Page 7

Roran shrugged."I've picked up a few things.Best to know who you're dealing with."His easy smile returned, but it didn't quite reach his eyes."Look ahead — that doesn’t look promising, does it?"

The path before them had changed.Instead of the rough-hewn trail they'd followed thus far, they faced a narrow pass carved directly into the mountain face.It was steep, glazed with ice.Wind howled between the cliffs, carrying snow that stung exposed skin like tiny needles.

Master Linnea's voice carried from the front of the line."Single file.One recruit at a time.A fall here means death — or worse, a burden on the rest of us."

Thalia watched the first recruits attempt the ascent.The Northern students moved with cautious confidence.The Southerners were more hesitant, some crawling on hands and knees when the wind gusted particularly strong.

Her turn came too quickly.Thalia took the first ice-slick step, heart pounding.Three feet ahead of her, the next recruit — Joren Tidewell, another from Verdant Port — suddenly lost his footing.His arms windmilled as he teetered on the edge, a cry escaping his lips.For a horrible moment, he hung suspended between balance and oblivion.

Then, somehow, he caught himself, sprawling forward onto the steps with a painful-sounding thud.Shaking, he continued his climb.

Not a single instructor had moved to help him.They had watched, expressions impassive but analytical.Recording weaknesses.Identifying those unlikely to survive.

Thalia swallowed hard and shuffled forward.

To her surprise, Roran moved to walk beside her, letting her stay closer to the cliff face and further from the sheer drop beside them.He still moved with that easy grace she'd noticed earlier.His footing on the ice was sure, almost as confident as the Northern recruits.

Above them, the mountain loomed, impassive and eternal.Somewhere ahead waited Frostforge, with all its dangers and possibilities.Thalia fixed her eyes on the path before her and climbed.

***

Night descended with merciless speed as the caravan crested the final ridge.Thalia's breath stuttered in her chest — partly from exhaustion, partly from the sight that unfurled before her.The last crimson rays of sunset illuminated Frostforge Academy, transforming the stone fortress into a blaze of red against the darkening sky.Built directly into a cliff face on the side of the mountain, it defied both gravity and imagination, a monument to Northern determination and power.

The temperature plummeted with the sun's retreat, cold intensifying until it felt solid, a presence pressing against Thalia's skin.Her thin Southern clothing, already inadequate during the day's climb, now offered virtually no protection.The wind changed character too, no longer merely fierce but actively malevolent, searching for gaps in clothing, stealing warmth with predatory efficiency.

Roran appeared at her side, his own breath clouding the air between them."There it is," he said softly."Frostforge."

Thalia could only nod, words frozen in her throat.The academy was a structure both awe-inspiring and terrifying in its brutal majesty.Unlike the graceful spires and ornate facades of Southern citadels, Frostforge was a testament to function over form, built for survival rather than aesthetics.Yet it possessed its own stark allure.

The main structure had been carved directly into an exposed cliff face, its walls seeming to grow from the mountain itself.No clear boundary existed between natural rock and masoned stone — the two melded together in a seamless integration of architecture and landscape.Massive buttresses of dark granite extended from the cliff, supporting what appeared to be outer courtyards and defense platforms.Iron reinforcements gleamed dully in the fading light, their surfaces rimed with frost that caught the last rays of sunset.

Windows — narrow and defensible — dotted the facade at irregular intervals, some glowing with the warm yellow of lamplight, others dark and watchful as empty eye sockets.Above the rugged structure was a windswept plateau, glittering in the remaining daylight as though sprinkled with ice.Along the ridge were statues with almost human forms, elongated arms and jagged features.As they drew closer, Thalia realized that they were crafted from metal, which glinted strangely in the waning light; closer still, and she realized that they were moving, slowly patrolling the plateau’s edge.They were golems – constructs of ice magic and metallurgy.

As they drew closer, Thalia noticed details hidden from their first vantage point.Huge chimneys rose from several points along the structure, belching steam and smoke into the darkening sky.The plumes rose straight up before being torn apart by high-altitude winds, creating an ethereal ceiling of vapor above the academy.

"The Howling Forge," Roran murmured, following her gaze."Heart of the academy.We’ll be in there before long.Might be the only warmth we get."

Before Thalia could respond, Master Linnea's voice cut through the wind."Keep moving!We need to reach the gates before full dark."

The last light faded from the sky as they approached the massive entrance arch.Torches flared to life along the path — not by human hand, but igniting simultaneously as if responding to the darkness itself.Their flames burned an unnatural blue, casting sharp shadows across the snow-crusted ground.

Standing beneath the looming facade of Frostforge, Thalia felt smaller than she ever had before.The academy dwarfed her not just physically but spiritually, its age and power pressing down like a tangible weight.This was a place of ancient magic and older secrets, of knowledge preserved and hoarded through centuries of warfare and change.

For the first time since boarding the ship in Verdant Port, Thalia felt something beyond determination or fear.Something that made her breath catch and her heart race with more than just apprehension.

Awe.

This place — this brutal, beautiful fortress of stone and ice — was built to conquer, not to comfort.

There was no warmth here.No welcome.

Only challenge.Only trial.

CHAPTER FOUR

After filing through the gates and into the frigid corridors of the fortress, the recruits were led down a wide passageway and into Frostforge’s main hall.

The immensity of the space stole her breath more effectively than the biting cold that had followed them through the mountains.Smooth stone floors, polished to a mirror shine, reflected the dancing lights from dozens of blue-flame torches that lined the walls, but above, the ceiling remained in its natural state — a jagged expanse of ice and stone where massive stalactites hung like the teeth of some ancient beast waiting to devour the unwary below.