Amid the Winter Snow

  The goddess didn’t answer.

  Of course she didn’t. Gods didn’t talk to him.

  But a bolt of lightning didn’t strike him dead either. After a long moment of listening to the peaceful quiet, interrupted only by the snap and crackle of the flames, he counted that as a win.

  Lily stirred. “How long do you think we’ll have to wait before we hear anything?”

  “There’s no way to know, love. We’ll hear when we hear.” He pressed his lips to her forehead as he debated. Then he said, “If it helps you to know this, I sent my best covert warriors after yours with orders to assist if your people needed it.”

  When her shoulders started to shake, he felt a brief alarm until he realized she was laughing. “Why am I even surprised?” she said. “Of course you did. Do you always get your way?”

  He tilted his head as he considered that. “I must confess I do.”

  She bolted upright and stared at him, eyes wide.

  “Surely by now that wasn’t a surprise?” he said, baffled by her reaction.

  “No.” She gave him a soft, strange smile. “I guess it wasn’t.”

  He touched her cheek. “I want to stay, but I’d better go. You need real rest, and this is not where I’m supposed to be.”

  “That’s the most sensible decision you’ve made all evening.” She looked worried. “Are you sure you’ll be able to make that climb and travel across the strait again at night?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Don’t you even go there.”

  She started to laugh again. “Very well, forget about crossing the strait at night—are you sure you’ll be able to make that climb in the dark?”

  “I left the pitons in place. Getting down will be a lot easier than getting up.” He started to smile. “Why, are you concerned about me?”

  “Maybe… a little.” She followed him as he gathered up his equipment and strode over to the broken window. “Maybe I don’t want to look out my window in the morning and find your broken body dangling at the end of a rope.”

  “Don’t worry. I will be cold but fine.” He paused. Her eyes were rimmed with red, and one cheek bore a crease from his shirt. Setting everything aside, he cupped her face with both hands and kissed her.

  Those delicate, soft lips were another miracle. She kissed him back, and that was a miracle too.

  He whispered against her mouth, “After I get justice for my brother, I am going to take control of Ys and make it a better place. I already have treaties with Karre and Mignez. Just so we’re clear.”

  When he lifted his head again, she stared at him warily. “I see?”

  She sounded so mystified, he had to kiss her again.

  He could have told her, “I’m going to take you too, and keep you for my own.”

  He could have, but he didn’t. Some conquests needed to be made in careful, strategic steps.

  “Get some sleep, love,” he said. “We’ll talk again soon.”

  After she had thrown a cloaking spell over him and he had climbed out the window, Lily went to bed.

  Much to her surprise, she did sleep soundly for a few hours, but then restlessness set in before dawn. Driven by tension that knotted her body, she rose, washed and dressed for the day, and left her tower.

  Down in the kitchens, they had barely started to cook, but when she appeared, the head cook was honored to fix an early breakfast of scrambled eggs, buttered bread, and sweet, hot tea for her.

  After she ate, the restlessness was worse. She went up to her office, started a fire, and answered a few letters. When her secretary, Prem, appeared, she smiled and said, “Good morning. Please bring Gennita to me at once.”

  “Yes, your grace.” Prem smiled back and whisked away.

  The minutes advanced so slowly she could almost hear the wheels of time grinding together. She was all but leaping out of her skin. Her heart raced, and a fine film of sweat covered the back of her neck.

  What was wrong with her? She wasn’t looking forward to the upcoming meeting, but she didn’t feel bad enough to warrant this physical reaction. She forced herself to answer another letter.

  When Gennita finally appeared in her doorway accompanied by Prem, Lily told her secretary, “That will be all for now.” To the older priestess, she beckoned. “Please step inside, and if you would be so kind, shut the door behind you.”

  “Certainly, your grace.” Gennita gave her a forced smile. After closing the door, she turned and said, “I expect this is about what we discussed yesterday.”

