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Brynn stiffened, as did Thalia.She’d heard the Frost Walk mentioned, though none of the details of the task.It was the trial students faced at the end of the first year – a trial with a notoriously high death toll.If Kaine was to be believed, it involved the Golem Fields in some capacity.

Ashe's eyes narrowed."Why should we trust you?"

It was the question hanging unspoken between all of them, the question that had been haunting Thalia since she'd learned of Kaine's imprisonment.Why trust someone who might be a murderer?

"You shouldn't," Kaine said simply."Not blindly.But right now, I'm offering knowledge that could keep you alive, and you'd be fools to refuse it because of," he paused, glancing briefly at Thalia, "personal complications."

The wind picked up, sending a flurry of ice crystals skittering across the plateau surface.The temperature was dropping as they stood exposed, arguing — a reminder that indecision in this environment could be as dangerous as any wrong choice.

"What makes the Golem Fields so dangerous?"Thalia asked, breaking the tense silence."Beyond the obvious."

Kaine seemed to recognize her question for what it was — not just a request for information, but a tentative opening, a willingness to listen.

"It's not just the constructs themselves," he explained, his voice taking on a teacher's cadence."Though those are dangerous enough.Failed ice-metal constructs don't just shut down; they degrade unpredictably.Some become inert, nothing more than bizarre sculptures.Others develop erratic behaviors, attacking anything that moves or generates heat."

Thalia absorbed this information, her determination wavering slightly in the face of dangers more complex than she'd anticipated.She glanced at Ashe and Brynn, seeing similar calculations behind their eyes.

"You said Luna told you why we're going," Thalia said."Do you know where we might find smokeneedle?"

Something like approval flickered across Kaine's face."I do.They tend to grow in the shadow of the larger constructs, particularly those with copper components.The magical interaction creates the perfect conditions."He pointed to the southeast section of the fields."That area has the highest concentration of the older models, which used more copper in their construction.That's where we should focus our search."

Brynn made an impatient noise, adjusting the straps of her satchel."If we're doing this, let's do it.Standing here debating is wasting daylight we don't have."Without waiting for agreement, she started down the slope at the edge of the plateau, picking her way along the steepest, most direct path.

"Brynn!"Thalia called, alarmed by her recklessness."Wait for us!"

But the other girl didn't slow, her figure growing smaller as she descended toward the ominous field below.

"Stubborn fool," Ashe muttered, then turned to Thalia."Your call.Do we follow her, or take the safer route?"

Thalia hesitated only briefly."We can't split up.That's even more dangerous."She glanced at Kaine."If you're coming, now's the time to decide."

"I already decided," he said quietly."When Luna came to me."

The three of them hurried after Brynn, following her precipitous route down the slope.The descent was treacherous, smooth ice giving way to jagged escarpments, patches of deceptively soft snow concealing sharp rocks beneath.Thalia's boots slipped more than once, and she found herself grateful for Ashe's steadying hand at her elbow.

Kaine moved with surprising grace for someone his size, finding secure footholds where there seemed to be none.He stayed close to Thalia, close enough that she could hear his measured breathing, could feel the occasional brush of his cloak against hers when the path narrowed.

As they approached the bottom of the slope, the Golem Fields revealed themselves in all their eerie grandeur.Dozens — perhaps hundreds — of constructs dotted the vast expanse, their forms twisted and bizarre.Some resembled humanoid figures frozen mid-motion, others were more abstract, like the fevered dreams of a mad sculptor rendered in ice and metal.In the growing light, their surfaces glinted with unnatural colors, not just the expected silver and white of ice-metal, but veins of green and crimson where the enchantments had warped and decayed.

Between the constructs, the ground was a treacherous patchwork of ice and bare stone, with occasional pools of liquid too still and too vividly colored to be mere meltwater.Mist clung to the lowest areas, swirling in slow eddies around the bases of the largest structures.

Thalia felt a chill.There was something deeply unsettling about this place — a sense of abandonment, of failure, of things created and then discarded when they didn't meet expectations.It reminded her, uncomfortably, of how the academy itself sometimes treated its students.

They caught up to Brynn at the base of the slope.She stood at the very edge of the Golem Fields, her earlier bravado tempered by the reality before them.

"Not quite what you expected?"Kaine asked quietly.

Brynn's chin lifted defiantly, but she didn't respond.

"We stay together," Thalia said firmly, looking at each of her companions in turn."No heroics, no splitting up.We find the herbs, gather what we need, and get out.Agreed?"

Ashe nodded immediately.Brynn gave a tight shrug that Thalia chose to interpret as assent.Kaine's eyes met hers, something unspoken passing between them — a moment of connection that transcended their recent estrangement.

"I'll lead," he said, not breaking eye contact with Thalia."Stay close.Walk exactly where I walk.Touch nothing unless I say it's safe."

With that, he turned and stepped into the Golem Fields, the mist swirling around his boots as if welcoming him into its domain.Thalia followed, then Ashe, with Brynn bringing up the rear.The academy behind them looked small and distant now, its towers rising against the brightening sky like a fortress from another world.

Ahead, the twisted shapes of failed ambitions waited in silent judgment.