NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY: Adventures of the Creeping Bam (BOOK 2: One Cold Trail)

CHAPTER FOUR: ART

Say what you will about the monolithic, intimidating nature of the architecture, there's no denying this place is still proper swanky. I've seen some impressive buildings in my time – I grew up in Untermer, and encountered other impressive places over the years through my travels, but the Citadel might be the most spectacular place I ever been, and definitely the most expensive looking. Everything here's just so big, that intimidating gatehouse and its cavernous interior just the first hints of what was to come. Once this senior wizard, Arrhetel Thermyse apparently, leads us through a tall, wide tunnel of smooth, cool pale stone that echoes magnificently with our voices and footsteps, we come out into the open again and things get proper huge.

We've passed through the encircling perimeter wall of the fortress now, coming out on a broad platform at least fifty feet above the fast-flowing stream of the Icespine itself. Turns out this is simply the centre of a stepped bridge spanning the final small open stretch of the river before it plunges under the towering structure itself, and the roar as it thunders into that gaping dark archway is immense. The whole place seems to reverberate with the overwhelming bass rumble I feel riding up through me as I look over the high rail at the edge of the platform into the foaming waters, enough to set my bones shivering. The Citadel itself soars into the sky before us, steeply circling plateaus of haphazard white buildings rising up to meet the central tower while two of the three smaller spires stand like sentinels on either side, the third hidden from our sight on the far side.

The river holds my attention for a few moments as I take in the sheer force of water constantly racing directly under my feet, but soon enough the enormous white monolith snatches my focus away again. My eyes go up, and up, and up, and I know my mouth's fallen open but I can't help it as I crane back, stupefied. Gods ... this thing is tall. If it wasn't such a clear day I'd swear the top of that central spire, which seems so impossibly spindly from all the way down here, should be lost in the clouds. I can actually feel vertigo kicking in seeing that, something that rarely bothers me, and that unpleasant, unbidden dark voice deep inside me wonders what it might be like to fall from that height, making me shudder.

Tearing my eyes away, I take a moment to rub at my eyes, pressing my fingers firmly as I dare, and suck in a deep breath before letting it out good and slow. I sense their presence before they speak, but it still surprises me a little.

"Quite something, isn't it?"

Gael's looking up at that scary enormous structure herself as I turn, and I can't believe they're regarding it with a smile instead of dull existential terror. "Honestly? I reckon it's bloody terrifying. Now I'm up this close I'm starting to see what Yeslee's on about."

Turning to look at me again, Gael frowns, then looks back to others as they make their way out too. I'm really not at all surprised to see our Fir Bolg making a clear concerted effort to look anywhere but at the tower itself, her lips a tight, thin line while her normally deep-tan knuckles are almost white, she's clenching her fists so hard. Sure ain't in her element right now, 'bout as far away as she can get, in fact.

Cocking a brow as she looks back at me, Gael starts to smile again. "For a supposedly cultured young man of the world, Art of Shadows, there are times I wonder if you aren't still a little naïve. It's rather endearing."

"Really?" I smile back, feeling a little more sure of myself now. "That's good to know."

"Hey," They seem a little more serious now, the smile's still there but it's got a sharper edge, a little more critical judgement in their eyes. "Don't flirt with my friend."

"Okay, sure."

Their smile vanishes in a flash, just gone entirely. Their look doesn't turn cold, but there's a seriousness to it I've rarely seen, something deeply defensive, I think. Wow, this means a lot to 'em. "No, seriously, I mean it. Don't mess her around, she's not like all those girls I've seen you with. Tulen is sweet, and gentle, and she can be far too trusting for her own good sometimes. She doesn't deserve to be played with, and I know you, Art of Shadows. You like to play, you like a chase. You're a bit of hound, to be honest, and she doesn't need that in her life. She'd be a lot better off with a friend, and I know full well you can be a really great one of those. So just dial it back, okay?"