Page 58 of Frostforge: Passage Two

The impact drove the air from Nash's lungs.He crumpled to his knees, his weapon clattering to the stone floor.Senna stood over him, blade pressed to his throat, chest heaving with exertion and rage.

For a heart-stopping moment, Thalia thought Senna might kill him.The Northern girl's eyes were cold, her knuckles white around the hilt of her blade.The edge dimpled the skin of Nash's neck, drawing a bead of blood that trailed down to stain his collar.

"Senna," Thalia called, her voice steady despite the chaos still swirling around them."We need him alive to confess."

Something shifted in Senna's expression — a brief internal struggle visible in the tightening of her jaw.Then, with deliberate contempt, she withdrew her blade and struck Nash across the temple with the flat of it, sending him sprawling unconscious to the floor.

"You're not worth dirtying my blade," she muttered, turning away from him with a look of disgust.

With their leader fallen, the remaining smugglers faltered.Roran disarmed the broad-shouldered boy with a spectacular flourish that sent the war hammer spinning into the far wall.Thalia managed to trap the white-haired girl's arm in a lock she'd learned during combat training, forcing her to drop her weapons with a cry of pain.

"It's over," Thalia said, breathing hard."Surrender, or we knock you out."She nodded toward Nash's unconscious form.

The fight drained from their opponents like water from a broken vessel.They lowered their weapons, shoulders slumping in defeat.

Thalia glanced around the chamber, looking for something to restrain their captives.Roran was already moving, collecting strips of leather from a nearby workbench and using them to bind the broad-shouldered boy's wrists.Senna tore a length of fabric from the white-haired girl's cloak, securing her hands with practiced efficiency.

With the immediate threat neutralized, Thalia rushed to Kaine's side.He had managed to push himself to his feet, one arm still wrapped protectively around his ribs, his face a mask of pain.

"How bad?"she asked, her hands hovering uncertainly, afraid to touch him and cause more damage.

"I've had worse," Kaine grimaced, the lie transparent in the tightness around his eyes."At least three broken.Maybe four."

Thalia supported his weight as he leaned against her, his breathing labored but steadier than before.She could feel the heat of his body through his shirt, the tension in his muscles as he fought to remain upright.

Across the chamber, Senna stood over the three bound smugglers, her expression glacial.She spat on the ground next to Nash's still-unconscious form.

"Traitors," she said, the word filled with more venom than Thalia had ever heard from her."They'll face justice for this.Theft is one thing, but to sell to Isle Wardens..."She trailed off, shaking her head in disgusted disbelief.

Roran approached Thalia and Kaine, his twin blades now sheathed, a concerned frown creasing his forehead as he assessed Kaine's condition.

"We need to get him to the infirmary," he said, glancing over his shoulder at their captives."And someone needs to alert the instructors about what's happened here."

Thalia nodded, her mind already racing ahead to what came next: the explanations they would need to provide, the evidence they had gathered, the consequences that would follow.But underneath it all was a current of relief — they had survived, they had won, they had uncovered the truth.

And perhaps most surprisingly, they had done it together — Northerners and Southerners, rivals and allies, unlikely companions united by a common cause.The stolen weapons glinted silently around them, silent witnesses to a battle that had perhaps forged something stronger than steel.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

The main hall pressed in around Thalia, the vast chamber of stone and iron filled to capacity with hundreds of bodies radiating tension and curiosity.Banners representing the Northern tribes and Southern kingdoms hung from iron brackets along the walls, their colors muted by the thin gray light filtering through frosted windows.Thalia stood among the second-years, her shoulders brushing against classmates who, for once, weren't regarding her with the academy’s characteristic distrust.Instead, their sidelong glances carried something unfamiliar — a reluctant respect.

Three days had passed since the fight beneath the academy, yet her muscles still ached from the brutal confrontation with Nash and his accomplices.The bruise along her jaw had faded from angry purple to a sickly yellow-green, but at least she could chew without wincing now.

At the front of the hall, Instructor Maven paced like a caged predator, her single amber eye scanning the gathered students.The polished metal plate covering her empty eye socket caught the light from the torch brackets, flashing with each sharp turn of her head.The legendary glacier bear claw hung around her neck on a leather cord, swinging with the rhythm of her steps.

"Attention," Maven barked, and the murmuring crowd fell silent instantly.Even the fourth-years straightened to attention."As most of you have heard through the academy's impeccable rumor mill, the weapons smugglers have been identified and apprehended."

Maven didn't bother to explain how the traitors had been caught or who had caught them.Not once did her gaze drift toward Thalia, or Roran, or Senna.Kaine was absent — he’d been in the infirmary since the fight, his ribs broken, as he’d suspected.Thalia found she didn't mind the lack of formal recognition.The bruises on her face told enough of the story, and the whispers darting through the academy halls for the past three days had filled in the rest.Everyone knew that she, Kaine, Roran, and Senna had been the ones to uncover the conspiracy and defeat the traitors in the caverns beneath the school.

A tall Northern student standing to Thalia's right shifted his weight, deliberately creating enough space to acknowledge her presence without having to speak to her directly.A small gesture, but in the rigid hierarchy of Frostforge, it might as well have been a formal bow.

Thalia scanned the hall, finding Roran's familiar figure among the other Southern students.The cuts on his face hadn't healed as quickly as hers, a livid red line still visible across his cheekbone where one of Nash’s cronies had landed a vicious blow.But his posture was different — shoulders back, chin lifted, no longer trying to make himself invisible.The other Southerners clustered around him, and Thalia noted with satisfaction that the suspicious glances that had dogged him for weeks had vanished.Being accused of spying for the Isle Wardens had nearly broken him; proving his loyalty by helping capture real traitors had transformed him.

Senna stood with the other third-years, her back rigid, jaw set in a hard line.Unlike Roran, she seemed to hate the attention, her pale features flushed with discomfort or anger — Thalia couldn't tell which.When a classmate leaned over to whisper something to her, Senna's response was a sharp, dismissive gesture that left the other student flinching away.

"Bring them forward," Maven commanded, and the crowd parted to allow four senior students to march the bound prisoners to the front of the hall.

Thalia's breath caught when she saw Nash and his two accomplices.The fight in the cavern had been brutal, but she hadn't fully registered the damage they'd inflicted.Nash's face was a patchwork of bruises, his left eye swollen shut, crusted blood still visible at the corner of his mouth.The broad-shouldered boy limped heavily, his movements pained where Roran's well-placed strike had caught him in the leg.The white-haired girl seemed the least physically damaged, but her eyes were vacant, haunted by the knowledge of what was to come.

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