nerves and it was amusing.
“I have no plans to take your head.”
“Well, that is one good thing, I suppose.” Ari crossed the room and unfurled a hand drawn map on a piece of vellum. “Before the attack, Ulf delivered these from a contact of his in Lower Mellanstrad. He told me there are passages at the back of Ravenspire. They would be the simplest way inside, but I figured, well, since you once lived there—what do you think?”
I took the vellum. “They have changed parts of the castle, you know.”
Ari shrugged. “Still, you might know better than a sketch.”
I studied the drawing in silence, trying to read it through my own memories of Ravenspire. Not long ago I’d fled through those halls, but we hadn’t gone deep in the back, or in the lower levels at the coup. What did I remember about it as my home, though? I’d never stopped long to try to recall days when Ravenspire was Ferus land.
It didn’t help my process to have the burn of Ari’s stare breaking into my skull.
“What is it, Ari?” I asked without looking up.
He shifted on his feet and came to my side. “Elise knew.”
Muscles in my jaw ticked. “She knew. I did not lie when I said Elise saved me. She sacrificed everything to keep me breathing, and she . . . kept me from choosing hatred.”
Ari took a deep breath and leaned his back against the edge of the table. “I think—forgive me—but I think the people should know too. They will serve you willingly. Truth be told, it will light a fire beneath them. I don’t want to question, but I don’t understand why you do not take the throne. I will abdicate this very moment.”
“You still do not know who betrayed you, and Ravenspire does not know of me. It will be to our benefit to keep it that way until the right moment.” I gripped his shoulder, feeling him tense under my hand. “You must still lead here, Ari. You have been a good king, and these people deserve that king to lead them through this. You see a broader picture than I can right now, and I—” I struggled to find the words. “I am glad to call you an ally.”
A faint smile curled his lips. “Always. My King.”
I rolled my eyes. “Just keep your mouth shut a little longer. Hard, no doubt, for you, but do it.”
“Yes, My King.” He laughed softly, then pointed to the vellum. “So, what do you think?”
“It’s unfamiliar,” I admitted. “It doesn’t seem right in some ways.”
I couldn’t explain more before the fur was thrown back. Frey, Ulf, and a few of Ari’s guards filled his chamber. It took him a moment, but after I shot him a pointed look, Ari stood straight and regal. “What is the report?
Ulf stepped forward, dirty and sweaty from his journey. “There is talk in Lyx. The vows have been moved to tonight’s moon, My King.”
“What?” Ari moved around the table. “You’re certain?”
Ulf nodded; his eyes turned to me. “That isn’t all.” The man shifted nervously. “The false king plans to . . . give his queen’s sister to his High Captain in vows at the same time.”
At first, relief that Elise was alive caught me by the chest and tightened. But in another heartbeat, fury numbed every inch of me. Numbed my tongue, blinded me to nothing but rage. “He plans to force Elise’s vows?”
Ulf nodded and stared at the floor. “She will have no choice. They hold Ruskig over the Kvinna’s head, and the lives of her parents.”
“Dammit!” I kicked the table leg and raked my fingers through my hair. What did I tell Elise not long ago? Even she would do what was necessary to protect Etta and these people. I’d meant she might agree to take vows with Ari, but now, I had few doubts to save all of us, Elise would trap herself to the cruel hands of Jarl.
I made grand plans to cut off each of his fingers.
“They destroyed our textiles,” Ari said. “We do not have the supplies to go under the guise as performers.”
“I care little,” I snarled. “I will attack the bleeding front gates.”
“But that will not help Elise, nor will it give us the opportunity to take their fury. A plan we ought to keep,” Ari said, his voice stern and direct. “None of it will matter if you are dead.”
I heard the underlying meaning. The others would only hear their king clipping the Blood Wraith.
“I agree we have a new challenge,” Ulf said. “But there is a way we can take.” He pointed at the open vellum scroll. “Here in this partition, there are few guards because of the risk of flooding from the river. It is low, and in constant repair against the nearness of the banks. But we can get in there.”
“Yes. Isn’t one of your Shade a water fae?” Ari asked, even though he knew the answer. My wrists were covered by my tunic. Ulf and Frey didn’t know we’d been released.
“Yes,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Then, I will release you, Blood Wraith. You and your guild will help us through these tunnels.” He placed a hand on my shoulder. Ari knew the truth, but he played his part well. I almost believed him to be more friend than anything in the moment. “We take the river. Our ship is fast, and with the help of fury and fate, we will break through their strongholds. We can make it. We can succeed.”
“Ulf,” I said, still looking at Ari.
“What?”
Ari flinched; no doubt unsettled at the venom in the guard’s voice. I’d grown accustomed to venom; it was the respect I still had to make peace with.
