The leafless trees made the woods seem colder than usual, their thin branches covered in powdery white. Although the plants were still beautiful, the world seemed devoid of life, as if the frigid air had sucked away the forest's soul.
It was hard for Kai not to feel as if his own soul had been sucked away; hard for him to think of anything other than his dying friend. But he had to focus on the task at hand. There was no doubt that enemies lurked nearby, and if he did not find their location...Kai tried not to consider what could happen in the following days if they were left oblivious. Beyond that, he had to get away. Had to divert his mind and do something useful, if he could. Staying beside Harper would not heal her, and neither would worrying himself.
Nothing made worry wash away like hunting. Harper had taught him how to blend into his surroundings, becoming part of the forest. Her teachings stuck with him now more than ever, despite the fact that he hunted men and monsters rather than rabbits and deer. If he was lucky, perhaps he'd find Snowhold, though it was hard to say where he even was on his map. After leaving the Green Path, the map had become useless.
Kai studied the thin, unnamed path before him. Any footsteps or signs of life had been covered by the morning snow—he would not find a trail today.
"She'll be okay," Kai whispered to Lunar, patting her neck. "Don't worry." The horse brayed in response, shaking frost from her mane.
Kai sighed, pulling his hood to his eyebrows as Lunar sped into a trot. He watched as frozen streams, boulders, and towering trees fell away behind him, a blur of white and gray. Flakes of ice fell from the sky as he made his way further north, growing in size and quantity.
The cold was absurd. Northshore had never reached such extreme temperatures, nor Sleetshire to the east. But then, the unworldly chill was hardly a surprise after all that Kai had seen in Ath.
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Hours turned to days as Lunar trudged through the snow, Kai atop her back. The snow was nearly three feet deep, hiding any remnants of the forest floor. Should he stop? Kai wondered. Should he go back? He had been gone for two days, and at Lunar's pace, Snowhold could be hours or days away. There was no way to gauge its location, and he had not found any hint as to where his enemies might be lurking.
Slowing Lunar to a halt, Kai jumped down to the powder-covered ground. A small stream ran beside him, covered with a thin sheet of ice. He broke apart the ice, leading Lunar to the water. Pulling jerky and a skin of water from his bag, Kai settled onto a rock near the stream, taking slow bites as he planned his next move.
The sun shone morning rays of light upon the frozen ground as he bit away at the cold jerky. He had brought enough food for Lunar and himself to last at least another few days, assuming that he found no game along the way.
After a short rest, Kai remounted Lunar, pushing her gently along the frozen path. If he found nothing by nightfall, he would return to camp at the first light of the next day, he decided. He could not bring himself to leave Harper alone for much longer. The wraith had come from the North, but more could be lurking near camp. There was no way to be sure.
Kai sighed, bringing Lunar to a canter. The snow was four feet deep, but the mare plowed through it with ease. Her mane blew in the cold breeze, powder melting against her warm coat. Kai thought back to the day he had first seen her. It had been soon after arriving at Ath, when his hopes and curiosity had been higher than ever. Sleetshire had been quiet, most likely due to the strange creatures that prowled about the continent.
Lunar had been so thin, so weak, and yet so strong. Despite her frailty she had moved forward, even when faced with wolves, armies, hounds and giants.
Kai stopped his reminiscing as a gruff voice carried through the forest. "Do you hear that?" it said. A male.
"I didn't hear nothing," another voice replied, this one deeper and older. Kai pulled Lunar to a halt as the man continued. "You must've dranked too much last night."
"Oh, shut up." The gruff voice said. "I heard it a second ago but it stopped right as you spoke. I wouldn't lie now, would I? I don't want to go traipsing through the snow any more than you, I'll tell you that. Besides, you're as good as deaf, what would you know?"
For once, Kai was thankful for the thick, powdery snow. It, in addition to the loud, blowing winds, had muffled Lunar's hooves somewhat. But was it enough?
He jumped down from the mare, backing her behind a tree as he moved toward the voices. It seemed that there were only two of them, no more than a few meters away. Scouts or sentries, he guessed.
