Chapter 44 The Frozen Village
THE FROZEN VILLAGE
Fog clung to the mountains like smoke after a battle. I held tight to Kairos’s armor, my arms wrapped around his waist as the mairen climbed higher. Every hoofbeat carried us closer to Wraithspine Ridge’s frosted peaks.
Elwen had forced me into light armor before we left—reptilian scales that flexed when I moved, and the dragon gloves that protected my hands. Even so, the wind bit at my exposed face.
“Tell me about Vaelrith.”
Kairos gripped the reins. “It’s a farming village up north, where Uther grew up. Maybe two hundred people. They grow flax and barley, raise sheep in the pastures. Hardy folk.”
“What else?”
“The soil’s rich from the mountain runoff, and the river never freezes completely. They supply most of the grain for the northern garrisons. Without them, my warriors would starve come winter.”
So that’s why Vaeris hit them.
“Uther’s family lives there?”
“His father runs the mill. Has for three centuries. Raised Uther on his own after his first wife died. When Uther came of age, he chose to join a clan rather than take over the mill.”
I tried to picture Uther as a farm boy and failed.
“The village holds a yearly harvest festival,” Kairos continued. “They brew this gods-awful wine and dance until dawn. Uther used to drag me there every few decades.”
My chest tightened. They were real people, and now they were trapped, possibly dying, because of Vaeris.
We glided like ghosts through the fog-choked valley, passing beautiful sparkling streams and gorgeous wildflowers until Kairos and the others stopped. The sun had climbed high by the time we reached the village. He dismounted and held out his hand and I took it, swinging my leg over the mairen.
He steadied me as I hopped down, and then Kairos faced the fog. He waved his hand, and mist parted like a curtain. It rolled up over soft grass and thatched roofs, revealing a sleepy town with a river, but the wrongness crawled over my skin.
It was too quiet. No wind or rustling leaves, only… stillness. The air smelled like winter stripped of its bite, and the water wasn’t moving. Frost rimmed the banks despite the mild temperature, and nets hung abandoned between poles, stiff with ice.
The fields on either side of the river were halted in the same unnatural pause, and chimney smoke hovered, motionless, caught in perfect gray ribbons. A woman was bent over herbs, her hands suspended.
Kairos unsheathed his broadsword, and the warriors withdrew their weapons. A ripple of curses passed through them as they examined the frozen people.
“Why would Vaeris do this?”
“To keep us busy,” he said coldly. “While we’re trying to save whoever’s left, he’s searching for the seal.”
Nausea pitted my stomach.
“He’ll pay for this,” he hissed. “When I find him, he’ll beg for death long before I’m done.”
Pounding hooves shook the ground as Uther’s mairen burst through at a gallop, its nostrils flaring steam. He reined in hard, nearly sliding out of the saddle. Uther dismounted, his boots churning up mud as he bolted toward the village.
Kairos took off after him, and I rushed after them both.
Uther had stopped at the edge of a yard. Chickens lay in the grass like toppled figurines. A bucket of water beside the gate was solid, the surface catching the light like a mirror.
Uther slammed the cottage door wide. “Father?”
I stepped inside.
A fire still burned in the hearth, its flames fixed in jagged orange shards. At the table sat an adult male with Uther’s blue skin, surrounded by three boys, none of them moving. The air tasted stale, like breathing in a tomb. I wanted to look away from their small faces but couldn’t.
Uther trembled as he reached for the male and felt for a pulse. He let out a low moan, and Kairos set a hand on Uther’s shoulder.
I knelt beside a toddler, his hands tiny enough to vanish in my palm. He had a smear of jam on his chin. My chest caved in.
I’d seen dead children before, but this was my fault. These people deserved better than to be sacrificed in a war.
“Collect the bodies,” Kairos said quietly.
Uther broke into sobs that tore through my heart. I couldn’t breathe past the guilt crushing my ribs.
I clasped Kairos’s arm. “But I haven’t found the rune yet.”
Kairos shook his head. “They’re gone. There’s nothing you can do.”
“They’re just kids,” Uther choked out. “Who the hell would do this?”
