Page 26 of Frostforge: Passage Four
Felah turned, her eyes widening as she noticed the water now lapping around their ankles."Thalia, we're taking on water."
"I know," Thalia cut her off with a nod."We need to win before we sink.Can you slow the breach?"
Understanding dawned in Felah's eyes.With a determined nod, she shifted position, keeping one hand on her paddle while extending the other toward the leak.A faint blue glow emanated from her fingers as she applied cryomancy to the breach, temporarily stemming the flow.
"Good thinking," Thalia acknowledged, pride warming her chest despite the cold water seeping into her boots."Everyone, on my count, we charge them bow-first.One strong hit should capsize them if we time it right."
She steered them in a wide arc, building momentum.Levi's team paddled hard to intercept, but Thalia had positioned them perfectly.
"Now!"she shouted.
Their canoe surged forward, ramming into the side of Levi's vessel with a resounding crack.The impact jolted through Thalia's body, nearly throwing her from her position.Both canoes rocked violently, water sloshing over their sides.
But Levi's canoe stayed upright, its crew recovering quickly from the blow.Water continued to rise inside Thalia's vessel, now halfway to their knees despite Felah's efforts.
"Circle back!"Thalia commanded, her voice sharp with urgency."Sigrid, right us!"
Sigrid, to her credit, responded instantly, using cryomancy to stabilize their tilting canoe.As they turned for another pass, Thalia noticed Levi shouting commands to his team, repositioning for a counterattack.
"Felah, Rasmus, on my mark, freeze the water behind our canoe — give us a solid push forward!"
As they lined up for another charge, Thalia felt the cold embrace of the rising water around her calves, a constant reminder of their dwindling time.The canoe sat lower in the water now, sluggish in its response to their paddling.
"Mark!"
Twin bursts of cryomancy erupted from Felah and Rasmus, ice crystalizing beneath the water's surface, propelling them forward with sudden, violent force.The bow of their canoe slammed into Levi's vessel at precisely the right angle — just below the waterline, lifting its side.
For a breathless moment, both canoes teetered on the edge of capsizing.Then, with a groan of wood and a splash of water, Levi's canoe flipped, sending its occupants tumbling into the freezing fjord.
Cheers and gasps rose from the spectators as Levi and his first-years surfaced, spluttering and flailing.Instructor Marr threw buoys into the water, quickly towing the drenched students to safety.
"Well done, Greenspire squad," Calloway's voice rang out, her tone revealing nothing of approval or disappointment — merely acknowledgment.
But victory brought no relief.Their own canoe was sinking rapidly now, the breach widening as the stressed wood gave way.
"To the dock, quickly!"Thalia ordered, guiding their waterlogged vessel toward safety as water pooled around their thighs.
As they passed Levi's overturned canoe, something caught Thalia's eye — a jagged hole in its hull, positioned almost identically to their own breach.Not random damage from the combat, but something eerily similar, as if both canoes had been deliberately weakened in the same spot.
The coincidence sent a chill through her that had nothing to do with the icy water.
"Paddle harder!"she urged as their canoe dipped lower, water now rushing in faster than Felah could freeze it."We're almost there!"
They reached the dock just as the canoe began to sink beneath them, water lapping at the gunwales.Daniel and Felah scrambled out first, shivering violently, their soaked clothes already stiffening in the cold air.Rasmus and Sigrid followed, their movements more controlled but their faces pinched with discomfort.
Thalia was last, her legs numb from the cold water as she pulled herself toward the edge of the dock.A hand appeared in her field of vision — strong, familiar, calloused with burn scars.
"Impressive work," Roran said, his eyes bright with undisguised pride as he helped her from the sinking canoe.His hand clasped hers firmly, lingering for several heartbeats longer than necessary once she stood safely on the dock.
Heat crept up Thalia's neck despite her sodden, freezing clothes.Roran's smile was warm, intimate in a way that made her pulse quicken.For a moment, she allowed herself to bask in his approval, in the connection that hummed between them whenever they were close.
Then something — instinct or memory — prompted her to scan the crowd.Her eyes found Kaine immediately, as if drawn by an invisible thread.He stood at the edge of the arena, arms crossed over his broad chest, his posture rigid.Even from this distance, she could read the tension in his jaw, the intensity in his ice-blue eyes.
Jealousy.Raw and unmistakable.
Thalia's hand slipped from Roran's grasp, the warmth of his touch fading against the sudden awareness of being caught between two forces — like standing in the path of colliding storm fronts.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
