She stopped several feet in front of him. Her lips were blue, and frost cracked across her cheeks as she shoved both hands in the air.
There came a thunderous roar, as though the earth itself were awakening from a slumber. And then as Ramson watched, a wall of ice rose from the Tiger’s Tail itself, lunging at the walls of Salskoff. It groaned as it continued to lengthen, until most of the embankment was shielded beneath its shadow. Cracks sounded as the incoming arrows exploded along its surface, sending fragments of ice raining down upon them.
Below, frost covered the girl’s face, tracing beautiful, swirling patterns. The firelight, muted through her wall of ice, reflected in her eyes.
Behind her came movement. From the streets of Salskoff itself emerged groups of people dressed in the furs and boots of ordinary civilians. They carried with them large pieces of wood: doors and cupboards from their kitchens and bedrooms; some knelt next to the fallen soldiers and began pulling out medical supplies from bags slung over their backs.
A middle-aged woman stepped up and placed a hand over the ice Affinite’s shoulder. She looked directly at Ramson. “You are with the Red Tigress’s army?”
He nodded.
The woman’s eyes were fierce, her hair the same gold curls asthe ice Affinite’s. “The people of Salskoff have arrived,” she said. “Those who have suffered in silence as Affinites…and those who have suffered under the current Empress’s regime. We are here to fight for the new world the Red Tigress promises.”
All along the river promenade, the civilians of Salskoff were setting up their furniture as shields for the wounded soldiers, some even having brought wagons and carts. Archers clustered behind makeshift shelters, some dousing the flames with nearby snow.
Ana might have been overwhelmed at the poetry of this moment—the uprising of regular civilians as they joined her in the fight for equality and justice—but Ramson’s mind was already spinning, weaving out new ideas, new tactics.
He knelt before the young ice Affinite, who watched him with pale eyes. The memory of another child who’d looked at him with an intelligent, ocean-colored gaze softened his tone as he spoke. “What’s your name, darling?”
“Marya,” the ice Affinite said softly.
“Marya,” Ramson said. “Can you take down the wall of ice on my command?”
She nodded.
Ramson turned back to the Palace walls, thinking hard. Once the ice shield came down, the barrage on him and his troops would continue. He needed to somehow penetrate the Palace walls; he needed to take down the Imperial Patrols from within the battlements.
Yet there was only so much an Affinite could expend of their Affinity; he’d seen Ana on the verge of collapse when she’d overexerted herself.
“Are there any other Affinites here?” he asked Marya and the older woman.
“Yes. They are all going to the Kateryanna Bridge,” Marya replied. “I came here with my mamika to help.”
If there was a way to infiltrate the Salskoff walls with only one use of her Affinity…
And then, thinking back to the flames that Marya had extinguished on her way here, he suddenly had an idea—one that could turn the tides of this battle. It was a slim chance…but it was all he could think of. And that meant it was worth a shot.
“Can you turn the water from the Tiger’s Tail into ice and lift me up to the walls?” Ramson said. He’d seen another ice Affinite at work before, back at Kerlan’s Affinite trafficking ring; she’d created a bridge of ice from water and propelled herself into theair.
Getting up and over those Salskoff Palace walls would be significantly more difficult, but…he had to at least try.
Catching the aunt’s look of apprehension, he added: “Just get me up there; you can come back down to safety as soon as we reach the parapets.”
“Marya,” her aunt began, but Marya cut her off.
“Please, let me do it, mamika,” Marya replied. “I have had to hide my Affinity my entire life. Just let me do this one thing, to help.”
Her aunt hesitated, then sighed and nodded. Marya looked up at Ramson, her face set. “I will take you up.”
Ramson turned to the comrade closest to him, a Bregonian captain that he recognized. “I’m going to try something,” he called. “I need you to hold down the fort for me.”
Then he stepped next to Marya, who wrapped a hand around his waist to secure him. “When I say ‘now,’ you’re going to take down the wall of ice,” he told her. “Can you do that for me?”
She nodded.
Ramson lifted an arm. “Archers,” he bellowed. “On my mark—”
A flurry of movement and noise as arrows were nocked.
