A moment later, Eira collided with something hard and frozen. Her legs buckled and she stumbled forwards onto her hands and knees, palms stinging. But aside from that she seemed to have survived and remained intact. She blinked open her eyes—screwed shut on impact—and surveyed exactly what she'd landed on. Indeed she was in the midst of the surging River Linn, but instead of water beneath her, there was a flat, solid lump of ice. Edan crouched at her side. Whole. He was not hurt, but his expression was urgent. Gwen was at Eira's other side, righting her balance. She looked relatively unfazed, unlike Eira—whose heart was pounding with adrenaline mixed with fear and relief. They had only dropped a few metres, but it had felt like a lot more.
Edan glanced anxiously between Eira and Gwen, and the bridge above them. "Now?"
Gwen gave an affirmative nod. "Now."
Edan removed his hand from where he'd had it placed on the point where the ice connected to the pillar of the bridge. The ice began to move.
Eira's stomach lurched as the water began dragging them downstream at an alarming pace. She held onto the ice for dear life. It was certainly an effective escape route, she'd have to give them that. One that she hadn't even thought to consider. But still... "Is this thing safe?" she yelled over the rushing water.
"I hope so," Edan replied, unhelpfully. He didn't even take it upon himself to sound confident.
Eira supposed she'd be a hypocrite if she chastised him for it, but even still, she tightened her grip on the edge of the ice.
"It'll be fine, if we're careful," Gwen said, stressing the word careful. She shot Edan a glance.
He smiled nervously in response.
Eira dared to look back over her shoulder, watching the bridge grow smaller and smaller in the distance. Guards and more Frosts had arrived, but they were helpless to catch the three of them. She couldn't make out much detail; they were only dark shadows silhouetted against the bright light of the gibbous moon. She forced her eyes away, and onto the lump of ice they clung too. It was just over her height in both width and length, and certainly not flimsy. She couldn't tell how deep into the water it went, but it was solid and stable enough that it must have been far "Edan... did you make this?" she half shouted, struggling to hear herself over the noise of the river.
Edan shrugged slightly, eyes on his hands. They were bright red with cold, except for the white of his knuckles. "I practised."
"He made it while I distracted the soldier," Gwen explained, wind whipping her hair over her face. "He had the idea when the fight started."
"Thank you," Eira mumbled to Edan. She felt a little guilty; she'd underestimated him. His usage, his ideas, his dedication. He'd come a long way from the boy she'd met five years ago, who'd barely been able to freeze a glass of water. He'd done so through perseverance and repetition. The Frost was not so natural to him as it was to Eira or Gwen. And yet he'd accomplished a feat that neither of them would easily have been able to do.
"It's nothing," Edan deflected instantly. "Really."
"No. You saved us, Edan. That's not something to be taken lightly. We'd all be dead, or imprisoned at best, if not for you."
He didn't reply. His ears reddened, and she couldn't tell whether that was from the cold or embarrassment.
Eira smiled encouragingly. "From now on, you can be our escape artist."
This time Edan looked up. He laughed, a rare sound in the past few years. "I think I'd like that."
The ice was starting to wobble, dark water splashing over its edges.
"Hold on!" Gwen instructed, eyes fixed ahead.
Eira followed her line of sight and winced. They were quickly approaching a rough-looking stretch of rapids. It would be easy for them to be swept off of the ice while being thrown around.
They'd need something to hold onto.
Eira gritted her teeth and pressed her palms onto the cool, smooth surface of the ice. She coaxed an area of it upwards into an arch shape. A handle of sorts, with enough space for three pairs of hands. Hopefully strong, too. She gripped onto it, and Edan and Gwen followed her lead, doing the same. They all braced themselves for the oncoming rapids.
The ice rushed into the rough water with a worrying speed. Waves crashed over them, soaking the three of them all to the skin.
