Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Dahlia
Her skin crawled at the openness of the frozen lake.
Loshika led them toward the western bank, her cloak whipping in the wind. The healer looked to the north, and Lia followed suit. Her stomach bottomed out. It seemed as if a wall of snow was moving toward them.
“Faster, my lady!” the giantess shouted. She veered her horse directly across the lake to the far southern bank. Lia nudged her heels into the side of the mount, and the horse picked up speed, its hooves thundering against the ice like her own frantic heartbeat.
Dahlia gritted her teeth and held on with all her strength, terrified that she’d fall off.
Or worse . . . that they’d crash through the ice.
Another glimmer caught her attention, and she glanced to the right. Long streaks of color raced toward them beneath the ice. Her brow furrowed. These were not the iridescent fish—the germals—they were larger and covered in scales.
Fear crawled up her spine when the healer cursed, and the beast spun on its side beneath the clear ice and watched them. It had tall arched fins along its back and two long flat tails. Its elongated snout was lined with large jagged teeth.
“What is that?” Lia cried.
“A guardian of the lake.”
An old memory surfaced, foggy around the edges.
One where her mother had told her a story about the guardians of Glace Lake.
They were supposed to be beautiful fish that protected the lake.
But as Lia stared into the reptilian eye of the monster lurking beneath the ice .
. . she knew it was something far more insidious.
Dahlia leaned forward on the horse, almost lying on its neck to keep up with Loshika. They needed to get off this ice now.
An eerie hum seemed to vibrate through the air.
The beast disappeared into the inky water below.
That scared her even worse.
“Faster!” Loshika screamed.
Serenity—her astrylle—screeched and swooped overhead as if to urge her faster.
A flash of red rushed at them a moment before the beast slammed into the ice. Lia screamed as the horse shied away, galloping harder. Her stomach dropped as the ice webbed beneath them but held.
The beast disappeared.
It was going to ram the ice again.
“Get to the bank.”
Commotion in the distance caught her attention. Five warriors sprinted along the Mirror Bridge in their direction. Not good but a problem for later.
Horror dawned as streaks of color sped in their direction.
More monsters.
Lia gritted her teeth, her fingers shaking as she held the reins. “Just a little faster,” she said in the horse’s ear. “You can do it.”
It seemed the mount knew the danger the beasts portended because it somehow picked up a little more speed. More monsters slammed against the ice, more cracks appearing like glimmering spiderwebs.
They were going to make it. Gone was the deep black water. They were almost to the bank.
Just a bit farther.
She urged the horse after Loshika when a neon green streak cut them off and crashed through the ice. The horse screamed, losing its footing as it redirected them. Lia hung on for dear life as they skidded over the lake toward the beast.
Not good. Not good.
The monster bared its long fangs at them, its scales glittering in the fading light.
It swiped its thick tails at them . . . just as the spiked hooves of the horse found purchase.
Lia lurched to the side, one of the beast’s scaled tails catching her arm.
Dull pain radiated from the spot as she scrambled to stay on the horse.
With trembling arms and thighs, she righted herself, noting the bloody gash on her bicep.
The monster hissed, using its claw-tipped front fins to slide across the ice, much like a seal.
“Not today,” Dahlia growled as the horse ran for the bank.
Serenity dove at the reptile, distracting the green monster.
Loshika screamed as a purple lizard broke through the ice near the bank right in front of her horse before disappearing into the shallow water below. They had slid right into its trap. Water rose to the giantess’ waist as the horse battled to find purchase and get to the shore.
Lia tore her blade from the hidden sheath in her pocket, gaining on her friend as the purple beast sprang.
This was not how they would die today.
The purple beast lunged out of the water, fin down.
Dahlia tossed herself from the back of her horse, both hands on the pommel of her long dagger as the creature reached Loshika.
This was going to hurt. She landed on the lizard’s back, using her momentum to stab the beast in the soft fleshy area of its neck.
It snapped to the side as if to tear her from its back.
Lia scrambled to stay away from its jaws, wheezing.
She tore her blade from the beast and stabbed it in the eye. It ceased moving.
Panting hard, Lia gaped at the still monster beneath her. She couldn’t believe that had worked. Lia pulled the blade free.
How the devil had she managed that?
Ice water seeped into her clothing, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe.
A large blue hand grabbed her elbow and hauled Lia to her feet. She managed to hold onto her blade. Her legs shook as Loshika rushed them to the bank, half carrying her. They scrambled over the rocks and away from the lake. Dahlia looked over her shoulder.
Three more lizards had made it onto the ice, their reptilian gazes on the women. They hadn’t left the lake.
“They’re not chasing us,” Dahlia gasped out.
“Because they’re not mobile enough for land,” Loshika growled. “What you did was foolish.”
Serenity hooted from a nearby tree, shaking her snowy feathers as if in agreement.
Lia didn’t argue with them. “Yes, but you’re unharmed.”
The healer huffed and pulled Dahlia into an embrace. “I owe you my life.”
“As do I.”
Loshika could have ousted Lia, but she hadn’t.
“The horses?” she mumbled into the healer’s soggy cloak.
“Fine. It seems luck is on our side.”
“Not for long.”
Lia shook as the cold registered, along with the stinging drifts of snow. Soon, if not already, she’d be the most hunted woman in the kingdom.
A king killer.