Nadine breathed out a sigh of relief. And then she felt it. The rumbling.
The ice cracked. Nadine’s blood shot cold, and every muscle in her body locked. Only her eyes moved to scan the ground before darting back up to the men ahead of her. They too had gone still, as if they could prevent what was happening if they only didn’t move, like two hares waiting out the impending charge of a slavering wolf.
Samar shifted.
Magnus thrust an open palm toward him. “No, wait!”
There was a crack like thunder, and the resulting vibration knocked Nadine off her feet. For a moment she lost sight of what was happening ahead. Her body turned as she fell, and she spotted the line of her men behind her, Erik tailing the procession at the edge of the lake. Fear resonated in their stiff postures, and every one of them fixed their faces on the sight behind her. Nadine scrambled back and was screaming even before she could focus. “Samar!”
Wide sheets of ice fractured from the lake’s surface and splintered around Samar like icy pillars. His dark head of curls hovered somewhere near the surface. Were those his hands? Just one?
Nadine scampered forward, scooping up snow through the gaps of her clothes as she went. As soon as her feet were under her, she sprang into an all-out sprint. She was only vaguely aware of the darkened mass approaching Samar from his other side, until it roared at her loud enough to halt her in her tracks.
“Stop, woman.”
Nadine stumbled a few more steps, her eyes flickering wildly to Magnus. One of his legs was soaking wet. He’d been partially swallowed by the ice, then. A fissure in the ground behind him confirmed her guess. His expression grew all the more frantic as she continued toward Samar.
“Dammit, Nadine. You’ll kill him!”
Nadine went still and gritted her teeth. She leaned toward her friend as he struggled to gain purchase at the ice’s edge. He couldn’t swim. If he went under, she’d never see him again. The thought set her on fire. “Help him!”
Even as she commanded the savage, Nadine cursed Magnus for fear he would not. He’d been locking horns with her second since the moment he’d laid eyes on him. Desperate rage worked through her body, and Nadine stiffened, fists clenching at her sides. Samar had been the only constant in the past twelve years of her miserable life. What would become of her friend?
Magnus the Vast paid her no attention. He dropped to his hands and knees and crawled toward the chasm where Samar had fallen. Samar’s panting grunts carried over the lake. His hands clawed and slipped on the ice and snow, desperate. His chattering teeth were audible over the humming in Nadine’s ears. What if his heart stopped? Could such a thing happen merely from cold?
“Magnus! Get out of there!” Erik’s cry echoed over the lake, and made Nadine’s ears twitch. She scowled at the blond man who was darting back and forth across the bank in a rage.
Nadine’s hand went for her belt, then stopped. What was she going to do? Plunge a star into the Dokiri’s throat for demanding his brother save his own life? She growled and yanked at her braids. She turned back to Samar.
Magnus was practically upon him now. He lowered himself to his belly and slid the last paces to Nadine’s friend. He thrust his open hand toward Samar. “Take my hand.” The ice continued to crack and rumble, making Nadine’s heart buzz like the flutter of a locust’s wings.
“Damn you!” Samar snarled between chattering gasps.
Nadine sputtered. “Take his hand you stupid bastard!”
Behind her, Nadine’s men called out for their captain to save himself, to accept Magnus’s offered hand. To Nadine’s shock and horror, Samar continued to struggle against the ice, refusing the Dokiri’s help.
“Just grab him!” she pleaded with Magnus.
Magnus was trying to do exactly that, but every time he leaned to reach down into the chasm, the ice cracked and a few pieces chipped off, making him lunge back. He growled and cursed Samar in alternating languages. It was no use. Samar, it seemed, was determined to die.
The splashing and grunting paused as Samar finally got a good grip on the slab of ice he was trying to scale. He half screamed with the effort it took to pull himself out, and Nadine could only imagine how his frozen muscles must have protested. She took a breath as the beginnings of relief coursed through her body. She was going to impale him when this was over.
Crack!
In the blink of an eye, Samar disappeared.
“No!” Nadine was back to running.
Images from another life blazed in her frenzied mind. Suddenly, she was ten years old, Samar twelve. He’d been attacked by other recruits while she’d been on runner duty. They’d taken his clothes along with the food Nadine and Samar kept hoarded. That night she’d curled against his broken body, lending him comfort. All they’d had was each other, and she’d wept under quiet stars, waiting for the gods to take him, too.
Something crashed into her shoulder. Nadine flew into a whirl. She landed on her ass and the snow. It puffed up around her like a frothy cloud. Ice. The savage had thrown a chunk of ice at her.
She shoved off the ground and was on her feet in less time than it took to breathe. But it was all the time the barbarian had needed. His coat lay discarded in the snow. Nadine’s confusion morphed into incredulity as he put his hands together and slid off the edge of the ice. He dipped below the surface of the frigid water like a frog diving off a lily pad.
There was no thought behind Nadine’s stillness. She stood rooted to the ground like a palm. She forgot to breathe until her lungs burned and ached with the need to gasp for air.
Come on. Come on.
The shriek of a gegatu sounded in the distance from somewhere behind Nadine. She didn’t need to turn to know. Erik was calling his mount to help rescue his brother. But it was too late for that. If they didn’t surface on their own, they’d be lost to the watery blackness forever. A mountain lake, their tomb. An inky mausoleum.
With a sudden gasp, Magnus’s head broke the surface of the water. Nadine shuddered, hope rushing in like the air that flooded into her lungs. The barbarian threw a muscled arm over the edge of the ice and pulled. A drenched head of curls broke the surface. Magnus had done it. He had gotten Samar.
Nadine’s knees wobbled. Her relief was short-lived, replaced by helplessness as Magnus struggled to get himself and Samar out of the water.
Wind kicked up around Nadine, sending locks of her hair whirling around her face. Erik’s stark-white gegatu blew past her, then stretched its feet down low to pluck Magnus and Samar straight from the water. Nadine watched in mute fascination. Samar didn’t fight or even bark in protest. His stillness set her nerves aflame once more with fear.
Nadine turned around and ordered her men to fall back. This had been a fool’s plan, and she, a fool for allowing it. It took everything in her not to sprint back to the shore, especially when Erik’s mount beat her there by several long minutes. Still, she wouldn’t make the mistake of racing across the ice and overburdening it with the weight of multiple men. Not as Samar had. The idiot.
She was the last to arrive at the lake’s edge. Her men were gathered in a circle around Samar and Magnus.
“Move,” she ordered, slicing through the crowd like a glaive. She stopped only at the sight of familiar—albeit soaking wet—boots. She looked up. Magnus panted, his long brown hair frozen around his face, his cheeks flushed bright pink and his beard dripping.