Chapter 127

Aden charged ahead into the snow kicked up by the Milton. It had been meant to cover its retreat, no doubt, but it accomplished little, merely melting away as soon as Aden moved into it.

His sword swung in a wide arch as he ran at the creature, slicing its shirt and severing a lock of its platinum hair. It made no counterattack, but simply retreated faster. Aden’s knights moved to surround the creature, but it evaded them with a monstrous speed, just a fleeting image of its ghostly hair fluttering the wind.

Aden had no intention of letting the Milton slip away. In a desperate move, he threw his sword like a dagger. It flew straight and true, a throw no normal man could have made, and pierced the creature’s shoulder.

The Milton didn’t stop. It moved even faster into the blizzard, leaving behind only stark red blood on the white blanket of snow. Aden peered into the whirling snow ahead, trying to catch sight of the creature.

“Shall we chase it?” one of the knights asked. Aden was just about to answer when a voice called out behind him.

“Grandmaster!”

Aden remembered voices well, and especially committed himself to knowing the voices important to him and to Delrose. Chief of those was Ilyin, of course, but below hers were those of the people who served her.

Etra, he thought. Aden whirled around. Ilyin’s maid approached, riding an unfamiliar horse.

“Why are you here,” he called out. He couldn’t imagine what her reason could be for being here instead of on the 7th floor of the mansion.

But if she were here, did that mean Ilyin was in this chaos as well? He thought suddenly of the first day he met Ilyin, the blue cloth on the floor, the thick summer scent of her, her sound so small and weak like something failing. Like something that couldn’t survive the winter.

He pushed the thought from his head.

“Where is Ilyin?!” he called again.

Etra met his gaze but dropped her eyes immediately.

“She is safely in the mansion,” she answered. “And I have a report to give you.”

For Etra to come to a battlefield while leaving Ilyin behind, it must be very important indeed. He gestured to her to continue.

“Delrose’s reinforcement is holding back the second army of the Yesters,” she said plainly.

There was much information in the simple statement, and even more questions. Aden peered at Etra for just a second, gathering himself, finding the most important one to ask first.

“Their size?”

“A few hundred,” Etra answered.

Aden waved his arms, catching Idith’s attention. With Delrose’s knights all but finished mopping up the battlefield, Idith left them, riding quickly to join Aden.

“Under whose command did you move the reinforcement,” he asked, though he was sure he knew the answer even as he asked the question.

“Ilyin,” she said.

He mumbled her name lovingly. Her decision had been fortunate. If a second army of Yesters had come, the battlefield would become too large for his power to manage. But that had to mean she’d had another foresight.

“How are you holding them?” he asked. In the bitter cold of April, how could they be holding back a few hundred Yesters? Again, he suspected the answer – and what he suspected made him turn his horse to run back even as Etra answered.

“With Everlasting Fire,” she said, turning her own horse in line with his. Only one person in the mansion could maintain that fire.

Ilyin.

Aden spurred his horse hard, and it launched itself forward through the snow.

***

Just before Aden and the Delrose knights had arrived at Elo, the reinforcements, led by Emil, were just about to reach their destination as well.

“The mountain pass is just ahead,” he said. He kept a confident voice, but even now doubt wracked him. Was this the right course? He glanced back. He had come on Mistress’s order, but the responsibility would not be hers alone if this went badly.

“Don’t get hurt,” she’d said earnestly. He never saw such an honest look from other houses. Was it because she was from the warm region?

He had never been to it. He only knew of the warm region from what he’d heard from other knights and what he imagined.

That the warm region always had yellow light shining from the sky. That when evening fell, everything was covered in orange and long shadows were cast. That the whole region felt like the heat from a large fireplace, but much more yellow, bright, and clear than any pile of burning logs.

“Warm region person,” he muttered.

Was it because the Mistress was from there that she was so different from other nobles and important people? Was that why she always seemed the person you really wanted to serve, the one you truly respected, loved. He didn’t think she would ever put the Delrose knights into danger if it could be avoided. But even so, Emil couldn’t ignore the slightest possibility that she was wrong, that this was a mistake. It was a natural worry he had to carry, a burden of being in charge of the Delrose knights.