Sigrid stared at her for another tense moment, her chest heaving. Then, slowly, her expression shifted. The raw panic and anger receded, replaced by grim practicality, though a stubborn resentment lingered in her eyes. "Aye," she said, her voice rough. "You're right." She lowered Grognak slightly, though still held it protectively across her chest. "How far can you do that fire jump?"
"Pretty far," Emily said, relieved to end the argument. "It's how I got to Eyri Abbey. The main thing is having a Stoneshell fire to teleport to."
Sigrid looked up, studying the same icy walls that Emily had been examining a moment earlier. Then, smiling slightly, she removed the hand from her crotch, revealing a patch of curly blonde hair. Gripping her axe in both hands, she pulled it over her head and swung. An unburned branch of the dead tree fell at her feet. "I have an idea."
"I'm all ears," Emily said, hopping up and down and moving side to side, waving her hands in circles so that the summoned fire streaked through the air. As long as she kept moving, she could stay warm.
"Grognak's an enchanted axe," Sigrid began. "Must be why your fire didn't burn 'im. Anyway, he always flies true. Part of the enchantment. If you can light this branch, I'll attach it to Grognak and chuck 'im at that ledge up there"—here she pointed at a ledge some twenty feet above them—"and then you can jump us there. We do that a couple times and we're out of here."
Emily liked the idea a lot better than trying to scale another cliff-face, this time in the freezing cold and with Sigrid to worry about. Which is to say, she didn't completely hate the idea. "Are you sure you can throw that far?" she asked, eyeing the ledge.
Sigrid looked offended. "D'ya really think I would offer to toss me axe into a ravine? You've got that ugly necklace that does all this fire magic, and you know its abilities. I've got Grognak. Same deal. We trust our tools."
It was worth a shot. Emily gave the nod, and Sigrid unwound a leather strap around the axe's handle and used it to bind the length of dead wood to the axe. As she tightened the leather, she muttered something unintelligible in a gutteral tone that made the axe's runes glow with yellow light. As she did this, the leather audibly tightened around the branch.
"Ready," said Sigrid. "Light 'im up, Emily."
A fireball slammed into the end of the branch and a new fire was born. Laughing confidently, Sigrid picked up the axe by its handle, careful to angle the burning end of the branch away from her head. She recited another incantation, pulled her arm back, and threw.
Grognak sailed through the air, the Stoneshell fire blazing behind it like a comet's tail. With a sharp thud, the head of the axe connected with the cliff face just behind the upper ledge, enchanted metal sinking into stone and holding fast.
"It worked!" Emily gasped.
"Grognak flies true," Sigrid replied. "Now let's jump." She held out a cold arm for Emily to take.
For an instant, Emily and Sigrid were warmed by the fire of teleportation enveloping them. The world lurched and they found themselves on the higher ledge, suspended in the air for a moment before dropping face-first into the snow.
"Aah! Cold!" Sigrid shouted, leaping up and rubbing her hands vigorously across her goosebumped arms, flecks of snow sticking to her hair, eyebrows and skin. She helped Emily up, and the two women hugged, almost involuntarily, just for the body heat of the other. Emily felt Sigrid's calloused hand rub up and down her back, and she did the same for the Sigrid, their differences forgotten, at least for the moment.
"G-got it!" Sigrid stammered, teeth chattering, as she strained to pull her axe from the cliff-face. "S-stoke the f-fire."
Emily applied a second blast of Stoneshell fire to the dead branch tied to the axe's shaft, which had been in danger of going out. Sigrid held the axe and branch at arm's length, torn between wanting the fire's warmth and not wanting to burn herself.
"I can take us up to the top with the next throw," Sigrid said, squinting against the wind as she looked up.
"F-fantastic," Emily replied. She could feel her lips turning blue. "P-please hurry."
Sigrid disengaged from the hug and stepped away from Emily, readying herself for the throw. Gritting her teeth against the increased cold and hopping up and down to keep warm, Emily offered a silent prayer that Sigrid's axe would once again fly true.
"Get us outta here, Grognak," Sigrid said solemnly, as she pulled her arm back.
The axe sailed through the air, heading for the top of the cliff. But as Sigrid and Emily watched, a strong wind picked up just above the cliff, knocking the axe slightly off course as it began to dip. It was falling straight into the ravine.
"Grognak!" Sigrid screamed.
Emily did the only thing she could. Taking two steps back and pulling her own arm back, she mouthed another silent prayer and then, with all her might, lobbed a fireball right at the axe.
The fireball streaked through the air like a comet. Emily had thrown it so hard, that she lost balance and tipped over forward, landing head-first in a pile of snow. All was cold and white.
"Yes!" shouted Sigrid. "Yes!"
