Page 75 of Mountain of Mirrors and Starlight
“Douse the campfire,” she hissed.
“What?”
“Do it!”
They picked up handfuls of snow and hurled them at the flames, great scoops of it until the fire snuffed out. Aislinn turned back towards the solitary flame in the distance.
It was an army, marching up the hill in the dark. Mortal, by the looks of their shields. They bore the crest of Afelcarreg.
“Wake the others,” she told him. “I think we’re under attack.”
“Again?”Caersaid,groaningas he turned towards the nearest dwarf and shook her roughly. For once, all of them were easy to rouse—of course they were. Grief had a way of slicing through sleep.
Fort, Fort, Fort.
“How far out are they?” Minerva asked, approaching the mouth of the cave.
“Difficult to guess,” Aislinn said. “But they’re moving slowly. I estimate we have around ten minutes.”
Extinguishing the light had bought them some time, but the army still had their barings. They wouldn’t charge uphill, though, and not from such a distance—they would want to conserve their energy for the fight. If they could just sneak away…
“Saddle up,” Minerva instructed. “Quickly now!”
They fumbled around in the dark, reaching for blankets and bags and bedrolls, stuffing everything onto the backs of very confused wargis. The moon offered little illumination. They were all almost blind.
All apart from Aislinn and Beau, who flitted around the cave like wind, whispering directions, working three times as fast.
“What’s our plan?” Flora asked.
“Avoid a fight, if we can,” Minerva rushed. “The entrance to the tunnel isn’t far away.”
“We’re in the dark.”
“Theyaren’t,” she said, jabbing a thumb at Aislinn and Beau.
“Ooh!” said Beau, grabbing Caer’s arm, “that gives me an idea. Hold on.”
He squared up to Caer, doing something with his hands Caer couldn’t quite make out, and then whispered a word and blew in his face.
It was like someone had lit a tiny lantern in the back of the cave, the illumination faint but the difference immeasurable.
“Won’t last long, alas,” Beau explained. “Shame I can’t do the same for our dwarven friends.”
Caer thanked him, his gaze falling to Aislinn. Her bottom lip pouted, as if she were sorry she hadn’t thought of it first.
The dwarves clambered up onto their wargis. Aislinn leapt to the front of the procession, grabbing the reins of one. Beau took the back. Caer hovered in the middle, glancing down the slope.
The army was gaining. There were so many of them—
“Don’t look,” Beau said. “Keep your eyes ahead.”
“Wargis will be faster than whatever they have,” Minerva assured him. “Come on.”
Caer appreciated her confidence, but several of the wargis were now carrying two. He had one to himself, but wargis were bred for smaller riders. They could not speed as usual.
He said nothing as they charged through the snow in a long line, trusting in the vision of their fae friends and the wargis that were following them, Minerva hissing rough directions in Aislinn’s ear. Bell occasionally offered her wisdom, but Caer soon realised how ridiculous this was—Minerva trying to lead in this darkness. It had been years since they’d come this way, the landmarks few and changeable. No wonder she’d wanted to wait until morning.
Caer glanced behind them. The army was gaining fast. They were going to reach them…