They surfaced a second later, and Eira coughed up water that she'd accidentally inhaled. It tasted bitter, icy and burning in her throat and nose. She forced in a lungful of air before they were submerged again. This time she held her breath; she'd learned her lesson.
It happened several more times. Breathe. Go under. Breathe. Go under. The three of them were shuddering by the time they reached the last of the rapids.
Eira spat white hair from her mouth—the dye that had been her inadequate disguise well and truly washed out. She supposed there was no use in renewing it again. There was no longer a need to conceal her identity. Still, she disliked the starkness of it. It reminded her exactly who she was, with nothing to hide behind.
A bad jolt from the ice brought her from her thoughts. She clung—if it was even possible—tighter on to the handle, although they now seemed to be exiting the worst of the rapids. Eira allowed herself a sigh of relief, loosening her grip a little.
Edan pointed ahead of them to a small, battered pier jutting out into the river, with a few worse-for-wear fishing boats clinging onto it from frayed ropes. "We can use that!"
This river was occasionally fished on during the summer months, but since it was midwinter, the pier had been abandoned by fishers until the brief summer.
"Use it how?" Eira asked, though she'd already guessed what he meant.
Edan looked at her, dark eyes unwavering. "To jump onto."
The pace the ice was floating downstream had somewhat lessened, but they were swiftly drawing closer. The river was wide, and there was no way to steer closer to the pier. One misjudgement would drown them. "It's too dangerous."
"I can slow us a little," he told her. "There's no other option, unless we drift further downstream and out of the city. And by then we may be too exhausted and starved to even get off of this."
Eira clenched her jaw. She wanted to object, but he was correct. It was best to get onto dry land as soon as possible and not risk it, even though, if they went past the city walls, there would be less of a chance of being caught by patrolling Frost soldiers.
Gwen gave the pier a critical eye. "Edan is right. It may be our only chance."
Edan nodded. "Even if it's slowed, we'll have to be quick. The timing is critical."
"And I'm supposed to be the one with risky ideas," Eira mumbled.
That earned her a chuckle from Edan. "I've dealt with them for nearly five years, so it's hard to avoid it rubbing off on me, isn't it?"
Eira couldn't help but laugh too, though only for a moment, before the three of them let go of the handle and got into positions for jumping.
A loud crunching sound came from beneath the ice. Edan's palms were placed on its surface, his eyes closed in concentration. The ice began to shudder, speed dropping enough that launching themselves off it didn't seem quite as terrifying.
Edan opened his eyes. He was noticeably paler than before. "Jump on a count of three."
They sped closer.
"One."
Eira braced her hands against the ice, ready to push off.
"Two."
She took a deep breath.
"Three. Now!"
The ice slid into alignment with the pier, and the three of them jumped.
For the second time that night, Eira did not look down.
She came into contact with painfully hard stone an instant later. The bruises on her hands and knees from the previous fall felt considerably exacerbated. She struggled to find grip on the pier's slippery, ice coated surface. However, just in time, Gwen grasped her arm and hauled her to safety.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Eira picked herself up from the ground. Edan and Gwen were already to their feet, seemingly having landed perfectly. Eira cursed her own short legs—and her friends for being taller than her.
"Gwen, do you know the way to headquarters from here?" she asked, once she was eventually standing beside the two of them.
They were just off a riverside street that was lined with shuttered up shops. It was as abandoned as the rest of the city, the only things on the road a couple of abandoned carts and a stall that had been selling vegetables. All were now covered in a thick layer of untouched snow. Eira was fairly certain that she'd never been in this part of the city before, but they couldn't be particularly far from headquarters.
Gwen scanned the street, recognition sparking in her eyes. "Yes." She pointed at a small lane that led off between the abandoned carts and vegetable stall. "If I remember correctly, it's that way."
"How far?" Eira asked.
Gwen had begun making her way off the pier, motioning for Eira and Edan to follow, but paused at Eira's words. "Not far. It should be safe, too. There's an entrance to the passages there."