The warriors moved outside, boots thudding against the boards.
Sickened, I returned my attention to the smallest boy. His head lolled when I touched him. Eyes open but not clouded. No burst vessels, the same soft brown they must’ve been when he was alive.
I brushed my thumb along his cheek.
Still warm. Dead bodies cooled quickly, but he felt like he’d just been running through the fields. I pressed two fingers to his throat, hope flaring so sharp it hurt.
I moved to the next boy. Lashes rested on his cheeks like he’d closed his eyes. The curls on his head were damp with sweat. Something about this was wrong.
The table had four wooden cups, each half-full, the surface of the water caught in odd peaks.
Kairos knelt beside Uther, stroking his back.
I shot to my feet. “Kairos, tell them to stop!”
The warrior at the door scoffed. “You don’t give orders here, human.”
Kairos growled. “That’s enough.”
The warrior’s jaw clenched, but he backed off.
Kairos rose slowly, his eyes finding mine. “What is it?”
Uther’s face was tear-streaked, his father’s body in his arms. I might be wrong…but I couldn’t keep this to myself.
“I need your dagger,” I said, holding out my hand.
Kairos studied me. Then he unsheathed the blade and placed it in my palm. “What are you thinking?”
I approached the basket by the hearth—apples, pears, a cluster of blackberries. Several of them sat next to the basin, glistening. I grabbed one and set it on the table.
The blade bit through, and both halves fell open. Inside…nothing strange. No frostbitten pulp. The scent of sweet fruit wafted like it had been plucked seconds ago. Relief punched through me so hard I braced myself against the table.
I showed Kairos the halves. “This isn’t a rune that kills, it…it stops them in a moment in time.”
Kairos glanced at them. “You’re sure?”
“Yes. They’re still alive.”
Uther’s head snapped toward me. “Can you help them?”
“If I find the rune, yes.”
Uther surged to his feet, knocking over a chair. “Then what the hell are we standing here for?”
He was already moving for the door. I gave Kairos back his dagger and walked outside.
The warriors had gathered, knuckles white around hilts. A few prowled the fences, scanning rooftops, and the air bristled with foul curses.
“Cowardly bastards,” one spat. “I’ll gut the first Skaldog I see.”
“They should’ve stayed to fight,” another snarled. “Instead they piss off into the fog.”
A third warrior, an older male with crimson eyes, jerked his chin at me. “And this is what we’re relying on? Might as well pray to the gods while we’re at it.”
Heat clawed up my throat, burning behind my eyes. He wasn’t wrong to doubt me, but I could do this. I had to.
Kairos froze, his jaw tight. Then he slowly crossed the distance between them and stopped inches from the male’s face. The warrior was tall, but Kairos was bigger.
Oh gods.
I stepped toward Kairos, but Uther seized my arm, shaking his head.
“Torvin,” Kairos said in a soft hiss. “When was the last time you broke a rune?”
The warrior shifted. “I…I don’t understand the question, my king.”
“It’s a simple question.”
“I can’t break runes.”
“She can.” Kairos’s tone was almost pleasant. “So when two hundred lives depend on magic, and you can’t do a fucking thing about it, why does your opinion matter?”
Torvin’s ears burned red, and he stepped back. Kairos faced the rest of the warriors, his tone blistering.
“I don’t give a fuck what you think. You’ll see soon enough why she’s here, and then all of you will owe her your respect. Am I clear?”
“Yes, my king,” they murmured.
The weight of every eye pressed against my skin, their gazes filled with doubt, curiosity, some outright disbelief. Kairos turned to me, his face shining with unwavering trust.
“Show them,” he said quietly.
I swallowed hard and nodded, praying I wouldn’t let him down. My gaze swept over the people caught in motion. I crouched, tracing the grass with gloved fingers. The magic pulsed like hairline cracks in glass, veining away from the cottage.
I hesitated, piecing it together. “I think it spread through water. The river, the wells, maybe the moisture in the air. It halted at the same moment.” I looked up at Kairos. “But we’re not frozen, so it only affected things that were here when it was drawn.”
Kairos rubbed his jaw.
