Page 88 of A Sword of Ice
Uric was the only one who stayed behind.
“Can you open a portal?” Valerio cut to the chase.
Uric’s jaw clenched, but he closed his eyes and the portal opened behind him. It flickered due to the heavy content of iron, and Uric’s body withered with age as he grew weaker.
Seeing his friend wrinkle before his eyes made Valerio’s feet move faster. He jumped into the portal, reaching back to grab his friend’s hand and pull him inside.
They stumbled within the camp. There was nothing but darkness at first, their booted feet cushioned by something soft and pillowy. Valerio took a blind step, then two before his toes collided against something ivory.
His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he stared at the contents within the room. Anything he had eaten on the journey here suddenly soured in his stomach when he realized they were standing on a graveyard of their people.
* * *
Her palms were sweating,fingers shaking, but she couldn’t stop her body from advancing. Adrenaline shot through her head and she was running,
She heard hissing whispers of her name behind her, but she didn’t turn. She darted out to the building, her magic rippling through her blood. Her feet pounded against the gravel-covered ground, jarring through her skull.
Icy knives appeared against her fingertips and her hands shot out, the shards flying and hitting the humans against the sensitive flesh of their exposed throats.
They didn’t even get a chance to scream before they went down.
The hood of her cloak fell back as she shot her magic out again, causing flat planes of ice to slam against the side of a wall, one atop of the other to form a staircase. Her magic wavered inside her, like the remnants of a fire sputtering to little bits of smoke. The ice held beneath her weight as she stepped against them, pounding up the steps.
She reached the top, jumping over onto the wall of ashwood thorns. They snagged against her cloak and crunched beneath her feet. With a feral grunt pushing past her lips, she landed on a crouch on the other side of the wall. As she stood, humans encased her from both sides, running towards her with their raised weapons. Iona’s hands flew out, but her magic had dulled and the ice that shot from her fingertips like the shape of broken shards imprinted on her back were weak. Their swords twisted, breaking her ice apart into fallen snow.
They converged, running towards her at once. Her mind homed in on the fight. Just like it had so long ago when she’d burst from the doors of their small home, feet sinking into the sand of the Jade Court, while human soldiers marched their way through to kill everyone she knew and loved.
Her mind had blanked then. A mixture of fear and panic nearly choking her, but something rising even stronger from within her. Determination. Because her family had been out there. Helpless, without magic, fighting, dying.
It fueled her.
She willed a sword of ice to her palm. Weaker than the one she’d used to fight Julius, but it was enough to block the blade moving fast in her direction. They struck and ducked, whirling, pushing the human against his comrade where they nearly went down in a heap of steel and limbs.
Iona had little time before more humans came for her, and she had to know the truth of the camps. Of what they held within them. She blew out a breath of magic and ice crawled along the ground like a shadow. The humans cried out and scrambled away. But it never reached them. Her magic sputtered to a stop.
She felt the pain a moment later.
A blade sliced against her clothes, scratching her side. She cried out as the iron touched her skin, whirling with her own sword raised only to have it shatter against a single blow of an iron sword. She slipped backwards, staring into the eyes of a human beneath his helm. A cry burst past his lips as he swung again…
And then a fist met the side of his face, the blow so powerful, his helm and skull dented within themselves, his insides pouring from his nose and open mouth. His body crumpled to the side, falling from the wall into a broken mass of limbs below.
Julius jumped over the wall, his hands scraping against the ashwood thorns, boots crushing them, as he took the spot where the human had stood. She didn’t acknowledge what he’d done for her with a smile, but she made sure the gratitude shone in her eyes.
The others climbed up the wall beside her as more humans appeared, wielding iron from head to toe as if that alone could stop them.
Maybe it had stopped them once. Maybe it had been the downfall of the Jade Court. But they were different now.Timeswere different now and Mana was a fiercer opponent than they could ever fathom. It had to be. They’d made them this way.
There was no holding back as swords and bodies collided, shoving off the sides of walls to fall to gruesome deaths. Iona fought her way past them, her legs screaming in pain as she ran towards the stairs.
There were rooms down below, and she meant to check every single one of them.
Her side agonized with each pounding step down the stairs. She hauled breaths into her lungs only to cough them out as a coppery scent stained her lips.
She didn’t care though, not when she was so close to the truth. But as she neared the bottom, she found herself surrounded. Humans swarmed like bugs on an anthill, tripping over each other to try and kill her first. But she was no coward, and a trickle of magic slid down her back. Of Mana, telling her everything would be alright. She was sure of it.
So she met them head on, running down to them as they ran up. She didn’t want to register the pain of their blades, but something inside her severed. It took a moment for her to realize it was the bond, and Julius was screaming through it.
She staggered back and slipped.
