Ashe approached the gate, and Thalia tensed, anticipation threading through her muscles like fine wire pulled taut.This was the crucial moment, the fulcrum upon which their entire plan balanced.
"Thornwood," Ashe called, using the formal address that Northern military protocol demanded."I've come to relieve you."
Both guards turned toward her, their attention captured by her arrival.In that precise moment, five shadows detached from the fence line—Luna and Daniel flanking three Wardens as they slipped through the gap in the barrier.Thalia caught only glimpses of their movement—Luna's slight figure, Daniel's nervous glance back toward the gate, Naj's weathered face set in grim determination, and two others she recognized as Rissa and Darek.
The five pressed themselves flat against the outer wall of the prison camp, hidden in its shadow as Ashe engaged the guards in conversation—something about patrol schedules and recent disturbances in the southern quarters of the prison.Her voice carried just enough for Thalia to catch fragments, carefully pitched to cover any sounds the escapees might make.
"—instructors concerned about gulls spotted flying overhead—"
"—rumors of sympathizers within Frostforge itself—"
One of the guards laughed, a harsh sound that grated against the night's quiet."Sympathizers?For these storm-calling savages?I'd like to see anyone try."
Thalia's jaw tightened.Such casual hatred had become commonplace at Frostforge, poisoning what unity might have formed in the face of true extinction.She forced herself to remain still, to focus on the moment rather than anger that would change nothing.
Ashe completed the formal exchange of duties, accepting her patrol orders with a crisp salute that would have made any Northern commander proud.The off-duty guard turned toward Frostforge, and Thalia shrank deeper into her alcove as he approached, his boots crunching against the frost-hardened ground.
He passed within arm's reach, close enough that she could smell the pine resin he used to treat his leather gear, but his thoughts were likely already on warm food and rest after hours in the bitter cold.He never glanced toward the shadows where she hid.
The door to Frostforge opened, spilling golden light across the threshold.He stepped through, and the heavy portal swung shut behind him with the finality of a tomb sealing.
Thalia released her breath, muscles unwinding fractionally.First hurdle cleared.
At the prison gate, Ashe and the remaining guard stood in brief conversation.Then, with perfect casualness, Ashe gestured to the perimeter.
"I'll take the eastern route," she suggested, her voice carrying just enough for Thalia to hear."You take the western.We'll cover more ground that way."
The guard nodded, evidently seeing no reason to question the efficiency of the proposal.He turned and began his circuit around the western edge of the camp, his back to both Ashe and the hidden fugitives.
Ashe waited until he disappeared around the far corner, then gave a sharp, brief whistle—a sound that might have been the wind, might have been a night bird, but was in fact their signal.
The five shadows detached from the wall and moved swiftly across the exposed ground of the plateau.Thalia left her hiding place, making herself visible to them briefly before retreating back toward Frostforge's upper gate.Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic percussion that matched her racing thoughts.Twenty steps across open ground.Then fifteen.Ten.Each moment they remained exposed was another opportunity for disaster.
Luna reached her first, cheeks flushed with cold and exhilaration, dark eyes bright with the thrill of successful subterfuge.Daniel followed, his face drawn with tension, constantly glancing back over his shoulder.The Wardens came last—Naj moving with the controlled economy of a predator despite weeks of captivity, Rissa and Darek more hesitant, their prison-gaunt faces tight with wariness.
"Quickly," Thalia murmured, ushering them through the gate she had left unlocked."The next patrol passes in twelve minutes."
They slipped into Frostforge's upper corridor, the sudden absence of wind making the silence feel oppressive.Thalia took the lead, guiding them through the labyrinthine passages of the academy with the ease of long familiarity.They descended quickly, passing through the main levels where refugees and soldiers slept, where instructors might still prowl despite the late hour.
At each intersection, Luna darted ahead to check for patrols, her slight form melting into shadows with an ease that still impressed Thalia.Daniel brought up the rear, watching for pursuit, his normally cheerful face hardened into lines of concentration.Between them moved the Wardens, silent as ghosts, their eyes taking in every detail of the fortress that had been their prison.
"How much farther?"Darek whispered, his voice hoarse from disuse or fear, Thalia couldn't tell which.
"Three more levels," she replied softly."Almost there."
They passed a corridor where light still spilled from beneath a door—Wolfe's quarters, where the head instructor likely pored over reports of the advancing darkness, still blind to the alliance forming beneath her very roof.Thalia held her breath as they moved past, not releasing it until they reached the stairwell that would take them down to the Howling Forge.
The air grew warmer as they descended, the perpetual chill of Frostforge's upper levels giving way to the residual heat of the forges.When they reached the cavernous main chamber, they found it deserted as expected, the great furnaces banked low for the night, only the central hearth still pulsing with stubborn life.
"This way," Thalia directed, leading them not to the main workstations but to a narrow service tunnel half-hidden behind stacked barrels of coal.The passage was barely wide enough for Naj's broad shoulders, forcing them to move single file into the darkness beyond.
Luna produced a small lantern from beneath her cloak, its shielded flame casting just enough light to navigate by.The tunnel soon gave way to rough-hewn caverns—part of the extensive mining network that honeycombed the mountain beneath Frostforge, largely forgotten except by the workers who extracted ore from its depths.
After several minutes of careful navigation through twisting passages, the tunnel widened, opening into a larger cavern where a makeshift forge had been established.A small fire burned in a carefully constructed pit, ventilated by a clever system of shafts that Kaine had engineered to draw the smoke away through natural fissures in the rock.
Workbenches had been assembled from scavenged materials, tools arranged with precise care.Against the far wall, bedding had been laid out—evidence of preparation for guests who would not be returning to their prison cells.
Kaine straightened from where he had been tending the forge, relief evident in the slight relaxation of his shoulders when he saw them.Nearby, Felah looked up from a pile of supplies she had been inventorying, her small face breaking into a smile.Rasmus and Brynn paused in their heated discussion over a partially assembled blade, turning toward the new arrivals with expressions that ranged from cautious welcome to barely concealed suspicion.
