Inker and Crown

Chapter 20

20

Mara

The ground squished beneath Mara’s boots, sucking her down into its muck with every step. With a yank, she pulled her foot free, careful not to tip under the weight of her pack. The next step was the same, and the next.

Had it been only Tham with her, Mara would have asked to find a mound of less sopping tundra to perch on and rest for a while. But the sounds of Lamac struggling behind her were satisfying enough to keep her pressing forward.

“Can you shut those beasts up?” Lamac snapped at Kegan, who walked far to the left of the rest of the journey, surrounded by a pack of twenty barking dogs.

“Why would I?” Kegan shouted over the chaos. “You’re not trying to sneak up on anything. They’re all staying together, making it through the muck better than you. If they want to make a bit of noise, what’s the harm?”

“It’s driving me insane,” Lamac growled.

“If the beasts you’re trusting to keep you alive in the white are driving you crazy before you even get to the edge of the snow, how do you think you’ll fare in the freezing months ahead, map maker?” Kegan asked.

“I don’t need the opinion of a commoner who is little better than a stable hand,” Lamac said over the muffled laughter of the soldiers.

Careful, Kegan, he’s a nasty one. Mara bit back her smile.

“Stable hand,” Kegan said slowly. “Stable hand? If you find a comfy stable, you let me know, eh? I’d be pleased to hole up someplace warm and wait for the lot of you to come back. But seeing as I’m the only one who’s run a sled before and, unless one of the soldiers is hiding a talent for training animals, the only one who knows how to manage the dogs, I think I’d prefer the title All Mighty Purveyor of All Things You Need to Stay Alive.”

“It’s a good title,” Smitter laughed.

The noise set the dogs to barking again.

“Don’t encourage him, Smitter. He’ll have a rude awakening when we get back to Ilara if he starts imagining himself grand out on the ice.” The thread of a threat ran through Lamac’s words.

“Let those who make it through the white decide what happens when we get out,” Kegan said. “Best not to dwell on getting home before we’ve weathered a single storm.”

“If you lack confidence―”

“Will they bicker the entire journey?” Tham spoke only loudly enough for Mara to hear.

“Probably.” Mara wrenched her foot out of a particularly deep patch of soggy sod. A fresh wave of freezing water flooded her boots.

“They sound like Niko and Allora.”

Mara glanced over to see the tiniest smile glimmering on Tham’s face. Such a rare expression to see outside the company of their closest friends.

He’s always been happier on the move. Heading toward something.

Mara looked back to the path ahead of them, if what they were traveling could really be considered a path. The maps from those who had journeyed this way before pointed to this route as their best option, and the locals of Whitend agreed. But the way forward was far from the ease of traveling a road. A slightly tamped down strip of wet tundra was really all they’d found.

The wagons had been abandoned within the first two hours of trying to move north of Whitend. The horses had been loaded with as much as they could carry, and the rest fell to the travelers to haul themselves.

At least it will get better when we get to the snow.

Mara squinted, trying to judge how much longer it would be before they could load the supplies into the sleds for the dogs to haul. The travelers would have to trudge through the snow, but at least they wouldn’t be laden with horribly heavy packs.

“At least an hour,” Tham said as if in response to Mara’s thoughts. “I think we should camp and dry off as soon as we hit the ice pack. No point in risking losing toes so soon.”

“I agree,” Mara said. “The trick will be convincing Lamac not to argue.”

The back of Tham’s hand brushed Mara’s.

She longed to cling to him. To breathe in his scent and surround herself with the sure knowledge that no matter what the white brought them, they would be together.

Because you’re dragging him along with you.

Mara glanced behind, making sure the rest of the party remained out of earshot. “Thank you, Tham. Thank you for coming to the white with me.”

“Where you go, I go. As long as the Guilds allow.”

“As long as the Guilds allow.” The words tasted sour in Mara’s mouth.

The pattern continued for an hour. Step in the muck, pull your foot free, try not to fall. Try not to wonder what waits ahead.

Try not to wonder if you’re leading everyone with you to their doom. Try not to remember the thrill of magic, in case you never find it again.

