Page 52 of Frostforge: Passage Four
Two ice-steel golems broke away from the main group, moving with purpose toward Roran.He stood alone near the shore, his clothes singed and torn, his body visibly trembling from exertion.Wisps of electricity still flickered around his fingers, though his power seemed largely spent.
He didn't run.He didn't speak.His eyes found Thalia's across the ice, and in that single glance, she read everything: exhaustion, fear, and a defiant acceptance of what was to come.
"No," Thalia whispered, realization dawning."Don't—"
The golems seized Roran by the arms, their movements swift and mechanical.Ice-metal clamps locked around his wrists with a hiss of frost, binding his hands to prevent any further use of his magic.The shock of it froze Thalia in place for a heartbeat, the aftermath of battle still ringing in her ears.
"Stop!"she shouted, her voice cracking as she stumbled forward across the ice."What are you doing?"
Her question echoed across the suddenly silent fjord.Students and instructors alike turned to watch the scene unfold, but no one moved to intervene.Some faces registered shock, others unease, but many — particularly those of Northern students — showed only grim satisfaction.
Thalia reached Wolfe, her breath coming in ragged gasps."Without him, most of the first and fourth years would be dead.He saved us."
Wolfe's emerald eyes were cold, her expression unyielding."He has hidden storm magic from the academy for four years, Greenspire.The power of our enemies, wielded only by Isle Wardens."
"You saw what he did with it," Thalia protested, gesturing toward the bodies of fallen Wardens scattered across the ice."He fought against them, not for them!"
"Wolfe," Kaine's quiet voice came from beside her as he stepped up to stand at Thalia's shoulder."You're going to make an example out of the person who just kept half the academy alive?"
The Head Instructor didn't even look at him, her gaze fixed on Roran as the golems began to drag him toward the academy."If we don't enforce order now, we invite ruin later."Her voice was flat, brooking no argument."This is not a matter for student input."
"He's one of us!"Thalia's voice rose, desperation clawing at her throat."You can't just—"
"I can, and I will," Wolfe cut her off."Storm magic is treason, Greenspire.You know this."
The golems continued their methodical progress across the ice, Roran stumbling between them.He didn't resist, didn't call out.His head was bowed, his shoulders slumped in defeat.
Thalia started after them, but Kaine's hand on her arm held her back."Not now," he murmured."Not like this."
Her knees gave way, and she sank to the ice, the cold seeping through her torn leggings.Around her, students began to move again, helping the wounded toward the academy, their voices subdued.The victory had turned hollow in the span of moments.
Thalia stared at Roran's retreating form until it became a distant silhouette against the dawn sky.The ice beneath her palms was smooth and unyielding, like the rules that had just condemned him.Her throat burned with unspoken words, her eyes stinging with tears she refused to shed.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Dawn cast a gray light over the fjord, turning the frozen expanse into a mirror of the leaden sky above.Thalia stood motionless on the docks, her breath clouding before her as she surveyed the aftermath strewn across the ice's white sheet.Blood stained the surface in rusty blooms, melted craters marked where lightning had struck, and the detritus of battle — shattered weapons, torn clothing, abandoned shields — littered the frozen surface like discarded toys.The silence pressed against her ears, broken only by the scrape of boots on ice and the occasional muffled command as students moved methodically across the fjord, counting the dead.
Ten first-years.The number echoed in her mind, hollow and accusatory.Ten children who had come to Frostforge with dreams and determination now lie cold and still.Among them was Sigrid, her copper hair unmistakable even from a distance when they'd found her.The Northern girl had fled deep into the trees beyond the fjord's edge, but she hadn't made it far on her own.They'd recovered her body hours after the battle ended, fingers still curled around the hilt of her weapon, face frozen in a snarl of defiance.
Thalia had shed no tears when she heard the news.The words had washed over her like ice water, leaving her numb and distant.The tears would come later, she knew, when she was alone in her bunk with no one to witness her failure.
Below the docks, medical teams worked with brisk efficiency.The largely uninjured second- and third-years carried stretchers bearing the wounded back toward the academy.Golems assisted where they could, their metal joints creaking as they lifted debris and cleared paths through the destruction.One ice-brass construct, twice the height of a man, cradled a wounded student in arms that could have crushed stone.
Thalia watched it all with a detached awareness, as though viewing someone else's nightmare.Her body felt leaden, her limbs disconnected from her will.She couldn't look away from the red-stained ice, couldn't stop imagining Sigrid's final moments — alone, frightened perhaps, though the Northern girl would never have admitted to fear.
A warm pressure settled on her shoulder.She turned her head, muscles moving with glacial slowness, to find Kaine standing beside her.His blue eyes, normally so intense, had softened with concern.The scar that traced his jawline seemed more pronounced in the harsh morning light.
"You should get inside," he said, his voice low."There's nothing more you can do here."
Something in his gentleness broke through the shell of her numbness.She stepped away, shrugging off his hand — not rejecting him, but rejecting the absolution his touch offered.
"I was responsible for them," she said, the words scraping her throat raw."Sigrid may have hated me, but she was still mine to protect."
Kaine's exhale misted in the frigid air between them."She made her choice, Thalia.She refused to listen to you.She abandoned the squad when you needed her most."
"She was eighteen," Thalia countered, her voice brittle."Barely more than a child."
"So were you, when you came here."Kaine's gaze swept across the frozen fjord, taking in the aftermath of battle with the practiced eye of someone who had seen too much death."Unity is strength.That's a lesson all Frostforge recruits need to learn early, or they won't survive."
