The War of Queens

Chapter 25

Elizabeth

 The winds were howling around her. It was like nothing she had ever heard before; it was the sound of whirling and sweeping and dancing, like music, a melody of vast coldness and death. It was the sound of the shapes and forms that the snow took as it was thrown around at the whims of the wind.

 Elizabeth beat on, leaning forward so far that she was more lying than standing against the wind. Her nose was running and her snot froze beneath her nose along with the tears that fell from her dried-out eyes. Icicles hung from the fur lining of her hood, which kept being swept away. It hurt to breathe; it felt as if it tore at the inside of her throat every time she let out a rattling breath from her throat. She kept coughing, and that only made it worse. Still, she beat on.

 âIt was good we made it across that glacier in time,â Jamie said, appearing suddenly at her side. Of course, any appearance would be sudden. If she stretched out her hand before her, she would not be able to see it, which was why she clutched the rope bound around her waist so hard. One end attached itself to Jamie, the other to Angelique, who walked somewhere behind her. âNow we only need to find a good place to set up our tents and we can ride out this storm.â

 They had been in a rush to get across the Ocean of Ice, the Winter Sea, the Everfrost. There were many names for it, the sparkling layer of ice that stretched from east to west and as far north as any man had ever dared travel. However, they had walked on a part of it that lay so far south that it melted in the spring. And spring had been on its way.

 âAny place would be good,â she shouted back. Her thin voice was almost drowned by the noise of the wind.

 He nodded. âBut letâs get as far away from the glacier first.â

 There was firm ground beneath the snow they treaded through now, but it was still snow that her feet sunk into so deep that she almost fell with every step that she took. More than two dozen times, she had fallen face first into the snow because her feet got stuck. The thick layers of leather and fur that she wore prevented her from moving quickly and she had been unable to soften her landings. Snow had slipped through the sewing and she could feel the melted snow damping her clothes. She wanted to cry, but then another layer of ice would just cover her cheeks.

 âLet us settle here,â Baldur called out. He was a beast of a man, almost seven feet tall with a red, thick beard, but he knew how to survive in this cold.

 Elizabeth had never slept in a tent before this journey, and the only other tents she had seen had been Shakanâs magnificent tents. These, however, were small and bag-like. There was space for two persons in each, lying close side-by-side. In on end, you set up a stick so that you were not totally enclosed, but there was still not much space for moving around.

 She shared her tent with Angelique. They would lie, facing each other, wearing only a little bit less clothing than they would outside, and hold hands. In the night, they shared a blanket as they shared stories of their childhood. For every day that passed, it got harder and harder to remember the warmth of Hiâtaab.

 âIs it warm in Etheron?â she asked that night. The wind kept ripping at the leather walls of the tents and she was afraid that they would be carried away by it if she fell asleep.

 âIn some places, yes,â Angelique said. âYour castle is placed somewhere warm. They say snow rarely falls there, even in the winter.â

 âI will never leave my castle, then.â

 Angelique laughed. âNot even to go East or South? They say Tibera is much like Hiâtaab. The common people is still made up mostly by Hiâtaabnese settlers that came to Etheron some centuries before Etheron was populated with people from the west. And in the South, there is a great forest where they only have two seasons, summer season and rain season â and summer is much longer, Iâve heard.â