House of Winter

Chapter 29, Part 1

Lumi dressed in the thickest of clothes she could find before leaving the pyramid. She could feel her heart beating in her throat as she tugged the scarf against her neck.

When they emerged from the tunnel out of the pyramid, the darkness and cold seemed like a gaping hole of nothingness, pulling at their clothes and hair and swallowing up every flicker of firelight from the torches.

Lumi was walking alongside Tom, Doctor Hart. Kobuk and Mondli were chained behind them. Doctor Hart had her arm on Tom's arm, so that he could guide her through the snow. Usually she would ride or walk with Mondli, but Mondli was behind her, chained and unable to guide his own starrling. It was this detail - rather than the blackness of the unknown that spread out before them - that made Lumi most desperately afraid.

The Reunsgardians surrounded them, with fire tigers and winter wolves forming a pack that pushed through the thick snow and darkness, towards what Lumi could only assume was the mine. There was no light except for the burning flames held high in fire starrlings' hands, but as they approached the mine, she saw an even darker blackness like a shadow across her vision. There were towering metal cylinders that reflected some of the firelight.

Lumi had had no choice but to follow the Reunsgardians to this unknown fate. After meditating for five days, she had discovered to her horror that the Reunsgardians had ambushed Tom and Hart in their sleep, tying up their kinnlings and promising them that they would be killed if they tried to escape.

They approached a building, and Lumi was shown inside, while the kinnbeasts remained outside. It was a relief to be out of the biting cold, but Lumi was terrified of what she would find inside this place.

Fires were lit along the wall and then another door was shoved open by one of the Reunsgardians, who pushed Lumi into a room. The room made Lumi think of a prison cell: bare walls and dirty floors, with a strange glow of light that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

There were ten men and women, huddling in a group within the room, and it was from the group that the light emerged. Lumi thought at first they must be huddling around a lantern, but when they looked up with miserable expressions, the light seemed to flicker and disappear. She noticed that a few of the people had their hands tied behind their back.

"These men and women were sent here to take over the operations of the mine and refinery," Eero said, making Lumi jump. She hadn't noticed that the big Reunsgardian had walked up beside her. She had spent so long in the presence of the brothers, but she had a renewed terror of them now.

"They even had a stamped letter from the Empress," Armo said. "Of course, our sacred duties extend higher than the Empress. We must protect the liquid star. Outsiders are not welcome."

Lumi glanced back at the brothers. "You want me to quell them?"

"Of course, Lumikki," Armo said. "It is your sacred duty, to protect the liquid star and to punish those who have betrayed us."

Lumi turned to the huddle of prisoners. They were all Lombardian light starrlings, she noticed. She had no idea where their lions were - perhaps they had already been killed. No matter what Lumi did today, she was sure these Lombardians would not be able to escape the icelands without kinnlings.

Lumi knelt beside the closest man. "What are you doing here?" she asked in Starg.

"Please," he said. "We were sent by King Matthias himself. We meant no harm. We were told that King Matthias made a deal with Empress Kiyo, so that we could travel here to mine the Reunsgardian oil. It's just oil. It's not sacred."

Armo growled. "The liquid star is sacred."

"King Matthias made a deal with Empress Kiyo?" Lumi asked. She glanced up at Tom and Doctor Hart.

"The deal for your hand in marriage," Doctor Hart said. "I had no idea that was the condition that the King set. Now it makes sense to me. Matthias has always wanted the oil. He believes it's the key to industrialising the nation."

Tom let out a breath. "Lumi," he said. "That's why Raphael was supposed to marry you. I told him he was an idiot to give up Katja, when an alliance with her family would be just as useful, and they loved each other. He never told me, but I knew there was a reason why he had to marry you."

Lumi felt a crush of defeat. "I was being sold into marriage for oil?" she said. "My grandmother wanted this?"

"You can stop it, Lumikki," Armo said. "You are the protector of the liquid star. You must quell."

"I can't quell these people," Lumi said. "They have done nothing wrong. They were acting on orders from their King."

"They have touched the liquid star, the source of winter magic," Eero said, in an angry tone of Fire tongue that Lumi barely understood.

Doctor Hart's raised her head at that. "The source of winter magic?" she said quietly. "The Reunsgardians believe the source of winter magic is the liquid star?"

"Of course it is," Eero snapped. "Many have tried to steal the liquid star and threatened the power of the winter starrlings. You see yourself what happened in Lombardia with the air starrlings."

Doctor Hart's mind seemed to be moving very quickly. Tom seemed to realise that something was happening, but he had missed half of the conversation that had happened in the Fire tongue. Lumi glanced at him, wanting to say something to him, but she knew that everyone around her would understand Starg.

"Lumikki, you must quell," Armo said gruffly.

Eero brought a young man forward, whose hands were tied up behind his back. He whimpered slightly.

"You can start with him," Eero said.

Lumi stared down at the man, who was only a few years older than Lumi.

"What's your name?" Lumi asked quietly.

The young man stared up at her, at the familiar words in Starg, and then looked away. It was clear he knew exactly what would happen now. He didn't open his mouth.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Lumi said quietly, but her voice broke. She had no idea what she could do. She had no idea what Doctor Hart was thinking. She had no idea how they were going to get out of here, and she knew that if they did, the Lombardians would not survive in the snow.

"If you don't quell this Lombardian, we will kill your companions," Armo said, and Lumi felt herself freeze. She looked up at the brothers, knowing now that they were serious. They would kill Tom. They would kill Doctor Hart. If she didn't quell the Lombardians, they would be killed.

She was giving them a way out. An escape. Yes, they would lose their magic. They would become ords. They would lose the honour of being a starrling, and be reduced to a life as a commoner, with no magic, no power, and no ability to better themselves. But they would be alive. If she didn't quell them, they would be murdered here today and their bodies would be thrown out to the ice for the polar bears.

"I'm very sorry," Lumi murmured, and she pressed her hand to the young man's heart. She could feel his magic within him, a golden warm glow of light that shone brilliantly like the suns. He was so young, with so much magic and potential coursing through him. She felt the flow of it, and she imagined easing it out of him, through her palm and then her hand, past her wrist and along her forearm, past her elbow, up and through her shoulder and into her chest and heart. As she imagined this, she thought she could feel some of that light moving.

"No," the man murmured, and he tried to struggle away from Lumi. "Please, no."

to be continued...

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elle