Page 48 of Frostforge: Passage Four
"What's happening?"Felah asked, voice tight with fear.
Thalia raised her hand for silence, listening intently.The wind carried more than thunder now — shouts, the clash of metal, footfalls on rocky ground.
"Isle Wardens," she breathed, the realization crystallizing with terrible clarity."They're in the fjord."
As if in response to her words, lightning cracked overhead, illuminating the forest in a stark flash.In that brief illumination, Thalia saw them — figures moving through the trees higher up the slope.Not students.Not instructors.
Warriors in scaled armor, their weapons crackling with electrical energy that Thalia could sense even at this distance.Isle Wardens, descending toward them like a tidal wave rushing down the mountainside.
"Form up," Thalia ordered, drawing her weapon."Back to back.This isn't a training exercise anymore."
Her first-years moved instantly, forming a defensive circle as they'd practiced countless times.Faces that moments ago had shown exertion and determination now displayed fear, but also resolve.
"What do we do?"Daniel asked, voice steady despite the tremor in his hands.
Thalia scanned their surroundings, mind racing through options.Going uphill meant confronting the Wardens directly.Downhill would take them back toward the fjord, where Warden ships likely waited.Lateral movement might allow them to avoid the immediate threat, but for how long?
"We fight," she decided, the weight of responsibility settling on her shoulders like a physical burden."We have no choice."
As lightning flashed again overhead, Thalia readied herself for a battle that was no longer simulated, no longer safe.The Command Challenge, designed to test their leadership and teamwork, had transformed in an instant into something far more urgent.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
The first scream cut through the forest like a blade.Thalia's head snapped up, her fingers tightening around her ice-bronze sword as the distant cry morphed into another, then another, until the mountainside trembled with terror.This wasn't right.The Command Challenge was meant to test their leadership, not their survival.
Thalia pivoted to face her scattered squad."Daniel, Rasmus — back-to-back!Sigrid, cover the left flank!Felah, with me!"
Her voice strained against the growing din of combat.All around them, the forest erupted in chaos — flashes of steel, bursts of frost, and the terrible howl of storm magic tearing through the air.The squads, positioned strategically across the slope to test their independent command abilities, were now fatally isolated.
Felah scrambled toward her, dark skin slick with sweat, fear widening her eyes to perfect circles.Daniel followed, gangly limbs working overtime to keep from slipping on the pine-strewn ground.Rasmus hesitated, then moved into position, his jaw clenched so tight that Thalia could see the muscles straining beneath his skin.
But Sigrid stood apart, copper hair gleaming in a shaft of sunlight that pierced the canopy.Her posture was rigid, defiant — the same stance she'd held from the first day of the Command Challenge, when she'd made it clear that no Southern upstart would command her respect.
"Sigrid!"Thalia's voice cracked with urgency."Get over here!We need to stay together!"
Sigrid's gaze flickered from Thalia to the trees beyond, where shadows moved with lethal purpose.Her lip curled.
"It’s one thing to follow a Southerner when we’re just playing games," she spat, her voice venomous."But I’m not about to trust my life to some slum-dweller.I’m on my own for this.”
The words struck like physical blows, but Thalia had no time to feel their sting."You’re making a mistake.We need to —
"I'm not dying under your command."Sigrid cut her off, taking a step backward."I'm going back to the fjord — alone."
Before Thalia could respond, Sigrid turned and sprinted downhill, her form quickly swallowed by the dense pines and undergrowth.
"Sigrid!Get back here!"Thalia's shout echoed uselessly through the trees.She took a half-step to follow, then froze as the implications crashed through her like a wave.
This was exactly what the saboteur wanted.Not just equipment failures or disrupted trials, but this — the academy fractured from within, students turning on each other even as death stalked the mountain.Northern against Southern, divided and weak when they needed unity most.
The realization burned cold in her chest.She'd been looking for someone tampering with blades and shields when all along, they'd been planting the seeds of something far more devastating.
A raindrop struck her cheek, then another.The sky, visible in patches through the canopy, had darkened to slate.Rain began to fall, sudden and bitterly cold, as if nature itself had taken sides with the Wardens.Thunder rolled overhead, distant at first, then closer, a promise of worse to come.
"What do we do?"Felah's voice trembled, her narrow shoulders hunched against the growing storm.
Thalia swallowed, tasting pine and ozone on the air."We need to find the others.We're stronger together."She swept her gaze across the three remaining members of her squad."Stay close.We're heading downslope, calling for other squads."
They moved as one, fighting against the increasingly treacherous terrain.Rain turned dirt to mud beneath their boots, and pine needles became a slick carpet ready to send them tumbling.Thalia's voice joined others in a desperate chorus.
