Heart of Ice (The Snow Queen #1)(29)

Rakel abandoned her hiding spot and hurried after them, doing her best to be quiet. At the landing, Snorri again eased the door open. He waited a few moments and then led the way, tip-toeing down the hallway. He tried a doorknob of a door halfway down the hallway; it was locked.

Snorri backed up, and Phile stepped in. “Please, allow me.” She knelt and pulled several strips of metal from her scarves. She peered at the lock and got to work, expressionless in her concentration. After a few long moments, she smiled, and the door clicked. “I love my work,” she said, sighing happily as she waltzed inside the room.

Rakel followed her with Snorri on her heels. He shut and locked the door behind them and turned his attention to a ledger.

Phile pawed through a stack of loose papers, crowing with happiness. “I’ve got correspondences with some of his superior officers here. Talk about the perfect source!”

Rakel circled the room, taking in his spare uniform that hung on a hook, his neatly folded bedroll and supply pack, and the careful order with which his papers were stacked. Only one ornament—a tiny wolf sculpted in jade—occupied a space on his desk.

There’s nothing about this room that would make you suspect a colonel of a bloodthirsty army sleeps here.

She turned to the desk and paged through a set of papers Phile and Snorri hadn’t gotten to yet.

“King’s curses,” Phile said. “They’re going to attack our encampment.”

Rakel was at her side in a moment. “When?”

“Two days from now,” she said, her eyes scanning the paper.

“Bring the orders with us,” Rakel said.

Phile shook her head. “Best not. If possible, I would like to hide our little visit.”

“You think a man as meticulous as this isn’t going to notice that his papers have been moved?” Rakel asked, gesturing to his creaseless uniform.

“We’ll put them back, no trouble. I’m an old hand at this sort of thing, and something tells me Snorri is quite skilled in it as well.” Phile grinned at the quiet soldier.

Snorri ignored her and kept paging through the ledger.

“Farrin has magic,” Rakel said, studying the wolf sculpture.

“I would think so. He’s highly ranked in an army that values magic users above everyone else,” Phile said, studying a new paper.

“Do his papers give you any idea of what it might be?”

“No, they’re all work orders and supply lists. Why, are you worried?”

“I would feel more confident if I knew where his powers lie,” Rakel grimly said.

“I wouldn’t worry about it. You walloped that other mage like he was a bug.”

“Because of the type of magic he had. If Colonel Graydim has another magic—for example, the ability to manipulate fire—we will be much more evenly matched.”

“Or maybe he can manipulate water, in which case you can grind him under your heel like wheat chaff,” Phile said, flipping the paper over.

Snorri mumbled.

“What was that, dear?” Phile asked, glancing at him.

“The colonel’s magic is a speed boost,” Snorri said. “He can move faster than any man—faster than your eye can track, even.”

“How do you know this?” Rakel asked.

“Some of the soldiers you freed from the garrison faced him on the battlefield before they were captured. They said he’s a master swordsman—as good as a knight—but his speed is so superior to all, he can take on five men in a moment,” Snorri said.

With Rakel’s taciturn temperament, she knew she had no right to judge, but she never thought Snorri was capable of speaking so many words and in such a clear tone. Oskar would be flummoxed if he knew.

“Ugh. Sounds rough,” Phile said. She glanced up from her paper long enough to study Rakel with a troubled expression.

“I should be able to beat speed, but it will be difficult if I’m fighting an entire army at the same moment,” Rakel said.

“How can you match him? If he moves, and you don’t raise your magic in time, you’re sunk. No disrespect meant, Little Wolf.”

“Perhaps, but no matter how fast you run, slick ice will shatter your balance,” Rakel said. “If I can keep him away from me, I should be able to corner him eventually.”

“Smart girl…” Phile trailed off, her eyebrows pinching together as she read the paper.

“What is it?” Rakel asked.

Phile hesitated. “It’s about—”

“Shh,” Snorri said, raising a hand.

The trio fell silent as they heard two sets of footsteps thud down the hallway. Someone knocked on the door. “Colonel? Are you in there?”

“Bunny said he was checking in on the patrol leaders,” a second voice said.

“Yeah, but I thought I heard someone in there.”

“Do you need the reports that badly?”

“Mmm, probably. But it’s no trouble. He gave me a key.”





CHAPTER 8





FLEEING FARRIN


Phile scrambled to put the papers on the desk back in order, and Snorri flung open the window shutter.

“Out,” he whispered.

“We can’t! Rakel will break her neck. We’ll have to make a stand,” Phile hissed as the voices continued to murmur outside.