“Let me guess: you can’t say anything until we get out of here?” Metea/Irric said.

“Well, it’s not that I can’t say anything, it’s that I won’t say anything. There’s a clear difference there, sister.” Prisoner said. “But seriously, this is something that could put the lot of us in crazy danger if we don’t keep it hush-hush. So I need you three to promise me you won’t say anything, and I do mean anything, about any of this where there might be the tiniest chance someone else might be listening in.”

Sechen looked at Metea/Irric, who looked back with a nervous expression but nodded anyway. “Fine. I swear I’ll keep quiet about all these world-shaking revelations you’re going to bless us with.”

“A little patronizin’, but good enough for little ol’ me. Cloudy, shiny, you two agree to the terms?”

“Anything to expedite our departure.” Gilt huffed.

“Now, that wasn’t exactly agreement.” Prisoner said.

“No, it was not.” Gilt agreed.

“Fine. I’ll just gut you if you talk.” Prisoner sighed. “Cloudy?”

“I… can’t promise that.” Metea/Irric slowly said.

“Ah, right, the thing you’ve got. Well, I suppose we’ll keep you outta the loop until I can find some way to right that wrong.” Prisoner scratched his face and turned to walk backwards, facing the rest of the group. “Just know that that ain’t all you, cloudy. What happened to ya crossed some wires, and I’m guessin’ you haven’t exactly had time to work on yourself over the past few years, yeah?”

Metea/Irric seemed stunned by Prisoner’s words. “What? How do you know…”

“Anyone with Issi like mine can see right through you, sister.” Prisoner chuckled. “You worked for someone who used you like a sock puppet, and you’re still feelin’ the effects of her Issi even if she’s hightailed it outta the glacier. You think she’d teach you how to protect yourself from people like her?”

“Well, no, but..”

“You got played, sister. You’re strong, but Rainshear didn’t teach you nothin’ so she could beat you when you stopped bein’ useful. But don’t worry; I’ll give you the tools to fix yourself right up.”

Prisoner turned on his heel and sped up without warning, and Sechen had to jog to keep up with him. Metea/Irric was lost in her own thoughts, and Gilt seemed to be focused on something far down the tunnel that Sechen couldn’t see.

“Are you aware of what is waiting for us?” Gilt asked Prisoner, and he made a clicking noise with his tongue.

“Not fully. They’re pullin’ out all the stops; someone powerful don’t want us leavin’ here.”

“Do you suppose it might be the ruler of this glacier?”

“Ha!” Prisoner barked out a short laugh. “No, if Glasrime knew who I was, they wouldn't be hidin’ behind veils. If they haven’t changed since I last saw ‘em, there’d be a glass blade separatin’ my top from my bottom and you three’d be on auction to the highest bidder. Or Glasrime’d be dead and shattered, and we wouldn’t have any problems anymore. But I ain’t riskin that until I’m sure how much’ve my Issi’s still locked up somewhere far away.”

“Then what’s waiting for us?” Sechen asked through heavy breaths.

“Don’t know, and I don’t care to find out.” Prisoner repeated, weaving a pattern in the air with one hand in purple Issi threads. “This is gonna feel a little off, but just let it happen. You don’t want to be the only one left back here when the rest of us are safe-ish and sound.”

Sechen nodded even though Prisoner couldn’t see her, and Prisoner broke off a small piece of his weave, placing it on Elach’s back. He then broke the rest of it into four pieces, one of which went to each of the group, and Sechen flinched back and almost instinctively reached for her Issi as Prisoner’s technique left a tangible mark on her container. It felt like a tattoo on her soul, fresh and tender, and all she wanted to do was scratch it away with her Issi. Then Prisoner’s Issi flared, and the mark he left on her container quickly followed suit.

