Chapter 122: Beneath the Ice
Ashlynn only had a brief moment to realize that the dying Tuscan intended to drag her down to death with him. The next moment, she was overwhelmed by the sensation of falling and the rush of cold water flowing over her. A single gasp of air filled her lungs before she plunged beneath the icy surface of the lake.
Ice enveloped Imnek’s body as the lingering malice of long-dead Frost Walkers radiated outward from his tusks. As Ashlynn struggled to free herself, that same ice locked her in place, unable to get free of the dead Tuscan’s grasp.
On the surface of the lake, Heila skidded to a stop at the edge of the hole in the ice that Ashlynn had fallen into. Dimly, she could see Ashlynn struggling to free herself even as Imnek dragged her further down. More concerning, however, was the lingering icy energy that had begun to refreeze the lake in the space where Ashlynn fell.
’Find something that truly matters to you if you want to transform yourself into something more,’ Zedya’s words echoed in the diminutive horned woman’s mind as she stood at the edge of the hole in the ice, watching Ashlynn struggle. ’Do not fail her again,’ Nyrielle had said when she was too frightened to translate during Ashlynn’s confrontation with Torsten.
Standing at the edge of the ice, shame burned deep in Heila’s heart, overwhelming reason. Andrus had died fighting, and Virve had nearly died to the same Tuscan that wouldn’t let go of Ashlynn even in death. Hauke, young and inexperienced as he was, had done his best several times to use his magic to keep her safe and defeat the Tuscan hunters.
More than anything, Ashlynn, who should have taken shelter while her guardians fought to protect her, had stormed the frontlines, slaying three of the four hunters herself. During all that time, while everyone else fought, Heila had done nearly nothing herself to help.
"No more," she said, taking a deep breath and leaping into the hole in the ice. She couldn’t be a bystander anymore. She couldn’t live with the shame if she did nothing to help when there wasn’t even an enemy to face, only the frigid water and spreading ice.
The Horned Clan weren’t known to be good swimmers. Their cloven hooves were ideal on the steep mountains and river valleys of the Vale of Mists and she could kick powerfully off of the ground to traverse over the most treacherous terrain. Underwater, however, very little about her compact body was suited for swimming.
Instead, as soon as she plunged beneath the surface, she slid under the thick sheet of ice and placed her feet against it, kicking off with all of her might and shooting through the water like a spear hurled by a fisherman.
Ashlynn’s eyes opened wide in shock as Heila arrived beside her in a flurry of bubbles. The horned woman wasted no time in adopting the same approach she’d used to reach Ashlynn, placing her cloven feet against the Tuscan’s body and wrapping her arms around his arm to move the frozen limb enough for Ashlynn to shimmy free.
On the surface, Hauke took several seconds to process what had happened before he scrambled out from behind the ice shield. By the time he arrived at the hole in the ice, however, it had already shrunk to half the size it was when Ashlynn fell through it and it continued to grow smaller before his eyes.
"Ice. Melt. As I will," he said, pointing at the shrinking hole in the ice. Dark blue energy flowed from his horn and danced along the edges of the circle, but the moment his magic touched the ice, dark whispers filled his mind as though blown from somewhere impossibly cold and far away.