Tower of winter (the traveler s gate chronicles collection 1)

It was twelve syllables long, all butimpossible to pronounce, and all icefangs would respond to it to some degree.She had heard it said that being a Helgard Traveler was half research an

Title PageCopyrightWARNINGWelcome![Series Title]Tower of WinterThe Feathered PlainsThe Crystal Fields[Sequel Page]

TOWER OF WINTER

Will Wight

www.WillWight.com

Copyright © 2013 Will Wight All rights reserved Cover art by Patrick Foster.

What follows is a small collection of short stories set in the universe of the Traveler’s Gate Trilogy, which begins in the novel

House of Blades.

If you have not read House of Blades or its sequel, The

Crimson Vault, then you will not understand the following

stories.

It’s okay; it’s not your fault I understand You’re still

handsome and/or pretty.

If you were simply browsing the Kindle Store and this book caught your eye, I urge you to close this preview and go check out

House of Blades I’ll wait.

If you’ve already read the Traveler’s Gate Trilogy—or at least the first two books—then come on in, my friend!

These stories are intended to give you a closer look at the Territories and characters that we didn’t get to explore in the main trilogy If you’d rather stick with Simon, Alin, and Leah, I’ll

understand! City of Light will be available in early 2014, and I hope

it meets your approval.

Still with me? Then buckle up We’re headed off the map.

Here there be dragons.

You have been warned.

Welcome to Elysia, young Traveler.

You will have heard many stories about what it means to be one of us Do not be fooled No outsider understands our purpose They think we are here to lead other Travelers, to make the decisions that they cannot.

This is true, and it is not true.

They think we are here as a last resort, as an ultimate power,

to keep the Incarnations in check.

This is true, and it is not true.

They think we are here to balance the other Territories, to keep them from obtaining too much power and upsetting the natural balance.

This is true, and it is not true.

What I am about to tell you is known by few, and understood

by even fewer: we are not here to lead, or to threaten, or to eliminate threats In the course of our duties, we will do all these things, but ultimately we are here for a single purpose.

We are here to guide We are here to lead by example, inspiring other Travelers to live up to their own potential We should be as beacons in the darkness.

Welcome to the City of Light.

-Elysian Book of Virtues, Page 1

The Traveler’s Gate Chronicles

(Collection #1)

T OWER OF W INTER

First, you should observe the Violet Light, which is aligned with Helgard, the Tower of Winter Many students who came before you have wondered why the Violet virtues of honesty, openness, and genuine expression are linked with this specific Territory Helgard’s Travelers are scholars, known for their dedication to knowledge, research, and memory Why, then, are they not linked to wisdom, or even diligence?

-Elysian Book of Virtues, Chapter 1: Violet

Donia Sarkis, Traveler of Helgard, had great things ahead of her Everyonesaid so She might be an Overlord one day, when Vasilios stepped down Shemight end up as an explorer, braving the unknown dangers of the Tower’suppermost floors

Today, it seemed, she was meant to be a nursemaid

Nikolos shivered in his heavy, fur-lined cloak He sniffled miserably, hiswell-bred good looks spoiled by a bright red nose His sleek blond hair wasruffled by the wind, and he could barely keep his hood up

“Wait!” he said “Did you see that?” He stared off into the blowing snow

as though he had spotted some danger

“I don’t see anything but snow, Nikolos,” Donia said, keeping her tonepolite Nikolos was the Overlord’s son, and a bad report from him wouldhaunt her for years She could not afford to let the Overlord down

“Regardless, we should wait and watch,” the boy said, sniffling at everyother word “We wouldn’t want to run into an unknown danger.”

Nikolos stumbled through a drift and plopped down on top of a thick,rounded boulder carved like the head of a statue It was a grossly exaggeratedcaricature of a face, locked into the expression of a monster about to devour ameal Its long tongue hung down almost into the snow, baring four pointedfangs at the corner of the mouth

It looked as if someone had carved a stone statue of a hungry monster,severed its head, and thrown that head on the ground Donia happened toknow that the statue’s “neck” actually grew down into the bedrock ofHelgard’s fifteenth floor, and that there were hundreds of such headsscattered all around the floor Some were so small that they were oftencovered entirely by snow, though others were the size of a barn

No one knew the purpose of the heads, though there were theories.Somehow, Donia doubted they were originally intended as benches forspoiled children.

