Chapter 462: Making an Entrance
In the Frost Walker’s Great Hall, the sounds of drums grew ever closer and the gathered people began to mutter and stir, filling the icy chamber with the sounds of countless overlapping whispers. Odette and the other Frost Walker leaders turned nervously toward the door, awaiting the arrival of the leaders of those who had conquered them.
Rumors had swept through the fortress that the Mother of Trees was badly injured, hanging on the edge of death, and that the Willow Witch didn’t fare much better. Some in the crowd believed that this moment might be their last before the whole clan was exterminated for the offense of murdering such prominent people when they came and presented themselves as guests.
Other rumors, however, seemed to say exactly the opposite. The Sorcerers of Sundered Earth had moved about the fortress, healing the injured on both sides of the battle. Some of those rumors were strange, suggesting that the sorcerers barely used magic at all after mending flesh with needles and thread and they were said to wash pain away with simple powders and ointments.
Surely, if the clan was meant to fall today, they wouldn’t spend so much effort to heal the injured... would they?
Hundreds of murmering voices quieted as one when the towering doors of ice shuddered open, making way for a procession unlike any that had entered in recent memory.
Even after spending the entire day resting, sustained by Nyrielle’s gift of vital energy, Ashlynn was still weak and badly wounded. Walking in a long procession would have been impossible for the recovering witch and so Nyrielle ordered two grand chairs to be fitted with poles for carrying. Had she done so for Ashlynn alone, it would only have drawn attention to her lover’s injuries, but instead, Nyrielle herself entered while seated on an elegantly carved throne made of ice and covered with rich furs.
When Nyrielle and Ashlynn entered, they came one behind the other, carried by towering Tuscans and looking down on the assembled masses as though they were reigning monarchs inspecting their subjects.
Both women dressed to impress, with Nyrielle donning a dress of flowing black silk so dark that it was difficult to tell where the dress ended and shadows began. Only the deep, plunging V-shaped neckline that reached nearly to her navel revealed enough of her alabaster flesh to suggest that she was a person and not a wraith wrapped in shadows.