Sisters Three (Completed)

42. Brenna (1/2)

Brenna watched Robbin with a wary eye as he dismounted his horse and staggered a bit before catching his balance. His eyes were bloodshot and underscored with purple, signs of the fever that haunted him ever since his injury. He cleared his throat and turned to Brenna, offering his hand to help her down.

"We were climbing there when she sent the snow storm on us for the first time," he said, nodding in the direction of what seemed to be a solid wall of snow between two massive slabs of rock. "She's somehow able to see us."

"She can see us now?" Brenna asked, pulling the collar of her cloak tighter. Her eyes scanned the sky, but saw nothing but gray.

Robbin nodded.

She couldn't delay it any longer, then. It had taken them nearly a month to get here, and the torture of knowing that she would have to face her long lost sister at the end of the journey had been enough to drive anyone mad. She wanted to put it off, but the need to finally finish it was stronger. They needed to get through Adair's land, and they needed to do it soon.

So, taking a deep breath, she walked right to the edge of the snow wall, stared up at the sky, and lowered her hood. Her loose hair shifted in the slight breeze, her dress as plain as she could manage in order to look like something she might have worn when Adair and she were last together. Brenna only hoped she had not changed too much from childhood.

The soldiers brought to accompany the royals hung back in silence, while Robbin shuffled to her side with his slightly rattling sounding breath. Brenna offered him her arm, knowing that he needed support after standing for too long. He'd barely had time to heal before they'd set out on the journey, and his wound was not agreeing with the jarring of a horse all day. He leaned into her, staring at the sky as well.

"So what happens now?" she asked after a handful of minutes. Somehow she'd expected a blizzard or a disembodied voice from the heavens, or even her sister to materialize right in front of them. Instead, they just grew cold in the frigid air.

"She took a while to reach us the first time. I think she lives a bit away from here," he said.

"Well, I'm not going to stand here all day." Spinning, Brenna marched back toward the soldiers, leaving Robbin to follow at his own pace.

Eventually, the cold forced the soldiers to make a temporary camp in the shadow of the mountains. Their canvas tents blended seamlessly with the snow, and the banners of the Anjeluund crown were the only speck of color amongst them. Brenna waited in the larger and private tent meant for the two royals, but Robbin chose to pace the perimeter, muttering to his soldiers and making sure everything was ready for another attack if Adair felt so inclined.

Finally, after hours, two forms appeared on the edge of the pass, looking down from their great height. The soldiers called for Robbin and Brenna, and they were out and ready within minutes.

"Adair?" Brenna called, shielding her eyes from the glare off the snow. "Is that you?"

"Who asks?" a female voice called back. Brenna couldn't call to mind what her sister had sounded like, but she thought she detected some sort of familiarity in it.

"This is Brenna."

A pause and then the foremost figure waved its arm, beckoning. "You may come over. No soldiers."

The soldiers cut a glance to them, frowns on their faces, but Brenna saw no way of sneaking them across without Adair seeing.

"It's all right," she told them. "We'll be perfectly safe."

No one argued, but she saw a few glances directed toward Robbin's side. Their cautiousness was probably well founded, but they needed the passage through Adair's lands too much to be dissuaded by risk.

"Wait until we return," Robbin said, not mentioning what they should do if the king and queen never did come back across the pass.

The trek up and over the snow was laborious. Brenna struggled, but Robbin had the worst. He panted, holding his wounded side as they tried not to fall into soft snow banks. Sheer determination kept him going, his eyes fixed on the other side with the tenacity of a bulldog.

When they finally spilled onto Adair's side of the pass, gasping, sweaty, and exhausted, Brenna was the first to straighten and look upon their hosts.

Adair was tall, far taller than Brenna ever remembered her being, and wore her white-blonde hair loose to her hips. Dressed in gray furs, her skin just slightly blue, and her eyes hard and glinting, she looked almost as if she were made of ice herself. Next to her stood a young man dressed in black furs. He was just barely shorter than her, his hair black and curly. She didn't recognize him at all until she looked in his eyes and saw that bottomless sadness that she'd always found so unsettling in Adair's childhood playmate, Silver.

Like a blizzard and a lone wolf, the power simmered off of Adair and Silver and made Brenna wonder if they shouldn't have just found another way to the Ice Isles after all.

"Sister. It's been so long." Adair's words were measured, clean.

Brenna nodded her head, wary. "Indeed. I didn't know if you still lived."

"Nor I you."

There was a brief moment of silence, and then Brenna motioned toward Robbin. "My husband you already met. I think there must have been a misunderstanding between you, but I've come to see if we can't mend our broken line of communication."

Adair's impassive eyes swiveled to Robbin, and no ounce of remorse passed over her face. Brenna didn't show it, but inside she bristled. Adair had nearly left her a widow, and not even a word of an apology! How would her icy sister like it if Brenna suddenly got it into her head to skewer Silver? Probably not well at all, and Brenna tucked the visual away.

"What do you wish of me?" Adair asked.

"The same as what my husband came to ask. We need a route for our soldiers to take in order to reach the Ice Isles without the Silent Sea pirates attacking our trade ships."

Adair's mouth opened and for a moment Brenna could swear that they would get an immediate refusal. But something staid that initial reaction, and Adair seemed to back down a bit. "I cannot guarantee an answer in your favor, but I am willing to hear what you have to say."

Brenna sighed in relief, ready to launch into the sales pitch she and Robbin had put together in those days that he was bedridden. But before she could get a word out, Adair raised her hand to silence her sister.

"Not here. My castle. The darkness comes early on the mountains, and I'd rather be sheltered while we discuss your plans."