Brown covered the tundra, speckled with large swatches of snow. Blue, so bright it seemed absurd, appeared in the distance. Mara forced herself to keep her pace steady even as the cliff of ice shone a dazzling cerulean, slicing through the pure white of the horizon.

“We should head for that cliff to camp for the night,” Lamac said, his words the first break in the solid trudging forward in an hour.

Mara steeled herself to argue, but Kegan spoke first.

“We won’t make it there by dusk. And running the dogs in the dark is a risk you shouldn’t take unless the white demons are at your heels.”

“What under Dudia―”

“It’s ten miles at least,” Kegan said. “I’d say more like fifteen. We’ve got an hour of true light left.”

“That’s utterly absurd,” Lamac said.

“We should camp here,” Mara called back, stopping where she stood.

A solid sheet of white stretched out in front of her. The lowering sun glimmered on its surface with sparkles of palest pink. Not a tree or animal broke the terrain leading all the way up to the blue cliffs in the distance.

“We should press on.” Lamac joined Mara, standing at the very edge of the ice.

“The party should stay together,” Smitter said. “If we keep going, the two with the horses will be alone for the night.”

“And horse thieves will creep up in the dark and raid them?” Lamac asked. “Slit their throats and run off into the night?”

“People won’t come for the horses, but wolves might.” Smitter stepped out onto the white. “We camp here for the night and send the horses back in the morning.”

“Have you become a map maker?” Lamac said.

“No.” Smitter stomped on the snow, testing his footing. “I’m a soldier. We’re the folks in charge of keeping you and Mara alive. But we’re also in charge of keeping each other alive. I won’t see those two men heading into the dark alone.”

“I agree.” Mara stepped out onto the snow, the crispness of it foreign under her feet. “We need to warm up and dry off at any rate.”

“The dogs agree as well.” Kegan dropped his pack onto the snow and pulled out a bundle of thin, silver stakes.

“This journey is never going to get anywhere if we don’t move.” Lamac walked twenty paces beyond the rest of the journey before dropping his pack onto the ice.

“If you’re worried about getting somewhere, spend your night plotting how to get the dogs to the top of that glacier.” Kegan walked in a wide circle, pressing the silver stakes into the ground. “These are the best trained sled dogs Ilbrea has to offer, but I can promise you climbing cliffs of ice isn’t a thing they like to do.”

Lamac’s shoulders tensed for a moment, but he said nothing.

“Let’s get the horses unpacked.” Tham moved to the horses, and the other soldiers followed suit.

Tham wasn’t the ranking soldier, but he so seldom spoke, people tended to listen when he bothered.

“Elver, get the tents set up and the fires started,” Smitter said, as though wanting to be clear that he was, in fact, the soldier in charge.

“I’ll help.” Mara grabbed one of the fire bags as Lamac moved toward her. Better to have something to do with her hands. Busy work made it easier to hide her frustration.

“We should head to the ice cliffs first thing in the morning.” Lamac loomed over Mara as she pulled a set of silver disks out of the bag.

“Straight in and then cut west?” Mara placed the first disk on the ground. It was two feet wide and polished so well, it might have been made as a mirror. The few weeks on the journey had already changed her face.

Gray circles showed under her eyes, and her cheeks had hollowed out. Freckles dotted her face and lips.

Allora would never approve.

“We should go up the cliffs,” Lamac said. “Get as high as we can and see where our path should take us.”

Mara struck the flint, letting a tiny, purple spark leap onto the silver disk. Lavender flames tickled the surface.

“We’d have to get the dogs and equipment up the cliffs,” Mara said. “And if there is no path farther in, we’d have to haul them all back down.”

“Are you afraid of work now?” Lamac said. “I’m sure Tham could do the lifting for you.”

Mara kept her eyes trained on the violet flames that now filled the dish.

“I’m not afraid of hauling the dogs up or down.” Mara moved on to the next silver disk. “I’m afraid of wasting time. We only have half a year until there’s too little sunlight to keep plotting by and the storms become too fierce to risk the elevation. There are easier paths to get up to the base of the mountains that will take far less time and involve far less danger.”

