Odette was already running down the cleared part of the path they had walked across, heading back to thecamp.
With Clovicus’ help, Angelique scrambled on to Pegasus’ back. She felt a little lightheaded, and her stomach still grumbled, but she clung to Pegasus’ neck and grimly faced down themountains.
I can make the sacrifice this time, again. I can do this, again. Once we tell Severin, it will be in his hands, and I can follow whatever progress his Rangers have made in tracking Suzu, or I can attempt to make contact with the elves.When the war comes, everyone will work together, and even now Clovicus is with me. I won’t have to forge on alone much longer. This is almostover.
With that flickering hope, Angelique licked her lips as Pegasus trotted over the cleared road with ease. Her teeth chattered in the cold, but she ignored it and instead reached out, gathering her magicagain.
With a roar loud enough to split mountains, her star ignited, and the party continued forward, carving a path through the impassable northern mountains, forever changing the terrain and filling the area with the uncomfortably sharp intensity of hermagic.
* * *
When they reachedthe valley where the Black Swan Smugglers had landed, and to avoid collapsing the room Odette had found, Angelique and Clovicus created a bridge of ice after all. (They over-engineered the thing, of course, to avoid any accidents, making the ice work of the bridge thicker thanstone.)
Angelique was a miserable huddle—even with her burning the way, it had taken more than a day to reach the mountain. She felt so sick, it was difficult to focus on her magic, but thankfully it didn’t take much thought or power to keep fire spells active; so, as Clovicus kept the ice bridge in one piece, all Angelique had to do was feed the fire spells to keep the party from freezing todeath.
She crouched on her heels and peered over the side of the ice bridge, shivering and wishing Pegasus could have come. (They left all the mounts with three of the swan smugglers and a giant fire at the foot of the bridge, not wanting to risk dragging the mountain ponies across theglacier.)
“Would you like more mint leaves to chew, LadyEnchantress?”
Angelique peered up and recognized Misha. “Thank you.” She took the offered mint leaves and popped them into her mouth, the minty flavor clearing away some of the bitter aftertaste that she hadn’t been able to rinse from her mouth as she heaved her way to themountain.
The sky was a cloudless, bright blue backdrop that almost made her eyes hurt as she shifted her gaze to the mountains. She studied the half-collapsed peak and marveled at the show of power.Carving through stone like I did is a task of sheer stubbornness. But dropping a mountain? If this is the spot, the Snow Queen was…incredible.
“You can see our tracks down by the hole,” Misha said, interrupting herthoughts.
Angelique shifted so she could peer where he pointed, easily spotting the shadow of the entrance and the imprint of human footprints around it. “Yes,” sheagreed.
“We didn’t see any tracks or proof of recent disturbance, though,” he continued. “It makes one wonder just how long ago was the mirror retrieved: months, years,decades?”
It was an unpleasant thought; one Angelique had been trying toavoid.
“Lord Enchanter Clovicus has built us a staircase down to the glacier’s surface,” the mountain scout—sent by King Toril and Queen Linnea to serve as their guide—announced. “We are ready todescend.”
Angelique slowly stood, momentarily closing her eyes when the world seemed to shift at a skewedangle.
A shadow fell over her as someone stepped up behind her. “Are you steady enough to go down there?” Odetteasked.
Angelique opened her eyes and smiled at her. “I’ll have tobe.”
Odette chewed on her lip, then slowly offered out her hand. “We smugglers still have all those extra spells Rothbart dosed us with—including strength. I can steady you as you climb down, if you don’t mind, thatis.”
It so deeply amused Angelique that Odette would be concernedAngeliquewouldn’t want to touch her she almost laughed, but a part of her realized that wouldn’t assure the Swan Queen at all, so she kept her small smile in place. “I would appreciate that. Thankyou.”
Odette led Angelique to the edge of the bridge. The mountain guide was hopping down the stairs with the spryness of a goat, while a few of the smugglers opted to transform into swans and glide down. A number of Verglas soldiers were right on the guide’s heels, but Clovicus waited forAngelique.
“You’ll be fine?” heasked.
Angelique raised her hand that Odette held. “Odette has been kind enough to support me on my waydown.”
Clovicus nodded, his usual smile and mercurial features as still as stone as he glanced down at the hole-like entrance. “You have my thanks, Odette. Be careful,” he warned the pair before he started hisdescent.
Odette and Angelique went next. It wasn’t as treacherous as the others acted like it was. Angelique’s boots never slipped on the ice steps, and the stairs were as steady as rock. But she was glad for Odette’s support. Given how she had pushed herself past her price for hours, it seemed her stomach was feeling rather vindictive, and even when she stared straight ahead, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the world was spinning aroundher.
The sensation only worsened when she set foot on the ground and felt something cold and dark ease across the snow-dustedglacier.
“Here, Angelique. You’ll have to crouch down to get in.” Odette sat on her heels and waddled forward. She tapped her hand—shoved in a warm mitten—on the floor of the hole. “You can tell it used to be bigger, but it filled with snow that keptfreezing.”
Angelique, struggling to stand straight, opted to drop to her knees and crawl forward. She nodded to the three soldiers who stood guard outside with one of Odette’s smugglers, then scurried through the slanted tunnelentrance.
