The Iron Seer

Chapter 9 - A Labyrinth of Stone

The forest was a labyrinth of dark, twisted trees. At the end of the valley, there was a cave. A cave with a black, yawning mouth, with icicles that hung from the ceiling like teeth. Down into the darkness it went, a twisting tunnel leading deeper into the mountain, the walls sweating melted ice.

A blue light danced at the corner of my vision, and I followed it through the passages. It flitted away, staying just out of sight, until I was hopelessly lost.

And at the end of the tunnel, there was a completely different light, of orange and red and gold, flickering and jumping like flames....

I jerked awake, my breathing ragged. It took a few moments for my heart rate to return to normal and to figure out where I was: In the cave, with Ash, who was sleeping against the opposite wall.

Another vision.

Tears wetted my cheeks. After everything, I'd hoped the visions would stop coming. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block the image of North's death from my mind. The last time I'd had a vision, someone had died. I wouldn't let that happen again.

I opened my eyes.

My last vision had helped me save my father. This one could only mean one thing - it could only be showing me where I needed to find the ice wyrm.

***

It took some convincing, but I finally talked Ash into leaving the cave the next day. I couldn't tell him about the vision, so I had to explain to him in vaguest terms my sudden intuition that we needed to go through a specific pass to reach a certain cave, and skip over the others entirely.

Surprisingly, though, it was easier than I thought. All I'd told him was that I had an idea, what it was - and he'd believed me.

"We're going in there?" Ash asked, when we finally reached the mouth of the mountain pass. He eyed the narrow, steep walls of the canyon skeptically, though he seemed resigned.

"Yes," I said, sounding more confident than I felt. This was the valley from my dream - dark, twisted trees and all. But there was this nagging sense in the back of my mind that I was missing something, that there was another message to the vision that I hadn't seen. I shook it off and added, "The ice wyrm's here, I'm sure of it."

Ash gestured forward. "After you, then."

The apprehension I felt was interrupted by a flash of mirth, and I grinned at him. "Scared, Prince?"

The corner of his mouth curved in that almost-smile I loved seeing. "It's easier to keep an eye on you if you lead the way."

I urged Wind forward. "Right. It's also easier for me to protect you with my ice arrows."

He chuckled, and my mood lightened slightly.

He'd made me feel better last night after our hunt of the shadow wolves. He hadn't told me how I should feel, only that it was okay to feel however I felt; that made it easier, somehow.

As we continued into the canyon, the darkness around us grew. The tree branches cast eerie shadows, and the ice and snow was no longer pure white, but a pale greyish color. Most disconcerting was the silence - here, there was no rustling in the brush of small animals, and even the wind was hushed. There was a prickling at the nape of my neck that gave me the peculiar feeling that I was being watched, but there was no one here besides us. Perhaps the trees were spying on us, I mused, without a modicum of humor.

When we stopped to eat and water the horses at a sickly frozen stream, I found my eyes drawn toward Ash.

He caught my glance and held it, but I couldn't think of anything to say. I stared back at him until I had to look away, my cheeks flushed.