Soul of Ice

Chapter Seven

She was the last one to return to the barracks, and by then all the torches had been blown out. To preserve oil, she would guess.

Before she could enter through the door, however, a firm hand reached out of the darkness to grasp her forearm, pulling her to the side and clamping a hand over her mouth before she could make a sound.

"Don't make me knock you unconscious," a distinctly feminine voice whispered coyly. "And don't play any of your tricks either. Trust me, I can slam your head into this wall much faster than you can break my wrist. You're going to come with me quickly and quietly. Promise I won't hurt you unless you give me a reason to. Tap my arm twice if you understand."

Astra grimaced behind the hand clamped over her mouth as a cold tendril of fear snaked her way through her heart. Was this her punishment for speaking out earlier? In Varaly, punishment was usually solitary confinement. Days and weeks, sometimes even months, on end in solitude with only the stainless steel walls for company. She'd never feared being alone, preferred it rather, and Xernes knew it. Instead, he had her take on the night shift in the solitary confinement wings for six months. The cells were sealed from sight, but not from sound. She would never be able to forget the endless screams of soldiers breaking down.

Wherever the woman wanted to take her, whatever her punishment was... safer to stay conscious and reserve her energy and perhaps get an idea of where the woman was taking her rather than risk being taken unconscious. Cautious and suspicious, she tapped twice. Immediately, the woman let go of the hand over her mouth and loosened the hold she had on her wrist, though she didn't let go.

"Follow me," she ordered in a whisper.

They went down the empty hallway for forty-two steps before the woman who led her opened a door to the left, the sound of it opening evident despite the lack of creaks from well-oiled hinges. Inside the room, the woman continued to keep a hand on her, likely making sure she would not run, and shuffled around in the darkness for several seconds with her other hand. A soft creak sounded in the silence.

"There is a rope ladder. Go down carefully." She pushed Astra forward slightly, until she could feel open space beneath her toes.

"What's below?" she asked as she crouched down carefully to feel the size of the open space with her hands.

"You will soon find out." The rungs of a ladder fell down to what seemed like an endless abyss. With no light entering the room, there was absolutely no difference between closing her eyes and opening them. Astra gripped the rung of the ladder before allowing herself to fall into that abyss, hand over hand and foot over foot for a long minute before her foot knocked against the solid ground once more.

"There's the firebrand," someone murmured from behind her. Astra jumped before calming her nerves again. She wanted to snark to the speaker that she was actually an icebrand, but she held her tongue.

She turned. From where the speaker had come from there came the distinct sound of a crisp snap of fingers. Astra unwillingly flinched back as several floating balls of fire slowly blossomed into existence, the sudden bright light assaulting her vision at the same time. Wraiths. Not guards. She took a slow step back, away from the flames, and looked toward the corner of the hallway to blink the spots away. The floating fireballs illuminated two people—two of the wraiths that had circled around during her brawl against Iker. They looked like brothers with the same stoic orange eyes, straight nose, and burgundy colored hair.

Behind her, the woman that had threatened her dropped down silently on the ground. The rungs of the ladder didn't even rustle. She must've jumped then.

"Why am I here?" They stayed silent. One of the male wraiths tilted his head toward the winding hallway behind him and his brother. Three of the eight floating fireballs floated forward to illuminate the path. Behind her, Astra could almost feel the woman's breath on her, as if warning her to not falter in her step now or to try anything unexpected.