“I seriously doubt we’re in danger here,” Donia said, because she couldn’thelp herself “This floor is well controlled There are even a few permanentoutposts.”

“You never know,” Nikolos said “We should keep an eye out.” He washugging himself and staring at the ground, not even pretending to watch fordanger

Nikolos had come up with some excuse to rest every hour since they hadentered the Helgard Gate At first, he was simply “overcome with the naturalbeauty of the Tower,” and he needed a moment to collect his thoughts Then

he would insist that he had heard a voice in the howling wind, or that he onlyneeded a moment more to decipher the ancient runes on Helgard’s outerwalls Once, when he caught sight of an icefang shuffling through the snow,

he had sworn that there was a dead body beneath the powder that wasstruggling to surface They had to freeze in place, he said, because suddenmovements could set it off

Donia remembered herself at fifteen, so she kept herself polite, though she

couldn’t ever recall being so obnoxious If she was tired, she would have just

said so None of this dancing around the subject or making up excuses

His attitude shouldn’t matter, she reminded herself He could be a screaming terror, and I’d still have accepted Jobs like this are a ladder straight to the top.

Overlord Vasilios had insisted that Donia should escort his son from hisrelatives’ estate in Alrin all the way back home to Bel Tara It was an easyassignment, but one that showed a great deal of trust in Donia She had onlybeen a Helgard Traveler for a few years, but she was already getting personalassignments from the Overlord

Annoying as this job might be, she had to prove she could do it

A patch of glittering snow caught Donia’s attention, lying at the base of atwisted tree In the right light, it looked as though someone had sprinkled thesnow with a handful of crushed diamonds or powdered glass

She recognized the signs immediately, as any Helgard Traveler would: anicefang lay in wait beneath that shimmering snow

Icefangs were among the least of the dangers that Helgard had to offer, butshe had known careless Travelers to lose chunks of flesh to an icefang bite

The creatures were scavengers, usually preying on the sick or the dead Shewondered if Nikolos counted as sickly They were also highly territorial, and

it was entirely possible that she had tread near this one’s burrow withoutrealizing it

Donia took a few steps closer to the icefang, away from Nikolos The beastbegan to tremble, almost imperceptibly

She held her middle two fingers together, leaving her other fingers spreadout, stretching her hand out to the icefang in a sign of peace

For a few seconds, the scavenger’s eager trembling stopped as it feltDonia’s imposed peace wash over it That wouldn’t be enough to stop it, not

on its own, but it gave Donia enough time to enact the next step

Under her breath, Donia whispered the icefang’s name

Not its personal name, of course Learning that would have taken entirelytoo long, and she didn’t have time for that right now Instead, she recited thegeneric name for the icefang species It was twelve syllables long, all butimpossible to pronounce, and all icefangs would respond to it to some degree.She had heard it said that being a Helgard Traveler was half research andhalf rote memorization In fact, she had spent three-quarters of her time as astudent simply memorizing the hundreds upon hundreds of names that allTravelers of Helgard were expected to know as a matter of course

At this point, keeping an icefang quiet required no more effort thanwalking through the snow

As usual, when she correctly named a creature, she felt a rush of emotions

in return With more intelligent creatures, she would receive a rush of specificthoughts and memories, but the icefang was little more than a vulture It feltfrustration, deep hunger, and a barely-restrained eagerness to attack theintruders that had dared to set foot in its home

The peace she had imposed with her sign still lingered in the creature’smind, and the unnatural calm also gave the icefang a degree of confusion Itwasn’t used to being calm

As always, the icefang’s emotions weren’t the only things that gottransferred along the bond Donia felt her own frustration with Nikolos, herhope to please the Overlord, her fear that she wouldn’t live up to herreputation, and her satisfaction at finally being home in Helgard all flow out

of her

The icefang wouldn’t fully comprehend any of that, of course, but it grew

to understand her nature just as she understood it More than anything, it felt

her power and authority as a Traveler of Helgard It knew that she could call

up a dozen forces more deadly than itself, and it wanted no part of that

The glittering snow shrunk two sizes as the icefang cowered in thesnowbank

Nearby, Nikolos heaved a sigh and rose to his feet

“I suppose I was mistaken,” he said at last “We must remain vigilant.”