A minor miracle. Eira pushed through her worsening fatigue and followed Gwen, who was now moving with a surprising swiftness—considering she was still recovering from frostbite.
If Eira didn't get a bed and a chance to sleep for the entire night uninterrupted, she thought she might kill someone. It felt like years since she'd slept properly. For once she didn't care about the nightmares that were likely to come along with it.
Once they were in the lane—mercifully free of guards and Frosts—Gwen crouched down beside a circle of iron set in the middle of the cobblestones. Eira first thought it appeared to be a drain, but, on second glance, she decided was too large for that.
"It's down here," Gwen told them, brushing snow off it.
"Really?" Edan exclaimed, eyeing the not-drain suspiciously.
"I've seen stranger," Eira grumbled, kneeling beside Gwen to help her open it up. There was a rusted handle on its side, which they both gripped.
Edan seemed to brush off his surprise and joined her, the three of them wrenching it open together. It took a few pulls that made Eira's arms ache, but eventually hinges groaned from one side like they hadn't been moved in years. It was certainly a trapdoor, opening up into a menacing dark hole with a bottom that was impossible to see. The moonlight barely got further than its mouth, dully illuminating a few treacherous looking iron rungs that protruded from the inside, presumably leading all the way down. However far that was.
"If nothing has changed since I was last here, there's a lantern below that can be lit. But we'll still need to get down there without it," Gwen said, manoeuvring herself so that her legs dangled over the hole. "I'll go down first and light it as quickly as I can. However,"—she turned around and descended down a couple of the ladder's rungs—"the ladder is slippery. Be careful."
Eira and Edan wordlessly assented, following Gwen in turn after she'd disappeared down into the darkness. Eira took it one step at a time, making extra care not to slip and lose her footing. The ladder was slimy and half-frozen, and she knew only one small misstep would result in a painful fall. It really didn't help at all that she couldn't see a thing.
Edan followed her once she was far enough down, a little gingerly. He pulled the trapdoor back over their heads, plunging them entirely into darkness. Eira could hear his nervous breathing after that, probably having gauged the same thing as her about falling.
They descended in silence for a couple of minutes. Eira eventually heard the thud Gwen's feet hitting solid ground below, and breathed a sigh of relief. Almost there.
"Where does this go?" Eira asked, stepping down another rung. She was less nervous about climbing, now that she knew the end wasn't far.
She heard Gwen's footsteps heading away from the ladder. "It isn't commonly known, but there are tunnels running beneath every street in the city. I think I mentioned it to you before. You'll have used one of them if you used the way to headquarters with the wardrobes. I can remember the layout well enough that I can get us to that passage and to headquarters." There was the sound of her moving something metal—if the clang it made as it hit what was probably the wall was anything to go by.
Just as she was about to reply, Eira came to the realisation that she'd reached the end of the ladder; when she went to step down onto the next rung, her foot was met with only air. She allowed herself to drop, landing on the hard floor a second later. It wasn't far, but she had to right herself against the ladder due to the ground being just as slippery. "Then... why is it not well known? Surely many would find these tunnels useful and tell others about them," she wondered aloud, moving out of the way of the ladder so Edan had space to join her.
It smelled strongly of damp down here. Eira resisted the urge to clamp a hand over her nose and mouth.
"The rebel movement has been in existence in this land for hundreds of years. They built these passages themselves two centuries ago." There was the sound of a box opening, and Gwen struck a match. As it burst into flame, a narrow tunnel identical to the one which lead to the headquarters was briefly illuminated. "It's the same in other towns and cities. Even the capital, though they are currently unused. Below ground, it is the rebels' world." She brought the match to a tarnished lantern held in her other hand, and it cast the tunnel in a dull glow.
Just then, Edan stepped down from the end of the ladder, righting himself on Eira's arm. He breathed a loud sigh of relief. She could recall that he'd never had a liking for heights, and gave his arm a gentle squeeze.
"They don't know about these tunnels?" he asked Gwen, after giving Eira a quick smile.