Emily gasped for breath as she was pulled forcefully to her feet. After nearly yanking her shoulder out of its socket, an excited Sigrid wrapped her in a bone-crunching hug, motioning excitedly with her head at a point in top of the ravine from which a languid plume of smoke slowly rose.
"G-grognak," Emily said, and the world was engulfed in flame.
Emily and Sigrid collapsed at the edge of the ravine, shocked by the intense cold after the teleportation's heat. As they pushed up from the freezing ground, a powerful wind bit into their skin, and extinguished the Stoneshell fire burning on the axe.
Watching the smoke blow over the ravine, Emily remembered her teleportation from the collapsing Tiedavon dome, how she had materialized beyond the cliff and immediately begun to fall. She was grateful not to be repeating that experience in this freezing cold and with Sigrid in tow.
"We made it!" cried Sigrid, spitting out a mouthful of snow as she scrambled to her feet, already rubbing her arms and legs vigorously for warmth.
Helped up by Sigrid, Emily stood on shaking legs, shivering violently, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. The force of the wind was greater up here than it had been in the ravine, and it cut like a knife. The bits of snow and frost that clung to every sensitive part of Emily's body didn't help.
Sigrid pulled her axe from the ground and took it in her arms like a baby, cradling and rocking it. She tried to strap it to her back, but was quickly reminded of the absence of any straps and brought it back to her side, gripping it tighter between frozen fingers.
Flames flickered in Emily's palms, struggling against the wind. The heat felt pitiful against the overwhelming cold, barely enough to warm her hands, let alone her whole body. The effort of the rocket-powered flight followed by multiple teleports, all with a partner, had drained her.
Sigrid huddled closer, extending her own hands towards the small flames. "Good thinking." The former bravado was absent from her tone. "But this won't be enough. We need shelter."
They scanned the bleak landscape. Snow stretched in all directions, broken only by jagged obsidian outcrops and the skeletal shapes of frost-covered trees. The wind howled, driving icy particles against their exposed skin like tiny needles.
"Which way?" Emily asked, her voice thin against the wind.
Sigrid squinted, shielding her eyes with a hand, as she swept the horizon. "The volcano's that way," she said, pointing towards the dark peak on the horizon. "We should keep moving towards it. I'll look out for a cave."
Huddling close together, Emily's small flame between them, they trudged through the deep snow. Each step was an effort, their bare feet sinking deep into the freezing snow. Continuous movement was the only way to stay warm. Emily focused on keeping her fire going, trying to ignore the growing numbness in her extremities.
Sigrid, though also shivering, was truly resilient against the cold, and attempted to shield Emily from the worst of it. She broke trail through the deeper drifts, occasionally using Grognak's flat side to push snow aside, her eyes constantly scanning their surroundings.
"Th-there has to be somewhere we can hide," Sigrid said through gritted teeth. "J-just keep walking."
Emily poured more power into the fire in her hand, fighting against the wind. Her other arm pressed tight against Sigrid's cold back. What would happen if they didn't find shelter? Was this how it ended? Two frozen bodies, buried in the deep snow? No! She had to keep moving, even as the wind tore in her like a knife, even as the falling snow froze against her skin.
After what felt like an eternity of unbearable cold, but was probably less than half an hour, Sigrid stopped, pointing. "There!"
Nestled at the base of a sheer rock face, partially obscured by a curtain of wind-driven snow, was a narrow fissure, a dark opening, barely wider than a person's shoulders.
"C-cave?" Emily breathed.
"Or a den," Sigrid grunted. "Let's hope whatever lives there is s-smaller than us."
They struggled through the last few yards of deep snow, collapsing against the rock face beside the opening. The fissure led into darkness, but crucially, it offered immediate shelter from the howling wind. The air inside felt still, and marginally less frigid.
"I'll go first," Sigrid said, peering into the darkness and holding Grognak ahead of her. "Stay close behind me. And keep the fire going."
Emily nodded, summoning slightly larger flames. Sigrid ducked low and squeezed through the narrow opening, axe held ready. Emily followed right behind, crawling on her hands and knees through the tight entranceway. Her hips stuck momentarily, but came loose with some insistent wiggling, much to her relief.
The fissure opened up almost immediately into a small, dry cave, perhaps ten feet across and high enough for Emily to stand comfortably in the center and Sigrid to stoop only a little. The floor was relatively smooth rock, free of snow, and the air was blessedly still. It smelled earthy and slightly damp, but not unpleasant. There were no obvious signs of recent habitation, animal or otherwise.
"Safe," Sigrid declared, lowering Grognak, her voice echoing slightly in the enclosed space. Relief washed over her face, though she was still shivering violently.
Emily crawled the rest of the way in and sagged against the cave wall, utterly spent. The small flames in her hands sputtered and died as her concentration lapsed. The darkness that enveloped them was almost total.