He trudged over to Donia with his hands tucked into his pockets and hisblond hair disheveled The corner of his boot almost scraped the icefanghidden in the snow Without her interference, it would have taken his footoff

Nikolos never even noticed

***

After Donia and Nikolos climbed up the seemingly never-ending ladderleading from the fifteenth floor to the sixteenth, Donia rememberedsomething that she had been trying to forget

She hated this floor

The entire thing was just one open room, with no trees or hideous statues

to break up the monotony The blue-gray outer wall of Helgard encircled thefloor, and without any obstructions, Donia thought she could make out thecurvature of the tower, though it was hard to say for sure since she couldn’tsee the far wall

The floor appeared somewhat even, but she knew that was an illusion.There was no snow here, and the ground was made entirely of uninterruptedice It looked as though the ocean’s surface had frozen during a choppy oceanstorm: waves and spikes and curls of ice rose from the surface in a twistingfrozen maze

That was one of the things she hated about this floor Damasca had a smalloutpost here, but she couldn’t see it from the floor entrance because of all thewaves breaking up her line of sight She could barely judge distance at all.The icy floor glowed from inside with a pale greenish light Perhaps sheshould have enjoyed that—there were many floors in Helgard that were muchdarker, after all—but occasionally the light would flicker out, as thoughsomething in the depths of the ice had passed briefly in front of the light’ssource

That was a continual reminder of a fact that she didn’t want to think about:

something lay beneath the ice here, and no one knew what The older Helgard

Travelers had stories, of course, but they had no more idea than she did

Everyone that might know was either dead or insane.

Which brought her to the worst thing about the sixteenth floor: the silence.From the frozen waves below to the enormous, distant icicles on the roofabove—each of which was the size of a lighthouse—there was plenty ofspace to create air currents Many of the Helgard floors generated their ownweather But not the sixteenth

Nothing disturbed the air on the sixteenth floor Not a breeze, not the call

of a bird, nothing It was the closest to absolute silence that Donia had everendured

And she couldn’t stand it

Nikolos cleared his throat, and it sounded like the rumble of thunder

“Quiet here, isn’t—“

Just in time, Donia clapped a gloved hand over his mouth

Nikolos’ words echoed softly off the nearby ice Donia remained tense andalert until the sound died away, then she relaxed Slightly

She put her mouth close to his ear and whispered as softly as she could

“What did I say before we climbed up here?” She loosened her hand, givinghim a bit of room to speak

“Quiet,” Nikolos breathed, barely moving his lips

“That’s right Better men and women than you, all Helgard Travelers, havemade too much noise on this floor and regretted it Do you understand?”Nikolos nodded eagerly

“Now, I’m going to take my hand away, and I want you to remain as quiet

The Traveler, whose blue-and-white Damascan uniform was torn toribbons, held up both of his hands, palms out The gesture showed he wasunarmed and, for a Traveler, showed that he wasn’t making any hostile signs

“No, wait!” he said, in a hoarse whisper “Help! I need your help!”

Donia looked around, wary of a trap or ambush, though she couldn’tunderstand why this bait would be necessary if he meant to attack them The

floor was lonely and silent; he and his friends could have just jumped onDonia and Nikolos, if that was their intention.

“Where is the rest of your unit, Traveler?” Donia asked

The stranger shook his head frantically, like a dog trying to shake offwater "Gone," he whispered "Attacked Viciously attacked Please, help me

I can't leave this floor."

Nikolos must have felt the need to interfere, because he said, "Of courseyou can We're standing not ten feet from the way down."

Donia ignored him, keeping her focus on the shaken stranger "What's yourname, Traveler?"

"Lukis, ma'am," he responded "Inspector Lukis, Outpost Sixteen Listen, Ineed you to take word back to the first floor They're here They're here forthe Frozen Ones!"

By the end, his voice had risen until it was more of a scream than awhisper

"Inspector Lukis," Donia repeated calmly "Why can't you leave with us?"She had read that you were supposed to remain calm in these circumstances,even though all she wanted to do was bolt back down the ladder that hadtaken them here This was more trouble than she was authorized to handle.With a trembling finger, Lukis pointed down at the glowing ice on which

he stood

At first, Donia saw nothing, and she almost told him so Then she noticedsomething deep below the frozen surface, like the glimmer of a fish's scales.Lukis took a step to one side, and the distant gleam followed him

"What is that?" Nikolos asked, staring down into the ice himself.

