Page 46 of Frostforge, Passage Six
"Maybe it wasn't for nothing," Roran said slowly, his thumb moving in a small circle against the back of her hand."Maybe it was just...misdirected.Fear turning to anger, anger to hate, hate to violence."He sighed, a sound heavy with fatigue and realization."If what we saw is really what the Wardens have been running from all this time..."
"Then they've been trying to save themselves the only way they knew how," Thalia finished."By finding sanctuary on the mainland.They went about it all wrong, but their desperation was real."
Roran's fingers tightened slightly around hers."And we've been fighting them every step of the way, thinking we were protecting ourselves."
“Worse than that,” Thalia whispered.“We’ve been blind to the true threat.The Deep Tide… thosethings…they’re not going to stop, are they?They’ve been moving closer and closer to the continent.And when they get there….”
She trailed off.She didn’t need to finish; the truth hung between them like a shard of ice in a thaw.
“I don’t know how we can fight something like that,” Roran murmured, a note of fear in his voice.“I don’t know if it’s even possible.”
“Cassia held them off, at least for a moment.”
“Yes, she did.”Roran shifted his weight, a sigh escaping him.“But it was a brief moment.If the Wardens knew how to fight the Deep Tide, they wouldn’t be invading the continent, would they?”
“Still,” Thalia murmured.“They know more about it than we do.Perhaps it would be possible to fight it, if we worked together.”She paused, then added, “It’s not as if we have a choice.We fight it, or it will annihilate us.That’s all there is to it.”
“You’re talking about an alliance with stormcallers,” Roran said, almost under his breath.“I can’t see Frostforge taking kindly to that.”
“Frostforge can adapt,” Thalia said, steel threading her voice.“Or it can crumble like everything else the Deep Tide touches.”
The fortress-whale adjusted its course, the movement causing them to lean slightly against each other—shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip, anchoring each other against the gentle roll.Neither pulled away.In the soft lamplight, with sorrow hovering like mist around them, that simple human contact felt essential, a reminder that they weren't alone in confronting these terrible revelations.
"And I promised her," Thalia said after a time, her voice stronger than before."I promised Cassia I would bring her people to safety."She turned to meet Roran's gaze, finding her own determination reflected there."I intend to keep that promise, no matter what Frostforge thinks about it."
"I know," he replied simply."I'll stand with you."
She believed him.Despite their complicated history, despite the tangled web of feelings between them, she trusted Roran's word in this.He had seen what she had seen.He understood what was at stake.
The fortress-whale continued its steady progress through coastal waters, carrying its cargo of refugees and revelations toward Frostforge's fjord.Within its living walls, surrounded by people who had been enemies days before, Thalia felt something shift within her—a purpose crystallizing beneath the layers of grief and exhaustion.She would honor Cassia's sacrifice.She would protect these people who had protected her.And somehow, against all odds, she would find a way to break the cycle of mistrust that had cost so many lives on both sides.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
The fortress-whale glided into Frostforge's fjord as dawn broke over the Rimspire Mountains, painting the mist in watercolor shades of amber and rose.Thalia stood at the forward rampart, her hands pressed against cold stone as the massive leviathan carried them between sheer cliffs that rose like sentinels from the churning waters below.Each breath of chill morning air filled her lungs with the familiar scent of pine and snow, of home—yet the comfort it should have brought was tangled with dread.Behind her, Warden refugees huddled on the deck, their faces upturned to the towering rock walls, eyes wide with the wary awe of those who had only heard of such places in stories of enemy strongholds.
The whale's passage stirred the mist into ghostly tendrils that curled around its enormous body, transforming the creature into something mythical—half-beast, half-legend, a vision from ancient tales now rendered in flesh and bone.Its steady progress parted the waters of the fjord, sending gentle waves lapping against the pine-studded shores where Thalia had trained during her years at the academy.She could trace the path of her past footsteps with her eyes, could identify the precise cliff edge where she had stood watch during midnight vigils, the hidden cove where she had practiced metallurgy away from critical Northern gazes.
How strange to return like this—not as a triumphant victor over the Wardens’ greatest weapon, but as shepherd to the very people she had spent years learning to fight.
“They’re going to see us soon,” said Roran, at her side.His voice was tense.“Frostforge.They’re going to think they’re under attack.”
Thalia pressed her palms more firmly against the stone battlement, feeling the subtle vibration of the creature's heartbeat through the fortress walls.The steady rhythm seemed to ground her, to remind her of the promise she had made to Cassia.These people—these refugees with their strange language and alien customs—were now her responsibility.Whatever suspicion and hostility awaited at Frostforge's gates, she could not abandon them to it.
"We need to get ahead of this," she decided, straightening her spine.
"What do you propose?"Ashe asked, her pragmatic nature asserting itself even in this impossible situation.
Thalia scanned the shoreline, noting the familiar dock where supply ships unloaded provisions for the academy."We take a small boat ahead.Identify ourselves before they open fire.Explain the situation."She turned to face her companions directly."We need to make it clear that this isn't an attack—it's a refugee crisis."
Roran nodded slowly, his storm-dark eyes troubled."And if they don't believe us?"
The question hung between them, heavy with implication.The academy's protocols would call for immediate, overwhelming force against a fortress-whale in their waters—regardless of who might be aboard.
"They'll believe us," Thalia said with more confidence than she felt."They have to."
The Warden guards who had assumed leadership after Cassia's sacrifice provided them with a small canoe fashioned from some pale wood Thalia didn't recognize.Its sides were carved with intricate patterns that resembled flowing water, and despite its apparent fragility, it felt solid beneath her hands as she examined it.
"You return for us?"asked a young woman with elaborate braids similar to Cassia's, though hers were woven with shells instead of metal beads.Her accent was thick, but determination shone in her dark eyes as she helped lower the small craft over the side.