"Fire," Emily whispered, her teeth chattering too hard to speak clearly. "N-need a real fire."
"Right." Sigrid felt around near the entrance. "Some dry brush caught in the opening." She gathered a small pile of twigs and desiccated roots that had blown into the fissure.
Emily winced at the draft from the now-cleared fissure. The Bronzeband was cold against her ankle, but warmed slightly as she channeled its power. With a low grinding sound that echoed in the cave, the rock around the entrance stretched inwards, narrowing the fissure until only a tiny crack remained, sealing them inside while still allowing a trickle of air.
"Not just a fire mage, then," Sigrid commented, letting out a low, appreciative whistle as she arranged the kindling.
Emily managed a weak smile and indicated her ankle. "That's from the Bronzeband. I won it in a duel. It lets me controls stone."
"A duel, eh? Against who?" Sigrid asked, arranging the kindling.
Emily hesitated, the memory of Richard's smirking face and horrific end still fresh. "A pirate. Long story."
"Bet it is," Sigrid grunted, not pressing.
Glancing wearily at the pile of twigs and roots, Emily coaxed a spark from her fingertip. The kindling caught quickly, and a small, cheerful fire sprang to life in the center of the cave, casting flickering orange light on the rock walls and the shivering bodies of the cave's two inhabitants.
Sigrid and Emily huddled together beside the growing flames, reaching out to take in the welcome heat as feeling slowly returned to their extremities. For a long time, the silence of the cave was broken only by the fire's crackle.
Sigrid finally broke the silence, her voice low and rough. "That teleport thing... does it always...?" She gestured vaguely at their shared lack of clothing.
Emily hugged her knees tighter, staring into the flames. "Yeah. It burns anything that's not either living flesh or an enchanted artifact. Clothes, most often... though my hair tie always seems to survive, weirdly."
Sigrid looked down her bare arms at the flickering fire. "Better naked and alive than armored and dead at the bottom of that ice pit." She patted Emily's shoulder. "That fire-flying... and the jumps... never seen anything like it. You proved yourself out there, and I owe you my life."
"I couldn't have done it without Grognak," Emily said, casting a glance at the axe laying beside Sigrid.
"You and me both," Sigrid chuckled, patting the axe's handle affectionately.
They sat for a while absorbing the heat from the fire, and watching shadows dance across the cave walls.
"So," Sigrid said eventually, tossing a stray twig into the fire. "We're stuck in a cave, naked as newborns, with no supplies to speak of."
Emily remembered her pack, and how she'd dropped it when the frost sprites attacked. It was on the other side of the ravine, buried in the snow—all the food, water and warm clothing Abbot Thelrin had given her was gone.
"Your fire magic," Sigrid said, turning immediately to practicalities. "How much can you do with it? How long does it last?"
"It depends," Emily replied, warming her palms over the flames. "I'm pretty good at summoning fires and throwing fireballs around. Lots of practice with that. I can also summon healing magic—green flames." An image of Richard's pink hands came unbidden to her mind. "Healing small cuts and burns doesn't take too much energy."
Emily's eyes came to rest on the sore-looking red patches on Sigrid's hands, prompting Sigrid to hide them behind her back, wincing as she did so. "Pay no mind to these scratches," she said, pulling her knees up to her chest defensively. "What else can your fire do?"
Emily hesitated briefly before continuing. Sigrid would accept her healing sooner or later. "The flashier stuff, like flying around, that's way more taxing," she said. "Teleportation, well, longer distances take more power, as does bringing someone else. But frequent short jumps also add up. I don't think I have any more of those in me for a while. It's probably for the best that I couldn't bring Aria along to Eyri, I don't think I would have had much of anything left after doing that."
"Aria?" asked Sigrid.
"A close friend," Emily replied. "We were supposed to travel to Eyri Abbey together, but it turns out I can't teleport statues."
Sigrid raised an eyebrow. "You're friends with a statue?"
"A living statue," Emily clarified. "She's... the whole reason I'm doing any of this. The Heartflame is the last ingredient I need for a ritual we're going to do to lift the statue curse and make her human again."
Sigrid nodded, chewing her bottom lip, watching the flames. "Right. Good thing I'm not a statue, then. But the main thing I'm getting here is that we can't teleport back to the Abbey."
"Not anytime soon," Emily confirmed. "Besides, we're already behind schedule. We'll never reach the Heartflame if we take detours."
"Aye. Got to lift that curse." Sigrid said. "But then, folks usually get cursed for a reason. Why's she cursed?"
"A mage named Arctulus did it," Emily explained, telling the condensed story of Castle Elid, Aria, and her discovery of the Stoneshell. "She and the other inhabitants have been statues for centuries. The ritual is their only chance to return to normal."
