Chapter 418: Not Again
The sudden blizzard and loss of their torches paralyzed much of Nyrielle’s army. While they looked impressive on the march, and many of them were impressive warriors as individuals or small groups, too little time had passed to weld them together into a truly cohesive force.
Wagon drivers and horse handlers fought to calm their panicked beasts, and hundreds of ordinary people hunkered down where they stood or sheltered inside the nearest wagon or cart to wait out the sudden storm or to receive instructions from someone who knew what was going on. Those at the back of the long, winding caravan hadn’t heard anything at all since the Seneschal’s formal greeting cut off halfway mere moments before the storm descended on them.
Those at the front of the caravan, however, had a clear view of Hauke’s treacherous charge, followed by Lord Ritchel’s insidious trap, sealing Lady Ashlynn in a prison of ice along with the surprisingly powerful Hauke. If there was one saving grace in all of this, it was that Lord Ritchel appeared too hasty, sealing Hauke and Ashlynn away before Hauke succeeded in killing the Mother of Trees’ most loyal protector.
"Not again, not again," Talauia said as she shot out of the carriage like an arrow from a bow. Dark ghosts danced through her mind, bringing with them memories of the formal gathering the Jaws of Death had exploited to massacre her clan. Everyone had been there, dressed in their festive best and ready to drink and dance the night away, when the doors of the ballroom slammed open and a pack of Bardas’s murderous jackals descended on her uncles, aunts, cousins, and childhood friends like wilde beasts lost to their own bloodlust.
The scars she carried from that night of carnage haunted her to this day, and it was precisely because of this that the Thistle Witch insisted that Ashlynn craft some potent defenses into any Fancy Hat she wore. But today, standing on the windswept mountainside to act as a herald before entering the Frost Walker fortress, Ashlynn wasn’t wearing a Fancy Hat or a War Hat, only a simple Traveling Hat that kept her head warm against the bitter chill and held a few of her most essential items.
Now, Talauia’s multifaceted purple eyes burned with cold, calculating fury as she threw herself into the fierce winds of the blizzard. Her wings hummed as she tumbled through the air, not resisting the sudden gusts or icy winds but riding them like a thistle seed on the wind. Fighting the wind to fly straight would only exhaust her before she crossed even half the distance to her target.
Halfway between the lead wagon and the bridge leading across the giant chasm that served as a moat for the Frost Walker fortress, Talauia emerged from the blizzard only a hundred paces away from the wounded Willow Witch. Bright red blood stained the snow around her ,but Heila was far too fierce to be defeated by the few wounds she’d suffered in the initial clash. Already, she was surrounded by a pale silvery-green light of healing energy that both purged the cold from her body and sealed the dozens of small cuts across her diminutive figure.
"Heila, Heila, are you fine?" Talauia shouted as she darted toward her friend, concealing herself behind the icy walls of the prison that trembled with the force of Ashlynn and Hauke’s battle.
"Tala!" Heila exclaimed joyously before wincing at the pain her sudden exclamation brought. Every intake of breath hurt unless it was slow and steady, and her sudden shout tugged at half a dozen still healing wounds that split open again as soon as she drew breath. "Tala, I’m fine," Heila insisted, despite her pale complexion and blood-stained clothes.