Chapter 4
Freezing wind and hard, icy snow struck Iellieth’s exposed face and neck. She cried out in surprise, clutching her still-warm necklace to her chest, looking for something familiar in the surrounding blizzard. They had clearly missed their target location, arriving somewhere in the wilds beyond the splendid Hadvarian palace rather than safely inside. She wrapped her arms around herself and yelled for her mother, wanting to assure her that she was nearby.
As Iellieth stepped forward, she felt the ground shift beneath her foot and threw herself backward. The ledge of snow she had been standing on gave way, tumbling out of sight into the swirling white below. She gasped as snow reached her skin through a gap in her leathers at the base of her spine. Iellieth backed a few paces away