Sigrid nodded slowly, chewing her bottom lip, watching the flames. "Centuries. Hmm. Well, guess there are probably some advantages to being made of stone. Bet your friend can throw a mean punch."
Emily giggled. "Yeah, that's come in handy now and then."
"So," Sigrid said, her practical nature reasserting itself. "Your fire magic keeps us warm. That comes from your necklace. The anklet... you said it controls stone."
"Yes," Emily said, tapping her ankle. "I can move and shape stone, and other earth materials to a lesser degree—I used it on sand once, but it was really difficult."
"Useful," Sigrid grunted. "Grognak here," she patted the axe, "cuts through most things. Useful too." She eyed the small flames. "But none of our skills conjure food or clothing out of thin air, eh?"
Emily managed a weak smile and shook her head. She thought back to the fibrous leotard that she'd never been able to summon again after the first time. If the nightmoss was still sitting between the Bronzeband and her ankle, it had made itself really small, because she couldn't feel it. In any case, it seemed to have a mind of its own, coming and going as it pleased and responding to her troubles according to its own inscrutable whims.
Sigrid fell silent again, but her eyes were restless, scanning the cave walls, the sealed entrance, the fire. She seemed to be assessing possibilities, already shifting from surviving the immediate crisis to figuring out the next step.
"We should rest," Emily said, feeling the exhaustion finally catching up to her now that the adrenaline had faded and she was warm. The desire to just curl up and sleep was overwhelming.
"Aye," Sigrid agreed. "You sleep. I'll keep watch for a bit. Then you can take a turn if you're up to it."
The cave floor was hard, but compared to the freezing wind and crumbling ledge, it felt like a feather mattress. Emily huddled close to the fire, pulling her knees to her chest, and closed her eyes.
Sleep didn't come easily. Her mind was a jumble of recent events—tramping through freezing snow, desperate teleports, and the fight with the frost sprites. She was also still haunted by visions of Richard's horrifying end, the sight of his desiccated corpse surrounded by black tendrils. It was a good thing that the nightmoss seemed to be on her side.
Emily's dreams were full of shifting shadows and harshly whispering voices, alternating with well-lit scenes and soothing words. Something that shifted between a menacing shadow and an angelic figure promised her comfort and dignity, promised an end to her suffering, if only she would—it wasn't clear what. Her body was enveloped by a dress made of dark shadows, soft and luxurious against her skin, but somehow constricting. Eyes bored into the back of her head.
Emily woke with a gasp, her heart pounding. A cold dread gripped her, though the cave was warm and the fire still going strong. She blinked, trying to shake off the images from her nightmare, the feeling of something lurking just beyond her sight.
She must have drifted back to sleep, because the next time she woke, the fire was lower, and Sigrid was asleep, curled up across from her. Emily carefully replenished the fire, feeding it with more of the dry brush from the entrance.
She glanced at Sigrid's sleeping form, huddled in a posture that almost made her look small. Her muscled body was criss-crossed by scars, and her hands and forearms were still marked with red welts. Some of these, Emily realized, must have been caused by standing too close to the Stoneshell fire in the ravine. Sigrid had not once mentioned this.
Determined and a little guilty, Emily knelt down and summoned green flame to her palms. She passed the flame slowly over Sigrid's hands and wrists, the red patches shrinking and fading until they disappeared completely.
Emily had just finished her task when a thin sliver of pale light filtering through the sealed crack, annoucing dawn. Sigrid bolted awake, stretching dramatically before she felt the air against her skin and her thighs snapped back to cover her torso. Emily stifled a giggle, feeling immense sympathy.
"Right," Sigrid said, her voice scratchy. "Time for breakfast." Sitting up as straight as she could while keeping herself mostly covered with her legs, she looked at Emily, a new determination sparking in her green eyes. "These Wastes might be cold, but they ain't empty. There's things living out there. Things with meat on their bones... and skins thick enough to keep the wind off."
Sigrid carefully pushed herself up to her feet, picked up her axe and walked in an awkward crouch towards the small crack that had been the cave entrance, motioning for Emily to expand it.
"You're going back out?" Emily asked, bewildered. "Like that? Alone?"
"One of us has to," she said, tapping the side of her stomach. "Like I said, meat and skins."
"Shouldn't I..." Emily began, not really wanting to complete the sentence.
"I hunt alone," said Sigrid. "Don't need any fireworks scaring the prey."
Emily's own stomach growled audibly. Admitting that Sigrid had a point while still considering her insane, she directed the Bronzeband's energies to the enlargement of the entrance.
"If I'm not back by noon, come after me," Sigrid said, her jaw tight against a shiver she refused to fully indulge. She slipped through the cave entrance, moving with a determined, if slightly rigid, stride back into the biting wind.