"They called it up from the ice," Lukis whispered "They sent it after me,but it can't get me up here It can’t break the surface If I tried to climb downthe ladder, I'd have to pass through the ice It would have me."

"How do you know?" Donia asked

Lukis shuddered "I could feel it," he said "It called my name."

Donia felt a chill pass through her Naming a creature of Helgard created abond between the Traveler and her named companion With intelligentcreatures, it was more a sharing of names, in which both parties learnedequally about one another However, the Traveler always initiated the bond,and it was up to her how far to pursue it If there was something here thatcould name them back

"We'll carry your warning, Inspector," Donia said, trying to project the

same absolute certainty that she had seen in Overlord Vasilios so many times.

"Who's doing this?"

Lukis let out the quietest laugh that Donia had ever heard "They’re somekind of cult, maybe a dozen Travelers I don't know who they are, exactly,but they killed the rest of Outpost Sixteen before we could even react.They’re ruthless And they…”

He leaned in close, his eyes flicking from side to side "They want to raisethe Frozen Ones."

Donia cleared her throat He had mentioned the Frozen Ones before, butshe had decided to overlook that The Frozen Ones were part of an ancientlegend of Helgard, and one that seemed to have its basis more in colorfulrumor than actual history

"Believe me," Lukis went on, sounding desperate "Maybe they’re crazy, I

don’t know, but they believe there are beings sealed here, on the sixteenth

floor They've been calling down into the ice for hours, trying to wake upwhatever they can They killed my unit because they need the bodies Theythink the blood might help "

His whispers trailed off, but Donia had no idea what she could say

"Are they from Enosh?" Nikolos asked, sounding strangely excited "I'veheard that the Grandmasters do things like that You know, blood sacrifice toraise monsters, that sort of thing."

From what Donia had heard of Ragnarus Travelers, the Damascan royalfamily was more likely to be involved in human sacrifice than anyone fromEnosh, but she kept that to herself The annual sacrifice was cloaked inmystery, and no one outside the Royal Palace in Cana really knew what went

on there It was all way above her, and none of her business besides

"Not Enosh," Lukis said "I know all of the Helgard Travelers that Enoshever sends to this floor One of them was visiting the outpost whenthese cultists tore it down."

Nikolos' face twisted into an expression of revulsion "How can you stand

to be so close to an Enosh heretic? I'd kill them on sight, myself."

Nikolos wasn't a Traveler, and Donia was of the opinion that he would gethimself eviscerated before he managed to kill anybody, but she held heropinion close "Inspector Are we safe here?"

Lukis chuckled bitterly, though he didn't raise his voice above a whisper

"As safe as we ever are on this floor They're busy with their ritual, orwhatever dark business they have going on, and they're all the way over by

the outpost Where the outpost used to be, anyway They won't be comingback after me."

"You should stay here, then," Donia said, though she realized immediatelythat her suggestion was useless Of course he would stay here, where it wassafe What did she expect him to do, run back in and fight the cultists single-handedly?

"In the meantime," she continued, "Nikolos and I will head back down andwarn the Inspectors on the first floor From there—"

"Hold on," Nikolos interrupted "How long will that take?"

Donia sighed "Nikolos, surely you can see that—"

"And what will they do about it?"

"They will send Travelers," Donia said impatiently "A small army ofTravelers, with powers at their command that you couldn't even pronounce."Nikolos met her gaze, his eyes more serious than she had ever seen them

"So we climb back down sixteen floors, which will take us hours, if notlonger We convince the Inspectors to send people up to the sixteenth Even ifthey believe us without sending someone to look for themselves, how longwill it take for them to gather enough Travelers? Not to mention getting themback up here."

"What would you have us do, Nikolos?" Donia asked She meant it to bemocking, but if he had a real suggestion, she was more than willing to listen

"There's a route to my father through here, right?" Nikolos said "That'swhy we're on this floor in the first place We should go to him It's faster, he'llbelieve me immediately, and we won't need an army My father alone will bemore than enough."