“Where do the back tunnels lead?”
“I believe they come out in the dungeons.”
That brought me to pause. I had not been in the dungeons of the castle since boyhood when my father insisted I learn of them. I might easily be remembering wrong, or perhaps something had been added, but I couldn’t recall any sort of passage that led to the river, or the back of the castle from the dungeons.
“With the vows,” Ulf went on. “I doubt many ravens will be in the lower levels.”
“We can’t assume that,” Ari said. “We take all we can in the longship. We take the rafts. We make a fleet, and we prepare for the most resistance.”
He looked to me, and I guessed he wanted my nod of approval. After our journey upriver to Mellanstrad we had made plans to build more ships and had a few roughly constructed rafts that survived the attack. We had little time, but we needed as many hands as we could.
“I’ll see that they’re finished,” I told Ari.
“Right. We all will help. Ulf, Frey, tell the people and see to it every able body has a tool or rope. We have no time to waste.”
We had fifty to our number. Three rafts were able to be hastily made enough to float with the weight of a dozen men. The rest squeezed onto the longship, leading the way upriver. I wrapped an arm around the tack at the stempost and peered into the murky fog. Together, Halvar and Casper worked their fury around the wet air to shield us in gray mist and force the current to push us forward swiftly.
The way their muscles flexed and trembled, it wouldn’t be long before they were both spent.
“I don’t know why Ari keeps the two ravens tied,” Junius said. She watched as Kari, bound at her ankles, brought Casper and Halvar water. Brant sharpened swords and axes near the sternpost. “You could tell him to release them, and he would comply.”
“He is playing his role,” I said. “A distrusting king. In truth, I don’t blame him. They are ravens, who is to say they don’t run the second we get to Ravenspire.”
“Because I say they won’t,” Junie insisted. “I’ve asked them if they wish to return. They said no. I asked if they were loyal to King Calder. They said they hated him. The brother has magic, the sister was brutalized. They are loyal here. I tasted nothing but the truth. I know they are here to guide us, but it would help to have two more skilled fighters.”
“Your word is enough for me. I’ll tell Ari.” Junie picked at a seed roll, appeased, but distant. “Something else troubling you?”
“I have come to realize the world is small. The troubles here are much the same back home, except there are no true rulers there. Merely overlords and prophecies that have long become myths. But magic is bought and used, my people are changed into monsters, or they hide. But being here I feel as if this fight is bigger than your land. Perhaps this will somehow bring about change for my folk too.” Junie shrugged and faced the river. “I only wish Niklas were here to see it. He delights in agitating wealthy folk.”
I smiled and leaned over the edge of the ship on my elbows. “If somehow fate brings us through this alive, if I am ever on a throne again, I promise you, Junius, you and your folk will always have friends here.”
She didn’t say anything, simply smiled.
“Blood Wraith.” Ulf stepped up to my side. “King Ari tells me you will be the one to lead us to the castle.”
“I am.”
“Then you ought to know ravens have been camping on the east side of the riverbanks. Although the west will take a slightly longer route, we should dock there.”
Junius flinched and turned away. Ulf waited patiently for some response. He glared at me, likely irritated he once more needed to answer to my word.
“Fine,” was all I said. Once we were alone, I nudged Junie. “What is it?”
She flicked her eyes to the back of the longship, eyeing Ulf. “He was lying, Valen.”
“You’re certain.”
“I want only to wash out my mouth after hearing him. Every word dripped in smoke and rot.”
Ulf lied about ravens. If he was the traitor . . .
“Junie, speak to Frey, anyone close to Ulf. Ask general questions, see if he is lying about the attack on Ruskig, and try to find anyone else who might be in on it with him.”
She wasted no time. At my back, Junie’s laughter carried as she spoke with the men, passed around bits of seed bread and ale. I could not look. If I did, my face would give too much away. Doubtless Ulf would earn an axe to the neck.
One length from the bank we were to dock at, Junie returned. Her face revealed nothing, she leaned casually against the side. “Frey spoke true. He holds genuine anger for the invasion. Ulf speculated with him. Valen, he lied. At the very least he knows who arranged the attack. But if I were to place a bet—and I am a marvelous gambler—it was him.”
I licked my lips. This needed to be carried out right. We couldn’t let him know we knew anything in the event he sent a warning to anyone involved, or any ravens positioned and waiting.
“Get Ari. Tell him to behave as if he is giving me directions.”
Again, Junie left only to return a moment later with Ari at her back.
“I admit it is unsettling to be told to pretend anything,” Ari said. He stared into the night, smiling. “Tell me, should I be forceful? Am I reprimanding you? I can, you know. I’m rather good at reprimands. I think it is the kingliest thing about me.”
