"Our ancestors never wanted war with the mainland," Naj continued, his gaze returning to Thalia."The raids began only when the black waters reached our western islands, when we needed new land for our people.We thought—hoped—the Deep Ones would be contained by the deeper waters between islands.We were wrong."
"They follow underwater currents," said another stormcaller, a man with intricate tattoos spiraling down his neck."They move like liquid shadow, but they're bound to certain paths—the natural channels in the ocean floor.If you know the seabed's contours, you can predict where they'll strike next."
Thalia absorbed this information with growing excitement.This was exactly what they needed—knowledge that might allow them to anticipate the Deep Tide's advance, to evacuate settlements before they were consumed.
"What about the black metal weapons?"she asked, almost as an afterthought."The blades that dissolve ice-steel and magical bindings?"
The reaction was immediate and visceral.The gathered Wardens exchanged looks of alarm, several stepping back as though she had threatened them.
"You've seen such weapons?"Naj demanded, his previous resignation replaced by sharp concern.
"Seen them?They've been used against us for months," Thalia replied, confused by their response."Warden marauders wield them against our forces.They're devastating against our ice-metal armor and constructs."
"No true Warden would touch such metal," the older woman spat, her face contorted with disgust."That substance comes from the deep-ocean vents near the original site of the Deep Ones' emergence.It is cursed."
"But the blades only dissolve ice-metal," Thalia protested."They're dangerous to our forces, but not inherently—"
"You know nothing," Naj cut her off, his voice hard with renewed anger."That metal is tainted.It is imbued with some of the same properties as the Deep Tide."
This revelation sent Thalia's thoughts racing.She and Kaine had experimented with captured black metal blades, studying them without fully understanding their origin.If what Naj said was true, they had been handling something far more dangerous than they realized.The blades had yet to cause injury to Frostforge beyond the blood spilled in the Isle Wardens’ attacks on the academy, but the intensity in Naj’s eyes was enough to make Thalia’s breath catch.
Still, she felt no fear at the thought.Instead, her mind began to race.The same properties as the Deep Tide.If that was true—if it was more than a Warden superstition—then there were answers to be gleaned from the obsidian-dark alloy.
Before Thalia could press for more information, a horn blasted from the direction of Frostforge—three sharp notes followed by a single, sustained call that echoed across the plateau.The alarm for imminent danger, a signal that had preceded Isle Warden attacks in the past.
Thalia's first thought was that she had been discovered—that the alarm was for her infiltration of the prison camp.But as seconds passed and no guards came streaming through the camp's gates, she realized with growing dread that something else was happening.
Something worse.
CHAPTER NINE
The warning horn's echo died across the plateau, leaving an eerie silence in its wake.Thalia tore her gaze from Naj's weathered face, her mind racing as she calculated the distance back to the gate.Three sharp blasts followed by that sustained call—not a drill, not a practice.Real danger.
She had minutes, perhaps less, before the entire academy mobilized, before every path would be crawling with guards who would not look kindly on a prisoner camp infiltrator.Regardless of what threat approached Frostforge's walls, she would be of no use to anyone if she were caught here, stripped of what little freedom she still possessed.
"Go," Naj urged, sudden urgency replacing the defeated resignation in his eyes."But remember what I told you about the black metal.And return when you can."
Thalia nodded once, a promise without words, then turned and sprinted toward the fence.Behind her, the Wardens scattered like startled birds, returning to their shelters, erasing any evidence of their gathering.She reached the weakened section of fence and dropped to her knees, extinguishing her lantern with a quick twist.The sudden darkness blinded her momentarily, but her fingers found the gap she'd created, the snow still loose from her earlier passage.
She wriggled through the narrow opening, metal edges catching at her cloak, scraping against her shoulders.A jagged point snagged her cheek as she pushed through, drawing a warm trickle of blood, but she had no time for caution.The horn sounded again as she emerged on the other side, its call somehow more desperate than before, urging greater haste.
The plateau stretched before her, a vast expanse of treacherous ice bathed in cold starlight.In daylight, with training partners and instructors watching, she had learned to navigate this unforgiving terrain.But night transformed the familiar into something alien, turned every shadow into a potential pitfall.She tucked her lantern into her belt—too risky to light it now—and set off at a crouching run, ears straining for the sound of boots on ice or the telltale creak of guard patrols.
Movement caught her eye—a flash of torchlight from the direction of Frostforge's main gate.Guards emerging, their silhouettes sharp against the golden light spilling from the keep.Thalia dropped flat against the frozen ground, the cold biting through her clothing as if eager to reach her skin.She lay motionless, counting her own heartbeats as the patrol moved along the eastern edge of the plateau, their voices carried to her on the night wind.
"—said it's the black waters—"
"—reaching the lower valley already—"
The fragments she heard chilled her more deeply than the ice beneath her body.Black waters in the valley.The Deep Tide, advancing faster than anyone had anticipated.She waited until the guards passed beyond hearing, then rose and continued her desperate journey toward the gate.Each step required concentration; the plateau's surface was a patchwork of solid ground and near-invisible sheets of black ice that could send her tumbling with a single misstep.
Halfway across, she was forced to divert her path as another patrol emerged, this one heading directly toward the prison camp.She veered toward a formation of ice-crusted boulders, wedging herself between two massive stones as the guards passed within arm's reach, their breath forming ghostly clouds in the frigid air.
"You think it's true?"one whispered."About the darkness swallowing Edgewater Pass?"
"My cousin was stationed there," the other replied, voice tight."Haven't heard from him in days."
Once they passed, Thalia resumed her course, pushing her pace despite the treacherous footing.The upper gate came into view—still unguarded, though likely not for long.The shift change she'd exploited would soon correct itself as the academy responded to whatever threat had triggered the alarm.
