Raven Blackwood's Arc

Chapter 80 of 11

The dead bird lay behind them in the snow. Ahead, the trail bent toward a gap in the peaks. Silvran had promised they would clear the mountains tonight. Then Sylvara stopped again. This time she did not look up. She looked down at the trail ahead. "Riders," she said. "On the main road. Then they cut off it." Raven rode up beside her. Below the gap, a mounted patrol crossed the only path through the peaks. Not men. Green-skinned things on huge snow horses, tusks jutting past their lips, armor crusted with frost. Beside them loped a pack of pale wolf-beasts, bone spikes along their backs, blue fire in their eyes. Ry's hunters. They had not followed a bird. They had guessed the mountains and spread wide. "Grok's riders," Silvran said, low. "Ry's ground legion. They don't scry. They just block every road until something walks into them." His grin was gone. Elra's hands tightened on her reins. "They can't sense the box. But they can see horses on a white slope." The gap was the only cut through the peaks. Left was cliff. Right was cliff. Raven looked at the patrol. Twenty, maybe more. Too many to shoot through. "Florence. The crystals in the lead box. If I open it, what happens?" "They light up," Florence said. "The wolves hunt magic. They'll come straight for it." Raven looked at the slope above the patrol. A long shelf of snow hung over the gap, loose and heavy. She had an idea that could kill them all. "Then we don't go through them. We bury them." She slid from her saddle and pulled the lead box free. "Silvran, Isaiah — the moment I throw, we ride the gap. Hard." She unlatched the box. The crystals flared. Below, every wolf's head snapped up. The blue eyes turned toward the light. Raven hurled the box up the slope, above the hanging shelf. It flew bright across the snow. The wolves broke from the orc line and charged uphill after it, claws tearing the drift. Their weight hit the loose shelf at a run. The snow let go. It came down in a white wall, swallowing wolves and horses and the green-skinned riders below. The roar shook the trail. When it settled, the gap lay open and empty, half the patrol buried, the rest scattering down the far slope. "Go," Raven said, swinging up. The party drove through the gap at a gallop. No horse blocked them. No wolf followed. They cleared the last ridge as the sky went dark. Silvran reined in on the far side and looked back at the choked pass. "Lost your crystals," he said. "And your box." "They were going to find us anyway." Raven checked the casket strap. The iron held tight behind her saddle. The tome was safe, and the mountains were behind them. "Ry sent her ground legion. She's guessing now." "Then she's a step behind," Elra said. For the first time, the way east lay open.