44. Maren
44
Maren
A n hour passed as we climbed on horseback, and though we anticipated to find more soldiers up the trail, no one came.
But we found the avalanche, full of packed snow and broken trees. And just below it, the Rivean’s camp.
It huddled between the highest points of the mountain, cut from heavy drifts, alight with torches and campfires. A line of catapults sat nearest to the top, and below that, scores of overlapping canvas.
Kye halted when he saw it, his eyes traveling over the tents, counting men. I didn’t try. The canvases stretched down the face of the mountain and out of sight. Distant movements of the men below intersected and blurred like ants swarming a carcass. There had to be ten thousand of them.
“Is this their entire army?” I asked, glancing at Kye.
He slowly shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
“How are they living here ? On a mountain ?”
Kye shook his head again, his eyes drifting up the slope and back. From the camp, the Riveans had carved a new trail. A simple straight shot over the ridge. No wonder we hadn’t come across very many of them—they weren’t using the original pass. They’d dug out the snow and made their own.
“Mesto Popola lies due East of here. Right under that ridge,” he said.
I frowned. “The City of Ash?”
He nodded. “Their version of Winterlight. The stronghold they use to guard the mountains. It’s fortified against attack, and unlike Winterlight, the fortress itself is large enough to house its army.” He exhaled. “The fact that they’re here instead, camped in tents in the snow…”
“They’re waiting to attack Calder,” I finished for him.
His eyes darted back to the encampment, the shifting throng of men. “They’ve used the mountains to attack before.” He sighed loudly, indicating at the ridge above us. “We can’t take the new trail they cut. We’d be too visible. But that looks like a notch we can work our way through. We need to camouflage Kolibri. If it were snowing, we might be able to hide under the flurry. But the sky is clear. There’ll be nothing hiding us up there.”
I slid from my saddle, my thighs disappearing in deep snow. Kye dismounted to help, pulling his own blanket from his pack.
The wool tucked neatly under Kolibri’s saddle where it hung from her rump, though it flopped over her eyes. When we’d finished, the mare simply looked at us, outraged.
I patted my horse’s neck. “Sorry, girl.”
Ahead, Kye unfastened a length of rope from his saddle. “I don’t have to tell you this is dangerous.”
“No,” I said, hand slowing over Kolibri’s blue-black hair.
“We could easily step into a hundred-foot drop covered with powder and wouldn’t know until we fell.”
I opened and closed my mouth, staring at the windburn of Kye’s cheeks. He leaned forward and tugged the sides of my fur cloak together, fastening a button that had come undone. “So, here’s what we’ll do. I’ll tie the rope around me, and we’ll fasten the other end to Sero. Then I’ll go first, twenty feet ahead of you and the horses. If I drop, Sero will catch me. You’ll just need to walk him backwards and pull me up.”
I lifted my chin. “I should go first. It was my idea to take the mountains.”
“Nope,” he said, unraveling the rope.
“Kye.” I waited for him to look at me, but he didn’t. My heart skipped with sudden recklessness, but I pushed fear down under my skin. “I can talk to water.”
His fingers slowed for a moment. Then he continued winding the rope around his hips.
I gritted my teeth. “I’ll know if something’s unsafe ahead. Snow is more manageable than ice. I’d be able to feel if a drop loomed under my next step.”
Kye knotted the rope under his navel, pulling both ends through his legs. I glared at the makeshift harness, anger sparking at his choice to ignore me.
“It’s pointless for you to risk falling through holes in the snow when I could’ve sensed they were there to begin with.”
“I agreed to take you up the mountain, Leihani. I never agreed to let you drop off the side.”
“I won’t. I can talk to water .”
"Not happening."
"Kye."
He didn’t look at me. “I don’t care if you can talk to the Aalto-fucking Solstice Fairy.” He looped a second rope over Sero’s back and I grabbed his hand, forcing his eyes to meet mine.
“I have a better chance of making it through. I can do things you can’t. I can hear cracks in the ice or the sound of shifting snow. I can smell things on the wind that won’t reach you. And I’m the better navigator. I know directions—you have to think about east and west. But my body knows where it's been.”
He squeezed my fingers and let go. “Good. You can use all that as you’re following me.”
“You’re heavier than I am. What if you misstep and fall through—”
“Leihani.”
“—Where I would have stepped and merely felt ice crack?”
“That's what Sero’s for.”
“What if—"
He grasped my shoulders calmly, though his fingers dug into my furs. “Just let me. Just once. This once , let me protect you.”
“What do you mean, this once ? When have you done otherwise?”
