Chapter 41 #3
The earth follows his command with a thunderous crack. The ice splits, shifting us away from each other, but the movement is so smooth that my balance barely falters. When it stops, Stefan is on one side, the rest of us on the other.
‘Great, so we have to walk around this thing to get back?’ Benny groans.
It doesn’t go as far as the mountains, but it’s definitely going to add a full hour to our walk back. Although maybe Fen could jump the distance.
What do you think? Could you leap over it?
I’m appalled that you would even have to ask such a thing, Fen bites back, only for a slight pause to follow. I’d just need a decent run-up, that’s all.
‘Don’t worry,’ Stefan shouts. ‘I’ll have Rose practise bridge building at the end of the session.’
I brighten. I still haven’t attempted my own bridge, and I’m excited to give it a try.
‘Okay, a ravine.’
Given the number of times I’ve made cracks in walls both here and in Wrohelm, this feels like a task that’s made for me. Using ice to pull shit apart.
‘Yes, don’t worry about making it as deep as this one,’ Stefan instructs. ‘The depth can be difficult. Go for length instead.’
I’m certain I can hear Benny and Ruben sniggering, but I don’t pay it any mind. Instead, I do as Stefan requests, feeling the magic building in my pulse, ready to plough it into the earth.
I shove my hands downwards as it releases from me, and it’s as though it’s hacked at the earth, spraying chunks of ice up into the air. Sure, there’s a dip in the ground, but I don’t think anyone would call it a ravine.
‘That wasn’t terrible,’ Stefan yells, moving closer to his own gaping hole in the earth.
His voice is somehow incredibly clear and crisp across the distance.
Apparently, the ravine he’s placed between us is giving him a little more confidence that he’s not going to get speared to death by one of my haywire magic flares. ‘It’s a good start. Go again.’
Not terrible? A good start? Clearly not having Kyor here has put him in a much better mood. Maybe this is the teacher the other Issen get. Not the one who flip-flops between suggesting we get married and looking like he wants to murder me.
‘Go again. Remember long – that’s all you’re aiming for. Maximum length.’
‘He’s doing this deliberately, right?’ Benny remarks, but Ruben shushes him, and I’m grateful.
I need to focus.
This time, I try to visualise what I want more clearly. It’s not about a hole in the ice; it’s about pulling the ice apart. And I’m sure that’s something I can do.
Drawing an image of light into my stomach, I feel the magic throbbing in my veins, and when the pulsing in my palms is steady, I fire it out.
The crack is enough to unsteady my feet, though more out of surprise than the movement itself. Still I stay standing, watching with jaw-dropping disbelief as the ground splits in two. A split that spreads out even longer than Stefan’s, although admittedly it is a fraction of the depth and width.
‘Nice,’ Stefan yells. ‘Now we’re making some progress! Try to see if you can make a shorter one, but far deeper. Drill downwards, like you’re making a well in the ice.’
A well in the ice. I can do that. If I just switch the direction of the magic, I’m sure that’s possible.
And yet, as I start to feel the power thrumming through me, I glimpse Ruben moving at the edge of my vision.
‘What is it?’ I say, pausing.
‘Benny can see something coming down the mountainside. He thinks it might be jotnar.’
I spin around and shout across to Stefan. ‘Did you hear that? Is it possible?’
‘I doubt it,’ he calls, ‘but I think we’re probably past where the jotnar alarms were. Your little outburst yesterday buried them, so it’s hard to say for sure.’
‘Something is on that mountain,’ Benny says urgently. ‘And it’s coming down this way. Fast.’
Stefan is on the other side of the ravine, further away from the mountains than us, but he looks to where Benny is pointing, squinting slightly. ‘I can’t see anything. Probably just a snowdrift. They have them all the time up here.’
‘It’s not a snowdrift,’ Benny argues. ‘It’s too patterned for that. Too ordered. Snowdrifts would be more random.’
‘You can’t tell that from here,’ Stefan scoffs.
‘Actually, he can,’ I respond, the cold fingers of fear stroking my gut. ‘He definitely can.’
Stefan looks both surprised and impressed. ‘I thought his gift was reading things fast? Not far sight.’
‘It’s not far sight,’ Benny snaps. ‘You can see that the snow is moving. I can see how it’s moving, every minute detail in it, and I am telling you, it is not a snowdrift.
It’s shifting that way because something is charging through it.
Something big and fast. I’m telling you, we need to get moving. Now.’
There’s the slightest tremor in Benny’s voice. Not panic, but a definite edge.
‘Huh,’ Stefan says. ‘Would you look at that? I think you might be right. I guess it’s a good job that I’m on this side of the ravine.’
His eyes meet mine and the darkest of smiles curls his lips. The single look is all it takes for me to realise.
Kyor was right all along.
Stefan wants me dead.