Sacrifice (The Snow Queen #2)(44)

“Tenebris,” Farrin shouted. “This has gone far enough. You must end this! We have become the very darkness you vowed to defeat.”

His words echoed in the valley.

Tenebris stood with several men and women clustered around him. He nodded, and one of them fired an arrow. Rakel gathered her magic, prepared to fling it up, but Farrin stepped in front of her and swung his sword with his speed magic.

The arrow bounced off the sword and fell to the ground.

The silence grew strained. “Is that your answer?” Tenebris asked.

“Yes,” Farrin said.

“All units, focus fire on the princess and the traitor,” Tenebris ordered. “Coat the valley with their blood!”

“First Regiment,” a gruff woman Rakel recognized as Farrin’s shapeshifter scout. “You must choose, stand with our leader…or stand with Tenebris! I know where my loyalties lie!” she shouted. She transformed into a wolf and galloped for Rakel and Farrin.

Ice crackled in Rakel’s hands as she forced herself to stare at the incoming wolf. The canine halted a few feet away from them, swung around to stare at the Chosen army, and growled, showing her teeth.

“Wait—wait for me!” Bluff scrambled across the valley, doing his best to skirt Verglas troops. “Excuse me.” he almost tripped over one gaping soldier. He would have been sent sprawling if Dryden—the baby-faced girl gifted with strength magic—hadn’t grabbed him by the neck of his cape.

“You are hopeless,” she grunted. “You can’t even abandon your post with a shred of dignity.”

Roughly twenty Chosen officers followed them, casting anxious looks at the Verglas troops as they hurried to Farrin’s side.

“Traitors!” one of the officers standing with Tenebris shouted. “You will be torn to pieces and held in disgrace for eternity!”

“We better survive this, sir,” Bunny said. It was odd—hearing a woman’s voice come from a wolf. “If the Verglas troops kill us after this, I will be furious.”

“I wouldn’t risk you all if I didn’t trust our new allies,” Farrin said. His soft edges and good humor were gone, replaced with the seriousness of an officer on the battlefield as he took inventory of his men.

General Halvor rode up on his pony. To his credit, he did not bat an eye at the magic users—an unexpected addition. “Welcome to the Verglas Army.” He glanced at Oskar as he also rode up—mounted on a Chosen horse.

“Thank you, though I fear we have raised Tenebris’s rage.” Farrin indicated the black cloud gathering on the opposite side of the valley.

Bluff bounced up and down. “What do we do, sir?”

“For now, stay separate from the Verglas troops. I do not want there to be any…accidents—with all due respect, General Halvor,” Farrin said.

General Halvor nodded.

“That won’t be necessary,” Rakel said.

Farrin and the closest magic users turned to stare at her, but General Halvor scowled at her over their heads.

“I think it is time for you to witness how those with power are supposed to conduct themselves. Stay here. You will not have to fight.” Rakel moved for the front lines.

“Princess—” General Halvor started.

Oskar cut him off. “Are you certain about this, Princess?”

Rakel watched the black cloud across the valley swell and grow. “Farrin will guard you when I am unable.”

“It is still an unnecessary risk,” General Halvor said.

“It’s not.” Rakel smiled at the general. “But it is sweet of you to seek a way to spare me of this. Thank you, Halvor, Oskar.” She continued for the front lines, activating chunks of her magic. The wind picked up, ripping some of her hair from its braid, and Tenebris’s magic users attacked Verglas soldiers.

Farrin followed her like a shadow. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to stop Tenebris from turning this into a blood bath,” Rakel said.

“And your men are concerned?”

“Because of what might happen when I’m comatose.” Rakel offered him a quick smile. “I’m entrusting them to you—and they are everything I hold dear.”

“We’ll be fine. But do you really think you can face that?” he nodded his head in Tenebris’s direction.

The cloud crawled in their direction like a sickened creature. It spread like a disease as it moved—widening and expanding. It rolled over Chosen forces, making them scream and shriek as it hit them.

Rakel winced at the inhuman cries, and her heart beat furiously in her chest. Her mind screamed at her to run and flee because she knew that cloud was coming for her. The memory of the curse she encountered in Ostfold made her hands clammy and her heartbeat erratic. But I can’t flee. I can’t give way to this darkness, or it will slaughter Phile, Halvor, Oskar, Steinar, Farrin—everyone I know. And when it reaches the mirror, it will swallow up the world.

“Yes. I can stop him,” Rakel said. I have to. She forced her lips into a smile, even though her face felt as malleable as stone. “Trust me.”

Farrin brushed his gloved fingers across her hand. “I will stand with you.”

Rakel nodded and turned her attention to the cloud—which threatened to block out the sky. She sucked in her breath, pulled on her magic, and threw up a massive ice wall.