  Lily remained seated. “We didn’t have a discussion,” she said. “We had an argument. You were inappropriate, and you made accusations.”

  Accusations that were very hurtful. But no. Don’t talk about feelings.

  The older woman stiffened. “You grace, I don’t appreciate being scolded as if I were a misbehaving schoolgirl.”

  “Neither do I.” Lily paused to let her cold words sink in. “Out of the love and respect I have for you, I am going to give you a choice, Gennita. There is a wonderful appointment in Karre, just waiting for the right priestess and her family. It’s clear they value the work that Camael’s priestesses do. You have the right healing skills they need. They have a large, comfortable house with gardens that sound beautiful—your husband would love them—and the temple is well kept. And the stipend sounds very reasonable. You could have a happy life there if you want.”

  As she spoke, tears started in the other woman’s eyes and she looked shaken. “We’ve lived here for the past twenty years. My grandchildren are here. Are you ordering me to go to Karre and leave behind the rest of my family?”

  “No,” Lily told her firmly. “I am offering you a choice, and you have a day to make it. You can explore this new opportunity in Karre, or you can stay here. But if you stay, you must abide by the new rules I’ve set in place. There’s a time for discussion, and there’s a right way to disagree. Confronting me in my office, ignoring me when I tell you to stop, and hurling emotional accusations at me is never going to be acceptable. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, your grace,” Gennita whispered.

  The older woman looked so miserable, Lily pushed away from her desk and walked around to her. Taking Gennita’s hands, she pressed them and said quietly, “Life feels scary right now. The abbey may thrive or fail on choices that I have to make, and if you think I’m not aware of that every moment of every single day, you are badly mistaken. But you must remember—the goddess picked me, and I still have to make those choices to the very best of my ability.”

  “I know the position is hard.” Gennita’s voice was choked. “Raella had sleepless nights over some of the things she had to do.”

  Lily took in a deep breath. “I’m sure it doesn’t help that I don’t see things the same way you do. I don’t put information together in the same way as you, and I understand that must be frightening and inexplicable at times. If you feel like you must go, I will miss you. But if you stay and do something again like you did yesterday, I will make the next appointment a mandatory one.”

  “I understand.”

  Lily turned back to her desk, picked up the appointment request from Karre and handed it to the other woman. “Why don’t you read the details of the request over with your husband? Let me know by noon tomorrow if you want to take the position.”

  Beginning to look calmer, Gennita accepted the letter. “Thank you, Lily. I can see the care and attention that you put into picking this opportunity. You even thought of Edward’s love of gardening. And I apologize for yesterday. I didn’t consider my words very well.”

  Lily said, “Apology accepted. Now, if you’ll excuse me, as you can see my desk is worse than ever.”

  “Of course.” Gennita paused, glanced at Lily’s desk, then gave her a tentative smile. “If I might make a small suggestion?”

  Lily reached for more patience. “What’s that?”

  “Get a second secretary. Prem is wonderful, but I don’t think she’s up to handling some of t
he more challenging tasks that you could still delegate to someone else. Dulcinda, perhaps, or maybe Evie.” Gennita met her gaze. “You’re right—life feels a little scary right now. You should be free to focus on those bigger decisions, not paperwork.”

  Lily blinked. “Thank you. I’m going to seriously consider that.”

  After Gennita had gone, she turned in a circle and stared at the empty room. While Gennita had been predictably upset at being given an ultimatum, the conversation hadn’t gone as badly as it could have.

  It had actually gone better than she’d expected. Gennita had even called her by name again.

  But instead of feeling relieved, she felt worse than ever. Her hands shook and her heart raced, and she wanted to throw up.

  This felt like full-blown panic.

  This was how she had felt when Jada kicked the table apart, drew his knife, and lunged for her. Like there was a clear, immediate threat in her face, right now. But there was nothing, nothing, nothing in her office.…

  The details of the office around her faded, and she caught glimpses of another scene.