A few moments later the men came into view. The entirety of their bodies was covered in thick wool, revealing nearly identical pairs of brown eyes. The men were huddled beside a small fire, small flames crackling like broken twigs. Two horses were tied beside the men; large beasts with thick coats.
Kai rubbed his gloved hands together, willing another ounce of warmth into his body as he reached for his knives. He crept forward, trying his best to mask the soft crunch of powder compressing beneath him.
The man with a gruff voice seemed to have given up on the sound that he had heard, and was focusing his attention on the fire before him. Kai pulled himself behind a tree, gripping the sharpened end of a blade.
Flinging himself into the open, Kai flicked the blade through the air, watching as the hilt of the first knife struck one of the soldiers in the temple with a dull thud. The next projectile was on its way toward the second man before he could react, striking him between the eyes.
With a thump, the first soldier fell to the ground, eyes pointed toward the sky. The other man fell to his knees, cursing as he nursed the area that the blade's knife's hilt had hit. Kai closed the gap between the two, pushing a blade against the soldier's neck.
"Who are you, and why are you here?"
The man swallowed, forgetting his wound as the cold steel pressed against his skin.
"I...I'm no one," he said after little more than a moment's hesitation, voice filled with fear. "The name's Owin, if it matters. As for what I'm doin' here...well, I'm just a common sentry, keepin' watch." He swallowed again, fingers fidgeting. "No one tells me nothing, I swear it. I'm just a common sentry, see. I...I don't know no important information, see. Sergeant hardly trusts me to watch these trees, let lone somethin' important." He attempted a small laugh, delivering little more than a nervous cough. "I swear it."
"Sergeant?" Kai asked calmly.
"Sergeant Foucaut. But then, he don't know nothin' either, I s'pose. There must be a thousand men just his equal." The soldier licked his lips. "Please don't kill me, m'lord. I'll tell you all I know—I swear it."
Kai smiled. He had found the army at last.
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Trees gave way to a field of ice and fire a few hundred meters away from the sentry's camp. Smoke billowed toward the sky in thin ribbons of black and gray. Snow-white tents and bright-red campfires speckled the powdery field. The tents were laid out in circular groups that seemed to trap the warmth that the flames emitted.
Kai scowled from his hiding spot among the trees. The thousands of men before him came as little of a surprise. It was the thing behind the army that worried him. A massive stone compound rose above the tents, masked partially in smoke. Snowhold.
The fortress had joined forces with the Dark Army, then. An interaction between the two was inevitable, but Kai had hoped that he might find a battlefield in the clearing, rather than resting troops. Snowhold, according to Gorm, had enough power to stop the Dark Army, or at least withstand it. But they had given in, rather than fight. Or perhaps they had raised the army themselves.
Kai sighed, pulling himself onto Lunar. His job was to learn as much about the enemy as he could, without being caught. Patting her muscled neck, Kai spurred Lunar onward, trotting just behind the cover of the treeline. If soldiers among the mass of tents saw him, they would suppose him to be a sentry or returning scout, rather than danger. If sentries saw him, as they surely would, the men would think nothing of it—not when he rode so close to the army.
Kai counted the men as best he could, eyes widening as the blur of tents and flame flew past him. He wasn't certain as to the exact number of troops, but there were far more than before. With the addition of Snowhold's men, that was to be expected. Although it came as no surprise, the sheer amount of enemies Kai now faced sent a chill down his spine. How could Aria defeat such a force?
Snowhold's massive walls seemed to grow larger as he pushed Lunar forward. To his right, laughs and shouts rose above the sound of the breeze, mixing with the howls and barks of hounds. Kai watched as distant figures ate and drank near the warmth of their campfires. It was strange, seeing the humanity in the men that he thought of simply as 'the enemy.' They were people too—people who had chosen the wrong side.
Hundreds of massive cotton tents had been staked to the ground on the far side of the army, along with equally large bonfires. Towering figures warmed their hands over the flames, bodies covered in wool. There were more giants than before. Many more. Kai inhaled, rubbing Lunar's neck as she brayed in fear.
"Don't worry," he said. "Everything will be okay." He wasn't sure if the reassurances were meant for Lunar or himself.