Donia had to admit that the boy had a point She had seen OverlordVasilios in action, and the man was like a Helgard Incarnation in the flesh.And according to rumor, the Overlords each had artifacts of Ragnarus thatensured they would always be more powerful than their competition Withthat kind of weaponry on their side, they would have nothing to worry about.Besides, the Overlord would surely want them to come to him with this

She turned to Lukis, outlining exactly which crossing they needed to take

"Where is the enemy?" she asked "Can we cross without running into them?"Lukis rubbed his gloved hands together nervously "I couldn't say I think,

if you skirted the center of the floor and headed straight to the crossing, youcould open a Gate without them being any the wiser But there would be noguarantee that you wouldn't run into a straggler, or a scout, or just somebody

in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Donia stared off into the featureless waves of ice, mulling over thesituation It would be safer to go down to the first floor, that was for sure Itwas her responsibility to keep Nikolos safe The safer option wasn'tnecessarily the right one, though She wasn't certain whether the Overlordwould love her for bringing him the news first, or hate her for taking his soninto danger

As she sometimes did, she pictured herself as she imagined others thought

of her: strong, skilled, confident Always ready with the right answer Thatwoman would know exactly what to do She would likely press forward,relying on her own ability to keep them all safe

Unfortunately, Donia wasn't sure that woman actually existed

"We will move forward," Donia said at last Lukis groaned, but Doniacontinued speaking "As carefully as we can If we see anyone, anyone at all,

we immediately turn around, no questions asked Now, Inspector Lukis, areyou with us?"

Lukis gaped at her "Me?"

"We've never encountered this enemy before, we're not familiar with thefloor, and the boy here is the Overlord's son He's not a Traveler."

Inspector Lukis looked Nikolos over more carefully

"The boy?" Nikolos whined

"As you can see," Donia went on, "we could use your help."

Lukis glanced from one side to the other as though trying to find his wayout of a trap At last, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath

"Let me show you the way," he said at last

***

For the first few minutes, the silence of the sixteenth floor was laced withtension Donia barely took a step without craning her neck to see over afrozen wave, and three or four times she almost called on Helgard's power todestroy a shape that turned out to be nothing more than a flickering shadow.But Lukis set a pace barely greater than a crawl He called a stop at anysound, seemingly even the echoes of their own footsteps An hour into thejourney, without seeing any sign of danger, Donia's alarm began to fade, andshe started to worry

Nikolos drifted up to her, seemingly casual, speaking under his breath

"What do you know about him?" the boy asked, nodding toward Lukis.The Inspector stared intently between two man-sized curls of ice as though

expecting someone to materialize inside them.

"Nothing more than you do," Donia said She had never heard of Lukisbefore But then, Outpost Sixteen was one of the most isolated positions inthe Tower The more social or ambitious Travelers avoided it, leaving thosewho had a reason to stay alone

"I've been thinking Isn't this a little suspicious? We haven't seen anythingwrong this whole time We're taking his word that there's a threat We'retaking his word on where it is How do we know there are even any enemiesout here at all? Even if there are, how do we know he's not with them?"

They were far enough behind Lukis, and Nikolos was speaking quietlyenough, that Donia doubted they would be overheard In truth, Donia thoughtmuch the same Lukis had shown them nothing to back up his claims

But there was something of an understanding between Helgard Travelers,even between Travelers of Enosh and Damasca They may be enemies on theoutside, and they would work against each other when ordered, but the realdanger was the Tower itself Tradition said that she could trust InspectorLukis

"I say we trust him," Donia said "Just for now But I'm on my guard."Nikolos clearly wasn't satisfied with that, and he seemed on the verge ofvoicing another complaint

Then the ice in front of them exploded

The frozen wave burst with a sound like a thousand falling trees, burstinginto a cloud of ice shards that tore into Donia, tearing through her clothes,slicing her skin

With well-trained speed, Donia threw her hands up, holding her fingers inthe correct signs, and whispered a quick word

Helgard Travelers collected names and gestures that allowed them tosummon, control, and influence the creatures of the Territory But she wasnot limited to calling on living creatures

She held out the signs, whispered the key, and the Tower of Winteranswered

Freezing wind whipped up around them, tearing at the fringes of her coat,throwing her dark hair in her face In front of Lukis, it was much stronger Sostrong that the wind blasted many of the flying ice chunks from the air,blowing them to one side of Donia's group

Some of the ice got through, drawing lines of burning red on her skin Farfewer than before, though

Lukis hadn't reacted as quickly as she had, but then, he had been closer tothe initial explosion As the ice shards continued to fly, he huddled behindDonia's barrier of wind, curled up on the ground His torn coat was in tattersnow, and he was visibly splattered in blood.

