Page 236 of The Cradle of Ice

Though awed and terrified, Nyx recognized its character, if not its massive scale. She tore her gaze away and stared at the shine of Shiya’s bronze form. When the miraculous woman had climbed out of the mines of Chalk, it took the power of the sun to keep her moving. She had to constantly draw energy from the fires of the Father Above. Only later, she had recovered a crystalline cube, swirling with the same golden elixir. Once implanted into her, it had granted her continual power thereafter and sustained her still.

Nyx turned back toward the golden sea shining at the center of the sphere and cowered at the thought of all that energy. She finally had to look away, shying from the enormity of it all.

As she turned and swept away from the sphere, she caught a glimpse down the massive hole along the orb’s edge. She expected to see molten fire glowing below, but the sight was worse. The shaft fell away into a darkness that felt bottomless. She imagined the shaft drilling to the core of the planet. What little could be seen of the upper reaches was a complex of ladders set amidst shelves of scaffolding, all descending into that eternal blackness.

She shivered at the sight of that abyss and continued around the sphere to descend to the floor. She landed first, her mount’s claws skidding with a bone-chilling screech across the copper. The others were lowered or dropped by the raash’ke.

Staying seated in her saddle, she surveyed her group. Their faces shone from a spectrum of wonder and awe to horror and disbelief.

Overwhelmed, Jace sank to his knees. Krysh stumbled over to his side, having to lean on his young friend. Nyx didn’t know if the alchymist was stunned by the flight down from the ship or from the astonishing sights around him—likely a combination of both.

Graylin stared back at her, focusing on her, ignoring the rest.

Past his shoulder, Shiya helped Rhaif to his feet. He hung on to her like a drowning man on a bit of floating flotsam.

A shout drew her attention to the side, where Darant gathered Vikas and two more of his men, one of them with a broken arm in a sling. Darant stared up at the fiery glow of the Sparrowhawk through the chimney of mists. His face was pained but determined. He had hated to abandon the ship, but they needed as much force down here as possible and Glace had proven herself fully capable of defending the Hawk, though she had been left with only the barest skeleton of a crew.

The last member of their group still swept high, on patrol. Daal watched for any sign of that molten shape of the spider. But after being thwarted, the bronze spider must have scurried off down one of those seven tunnels, hiding in the shadows.

Daal was not alone up there. The flock of raash’ke, who had ferried the party down, now winged through the air, adding to the patrol, ready to defend them. Nyx reached up with a thrum of song, thanking them for their diligence and help. As she did, she felt a faint presence of the raash’ke horde-mind. It watched with the cold immensity of its ancient eye, still weakly linked by its brethren circling above.

Nyx finally slid from her saddle, running a glowing palm over Metyl’s damp flank, whispering her thanks to him. He stirred and reached back, rubbing a cheek against her chest, a rare sign of true affection. She scratched his small ear, earning a rumble back.

Rhaif called over, a note of panic in his voice. “Help me!”

Nyx hurried over with the others.

Rhaif stood before Shiya, his palms on her chest, his feet being pushed across the copper, unable to find a foothold on the seamless surface, not that it would’ve helped against Shiya’s immense strength.

“What’re you doing?” Darant asked.

“What does it look like?” Rhaif’s face purpled with the strain, hopping a bit on his bad leg. “Trying to stop her.”

They all crowded to his side, ready to help.

Rhaif explained. “She barely got her footing when she suddenly stiffened. Her eyes went dark. She started marching away without a word, deaf to my questions. Something’s got ahold of her.”

Nyx noted the copper under Shiya’s feet vaguely glowed, casting out ripples with each step, as if she were marching across a still pond.

“Let her go,” Nyx warned, moving closer.

Graylin tried to stop Nyx, but she shook off his arm.

She pushed Rhaif aside.

“We’ve all witnessed such dogged compulsion by Shiya,” Nyx explained. “Back when she led us to the Shrouds. Some buried part of her is reacting to this place. This is where she was meant to be. Trust her.”

Nyx remembered Shiya reflexively locking the dome open. Whatever was driving her must come from the same core of her being.

Rhaif backed away. They all followed in Shiya’s wake as she strode with swift steps, still rippling that glowing pond under her. She crossed around the circumference of the massive sphere that towered high, churning with its golden sea.

Shiya drew no closer to it, wending wider, heading to the dome’s wall.

Her goal came into view.

Imbedded deep into the crystalline web that bubbled and shone throughout the dome’s interior stood a tall shield of copper. It looked molded out of the back wall itself. Nyx stared up and around, sensing the vast spread of the glowing maze led here, to this one spot.

Shiya is meant to be here. She is the key to this place.