Page 111 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
Cole was surprised to be addressed at all. “Oh, yes, thank you, ma’am.”
She thumped his back. He tried not to wince.
Wren turned her attention back to Onyx. “You idiot,” she growled, “why did you come here alone?”
“I’m less of a target by myself. Didn’t want you to get hurt following my hunch.”
“Oh,” said Cole suddenly, “I get it now.”
Five pairs of eyes turned sharply towards him.
“Sorry, working on my own thing, ignore me.”Like father, like daughter...
“Happily,” Onyx snapped.
“Why did you come hereat all,is what I want to know,” Wren continued. “I think you owe us that, after all this time.”
Onyx sighed. “It’s dangerous here,” he said. “Too many exits. Let’s find somewhere safer and make camp. We’re not getting out of here tonight.”
∞∞∞
An hour or so later, the party had taken refuge in a chamber within the palace, the two entrances tightly blocked. Wren had caught something –a giant, rat-like creature– which was roasting on the fireplace. Oakley was basting it with ale.
Onyx sat them down, and told them about Jasper, and Janus, and the mirror. What it meant for them all. Merry was silent the entire time, his hand in Oakley’s. How much had he known before now?
“So,” said Wren, when the story was over, “the Queen is in possession of an evil, all-seeing mirror that somehow has control over the shades, and the shades themselves are controlled by a thing that used to be your uncle?”
“That’s about it, yes.”
“Hmm. It’s times like this I’m glad I don’t have a family.”
Eirwen coughed.
“Apart from you lot, obviously.”
The Huntsman looked down, and Cole imagined he was wondering if she was including him amongst that number.
Wren looked back at Onyx. “So what’s the plan?”
“If we’re to defeat the Queen, we need to take out the shades first.”
“Oh, gee, why didn’t we think about that before?”
Onyx glared at her. He leant down into his satchel and removed a large, leather-bound tome. He dropped it on the floor with a thud. “I’ve been doing some reading down here. I think I’ve found a way to defeat them.”
“Pray tell.”
“The shades perish in the light. We’ve known this for some time. But we’ve never been able to lure them outside of the mountain.”
“And…?”
“Over the past few decades, I’ve noticed that they never inhabit the caverns with the active sunstones. Only the dead or dying ones.”
“So? I doubt we’ll be able to lure them there, either.”
“We don’t have to. We just need to resurrect one of these ones.”
Merry frowned. “Can we do that?”
