Page 47 of Ties of Frost

As I sat up, my brow furrowed. It wasn’t dark only inside. Past my feet, where there should have been light from the stars and moon illuminating the world beyond the low door, there was nothing. As if I were inside not a snow shelter, but a tomb.

Another spike of panic shot through me, and something deep in my soul urged me to go outside.

Zidra was in danger.

I had no time to question how I knew that or what it meant, or even whether the door to my shelter was truly gone. Zidra needed help. I drew my swords and sent my magic ahead of me as I moved toward where the entrance should have been. Sure enough, it was there, but my magic tangled with the energy of another elf’s magic. I burst through the opening into an inky murkiness. Brisk air brushed over my face and bare chest and teased the ends of my hair, but I couldn’t see a thing.

Night elf.

“Iskyr aid me,” I breathed.

Trusting the guidance of the heartbond, I raced in Zidra’s direction, sending waves of whirling, glowing ice in front of and above me. My magic drove back the night elf’s shadow magic, allowing moonlight to shine through. My jaw clenched as I caught sight of the nearly full moon. Night elves were strongest at night, and the light of the moon and stars fed their magic.

A faint scuffling sounded ahead, and the heartbond wavered.

“Zee!” Where was she?

I increased the swirling snowflakes until a miniature blizzard localized around me. The shadows in the night elf’s control pushed back.

I hated fighting night elves, and I’d never had the ill luck of facing one outside of training bouts. They wieldedshadows, growing them, giving them form, using them like grasping and crushing tentacles. They could hide themselves in shadows, moving at night unseen, and while our magics could battle, the only sure way to defeat a night elf was to find and incapacitate the elf.

A choked gasp came from the tangling shadow and ice magics, and then a tan hand shot upward and grabbed onto a tendril of darkness. The glow of my ice crystals illuminated the outline of a dark, writhing mass.

Zidra was at the center of that web of suffocating magic.

With a battle cry, I blasted ice at the enveloping shadows, directing it to avoid hurting her. I slid to my knees and dropped my swords. They did little against magic, and I’d need all my strength to beat back the night elf’s power.

Fingers spread wide, I reached out until my palms bumped into the night elf’s corporeal shadows—an odd sensation, like passing through thickening mist and then hitting something solid. With a growl, I unleashed a pulse of raging cold into the seething darkness.

The shadows retreated before my onslaught, revealing Zidra’s arm and thigh. Her movement slowed, and through the heartbond, I sensed her resistance fading.

“No!” My pulse pounded faster. “Release her!”

As soon as her head and a shoulder emerged, I pulled her toward me. Ice magic still swirled from my other hand. In the back of my mind, I diverted ice away from us into the shadowed glen in search of the attacker.

No longer suffocating, Zidra gasped down air. Sheshoved and kicked at the grasping shadows. The heartbond heated, and Zidra’s eyes glowed red.

My grasp on her shoulder tightened. “Don’t shift!”

I hadn’t saved her from a night elf assassin to lose her to the ice curse.

She hissed her displeasure, but the glow faded from her eyes. She lunged forward and grabbed the hilt of her sword, yanking it free of the sheath without any indication she’d barely escaped death.

“Can you find the infernal elf?” Zidra ground out.

From the trees beyond our makeshift camp sounded a hiss of pain right as my magical sense indicated the presence of a person. A vengeful grin pulled at my mouth.

“Indeed. Follow me.” I seized my own swords and surged to my feet. A cyclone of ice kept the grasping fingers of shadow from reaching us as we sprinted toward the opening of the glen.

I concentrated on my magic that surrounded the assassin. Using my magical sense, I pinned the struggling elf to the ground with manacles of ice.

Grunting and muttered curses in a male voice carried through the night. I slowed and decreased my protective snow magic so I could see. A few strides in front of us, the pale blue glow of my magic warred with the night elf’s shadows.

With my eyes closed to better rely on my magical sense, I pulled back my sword. If I missed my target, I’d bury my sword in the hard dirt and lose precious moments.

There.

If I was right, I’d strike the elf in the shoulder. The wound shouldn’t be fatal.

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