The Bestial’s face was twisted in pain, her leg bent at an unnatural angle. “Ice… gave way,” she hissed. “I fell.”
“Your partner?” Mara asked.
“Gone.” Gora’s voice was bitter. “Left me.”
Mara slid an arm under Gora’s shoulders. “We’re getting you to the end.”
Vaelor stiffened. “Mara, helping her will slow us down.”
“Then we’ll be slow,” she shot back. “I’m not leaving her.”
Before he could argue, a prickle ran down Vaelor’s spine—danger, sharp and immediate. He didn’t think twice about it. He acted.
“Down!” he barked, throwing himself over both females.
They hit the ice hard as razor-thin shards whizzed overhead—ice picks, fast and deadly. They embedded themselves in the ground where the three of them had been standing seconds earlier.
Mara’s breath trembled. “Vaelor… what was that?”
He lifted his head, scanning the darkness. “Those weren’t natural formations falling.”
“You mean—”
“Someone threw them,” he said, voice low. “Someone is hunting us in the Veil.”
Vaelor pushed himself up first, scanning the darkness for movement. Nothing. Only the endless black ice stretching in every direction, swallowing sound and light.
“Are you both able to stand?” he asked, offering his hands.
Mara groaned but nodded, brushing shards of ice from her biosuit. “Yeah… I think so.”
Gora gritted her teeth as he helped her upright, her broken leg trembling under the strain. “I can walk,” she growled.
“No,” Vaelor said firmly. “You can lean on us. Mara, take her other side.”
Mara slipped under Gora’s arm without hesitation. “We’ve got you.”
Gora huffed, clearly unused to being helped. “Bestials do not need—”
“You do now,” Mara cut in, her tone gentle but unyielding. “Friends help friends.”
Vaelor led the way, every sense sharpened. The ice beneath them had grown even slicker, like walking on polished glass. Each step required precision. Behind them, the wind howled through the jagged pillars, carrying with it the faint echo of something moving.
They pressed forward, inch by inch.
“Vaelor,” Mara whispered, “do you think whoever threw those ice picks is still out there?”
“Yes,” he said simply. “And they are patient.”
Gora snorted. “Let them come. I will—”
A deep rumble vibrated through the ice.
Vaelor froze. “Quiet.”
The rumble grew louder, rolling beneath their feet like a living thing. Mara’s eyes widened. “Is that… under us?”
Before he could answer, the ice ahead of them fractured—thin glowing lines spiderwebbing outward. A massive slab shifted.