"No. At least, not that we're aware of."
"I hope it stays that way," Eira mumbled. This new knowledge gave her hope—the rebels really did have more power and history behind them than she'd initially guessed. And it seemed the Frosts underestimated them, or were too busy with war to notice. It gave a bigger opening for a surprise attack, to hit them when they least expected it.
She kept that thought in mind as she and Edan followed Gwen down the passageway and, hopefully, to where she could have a chance to rest.
Over the next few minutes, Gwen led them through several forks and junctions in the tunnel. They were like an underground maze. How she was able to navigate these tunnels, all appearing to Eira to be indistinguishable, was somewhat astounding. Gwen must have spent a lot of time down here, using them and teaching herself the way around.
"I hid down in these for a little over a year," Gwen said, as if reading Eira's mind. "It was hard to get by without learning their layout."
Eira could vaguely remember her mentioning something about that before, on the night they'd been reunited. But her memories of what Gwen had said were all hazy, presumably from the shock of seeing her alive. The idea of living down here for twelve whole months made Eira shudder. The cold, damp and darkness were enough to make her uncomfortable after only a few minutes. A year sounded unbearable.
The passageway ended in an archway with, surprisingly, what appeared to be a room after it. An illuminated room.
"Nearly there," Gwen said, as they went through the arch.
Beyond was actually less a room, more a hall. It had a high, vaulted ceiling and walls lined with brightly burning torches. Their footsteps echoed loudly as soon aa they were inside.
"We keep them lit at all times, in the event of having to flee here," Gwen informed them, motioning to some of the torches. "This place is... neutral ground not belonging to any specific group, where we can all seek refuge."
They crossed the chamber to a door on the opposite side, footsteps echoing loudly. The door opened to reveal another tunnel, which surprisingly seemed a little familiar.
"It's this one, isn't it?" Eira enquired.
Gwen responded with a nod, silently slipping through the doorway.
It only took a few more minutes before they stepped through the creaky door of the wardrobe, and onto the equally creaky floorboards of headquarters. It was the first time—and would hopefully be the last, as well—that Eira was glad to see that damn wardrobe.
"We're here?" Edan mumbled, confusion filling his voice. "It's..."
"Not what you expected?" Eira asked. "I thought that too."
"I think everyone does," Gwen murmured.
"It's what they want, isn't it? The more surprising, the better." Eira was finally beginning to see why it had been picked as the base for Darrow's rebel group.
"Then it was good thinking." Edan was still glancing around the room. He breathed in. "I'm really joining the rebels, aren't I?" he mumbled. "I don't know how I'm supposed to do this."
"It's okay. You will get used to it," Gwen told him. "You feel that way at first, but it will fade. I was truly apprehensive at first, but now being part of the rebels is as good as second nature. So much so that I don't think—I really doubt I could go back to how I was before."
Eira inclined her head in agreement. Neither could she. She was no longer able to remember the person she had been before everything had happened; how it felt not to wake up panicking that guards had sniffed her out, without that drowning guilt for the things she'd done settle over her, without the incentive that there was rebel work to be done and that she must locate Cerin. She wondered—if it all ended, her goals were achieved and she no longer had need for these worries, would she ever be able get even a semblance of her old self back?
"It's late," Gwen said, studying the clock on the mantle. Her words cut Eira's train of thought. "There are beds upstairs you two can sleep in for the night. And I'll tell the others of your desire to join as soon as I can, Edan."
Eira breathed a sigh of relief. Finally a chance to sleep. It seemed there were such things as miracles.
Gwen led them up the creaky staircase, passing the door to Darrow's office and into a narrow hallway with a few identical doors lining it. She showed them into the nearest one.
Eira took no time to study the room—the only thing she felt worth noting was that it had several empty beds—and stumbled over to the first bed. She dropped her pack at its foot and promptly collapsed onto the mattress.
