Page 36 of Frostforge: Passage Four
A flush crept up Einar's neck, staining his pale skin.His eyes darted around, taking stock of the crowd, and Thalia saw the moment he realized he was losing their interest.Fabricated accusations against Roran weren't enough; he needed a broader target.
"Hard to take the word of someone who can't even keep their own boat upright," he said, his voice taking on a new edge."Southerners talk big but sink fast."
The shift in tactics worked.Thalia felt rather than saw the ripple of tension spreading through the Southern students.From a nearby table, Levi stood up suddenly, the bench scraping loudly against the stone floor.His hands were clenched into fists at his sides, knuckles white.
"Watch yourself, Frostborne,” he snarled.
Einar turned, a predatory grin spreading across his face as though he'd been waiting for precisely this reaction."What?Just speaking the truth.Forgive me if I sound a little harsh—I just watched Southern incompetence nearly get a promising Northern recruit killed yesterday."
"Thought that was Isle Warden interference," Luna snapped, her feigned distraction completely gone now, replaced by razor-sharp focus.
Einar waved a dismissive hand."Doesn't matter either way.In the Reaches, we know how to survive Isle Warden attacks.But when we're dragged down by the likes of you —"
Thalia's pulse quickened as she noticed other Northern students rising to their feet, moving to flank Einar.The tactical positioning wasn't lost on her — they were spreading out, claiming territory.Her gaze swept across the hall, cataloging the hardening faces of Southern students.Even Brynn was standing now, her aristocratic, Southern-coast features tight with barely contained fury.
"You don't know what it's like to be dragged down," Levi growled, taking another step forward.
Einar laughed, the sound sharp and goading.The casual cruelty of it seemed to strike Levi like a physical blow.
"You people are all cold-hearted and as slow as that glacier," Levi added, his voice gaining heat."Breaking apart whenever you try to move."
From behind Einar, Morrigan stepped forward, her dark braids swinging."Oh, that's good," she said, her Northern accent more pronounced than usual."How long have you been waiting to use that one, sun-rotter — all year?"
The insult sent a fresh wave of tension through the room.Thalia moved into the widening space between the two groups, hands raised placatingly.
"This is Frostforge," she said, trying to inject reason into the escalating confrontation."We're supposed to be united as a continent, the Southern Kingdoms and the Reaches —"
"Every Southerner I've met at this cursed place has been an inept, useless piece of gutter trash," Einar interrupted, staring directly at her with cold contempt."Without exception."
The words hit like sleet, stinging and sharp.Levi's face darkened.
"Say that again," he challenged, stepping closer until he and Einar were nearly chest to chest.
Einar smiled, all teeth and no warmth.He repeated the insult word for word, enunciating each syllable with deliberate venom, like a man testing the edge of a blade.“I said,every Southerner I’ve met has been an inept, useless piece of gutter trash.”
It happened faster than Thalia could react.Levi's fist connected with Einar's face with a sickening crack, knuckles splitting against cheekbone.Einar stumbled back, momentarily stunned — then launched himself forward with a roar of fury, tackling Levi into a nearby table.
Chaos erupted.The mess hall transformed in an instant from tense stillness to violent motion.Students scrambled in all directions — some seeking safety, others rushing to join the fray.Shouts echoed off the stone walls, a dissonant chorus of anger and fear.
A Southern second-year grabbed a metal tray to shield herself as an older Northern recruit hurled a frost-slick mug like a weapon.It glanced off the makeshift shield with a resounding clang and shattered against the wall, spraying ice shards in a glittering arc.Someone — Thalia couldn't see who — began casting, misty tendrils of ice magic curling over the flagstones, making footing treacherous.
A table flipped with a thunderous crash, sending bowls and cups flying.Porridge splattered across the floor like pale viscera.Thalia ducked as a bench sailed over her head, wood splintering as it hit a column.
"Stop!"she shouted, but her voice was lost in the din.
Roran pushed away from their table, moving toward two younger students — a Northern first-year and a Southern second-year — who were grappling dangerously close to the serving counter with its heavy pots of boiling water.He reached out to separate them, but a blur of motion intercepted him.One of Einar's friends grabbed Roran by the collar and threw a punch, yelling, "Don't you touch them, stormspawn!"
The blow caught Roran on his already bruised jaw.He staggered but didn't fall, twisting away from a second strike with surprising grace.Thalia started toward him, only to be jostled aside by fleeing first-years.
At the edge of the melee, Ashe moved with precise efficiency, diving through the chaos to drag a panicked first-year clear of the fighting.Brynn appeared like a hammer behind her, her movements fluid and practiced as she knocked a Northern brawler off his feet with the hilt of a practice blade she must have grabbed from the hall's display.
The fight was spreading, consuming the mess hall like wildfire.Northern against Southern, upper years against lower, with only a few voices calling futilely for calm.Thalia glimpsed Luna sliding beneath a table, emerging on the other side to pull a bloodied Southern second-year to safety.
Thalia tried once more to shout for order, but even as she opened her mouth, a deafening crack split the air.The sound reverberated through the hall like thunder, so forceful it seemed to shake dust from the rafters.The stone floor trembled beneath her feet as ice bloomed in jagged, crystalline patterns along the flagstones, crackling as it spread in an instant from the doorway across the entire room.
Wolfe stood at the threshold, her face a mask of cold fury.Frost gathered at her boots, where her staff was half-embedded in the ground, a conduit for the powerful cryomancy that had stopped the brawl in its tracks.Calloway and Virek flanked her, their expressions shocked and appalled as they surveyed the destruction.
"Enough."The single word fell into the sudden silence like a stone into still water.