  Winter-bare trees, snow-covered ground, cold biting her lungs. The blow of a horse’s gasp for breath. It had been running for too long.

  Others shouting. Ride faster!

  And: If we try to go any faster, we’ll kill Marcus!

  And a tree line, just below a ridge…

  Warriors poured out of the tree line, a sickening number. Many were on horseback and hell-bent on pursuit.

  A sharp burst of pain snapped her surroundings back into place again. Her elbow hurt, along with the back of her head. Sitting up, disoriented, it took her a moment to realize she had lost her balance and fallen.

  She realized something else as well.

  The goddess had never given her any visions based in the present. They had always been from possible outcomes in the future.

  But not this time.

  This time she had seen images of her people, and they were fighting to get home.

  ~ 10 ~

  Leaping to her feet, she raced out.

  In the next room, Prem perched on the corner of her desk as she talked with a few of the older acolytes.

  “Fetch my winter jacket, cloak, and gloves,” she told them. “I need healers and Defenders to meet me down at the dock. Now.” Then, as all three frozen women stared, she shouted at them, “Run!”

  That galvanized them into action. Eyes wide, they scattered.

  Lily raced down the halls and through courtyards. Urgency beat at her with frantic wings. It was quicker to cut through the temple, so she did. Voices rose behind her, calling out questions and exclamations.

  “Your grace—what is it?”

  “Is anything wrong?”

  Then, from Margot down one hall: “Lily!”

  She didn’t stop for any of them. By the time she reached the wide stairs that led down to the great barred doors to the dock, she was flanked by three Defenders.

  One of them, Justin, tried to give her his cloak, and she waved it away impatiently. The two others joined them as she plunged down the steps and ordered the doors be opened. Together they stared across the white expanse to the mainland.

  “I don’t think we can force the barges through that, your grace,” one Defender told her.

  She focused on Wulf’s sentry on the mainland, but she couldn’t communicate with them from that distance. The only way to get help to her people was by crossing the strait.

  Go, Camael whispered.

  She didn’t pause to question it. There was no time to have a crisis of faith.

  She ran.

  “Your grace, wait—we haven’t tested the ice yet!” Justin roared behind her. “Oh, flipping hells.”

  She ignored everything else—the biting wind, the cold that numbed her hands and face and sent stabs of pain shooting into her chest—and raced as fast as she could toward the shore. Wulf would help. She just had to get to him.

  Once, her feet slipped out from underneath her and she would have fallen, but strong arms caught her. Giving her a wild-eyed look, Justin set her back on her feet again.

  Glancing back at the abbey, she saw others following them. That was all she took the time to notice, for as soon as she regained her footing, she ran again.

  Then, on the shore, she saw more soldiers gather. Some set out on the ice and raced toward her. One of them was Wulf.

  He was among the fastest. His long legs tore over the distance, and his body in motion was a study in power and grace. She had never felt so glad to see anyone in her life.

  As they neared, Justin drew his sword. Sparing him one exasperated glance, she snapped, “Hold, damn it!”

  Trying to talk while running made her abused lungs protest. She sucked in a breath, and the dry, frigid air bit the back of her throat. As Wulf reached her, she bent over in a spasm of coughing.

  He grasped her by the arms. “What’s wrong?”

  The only way she could speak was by telepathizing. We need soldiers—horses—healers… We need to hurry!

  Whipping off his cloak, he wrapped her up, scooped her into his arms, and raced for shore.

  “Gods damn it—your grace!” That was Justin who raced alongside them.

  She was still coughing too hard to respond out loud, her throat raw while the muscles in her chest squeezed like a vise.

  I’m all right, she told Justin. He’s helping. I don’t want any of our people picking a fight with the Braugnes. Pass the word.

  Yes, your grace. Giving her an unhappy look, Justin started shouting at the other Defenders who drew near.

