House of Winter

Chapter 21, Part 1

Lumi swallowed, and then she did as instructed. Tom was beside her.

Kobuk was sniffed by a few of the wolves, who seemed to decide that he was trustworthy, and they allowed him to walk alongside them.

The calm of the storm followed them. Lumi realised that there were winter starrlings surrounding them, warding off the strength of the blizzard. They trudged through the snow, following the pack of wolves. It was almost impossible to see these people in the storm, which gave Lumi the feeling that she was surrounded by ghosts,.

In the darkness and constant grey of the blizzard, it was impossible to tell which direction they were going, but up ahead there seemed to be some icy cliff. As they trudged forward, Lumi realised it wasn't a cliff but a wall, built of ice.

They approached it, and Lumi squinted, trying to see whether there was a gate. She was sure they were going to walk right into the icy wall, but then the men on either side of her approached the ice. In a terrific show of force, they used ice magic to create a gate which swung open seamlessly, revealing a whole new world beyond.

Everything was dazzling white, even in the darkness. There was fire everywhere, burning in oil lamps. The storm seemed not to reach this place within the gates, and it was only snowing mildly. The sky above was dark and shrouded with clouds. They followed the wolves inside the walls, and the ice gate closed behind them with a sound like the roaring of an avalanche.

Lumi and Tom stayed close to each other.

"This isn't a village," Tom said quietly. "Doctor Hart, it's like an ice city. A city built of ice."

Doctor Hart laughed in delight. "Oh, if only they knew."

There was a huge white structure before them. The top of it was invisible, but Lumi guessed from the shape of the bottom that it was a pyramid, made purely of ice, glistening white and shining.

The Temple of Reunsgar.

There was no entrance to the pyramid, that Lumi could see. Instead, feeling nervous, they followed the men downstairs into a tunnel. Two of the tigers followed, whereas some of the wolves remained outside, guarding the tunnel. But Lumi was glad that Kobuk followed them down the stairs, into the icy tunnel.

The tunnel was lit by fires in brackets, and they followed the fires until eventually the reached a set of stairs going up. They followed the stairs to find themselves in a huge icy chamber that seemed to glow white-blue.

They were inside the pyramid. It was amazingly warm in here, and Lumi and Tom pulled off their scarves and layers, revealing red noses and wiping already melting snow from their clothes. Lumi's fingers were stinging from the cold and she removed her gloves and rubbed her hands together to bring some feeling back to them.

"You're the daughter of Lumivara," one of the men said to her, staring at her face. "Now I see it. Come, come. And you? You're a doubler too, I'd say."

Tom couldn't understand the words spoken to him, but he glanced at Lumi.

"What's a doubler?" she asked the man.

"One with two hearts," the man said simply. "Come along."

Behind them, Doctor Hart was laughing to herself, and Lumi felt a tremor of panic. Had the old woman gone mad in the cold?

Lumi frowned and stared at Tom, who was looking curious.

"How does he have two hearts?" she called out as they walked, but the men ignored her question.

Her hands were starting to warm up now, and she was able to truly take in the cavernous ice room they had entered. Everything seemed to glow white, lit by fires in every direction. There were two women who seemed to be standing guard at the entrance, with two wolves, but otherwise the chamber was empty.

Lumi relayed the conversation to Tom, who just looked confused.

"I'm sure I'd know if I had two hearts," Tom said, his tone light but the frown on his face betraying some of his wary confusion.

"Ah, you speak Starg," said the first man, and then glanced at his companion. "Should we speak Starg?"

"You can speak Starg?" Lumi asked.

"Yes. Norrskiy speak Starg now. We make the trade with them," he said in a rough Starg.

"Norrlish," the other man corrected. "We trade with the Norrlish, occasionally. They speak Starg."

"Old ones speak Norrlish. Young ones no. They not Norrlish. They cheap workers. Starg. Dirty business," he grumbled.

"What are your names?" Lumi asked.

"I'm Eero," one said. "And this is Armo."

"Are you brothers?" Lumi asked.

"Very astute, Princess," Armo said, switching to the Fire language to say it. "But we are not twins. Please, follow."

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elle xx