Glacius Frostmaw's Arc

Chapter 5 of 14

Glacius reached the second landing and swung the sword at a guard. The blade cut the air, but no frost trailed it. The dragon head on the hilt sat dark. Its blue eyes had gone dull. He had spent the last of its magic freezing the mountainside to save Skara. Now the sword was only sharp steel, and the fort was full of armed men. "The blade's dead," he told Skara. "No power left." She drove her spear into a guard's knee. "Then swing it like a club. We climb." Two more guards blocked the third landing. Glacius fought them with strength alone. His shoulder took a spear tip. He gritted his teeth and shoved the man over the rail. But higher up, the cell's sealing light burned brighter. Without the sword's fire, he had no way to break through the frozen bars in time. He stopped, chest heaving. The plan had a hole in it, and he had no way to fill it. Then the dragon head flickered. One eye lit, faint blue. Glacius stared. He remembered the cave, the moment he stopped forcing the blade and gave it purpose instead. The magic had never come from anger. It came from why he fought. He pressed his hand to the cold hilt. He thought of Throk, the brother he had not seen in three winters, waiting behind that light. "For him," he said. "Only for him." The hilt warmed. The dull eyes brightened. Frost crawled up the crystal blade and hardened into a bright edge. The sword had not needed the mountain to recharge. It needed him. This power had slept inside the weapon since its forging, and his intent had woken it. Glacius climbed the last stairs two at a time. The sealing light poured white through the cell window. Behind the bars sat Throk, tall and thin, wrists raw from the irons. He lifted his head. His pale eyes went wide. "Glacius?" His voice cracked. "You came for me." "Get back," Glacius said. Throk pressed himself to the far wall. Glacius raised the burning blade and struck the sealed bars. Frost met frost. The magic split the ice with a crack like a breaking lake. The bars shattered. The sealing light guttered out. Throk stumbled through the gap. Glacius caught his arm and held him up. For a moment neither spoke. Then Throk gripped his brother's shoulder, hard. "I knew you'd break something to reach me," Throk said. Skara reached the landing behind them, spear bloody. "Together now," she said. "We go down." But boots thundered up from below, more than before. The warlord's whole guard had woken. The stairs they had climbed were now full of men. The seal was broken. Throk was free. And the only way out led straight through them.