  By the time Wulf climbed onto shore, she had caught her breath again, and he set her on her feet. Lionel appeared at his shoulder, along with Gordon and Jermaine. As she looked for Justin, she saw with gratitude that Estrella, the captain of her Defenders, had reached her side, and Margot too.

  More Defenders were climbing to shore, along with priestesses carrying their healer packs. Even Prem joined them, clutching Lily’s cloak and gloves, which she handed over wordlessly.

  Wulf captured her attention. Looking up into his hard face, she saw the commander was present in full force.

  “How many horses do we need?” he asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  He gave her a fierce frown. “Well, how many fighters and healers?”

  “I don’t know! How many is a lot?” Closing her eyes, she tried to bring back the image of the snowy countryside and the ridge behind the trees. “I know where we need to go. There’s a ridge about five miles away, near a waterfall that’s frozen right now.”

  Estrella said, “I’m familiar with that place.”

  Lily met Wulf’s gaze. “We have a party with wounded who are trying to get to us. They’re being pursued by many more troops than they had expected. I saw them pour out of the tree line. Our group is spent, and they aren’t going to make it if we don’t get there in time. I don’t know how to gauge how many are after them, because I only got the images in flashes—but I’m going to guess over a hundred. Wulf, I want my people to come back home. Plan for much more.”

  He nodded and squeezed her arm then rapped out orders, and soldiers leaped into action. A dozen cavalry, already mounted, danced on restless horses.

  Wulf told Lily, “Every minute counts, you said. I’m going to send them ahead while the others muster. We just need to know where to go.” Telepathically, he added, Brace yourself. The advance scout will have a higher casualty rate.

  There would be time for grief later, when they knew how much this had cost them. Lily looked at Estrella. “Go with them.”

  “Yes, your grace!”

  Estrella joined the party, and they plunged off.

  After that, Lily figured the best thing she could do was get out of the way. She was a visionary, not a fighter. Within a remarkably short time, a much larger force comprised of Defenders, Braugne soldiers, and healers was assembled.

  One short, intense argument punctuated the gat
hering when Wulf discovered Lily in the process of mounting a mare that one of the Defenders had brought to her. Eyes blazing, he snatched her horse’s bridle.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” he snapped. “Stay here! You have no business putting yourself in danger.”

  Behind his preemptory attitude was a deep, genuine alarm. She didn’t waste energy on getting angry. Instead, she asked, “Can you see the things that I can see?”

  A single heartbeat passed, an intense throb of silence. Wulf’s jaw clenched and his eyes blazed, and she could see just how badly he wanted to refute her. But she had him, and he knew it.

  “Fine, you stay with me,” he growled. “Right by me, do you hear? I want you close enough I can cut off anybody’s head that tries to get to you.”

  Behind him, Lily saw Justin, Lionel, and Jermaine. Jermaine didn’t appear to be surprised, but Lionel and Justin looked flabbergasted.

  In a clear voice that carried to everyone nearby, she told Wulf, “Of course. You’re the commander.”

  His dark gaze lit. He touched her knee. “You bet I am.”

  They raced for the ridge and the frozen waterfall.

  The advance party had met up with the fleeing wounded, and the group was in the process of being overrun when two hundred cavalry, comprised of both Defenders and Braugne, hammered down on the attackers.

  For the first time in his life, Wulf led command from the sidelines. Not that there was much to do once the main body of troops arrived.

  “They don’t leave this battlefield,” he said to Jermaine. “I don’t want word of this getting back to Varian. We either capture them or we kill them.”

  “Understood, Commander.”

  Jermaine rode off to execute his orders, and in a complete reversal, what had begun as a rout quickly turned into a slaughter of the other side.

  It was hard to stay on the sidelines. He couldn’t deny it. But every time he felt the impulse to roar forward and engage with the enemy, he looked around for Lily. Her face was white and set while she watched the fray, her restless horse pacing back and forth.