Emeralis Veilborne's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

Emeralis meant to ride north at dawn. She never got the chance. Nymiir met the two girls by the stone well, his face grim. "Word travels," he said. "My old comrades know I turned. They sent someone to kill anyone I train. That means you both." He drew his sword. "He's already here." A figure walked up the winding lane between the timbered cottages. White robe, deep hood, wide sleeves. No face showed inside the hood, only shadow. Villagers scattered from their doorways. Emeralis's hands went wet with acid. Beside her, Koral pulled water from the well into a coiling whip. "Two students," the white figure said. The voice was calm, almost gentle. "The traitor keeps busy." A hand lifted. The air went cold. Ice spikes shot from the ground where Koral stood. Koral rolled clear and lashed her water whip across the robe. The figure staggered. Nymiir charged, sword high. The hooded hunter turned and caught his blade with a bare hand wrapped in frost. Ice crawled up the steel. Nymiir cried out and dropped it. "Emeralis, the tree!" Koral shouted. Emeralis slammed both palms to the dirt. Roots burst up through the lane and wrapped the figure's legs. It pulled and thrashed. Emeralis poured acid down the roots. The vines held it fast while the acid ate through the white robe. The figure hissed and threw the hood back. A woman's face, pale, eyes bright with cold light. "You think killing me ends it?" she said. "I am one blade. The queen has a thousand." Emeralis froze. "The queen?" "Ignia Flamecrown." The woman laughed, though acid burned her arms. "The sorcerer you hunt in the north is no man. She wears a crown of red jewels. She sent me. She sends everyone." Emeralis thought of her parents, of the fire, of the men in black cloaks taking orders from someone she'd never seen. Now the enemy had a name. A face. A crown. The hunter tore one leg free and raised her hand for a killing frost. Koral struck first. Her water whip snapped around the woman's throat and yanked. Nymiir grabbed his fallen sword and drove it home. The white figure sagged against the roots and went still. The cold left the air. Steam rose off the melting ice. Emeralis stood over the body, breathing hard. "A queen," she said. "Ignia Flamecrown." Nymiir wiped his blade clean. "Then you have your target. But you can't stay here now. More will come. They know this village. They know me." Koral let her water fall back to the ground. "Then we don't stay." Emeralis looked north, past the thatched roofs, toward the mountains. The hunt had a head to cut off, and now she knew whose. "We ride," she said. "To the queen." She left the village behind before the smoke of the dead hunter's robe faded.