“Every time,” he hissed, as though astounded I’d even asked. “Every time. Every time you've needed me, I've let you down.”
“ What ?” I spat the word breathlessly into the mountainside, throwing back my hood to accommodate the surge of heat in my skin. “What are you talking about? When have you let me down?” My gut twisted at the words—did he actually believe them?
“Take your fucking pick,” Kye glowered. “When I knew something was wrong with Naheso and didn't figure out what until after he attacked you. When I left you on the island to be kidnapped. When I searched the captain’s cabin and the brig on the Aspire , but was evidently too stupid to check the cargo hold.” I shook my head, reaching for his hand again. He caught my wrist instead, holding me at arms’ length. “Oh, there’s more,” he laughed humorlessly. “I'm not finished.”
“I don't care about what happened in Calder.”
“That's a lie,” he ground out, “and we both know it. Something happened between the time we said goodbye on Neris Island and when I saw you standing in my tower four days later. Something that made you hate me. Something you think about daily. I see you fixating on it, a woman weighing whether to fight or flee. It’s a plague on you, but it’s fucking torture for me.”
“I’ve told you,” I deadpanned. “I can seduce. That’s why Thaan took me from the islands.”
Kye dropped his hands to his sides with a muffled slap. The metallic heat of his temper poured over me like a livid tide. “That’s not it. There’s more. There is a reason, Leihani, Thaan didn’t want me to remember things.”
We glared at each other, ignoring the hair in our eyes set adrift by the wandering wind. The press of cold snow around our legs and feet. The distant scent of smoke from the camp. Sero snorted, lifting his nose to blow warm air impatiently over us, but Kye’s gaze remained locked into mine.
I swallowed, turning my cheek as I bit into the soft leather of my glove, pulling it off to dip my fingertips into the snow. He followed with apathetic reluctance. Quietly, I called to the water.
A line broke through the heavy drift where I cleaved the crusted snow in two. I warmed it and it melted wider. Until it was broad enough for a horse to walk through. It groaned under the pressure of my rift. Ice fractured at the bottom, quiet under the packed snow. I melted that, too.
Together, we studied the bare rock where hard powder had covered moments before, now unearthed and dry.
Kye exhaled long and rough, golden eyes fluttering closed. The scent of heated iron flowed freely from his chest, and he slowly began untying his rope harness.
He pulled off his hat and sank to a knee before me, weaving the rope around my legs and hips in quiet fury.
“I don't know why I’d need it if I'm clearing away snow,” I said.
“Fucking humor me,” he replied, his voice a hardened line.
I leaned on Kye’s shoulders as he worked, watching the slant of his dark lashes as he pulled the rope taut and secure, checking his knots. He gave a hard tug, forcing me to catch myself against him. I bit back the urge to scold him for it, my hands fisted in the thick fur of his coat.
“Even if you clear snow, the ground might be unstable,” he said in a flat murmur. “Once we reach the high grade, your balance will be off. It’s not as simple as rock being dry. You’ll be climbing at a vertical slant. A ladder without rungs.” He looked up at me. “We’re bat-shit crazy, taking horses up here. Sero could easily slip and lose his footing, taking you down with him. If that happens, I’ll sever the rope—”
I opened my mouth, but he cut me off.
“—No arguments. None. You asked to be the one to go first. If I agree, these are my terms. You won't refuse a single one of them. If Sero starts to slide, I’ll cut the rope and let him drop. Kolibri, too.”
I gave a silent sigh through my nose.
“We don’t have hooks. We don’t have chains. You’ve never tested the strength of your fingers against a bare-faced summit. The higher you climb, the thinner the air becomes. You’re prone to hyperventilating when you— let me finish —when you get scared. We’ve taken it easy so far, riding horses to this point. But this is going to be hard work. You’re going to tire. Your muscles are going to want to give out. And you’re probably going to struggle to breathe.”
He wrapped his hands around the back of my thighs, his head tilted back enough to fully examine me.
“These aren’t the mountains in Leihani. People get altitude sickness. It can take weeks to acclimate, which is probably why the entire Rivean army is sitting stagnant at our feet. If you start to feel dizzy, nauseous, or sleepy, you stop and wait for me to catch up.”
“Okay,” I uttered, resolve hardening with each of his words.
“If you start to feel trapped, turn your head into your cloak hood and breathe your own air until you calm down. You control your breath. Don't let it control you.”
I gave a stiff nod.
“If you panic, breathe deep. If your instincts tell you to move, listen. And you start to slip, I don't care if you rip off your fingers clawing back up. You may not fucking fall .”