ya

with a sound lik

all of liquid ice slamming into my che

ting into my skin like th

rent to drag me down toward the weeds, fighting eve

oice ripped through the ni

The Lady Alaya has

lness of the birch woods, ec

I saw the flickering orange glow

striers, followed by the thunder of armo

the Duc

in heavy chainmail and a dark gray surcoat be

rd Br

bro

lind to the poison

bank, clawing at the frozen mud as sh

Lord Bernard! She

his massive warhorse to slide to

lor as the torchlight

saddles, drawing broadswords

omeone is i

d Bernard's stirrup,

Alaya! She

t name, Ber

ed so hard on the leather r

locked in the outer wards, an emb

y I would be out here

freezing water was nu

slipped past my lips, rising

d in the freezing depths, projecting the image

d shoved a torch tow

e white cloth!

's jaw

orn at his throat and blew t

through the valley, echo

stle answered, lighting great braziers of pi

ed forward, grabb

eacherous and the ice is rotten!

eep of his arm, unbuckling his heavy

radford blood! She does

heavy iron-plated gauntlets, leaving only

saw his broad silhouette step

, but I forced my eyes to remain op

he anchor

h with his own hands; guilt could only

zing torches over the water until th

ed edge of the hole, the ice

locked onto the pale

ractured ice sheets flying, he