Somehow she managed to force herself to remove her boots a few seconds later, and then crawled under the blanket. It was thin, the bed freezing, but she barely noticed. She lay her head against the pillow, breathing deeply.
The last thing she heard before falling into unconsciousness was a whispered word between Gwen and Edan, but she was asleep too quickly to be able to catch its meaning.
~
For the first time in months, perhaps years even, Eira slept peacefully. Not once did she jolt awake in a panic with sweat dripping from her brow, nor did her worries and fears slither their way into her dreams. Everything was calm, pleasant even.
When she finally awoke, she felt refreshed, peaceful. The golden light of late morning filtered lazily through the thin curtains, making everything appear gilded. Sleep had been a well-needed reprieve from everything. As she breathed in a lungful of air and folded the blanket back, a new sense of confidence washed over her. Things that lay in the future felt a little less terrifying now, her apprehension moderately eased.
She glanced around the room, finding it vacant. The other beds were rumpled and belongings were scattered around the room carelessly—a sign her friends had been here earlier. Judging by the light, it was probably well past the time of getting to work. She wondered if Gwen was showing Edan around, or explaining the workings of the rebels to him. Hopefully. It would take a while for him to take it all in, and even longer for him to become accustomed to it.
A soft knock on the door brought Eira from her thoughts.
"Come in," she mumbled, voice still hoarse from sleep.
Edan stepped past the doorframe a moment later, lingering there. He looked bad. His skin had a greyish tinge to it, his dark irises ringed in red. His expression was initially anxious, eyebrows drawn tightly together, but it changed into a tentative smile a moment later as began to speak. "We thought you might not wake up."
Eira snorted. "Not usual from me, is it?"
The tentativeness in Edan's expression eased. "No. And that's why Gwen and I were concerned."
"I was tired," she brushed off. "How long exactly?"
"Thirteen hours."
Eira raised her eyebrows. That was the longest time that she could recall sleeping in her life. "I doubt it'll happen again," she murmured, letting out a sigh. "Did Gwen ask you to check if I was alive?"
Edan laughed softly. "No. Well, yes, that and to relay some information."
"From Gwen?" She raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"No, um, from someone else. He's... one of the rebels I think."
Even from that alone, Eira had a feeling exactly what this was. She resisted the urge to groan. Despite the fact she knew she would have the do this eventually, it made her no less desiring of it. "And what was it that he said?"
"He wants to talk to you about something, and that it's a matter of urgency. Do you know him? And do you know what he was talking about? Sorry, he just came up to me an hour ago and asked who I was. When I told him, he instructed me to tell you that."
"It's okay, I know," Eira said, feeling the beginnings of a headache. Oh well, so much for her positive mood upon waking. It had almost entirely evaporated.
~
"Why couldn't you have just asked me yourself?" she questioned.
It had taken a few minutes of searching, but she'd found him seated at the dining table drinking a cup of what she guessed to be tea. The fact that the headquarters had all appeared to have features of an ordinary house was a little startling, but it did make sense, seeing as this was apparently somewhere people in their rebel group could stay if they so needed to.
Kea glanced at her. "Oh, so he actually told you." He set the cup down. "I did it to see if he was trustworthy."
"Of course he is, he's my friend."
"And a Frost who is not part of the rebels, that was brought here without approval from our leader. Can you really blame me for being doubtful?"
"We had no choice," Eira told him, although grudgingly, she knew he had a point. "Edan betrayed the Frosts to save me, putting his life on the line. I assure you he's trustworthy."
"Noble," Kea remarked, drinking from his cup.
Eira crossed her arms, sitting down in the seat next to him. "Well? I know you didn't get me here to talk about him."
"No," he said calmly. It seemed he was not bothered to elaborate.
"Then, what is it?" she asked, irritated at his inability to get straight to the point.
"I supposed that now was as good a time to tell as any, especially after what happened at the councillor's house." He looked her straight in the eye, gaze unwavering. However, his expression was unreadable. "I know who you are, Eira."