I shake my head. “We found your traitor.”
“All gods.” Ari didn’t drop his smile, even spoke with his hands as if giving orders. “They are on the ship, aren’t they?”
“Ulf.”
Ari glared at me, but I took it as part of his show. “I’ll kill him.”
“No, that is for me. We will be ambushed on the west bank, but we must dock there.”
“But—”
“Trust me. We fall into his plans, but in truth, his allies will fall into ours. I need word spread to my guild. Junie will help. Tell them we fight with fury at my signal.”
Ari pinched his mouth into a tight line. “As you say, My King.”
“Oh, and Ari,” I whispered. “Release the ravens and give them a blade.”
The mists settled the nearer we came to the bank. The west was littered in trees. Countless places for ravens to lie in wait. My axes were sheathed. This was a risk, but if all went well, no one would be returning to Ravenspire to tell their story.
“Ready, Wraith?” Ulf asked.
I held his stare, longer than I should. “More than ready.”
Ari stood with Frey. Tor and Halvar came to me. Kari and Brant handed out weapons to the others before taking their own. I disembarked first. My guild spread out, ready to act. Ulf kept a quick pace, shouting for everyone on the rafts to hurry ashore. Ari moved along the line, muttering to the others, giving them his own directive while I kept Ulf leading.
“Won’t be long until we find the path, Wraith,” Ulf said.
No. It wouldn’t be long.
Ulf led us around a bend and the trees erupted in shadows. Ravens dressed all in black burst from the brush, roaring their cries. They raised swords. Fiery arrows pointed at our ship. The archers let them loose. Stieg and Casper were ready.
With one foot still in the river, the water fae raised a curling wall and devoured half the arrows. Stieg gathered wind and blew the rest of them off course. A roar of ravens charged, swords in hand.
“Let them come!” I shouted. “All of them! Hold.”
Ari repeated my command. We needed to draw out every raven.
“You can’t win this, Wraith. Even I could see that,” Ulf shouted at me. He slowly reached for his sword, a wash of torment on his face. He would die with his guilt soon enough.
“Tell me, how did it feel at the funeral pyre knowing you killed your folk?” Ravens still charged. A final line broke through the trees. I held up a hand. Ari shouted to hold steady and for the first time, Ulf seemed to realize we knew more than we let on.
“I tried to save lives, Wraith! Ravenspire wants you and your blades for themselves. Turn yourself in and your woman will be saved. Lives will be saved.”
“Such a fool. Pity.” I opened my palms, calling the heat of fury. The first line of ravens were only twenty paces away. A few more steps. A few more breaths. “You should’ve had more faith in your own people. You know, traitors made me a prisoner once. I hate traitors.”
I clenched my fists and a rush of wind burst from my body. Magic called to the trees. Roots tangled. Heavy oaks and aspens tore from the soil. They toppled over ravens and screams shattered the night.
“Tor, now!”
Tor sprinted into the chaos of shattering forest. Palms alight with blue flames, he blasted a line of pyre. A coiling serpent of fire wrapped around the back line of ravens, trapping them in my net.
Ulf staggered back. Junius and Brant were there to catch him.
Hands on the cold earth, I commanded a final surge of fury to bend the soil, the bedrock. To open the pits to the gods of the hells. Stone cracked. Rocks rumbled down the hillsides. Heavy, trees snapped and fell. The people of Ruskig screamed with the ravens. Over the rush of my fury and the shredding forest, Ari cried for his people to hold.
The ground split. Ravens trapped in the pyre ring screamed and wailed as the earth swallowed them whole. Some tried to leap over the crack but were dragged down by the hooks of my magic.
My body trembled. Muscles ached. Fury would exhaust me if I didn’t pace myself, and I would need it to face Ravenspire.
With a grimace I curled my fists and ripped my palms off the ground. After a moment the shudders ceased. Dust and smoke floated over the hole. What ravens remained were broken, stunned, and slow. Ari shouted the advance.
It took only a few bloody moments before every guard was dead or buried in the ground. Frey wiped his brow with the back of his hand, gaping at me as I stalked toward the riverbank. Stares burned into me. A few people startled and jumped out of my way. They could fear me, it didn’t matter. I didn’t have time to explain again.
Brant and Junie held Ulf near the ship. He met my eye with a look of horror when I butted my chest to his. “Who, who are you?”
I grinned, a cruel sort. “I am the man who is going to kill you. But not just yet.” I signaled to Brant. “Ready to lead us?”
“I am,” he said, a cautious grin spreading over his face.
I gripped the back of Ulf’s neck until he winced. “Come on, then. We have a party to attend at the castle.”