Chapter 28 Frost and Fire #2
The cold hit Lara first. It sank through her clothes, into her skin, wrapped around her bones.
They were walking toward her.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Frozen grass broke under bony feet.
She couldn’t move. Her legs had locked. Her heart slammed against her ribs—too loud, too fast. They would hear it. They would know where she was.
One of them turned its head. Its blank face angled at her.
It knew she was there.
Her throat closed. She tried to swallow but couldn’t.
They kept coming.
Knavoar were rare. She’d never seen one, nor had she met anyone who had. Not even Cailean, who’d traveled The Uplands extensively, had mentioned encountering any. But now at least a dozen of them lurched toward them. They were surrounded.
“You need me,” she rasped. She should be panicking right now, yet she was suddenly watching events unfold from above. Maybe it was the fire-madness. It was dulling her reactions. “Fire will deal with them.”
“No,” Alar said, his tone sharp. Final. “It’ll take too much from you.”
“He’s right.” A nerve jumped in Bree’s cheek as she met Lara’s eye. “You can’t take the risk.”
“Salt works against knavoar,” Cailean said then. “If we had enough of it.”
They didn’t. Just a pouch each on their belts, and most of that was gone as they sprinkled salt around their campsite each night.
“Failing that … iron and steel,” Alar added, unsheathing his blades. Cailean then drew his own weapons. Roth did the same, moving forward to join them, while Sablebane and Fern edged back from the ring of guttering torches, nostrils flaring.
Ren approached then, her boots sliding on the frost that crept over the ground where they stood. The bard’s jaw was set.
“I’m ready,” she said, raising her hands before her.
Cailean nodded to her. A moment later, the tattoos visible on their necks and forearms glowed silver.
Lara moved back, giving them all space. Nonetheless, her pulse now raced.
Bree stepped up to her side then, iron blade drawn, ready to defend her High Queen.
Skaal joined them too—this was a fight the fae hound couldn’t take part in, for if her teeth or claws came in contact with a frost spirit, she’d die.
“Let them come to us,” Cailean growled then. “They’ll be weaker near firelight.”
No sooner had he spoken when the spidery knavoar lunged into a shambling run.
“Don’t let them get their hands on you,” Alar warned his companions. “Just one touch will freeze your blood.”
A wild song burst from Ren’s throat, shattering the stillness.
Iron sliced through the air, biting into ice.
Lara’s fingers clenched around her torch. Ruari and Annis drew closer to her, Bree, and Skaal, their gazes riveted upon the fight unfolding just yards away. Meanwhile, the Shee had all unsheathed their weapons, waiting.
Roth slipped on the icy ground then, rolling away just in time as long white fingers clutched for him. Snarling a curse, he bounced to his feet and sliced the frost spirit in half. Ice splintered.
Meanwhile, Cailean was a blur. His earth magic made him devastatingly fast. Lanky bodies shattered under his heavy broadsword.
Lara’s gaze seized upon Alar. Just like the first time she’d seen him, fighting off those powries, he moved like a dancer, his twin blades cleaving and stabbing. Knavoar surrounded him, but he dodged their snaking arms.
Mor muttered something under her breath then, pointing. Lara peered down the hill, her heart stuttering when she spied more lines of thin white figures staggering up the slope. Coming for them.
Drawing her own weapon, Mor strode forward, shouting to her Ravens.
Moments later, they’d joined the others. Steel rang amongst iron through the night. Ren edged back from the fighting, her voice faltering now. The cold was damaging her throat. She wouldn’t be able to go on for much longer.
Lara, Annis, and Ruari remained there, watching the fight unfold, while Bree moved forward in a protective stance.
All three knew how to wield the daggers they carried, but none of them were warriors.
It would be foolish to rush into that fight.
Nonetheless, dread now sat like a stone on Lara’s breastbone.
Her limbs tingled from the deep cold that surrounded them. Each breath felt like inhaling shards of bone. The chill drilled deep into her torso.
“They are too many,” Annis rasped finally. “They can’t hold them back.”
“I know,” Lara whispered back. More frost spirits were filing up the hill now, closing the net.
Bree swiveled on her heel then, her expression fierce. “We must fall back.”
Lara shook her head. “No … I must wield fire.”
“No, Lara, you—”
“There’s no other way,” Lara cut her off. She understood the risk she was about to take. Fire-madness breathed down her neck, but she had to help. Heart pounding, she then turned to her counselor and seer. Annis’s lips were blue. Ice glittered off her eyelashes.
Ruari had pulled his fur cloak close around his spare frame, yet now shivered uncontrollably. “B … but it’s not s … safe for you,” he replied through chattering teeth.
“No.” Lara started fumbling for her cairn stone.
Curse it, her numb fingers wouldn’t cooperate.
“But if I don’t act, we’re all done for.
” Her fingers curled around the icy lump of stone, and her chin kicked up.
Curses rang across the hillside then. The press of knavoar was close to overwhelming their companions.
“Grab those two torches over there. I’ll need them. ”
Both Annis and Ruari nodded, stumbling as they hurried to do Lara’s bidding.
Meanwhile, Lara flexed her numb fingers around the cairn stone and reached deep. Gods. She hoped her body and mind wouldn’t fail her. Not now.
“Be careful,” Bree’s voice was low, urgent. “Don’t push too hard.”
Not like you did with the Slew. Not like last time when you lost control and nearly killed us all.
She didn’t say it. She didn’t need to.
Lara brushed past her, flexing her left hand. The fingers trembled. Stop it. Stop shaking. She clenched them into a fist.
Below, the fight was chaos. Blades striking ice. Bodies moving in a blur. Alar and Sablebane fought back-to-back—father and son—their movements mirroring each other. That was new. She’d never seen them—
Focus.
Her mind kept slipping, sliding away like feet on ice. The fever had only just broken. Her body felt hollowed out, scraped clean.
“Bring the torches.” Her voice came out steady. That was better. “Drive them into the ground. There … a little farther right. Then get clear.”
Annis and Ruari obeyed, their faces taut, hands shaking from cold and terror.
Lara stared at the torches. The flames guttered, dying. The frost spirits were choking them out. Soon there would be nothing left but smoke and darkness.
She reached out with her mind and touched the fire.