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Harper had been wrong—Snowhold's walls weren't the height of Aria's. They were taller. Blackstone bricks were held neatly together with gray mortar, towering into the sky. The wall stretched for thousands of meters in each direction from the corner that Kai watched. A large, square formation rose above the height of the walls, blooming outward into a battlement. Figures lined the walls and the tower, peering down at the massive camp that had taken over the landscape. There must have been a dozen guards on each side of the wall, as well as a half dozen occupying the corner tower.
Kai groaned. He had only seen a small part of Snowhold, and it already looked unbreakable. Nudging Lunar forward, he studied the men that stood atop the wall's battlements. The ones nearest to him were large and fierce eyed, with tangled beards. They wore gray coats of heavy wool, no doubt covering a layer of chain-mail. The men made conversation with one another, throwing their heads back in laughter from time to time.
Kai was not sure what he was waiting for—was not sure why he stayed at the base of the wall, peering up at the soldiers. Perhaps he could learn something about them; perhaps he could find a chink in Snowhold's armor. At the very least, he'd record when the wall's guards changed shifts. The information could be useful at some point. Jumping from Lunar, Kai settled beneath the branches of an evergreen tree, watching.
Half an hour passed, then an hour, then two. He grew restless, scowling at the sun as it rose through the sky. And then something changed. The faint laughter atop the wall ceased. Kai darted behind a tree. There was only silence now. Had they seen him? His heart seemed to beat a thousand times per second as he peeked his head around the pine.
Kai let out a breath. They had not grown quiet for him. No, another figure had joined the dozen-or-so men that stood watch near Kai. He wore a gray coat, just the same as theirs, but the addition of a night-black cape hung behind it. The soldier's arms hung at their sides respectfully. He was their higher-up, then. The new man shouted across the wall, so loudly that even Kai could make out his words, so far below.
"Defenders of the wall!" His voice was a low rasp. "All quadrants, report to me here in two minutes."
Immediately, dozens of confused looking soldiers marched across the wall, joining the caped man. He had true authority, then, to empty the entire wall without question. They were his inferiors; he knew it, and they knew it. Kai could see the fear in their eyes, an expression otherworldly on the soldiers' cold, hard faces.
The man stuck his finger toward a red-bearded man standing a few feet away from him. The soldier seemed to shrivel.
Kai couldn't make out what the caped man was saying, but it became obvious from the scene that unfolded above. The man walked closer to the poor red-beard, soundless words slipping past his lips, face reddening in anger.
Red-beard had done something, Kai could only assume, and his superior was punishing him for it. And then the caped man was yelling again, voice carrying over the walls, through the torrent of cold winds.
"All of you!" He gestured toward each of the soldiers. "Leave the wall while I deal with your friend, unless you'd like to join him."
The men hardly hesitated, struggling to keep their composure as they made their way off the wall, disappearing from Kai's vision. A minute passed and Red-beard stood alone with the caped man.
Red-beard's eyes were glistening now as he dropped on one knee before the caped man, pleading with words that Kai could not hear. Red-beard's superior seemed to sigh, eyes swiveling to roam the wall and fortress before returning to the soldier kneeling before him.
The caped man raised a gloved hand, hurling it toward Red-beard and striking him between the eyes. Kai's eyes widened. His hand moved like lightning as he jabbed Red-beard again. The soldier fell to the ground, little more than a groan slipping from his lips.
The caped man slung Red-beard over his shoulder, making his way toward the wall's parapets.
Kai cocked his head. No rope hung from the wall, but it seemed as though the caped man planned on carrying the soldier to the ground that lay so far below. Carry was the wrong word. It looked like he was planning on...on jumping?
Who is this person? First he empties the entire wall with a few words, then strikes his own soldier unconscious, and now he's about to kill himself?
The caped man swung his legs over the wall's parapets. Surely he wouldn't actually jump, Kai thought. Surely this was some sort of trick—
Kai could not silence his gasp of surprise as the man threw himself over Snowhold's wall, dropping through the air. He had jumped. The caped man had jumped 45 feet, and—
"He's alive," Kai whispered, awe filling his voice. No, not alive—the man was unscathed. Brushing soil from his boots, he steadied Red-beard on his shoulder, marching away from Snowhold, away from the wall—
And directly toward Kai.