In a land of magic on the brink of war, three stories are fated to meet.
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Lilac is being forced into a marriage she never wanted, for the benefit of her kingdom.
Lily is trapped in a life of servitude and endless poverty after her mother dies...
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I was sure I would never be properly warm again.
The wind howled and moaned, the snow stung my face and any skin exposed. My feet were numb from walking so much.
And I felt hopeless.
How long had we been trudging up the mountainside? How long had we been fighting against wind and snow and cold to find a place that didn't exist?
I believed it to be three days now, but I wasn't sure. I was too cold to think much of it.
Celeste, I think, bore the blunt of the hopelessness that had settled over our group. She could barely hold herself up, so Caleb and I let her ride the study mountain horse we bought in the village, and we walked on either side of her. One foot in front of the other up the steep, icy path with a sheer drop on one side and a solid mountain face on the other.
If we were lucky enough to find a cave, we stayed there the night. Then we kept on, up and up the mountain.
Towards an impossible goal.
"What does the map say?" Caleb broke me from my thoughts. We were stopped under an out-hang, consulting the map. It must've been late afternoon, early evening.
Storm clouds were darkening the horizon. More snow was on its way.
I shook my head, "I don't understand it. We should be there by now."
We had followed the carefully inked path through the mountains, but now there was nowhere else to go. The map ended at the top of this next peak.
Caleb frowned out at the storm clouds, "Well, if we continue, we need to start now if we want to beat that storm."
I watched the ominous clouds, then glanced at Celeste, who was shivering and pale. How much longer will we continue to wander through these mountains? Until we freeze to death?
I came to a decision.
"We need to find shelter." I told Caleb, "let's keep going and see if we can find a cave."
He nodded. I replaced the map in my pack, pulled my hood up, and led the horse out into the frigid wind. All that could be heard was the steady clop-clop-clop of the horse's shoes against the frozen ground.
The monotony of my boots crunching on the ice and snow lulled my thoughts. My mind was blissfully blank.
"Lilac!" It happened so fast I didn't even realize that I had walked onto a sheet of sheer ice with nothing underneath.