“That ice will be the tip of a glacier.” Lamac stomped his foot.

Mara looked slowly up at him, willing her face into placid calmness.

“We should follow the glacier up. It will give us a path,” Lamac said. “There can be no glory for the Guilds without daring. I say we climb and follow the ice.”

Mara bit her bottom lip, hating herself for letting the nervous habit creep up.

The ice wall sparkled gloriously in the setting sun―a thing of exquisite beauty begging to be conquered. The views from the top would show them the terrain, even if it didn’t offer a path into the heart of the mountains.

Allora would be horrified at the very thought of you climbing that.

“We’ll send up two climbers in advance.” Mara turned back to the fire trays, striking a spark and watching the purple flames grow. “They can test the ice and be sure it’ll hold, let the party know if it looks like there’s a path beyond or nothing but more sheer ice.”

“And let me guess, you and Tham should be the ones to climb?”

“You can climb if you want. And take whomever you like with you.” Mara moved on to the third tray.

“I’ll take Edder with me.” Lamac’s smile sounded in his voice. “Best to take the most daring when working for the glory of the Guilds.”

“Of course.” Mara lit the fourth disk. Sitting in the center of the fires, her skin warmed for the first time in weeks.

Lamac hovered over her for another moment before striding away.

“Come get fires!” Mara called as she lit the fifth and final disk.

“The sorcerers are wonderful things.” Elver crouched in the snow, dancing his fingers through the fire. “Flames that won’t set the world ablaze.” He dangled his sleeve in the purple flames. “What a wonder.”

“Don’t trust the wonder too much.” Mara’s laugh sounded hollow and tired even to her own ears. “You never know when magic might fail you.”

“Right you are, Mara.” Elver picked up the tray and carried it to the tent at the farthest end of the camp.

Six tents dotted the snow. After tomorrow, there would only be five. Five tents out on the white. The thought was both thrilling and terrifying.

“Elver, get the food going,” Smitter shouted from inside his tent.

“You should make the food, Smitter,” Rowls laughed as he grabbed one of the fire trays. “You’ve the most experience in eating.”

“I think I just heard Rowls volunteer to make food for the next week,” Smitter said.

“I only meant you have the most refined palate with all the culinary experience you’ve had,” Rowls said.

The men laughed in response.

Mara stood and lifted one of the fire trays. The bottom of the metal was frozen with no trace of the heat of the flames.

A true wonder of magic.

Elver had set up Mara’s tent at the center of the camp. The safest place for the one person who would be sleeping alone. The men all packed in together, sharing space, but the Guilds wouldn’t allow Mara that comfort.

If they’d only let Tham join me.

“Mara.” Kegan loped toward her, his gait comically similar to the dog walking at his side. “I’ve penned the others in for the night.” He waved a hand at the circle of silver stakes. The dogs all prowled between them, not venturing past the perimeter, though there was nothing visible stopping them.

More wonders from the sorcerers.

“Elle here doesn’t like to sleep with the others.” Kegan patted the dog’s head. “She’s a fine girl, but she’ll keep us up all night. You’ve got a bit of extra room in your tent, and I was hoping you might keep her.”

Mara looked down at the dog. Her fur was snow white, except for circles of charcoal around her bright blue eyes. Elle tipped her head to the side as Mara examined her, as though judging Mara for a tent mate as much as the map maker judged her.

“I can always try to squeeze Elle in with us.” Kegan shrugged. “Though I don’t know how the soldiers will like it.”

“She can stay with me.” Mara reached out a hand, letting the dog sniff her. “No point in crowding the others.”

“Right enough.” Kegan bounced on his toes. “You stay with Mara, Elle.” He ruffled the dog’s ears.

Obediently, the dog stood and transferred herself to sit at Mara’s feet.

“Best get back to the lot.” Kegan ran back toward the other dogs, who howled their approval.

“Just you and me, Elle.” Mara opened the tent flap, and the dog sauntered in, immediately claiming the center of the space for her own.