It was cold. Freezing cold, both from the snow Sechen now found herself knee-deep in and Prisoner’s Issi that had turned from a burning itch to a frozen numbness in less than a second. Sechen turned to see that everyone had made it, Metea/Irric taking it far better than she was, and Gilt taking it far worse. A being of pure Issi was probably more susceptible to what she felt in her container, but Metea/Irric was half wisp now. Gilt looked at her as if sensing her thoughts and nodded, which Sechen realized was out of sympathy. She was shivering uncontrollably, and as the cold truly seeped into her she looked pleadingly to Prisoner for some kind of explanation.

“Thought we’d be goin’ down, didn’t you?” Prisoner chuckled. “Nah. Needed a good vantage point to get my bearings. Tough it out for a few minutes, then I’ll take us down in the direction we need to be goin’.”

Prisoner adjusted Elach on his shoulder as he walked towards the edge of the glacier, humming a tune to himself that belied a mood that did not match their situation. Sechen muttered something unflattering about Prisoner to herself through chattering teeth, hugging her bag for what little warmth or protection it may provide as Metea/Irric tapped her on the shoulder.

“Y-yeah?” Sechen asked, and Metea/Irric handed her a stone inscribed with glowing orange symbols. “T-thanks.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“No problem.” Metea/Irric said with a small smile, lowering herself into the snow until it came up to her chest. “You’ll learn how to deal with harsh temperatures soon enough.”

Sechen doubted that, but she put on a smile and nodded in acknowledgement. “Hopefully.”

“Would you perhaps have another one of those warming Issi trinkets?” Gilt asked as he trudged through the snow. “I do not have enough Issi to repulse the external conditions we find ourselves in at the moment.”

“Sorry, shiny. Only brought the one with me.” Metea/Irric reached out to pat Gilt on the head, but stopped herself before she did when Gilt looked up at her as if to challenge her to go through with it. “Prisoner should have another one, though, since he’s carrying everything from home that didn’t fit into this bag.”

“Then I shall request the same of him.” Gilt stated, walking between Metea/Irric and Sechen as he made his way to Prisoner.

“Now that we have a moment to ourselves,” Metea/Irric started as she pulled another stone out of her pocket and cradled it in her palm, “we need to talk.”

“About what?” Sechen asked, staring at the stone in Metea/Irric’s hand for a moment before looking off at Prisoner and Gilt.

“About everything that just happened.” Metea/Irric sighed, flopping down on her back and disappearing into the snow. “This morning we thought we were going to free Revel; that went downhill fast, I got offered as a prize, Elach died, Prisoner appeared out of nowhere, and now we’re letting Rainshear go to do something that’s apparently of such great importance that the wrong person overhearing it could spell the end for us all.”

“And we didn’t actually rescue Revel.” Sechen added. “Just shuffled her from Pinnacle to Rainshear.”

“So that leaves us here. On top of a glacier with two people we met today and one corpse we met earlier this week that Prisoner claims he can fix. And, for some reason, I feel safer than I ever did with Rainshear.” Metea/Irric groaned. “I know it’s because she was a terrible person, but It’s eating me up on the inside, ringlet.”

“...Yeah. I get what you mean.” Sechen said, fiddling with the stone that burned like a comfortable hearth. “Revel’s been my entire life these past few years. Since the thing that happened, I haven’t done anything for myself. And I guess I’m still not doing this for myself, but it somehow feels more like my decision, even if I didn’t have a say in any of this, if that makes any sense?”

“Nope, none at all.” Metea/Irric chuckled. “But if you feel better about it, I’m not going to try and change your mind. But aren’t you just a little worried about Revel? You seem to be doing pretty damned well in my opinion.”

“Oh, I’m constantly freaking out. Just trying to keep it on the inside until it’s safe enough to let it out. If I even think about what’s happening to Revel right now…” Sechen shuddered, and not from the cold. “Well, let’s say I try not to think about it too much. But there’s nothing I can do about it, partly thanks to the fact that Revel had no idea how to help me get more powerful.”

Metea/Irric sat up again, snow falling onto her shoulders and almost instantly melting. “Really? I always thought you two were too busy for that.”

