Chapter 15 #2
“We’re not going to the cave,” S?ren said, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.
His cloak lifted behind him, following a gust of wind.
The towering pines offered a patchwork backdrop of green as he glanced over his shoulder at me.
I refused to acknowledge how nicely the color complimented his dark hair and gray eyes.
“Then where?” Trudging through the snow was terrible, and I was glad my boots were high enough to keep the cold from sneaking into my socks.
But it was nice to be moving. The soreness in my legs screamed with every step, but at least blood was flowing again.
“We left our weapons with the horse. Should we grab them?”
He shook his head. “No. Here, look.”
We stepped up past the cave entrance, around the side. S?ren pointed through a gap in the trees. It wasn’t far before the pines disappeared into nothing but a white plain.
I swallowed. I knew exactly what I was looking at, because I’d dreamt of a similar place so many times. “A lake.”
When he glanced at me, he appeared pleased. “Exactly.”
Surely this wasn’t the same lake I’d been dreaming of. It couldn’t be. Calm down, I told myself. There are dozens of lakes in the wastes. They likely all look identical. You can dream of a lake without dreaming of this lake.
S?ren hadn’t clarified what he meant yet, and I tapped my foot. Finally, I said, “If I’d known you thought ice fishing was the way to discovering prophecies, we could have stopped at the lake on the outskirts of the capital and made this a much shorter trip.”
He rolled his eyes. “We’re not here to fish.”
“Then how can this lake possibly help us?” I threw my hands up. “I can’t believe you made me trek all the way out here for…nothing.”
S?ren stepped in front of me, blocking my view of the endless, snow-covered ice. His eyes held every ounce of deadly seriousness I knew him to possess. And then, he said something utterly absurd.
“There is something magical beneath the ice.”
Silence fell over us, so profound I didn’t dare break it. Only when the weight of his words settled over me did I reply, “What is it?”
“I don’t know, not exactly.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “But there are records of strange happenings here that go back generations. You heard the queen’s story, about Callum falling into the ice and Aloisa diving in after him. I believe this is the same lake.”
The dream flashed before my eyes. The surge of panic I felt watching the boy swallowed up by the freezing water sent a shudder through me. “Why do you think it can reveal the prophecy to us, then?”
With a sigh, he unlatched his cloak and spread it down over the snow like a blanket. “Sit,” he said, gesturing. “This is going to take a while to explain.”
Warily, I did as he asked. When we were comfortable, he turned to gaze out over the lake and began.
“When Sonja and I were young, we tried to escape Kryllian once. We made it out of the castle, snuck our way onto a ship in the harbors, and set off for what we thought was Faste. But the queen had seen us leaving. She paid the merchants who owned the boat a hefty sum to take us to the farthest port from ‘home’ and drop us there with nothing.”
I frowned. “The farthest port? In the Fjordlands? Isn’t that…”
He closed his eyes, like he saw it stretched before him.
“K?lig. The tiny village on the northernmost coast of Bhorglid. The captain said he’d been sent with a message.
Told us that when we grew tired of playing house on our own, he would be there to take us right back to the palace.
We were kids, and we weren’t thinking straight.
So when no one offered to help us, we walked out of town and into the wastes.
At the time, it seemed a better option than returning to Kryllian. ”
I gaped. “How are you alive?”
“I shouldn’t be. Neither should Sonja. But just as we started to consider that we’d made a huge mistake, we ran into a woman. She told us she was a wanderer, but that she had a place we could stay to warm up for the night until we were ready to go back.”
“She wouldn’t take you in?”
“No. And rightfully so, I now understand. She was living alone in the worst place in the Fjordlands. It was no life for two young children.”
I bit back my argument. If he’d forgiven the woman, then far be it from me to dissuade him. Besides, it’s not my job to protect him anymore.
“This is where she brought us.” He glanced over at the cave, and I saw the fondness hidden in his eyes.
“She spent several days teaching me how to forge and letting Sonja go wild with growing pine trees. It’s why there are so many around here compared to the sparser areas of the wastes.
But every night, I’d wake up and wander out to the lake.
It was summertime then, so the water was still frozen over but not nearly as thick as it is now.
I’d sit at the edge and wonder about…everything.
“One night, the wandering woman found me. She came to me and asked what I was thinking about. And I told her the truth about my Lurae. I was only twelve, so I hadn’t come into my magic that long ago, but I already hated it.
I went on and on about how no one understood me.
There was no one else I’d been able to find in the history books who could cause death with their Lurae.
“She said I was wrong. And then she told me a story.” He tilted his head to me. “Can you guess what the story was?”
“The one the queen told us,” I murmured, chewing my lip. “About Aloisa and Callum.”
“Exactly,” he said with an approving nod. “But the wandering woman’s version had far more detail. According to her, there is a god living in the lake.”
“A god?” I snorted. “And you seriously believe that?”
S?ren shrugged. “I don’t think it’s a god necessarily, but there are a couple of other accounts that mention this place specifically and claim it as a site of powerful magic. Perhaps the wandering woman had some experience of her own with the lake.”
“You said her story had more detail,” I said. “What details?”
“She claimed Aloisa had spoken with the god in the lake when she dove in after her friend. The god had told her the people were ready to receive magic, but it would require a sacrifice. If she was willing to pay it, then her friend would live again.”
I didn’t need S?ren to tell me what Aloisa had done. I would have chosen to sacrifice for my friends, too. “What was taken from her, then?”
“The wandering woman didn’t say. She merely said that within the lake is ‘the fabric of the past and the threads of the future.’ ” His lopsided grin sent my heart galloping. “Incredibly vague, I know.”
I leaned back on my palms. “Well, if the ‘god’ lives beneath the ice, have fun on your swim.”
S?ren raised a brow. “I don’t think so. Maybe this prophecy involves me, but you’re the one who needs to hear it.” He stood and stretched, then held out a hand to me. “Come on. Time to see what all the fuss is about.”
For a long moment, I chewed my lip and looked at his hand. “If you’re trying to kill me, this is a terrible and uninventive way to do it.”
He laughed, the sound wholehearted in a way that made my stomach flip. “It’s also incredibly more complicated and time-consuming than it’s worth to kill you by convincing you to jump in a lake. Besides, you can swim. You have nothing to lose.”
I took his hand.