I glanced at the gathered warriors. “Has anyone studied time runes?”
A few shook their heads.
“No,” Kairos growled. “Time magic is outlawed in every realm. The treaties made it punishable by death to even study it, let alone use it.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s incredibly dangerous. It destabilizes everything around it and tears holes in the fabric of reality.” He waved his hand at the village. “Most magic fades, but not time runes. They keep looping, never weakening. Without you, this village stays frozen forever.”
My blood ran cold. “Forever?”
His fists clenched. “Reckless fucking bastard.”
“That’s why Vaeris used it,” I muttered. “He knows you can’t ignore this.”
The warriors brandished their weapons. One punched a fence post hard enough to crack it. Another kicked over a bucket, swearing. Uther paced like a caged animal, his face twisted.
“Those pious, silk-wearing slavers attacked farmers then ran like the cowards they are,” Uther raged. “I’ll kill all those altar-kissing cunts—”
“Too soft to fight warriors, so they attack peasants!”
Two hundred waited for me to save them—Uther’s father, his brothers, families who grew grain, raised sheep, and danced at harvest festivals. If I failed, they’d stay trapped in a single moment for eternity.
My hands shook as I followed the magic to a moss-crusted well, the warriors’ fury roaring behind me. The weight of their desperate hope pressed down on my shoulders until I could barely stand. If I couldn’t free these people, every warrior here would know I was useless.
A frozen villager shifted slightly.
What…?
Kairos’s nostrils flared. “They’re here.”
I jerked my head up as Kairos lunged past, his broadsword slashing. A villager by the baker’s shop—no, not a villager—the glamour dissolved to reveal blue armor. The male ducked Kairos’s strike.
Chaos erupted.
Warriors shouted. Blades clashed. More villagers shattered their disguises as Skaldir soldiers joined the fight. A male with a blue-plated helm charged straight for me.
Terror spiked through my veins. I scrambled, but my boot slipped on frost. The soldier was three strides away. Two.
I dove for the well. My ribs slammed into the stone rim and pain seared across my side. I couldn’t breathe. The rope—I grabbed it, swung my leg over—
A hand closed around my ankle.
I kicked hard. The grip loosened and I let go, plummeting into darkness. The rope whipped past my face, burning my cheek. Then I plunged underwater, cold punching the air from my lungs. The shock of it stole my breath. I broke the surface with a gasp.
“Aelie!”
My head snapped up.
Kairos’s helm appeared. “Don’t move. I’m coming down!”
He jumped over the edge and plummeted down.
The water should’ve exploded but he hit with a soundless impact, the ripples collapsing into glassy stillness as if nothing had disturbed it.
He surfaced. His helm turned toward me, water streaming down the black steel.
We swam into a vast cavern, the ceiling studded with stalactites, their purple light dripping over the water. I climbed over a rock outcropping.
Kairos vaulted up beside me. The purple glow deepened the farther I crept into the cave, then my boot crunched a brittle object.
A bone. I froze, then took another step. More bones were scattered ahead, half-submerged in the shallows.
My pulse thudded painfully.
Kairos reached over his shoulder, grabbing his broadsword—then he cursed. He slammed it back into its sheath and pulled a dagger free from his thigh scabbard.
He gripped it in a reverse hold. “Stay close.”
The time rune burned into the far wall, its purple lines glistening. I approached it and pressed my palm against the hot surface. It was oily, and it warped like stretched skin.
I slipped my fingers under the threads and heat rushed to my face. This felt wrong. They writhed, slick as fish guts. I searched for the loop to break it, but the strands curled like worms, slipping away from my grasp.
Then they moved.
A hiss split the air as the purple cords slithered higher, winding around my wrist. Their touch was clammy and horribly alive. I jerked back, but the threads tightened, digging in like hooks.
He grabbed my arm. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know. Cut it off me!”
Kairos lunged as the rune dragged me closer.
I thrashed, trying to brace myself, but my boots skidded on the wet rocks. The rune widened, tugging with impossible strength.
The wall rippled.
It yanked me forward and I fell through the stone, plummeting down. Through the wall and deep into a void that swallowed my scream.