“It doesn’t take a lot of time to do a little at a time.” Sechen sighed. “We tried all the normal techniques, but none of them worked for me. And then Revel just… gave up.” Sechen switched the rock to her other hand. It had grown a little too hot for her liking. “So I’m weak. Haven’t grown one lick stronger since the day I bonded Revel, and I’d accepted that I never would. My arm gave me the rings, but that was like shifting my Issi around, not making it stronger.”

“Alright, sisters, gather round!” Prisoner called, staring down at something far below. “Turns out we got far less time than I’d like, and a little more than I expected. And we still gotta vote on where we’re goin’ next.”

Sechen trudged through the snow to Prisoner, then looked down with a surprised gasp. “That is a lot of people.”

“Oh, don’t worry ‘bout them. They’re here to get into Freshetfall, not the glacier. I’m talkin’ about that.” Prisoner pointed at something in the distance, a shadow over the flats that Sechen couldn’t make out no matter how hard she squinted or how far she leaned over the edge.

“What is that?” Sechen grumbled.

“That is a small army.” Prisoner said. “And, if nothin’s changed since my incarceration, they’re flyin’ the colours of the Gilded Night.”

“You seem to have overlooked the dragon that is leaking Issi like a broken fountain.” Gilt rumbled, the glyphs and symbols in his core moving with haste and crashing into each other, shattering into a new indecipherable mess. “That is not Hoalt, correct?”

Prisoner shook his head. “No, no, that overgrown gecko never leaves the safety of his walls. That’s one of his kids.”

“So how do we get by them?” Metea/Irric asked, shaking some snow out of her hair as she stepped up next to Sechen.

“That depends on which half of Hoalt’s operation they’re marchin’ for. If they’re on our half, we need to stay as far away from them as possible. And if they’re on the other side, the side with Freshetfall and Pyreheld, we can walk right through em’ smilin’ and wavin’.”

“Hoalt has people on both sides? How is that possible?” Metea/Irric asked.

“That’s a secret I could never pry outta anyone back in my times.” Prisoner sighed. “All I know is that he does. And if this army’s on their way here for the equinox, Glasrime’s gonna have their glassy hands full for a long time. A welcome distraction, if true. But if they’re marchin’ on Freshetfall, then they’re probably here for the same reason someone sent cultists out to Sleepy’s hometown.”

“And that reason is…?” Sechen said after a moment of silence, gesturing for Prisoner to explain further.

“They’re here to destroy the primal spring. And even if we wanted to do something about it, we couldn’t do a damned thing.” Prisoner punched his hand, letting it be pushed aside, then quickly put the hand he punched back in place. “The veil won’t let us hurt them. Not permanently. They’d zip back into place like a fly you just can’t swat, and we’d just be tirin’ ourselves out until big and scaly in the back got a lucky shot in.”

“Well, we don’t have to go through them. Pyreheld’s to the northeast, and Resthollow’s to the southeast.” Sechen said, turning and pointing in two different ways. “And Foxborough’s off to the southwest, with a few tyrant grounds scattered about all over the place. The only place to go if we run straight through the army is the Gilded Night. Which you seem to be fixated on, now that I think of it.”

“Guilty as charged. I’ve never heard of Foxborough, and from what sleepy told me Resthollow ain’t got much to their name for folks on our side of the veil. So that leaves Pyreheld for places I feel comfortable fleein’ to, but they don’t got what we need.” Prisoner pointed at the army that seemed to be stopped for the time being. “But Hoalt’s got everything in that city of his. We’ll find what we need there for my thing, and then we’ll work on all of your things right after.”

“Would you listen to us if we disagreed?” Metea/Irric asked.

Prisoner shook his head. “Nah.”

“Then let’s get moving. We’re wasting daylight.” Sechen sighed, shouldering her pack on her fully attached arm. “Rainshear’s out there somewhere, and the sooner we fix Elach, the sooner we can make her pay.”