Chapter 209: A song of ice and blood
Inside the cabin, everyone exhaled in relief, but the tension clung to the air like static, thick, unshaken, and waiting to snap. Georgina hugged her daughter tighter, her lipstick smudged, mascara trailing faint lines beneath her eyes. John sat like a statue, staring through the frosted window, eyes wide and distant, like he was expecting something to burst out of the snow at any moment.
Damon’s mother kept murmuring prayers, voice soft but unyielding. His father, Anderson, had his eyes shut tight, his hands gripping the armrests as if bracing for another impact. No one said a word. Even as the engines quieted and the hum of motion faded, the silence in the cabin buzzed with unspoken fear.
The cold had started to creep in, whispering along the floor and coiling around their ankles, but no one reached for a coat. Only Mark and Kate moved. Without hesitation, they opened the cabin door and stepped out into the blinding whiteness, boots crunching against fresh snow.
Kate immediately spotted Damon and smiled in relief, but her smile faltered when she saw his expression. His face was rigid, his eyes locked on something in the distance, jaw tight with fury and calculation.
Worried, she quickened her steps, Mark trailing close behind. They moved to stand beside him. Mister Artimius was there too, quiet and unreadable. The three of them stood in a solemn line, eyes fixed on the far edge of the white horizon. Sylvara also joined them after a couple of minutes.
At first, there was nothing. Just wind and snow. Then there was movement.
Dark shapes bled into the white, growing steadily larger with each second. Not just shapes, riders. Dozens, maybe more, racing toward them with impossible speed. But these weren’t men on horseback. They were riding snow wolves.
Towering, primal beasts with glacial fur and frost steaming from their nostrils. Their paws barely sank into the thick snow, and they moved freely in the frozen wasteland. The riders were draped in armor from top to bottom and many even had weapons. Damon, Mark and Kate immediately recognized many of them. They did not have to wonder who they were. They were familiar faces after all.
The Frozen Throne Guild was here. All of them. And they definitely weren’t here for a friendly visit.