Chapter 16 #2
Sinan could swim well, but the water would be cold, and he wouldn’t be able to maintain his body temperature for long. He drew more power from his sigil and ran forward.
The rat attacked again, this time biting at his face, and Sinan stopped long enough to rip the animal off him and throw it to the ground.
“Begone and haunt this spot no more!” Sinan tried a half-remembered exorcism spell, which only made the rat chatter its teeth in rage as it stood in his path.
A series of sharp cracks filled the air, and the surface of the lake turned white, ice spreading at a fantastic rate. Gallmau screamed out Meri’s name, and other than his struggling shape, the water’s now frozen surface was pale and featureless, with no sign of the beautiful speed fighter.
Sinan ran forward, slipping and sliding on the ice. He had enough power to demolish half the valley, but that wouldn’t do any good. Meri was trapped underneath, about to drown if she hadn’t already, and he was good at death, not water rescues.
Gallmau screamed his name, and Sinan twisted to see the prince frantically pointing to his right. The rat was on the ice, sniffing and digging furiously.
Half-running, half-falling, Sinan reached the spot.
Meri’s water-cursed blades lay next to a mound of ice as clear as a window pane. Inside was a small pocket of air and a face pressed up against the surface.
Sinan motioned for Meri to dive, and she sank into the dark water.
He sent as little shadow power into the ice as he could.
The surface exploded into fragments, leaving a dark pool of open water.
He flung himself down on his stomach and crawled forward as the weakened ice underneath him cracked and groaned.
The water began to solidify again, clumps of bobbing ice coalescing into an even thicker sheet.
This wasn’t a natural phenomenon. Whoever controlled the Artifact was assaulting them with its weather powers, making Sinan’s abilities useless in the face of crippling cold and wet.
Meri burst out of the water and flung her upper body out onto the frozen surface.
Sinan grabbed her arms and pulled as more ice formed around her lower body, clinging to her and trying to drag her back under.
She shook herself into a blur of movement, sending water and snow flying as she climbed to her feet, her blades already back in her hands.
“Get Gallmau out, you son of a bitch.” Meri shoved her blades into her scabbards and tried to fight off his hands as Sinan dragged her away to a more solid patch of ice.
At least she hadn’t stabbed him. His gloves slid along her arms, and he had to remind himself that layers of leather and fabric protected him from touching her soft skin. He could do this, could hold on to her long enough to get her across the lake to the shore. Then he’d help Gallmau.
They stumbled across the frozen surface, the wind howling and snow flying everywhere. They were out past the center of the lake, and the far shore was closer than the side they had started on. Sinan tried to keep them going in a straight line toward it.
“I’ll go back for him, I promise.” The cold gnawed at him, siphoning off more and more of his strength. The wind had shifted direction, blowing directly against them. “Get to land and find the trail. We have to get up to the lodge, no matter what’s waiting for us inside.”
The ice began to fracture again as they approached the pebble-strewn sand of the lakeshore. The water’s surface wasn’t frozen solid enough yet and barely held his and Meri’s weight.
Meri stumbled onto the shore and slumped down, sodden and gasping. The wet and cold would kill her as effectively as drowning would have. Sinan pulled off his shroud cloak, activating the warmth sigil with more power than he should have, and put it over her shoulders and head.
“It’s heat magic, that’s all.” Sinan was afraid she would rip it off, given her fear of the Blessed and their powers, but she only looked up at him, tears freezing on her lashes.
“Don’t leave him out there.” Meri’s fury and pride were gone, replaced by the desperation Sinan had seen when she thought Gallmau was dying from Naghwe’s poison.
“I’ll get him.” Sinan turned around, his feet numb with cold, and focused on shadow, and shadow alone.
His magic crept forward, a path of darkness in an expanse of white. He stepped onto it, the surface now solid and secure, and trudged forward. His shields went out around him, blocking the worst of the wind.
He couldn’t keep up this expenditure of energy for long.
His cloak allowed him to both store and focus different affinities, but his shadow powers didn’t need any additional support.
They weren’t infinite, though, and he needed to find Gallmau and break him out of the ice, if the prince was even still alive.
The winds screamed, and the snow intensified into a white-out. His shadow path was as open as ever, but he had no means to find Gallmau.
A pair of pinpoint blue lights shone in front of him, and Sinan mumbled a prayer to the Lady to apologize for his stupidity in rejecting the help she had repeatedly provided.
“Cheese.” He focused on the tiny eyes of the undead rat, blazing through the snow. “Remember the food Gallmau gave you? He has more. Find him, and he’ll give it to you.”
The lights blinked once then began to move forward, and Sinan followed them. The snow was thick enough that he was all but on top of Gallmau before he realized it.
The prince was punching the ice in front of him, pulverizing it into pieces and trying to pull himself further out of the icy prison he had been trapped in. He stared up at Sinan in surprise, the icicles coating his hair and beard so thick he appeared one with the storm.
Sinan spread his hands and exploded the surface of the lake in front of him. It was more destructive than the maneuver he had used with Meri, and Gallmau wasn’t able to shield himself under the water.
Gallmau floated face down at the end of it, and Sinan lunged forward to grasp the prince’s shoulders.
He groaned and clutched at Sinan, dragging him toward the water.
Frantic, Sinan sent out eight legs of shadow from his back to stab into the ice, turning himself into a parody of a spider to hold himself in place as Gallmau pulled himself out of the water and to his feet.
A pair of glowing blue lights scurried up the prince’s arm, and the rat materialized on his shoulders, sniffing the air for potential cheese rewards and looking rather pleased with itself.
“Follow the path.” Sinan pulled back his shadow appendages and stood up on unsteady legs. He gestured to a now narrow stretch of black that stretched out over the ice. “Your weight will break through otherwise.”
He would have fallen, but Gallmau reached out an arm to steady him.
“Don’t touch me.” Sinan mumbled the familiar warning and staggered forward.
He needed to focus every last bit of his will to keep the path open. He gestured for Gallmau to go first, allowing the heavier man to trudge along on the more solid segment of shadow as the surface underneath his own feet grew more tenuous, more like the absence of light it truly was.
His shields weakened, step by step, and the snow screamed around him, ripping away the last shreds of heat. He no longer had any sense of direction, and the best he could do was extend his shadow path for Gallmau, hoping the young royal knew where he was going.
After an eternity of shivering cold, Gallmau stopped, and Sinan realized the prince was standing on the shore, holding out his hand to him.
Sinan stared down at his feet at the thin ice cracking under his weight. The water rushed up to suck him under, the cold extinguishing the last of his shadow bridge, and with it, any chance of survival.