It was colder than anything Seeol had experienced outside of Cold Wood. He looked at his toes and feared for a moment that they’d changed colour. He wriggled them. They felt stiff. Beating his wings, Seeol lifted into the air and found himself a perch in one of the few trees that broke through the ice.
El-i-miir and the others were ahead of him by almost fifty strides. It was far enough that they wouldn’t notice him and yet close enough that he could listen in on their conversations. Like himself, Seteal was native of Gor Narvon and looked to be suffering the cold as dismally as Seeol. If not for the threat that Far-a-mael posed, Seeol would’ve joined her so that they could share body heat.
‘Gil’rei?’ El-i-miir turned to Far-a-mael. Seeol tilted his head so as best to collect the sound of her voice. ‘May I take over control of the silt’s horse as we enter the Sixth Cleff?’
‘Why?’ Far-a-mael murmured distractedly.
‘I’m certain it would impress the elders.’ El-i-miir shrugged. ‘I hope to be graduating soon and it wouldn’t hurt to gain a little renown.’
‘No,’ Far-a-mael stated. ‘You’ve already proven yourself an imbecile. We needn’t lose the prisoner to confirm it.’
The distance was steadily increasing and Seeol was unable to catch El-i-miir’s response. He bounced off the branch and spread his wings in search of a closer tree, but there were no more to be seen. He landed on the ice and bounced along its surface after the others. The conversation had become animated and he didn’t want to miss any details, but he didn’t risk flying so close for fear of being noticed.
‘I understand that, Gil’rei,’ El-i-miir waved her hands with increasingly frantic gestures. ‘But if you’ll just allow me to take over for one minute . . .’ El-i-miir’s voice faded as the distance increased yet again.
She needed to tone it down, Seeol willed her inwardly. She was behaving too obviously, too erratically. If he hadn’t already, Far-a-mael would soon figure out what she was up to. El-i-miir was running out of time to set Ilgrin free, but getting herself into more trouble was not the way to go about it. She couldn’t have been thinking clearly.
Seeol decided to act. He needed to cause a distraction to allow El-i-miir the chance to clear her head and hopefully take a hint. Inhaling sharply, Seeol twittered the way other elf owls did back home in Narvon Wood. After doing so, he leapt into the air and not a moment too soon. With surprising dexterity, Far-a-mael spun around and threw a knife so hard that the ice where Seeol had been standing was shattered.
Seeol hurried in the opposite direction. He’d done all he could for El-i-miir. Now he had to find a place to hide before Far-a-mael found another knife.