Chapter 423: Across the Bridge
A heavy wool cloak hung from Laya’s shoulders as she tried not to shiver in the cold of the High Pass. When she became a vampire, she thought her days of fearing the cold were over. As a descendant of both the Ancient Clan and the Scaled Clan, she preferred to bask in heat and warmth whenever possible, and her thin, weak scales only made her aversion to the cold worse.
Since becoming a member of the Mongrel Horde, she’d left behind some of the weakness that plagued her as one of the misshapen Clanless, but even in death, bitter cold still seemed to be just as great an enemy as any she’d ever faced.
Underneath the heavy cloak, she clutched the heavy, flagged mace that she’d taken from her night in the arena in High Fen City. Lady Heila, the Willow Witch herself, had given her permission to keep the weapon after the battle she and her fellow Mongrels fought against convicts and condemned criminals when they arrived in High Fen City. At the time, Laya was considered one of the weakest members of the Mongrel Horde, but that night, inspired by the diminutive witch’s words, she’d lead the charge against the vile criminals who had been condemned to die.
It was the first time she ever tasted the sweet blood of victory, and since then, she’d fought in smaller arenas twice more. Neither battle was fought to the death, and she didn’t win both of them, but her chest filled with pride nonetheless. For years, she’d been cared for by the stronger members of the Mongrel Horde, but now, she’d proved that she could fight on her own. She’d even earned a purse full of silver by fighting in the arena and purchased a few simple treasures for herself before they left High Fen City.
All of this was something she owed to Lady Ashlynn and, more specifically, to Lady Heila. It wasn’t just the opportunity Heila bestowed on the Mongrel Horde, allowing them to prove their strength on the sands of the arena, but her words that night that had given Laya the courage to fight for herself instead of depending on her brothers and sisters within the horde.
Which was why, when she saw the Frost Walkers they’d traveled to this barren, cold place to meet with, Laya’s normally quiet heart exploded with rage and hatred she didn’t know she could still feel the instant Hauke attacked Lady Heila. Seeing the woman who had transformed her life, with her blood splattered across the snow, filled her heart with fury and painted a red haze across her vision.
The mace trembled in her hand as she listened to Lady Nyrielle snap out calm, clear orders to her sire Tausau and uncle Savis. Finally, she could do something!
"Mongrels!" Tausau shouted when he joined his progeny alongside Savis. "Our goal is the gate. Seize the gate and keep it open for Savis’s Black Wolf Brigade. We are the point of the spear! Do not stop, do not feed, but tear your way through these traitorous sheep until the gate is ours!"
A ragged cry rose from the vampires of the Mongrel Horde as they charged into the drifting cloud of snow that made it impossible to see what was happening beyond the bridge across the chasm separating Nyrielle’s army from the Frost Walker’s towering fortress carved from Ice and snow.