Donia didn't have time to worry long over Inspector Lukis Three figuresappeared in the blowing snow and ice One of them raised a hand, and thedaggers of ice stopped flying

I guess I owe Lukis an apology, Donia thought Here were his mysterious

cultists

And they were dressed exactly as she had imagined

They wore the typical uniform that all Helgard Travelers shared, out ofnecessity: a fur-lined coat with a hood and thick, warm gloves UnlikeDonia's outfit and Lukis', both of which were blue with white fur, these threewore black coats lined in dark gray fur The lower halves of their faces werecovered by a black mask that, Donia had to admit, looked rather warm

In another circumstance, the effect might have been silly They weredressed up like the villains of some bad play, and there wasn't even anyreason for it; black was no good for stealth up here The landscape was white,the light blue-green, and night never fell on the sixteenth floor Part of herthought they couldn't be serious

Then she saw the dark stains, glistening against the black of their coats,and she had a disturbing thought

Those coats wouldn't show bloodstains

One of the figures stepped forward and spoke His voice was cultured andeducated, possibly a wealthy son raised at the heart of Cana "I'm sorry forthat We can't be too wary out here, you know We've heard rumors that theremight be some Enosh Travelers around here, and we were not as careful as

we should have been."

Blood dripped into Donia's eye, and she wiped it away so it wouldn't freezeher eye shut Anger and fear warred for control

"You're sorry?" she said "You could have killed us! You nearly did! Give

me one reason why I shouldn't report you to my Overlord One!"

The lead figure bowed at the waist, inclining his head a fraction "As I said,

it was a misunderstanding We have heard rumors—"

"We've heard some rumors ourselves, today," Donia said Fear and angerwere still having their match, but anger was leading by a head "Who are you,and what is your business here?"

He paused, then glanced down at Lukis.

"Ah," he said at last "Rumors Yes, I imagine you might have heard a few.Well, I have nothing to hide There is a being sealed in this floor known as aFrozen One Perhaps more than a single individual We are here to share ournames, perhaps form a bond with this being, as has been the tradition inHelgard since time immemorial."

Casually, Donia slipped her left hand into her pocket, swiftly forming signafter sign She would have to move quickly, when the time came, so it would

be best to do as much of the preliminary work ahead of time as she could

"And what about Outpost Sixteen?" Donia asked

Nikolos edged around so that he was standing behind her Wisely so, shethought

The black-coated man shrugged "Mistakes were made."

That was all

"Well, I think," Donia began, and then before anyone could react, sheshouted for her strongest ally

She called him Rishla, for short, because his full name was fifteensyllables and required years of linguistic training to pronounce He lookedsomething like a furred serpent, or a long weasel, with pale tan fur and adozen legs He was fiercely loyal to her, devilishly intelligent, and one of themost powerful creatures she had ever encountered at the tower Moreimportantly to her right now, he would come at the sound of his nickname,said alongside the proper signs She didn't have time to shout all fifteensyllables

Well, he would normally come at the sound of his nickname

Creatures of Helgard could hear their name spoken anywhere, especially

by their bonded partner Why wasn't he coming already?

More importantly

Usually, a battle between Helgard Travelers was a match of who couldmake their signs and shout the words the most quickly The three cultistsshould have been yelling like town criers and frantically twisting theirfingers, but they did nothing

Lukis barely managed to raise himself on one bloody arm, twisting to look

at Donia

"No!" he croaked "Don't summon not here."

Then he collapsed again, his strength evidently exhausted

The black-coated speaker swept a hand in Lukis' direction "You heard the

man," he said "But it seems like it's too late."

The light beneath the ice vanished entirely, for one disturbing secondleaving the entire floor in complete darkness

She heard a sound like a cross between a lion's roar and the tolling of anenormous bell

One of the cultists who had previously remained silent started laughing

"This floor is sealed by the power of the Frozen One," the speaker said

"We've managed to encourage that much cooperation, at least Anything thattries to enter is met by his wrath."

Donia didn't respond Not in words She crossed the first two fingers ofeach hand and stuck them out, one to each side

She spoke a key

This time, the enemy Travelers sputtered their own keys and began raisingtheir hands in signs The speaker raised his hands and made a wardinggesture, trying to get his key phrase in place

He was too slow

A gleaming crystal snowflake the size of a wagon wheel came hurtling out

of the distance, spinning through the air, its edge sharp enough to cleavebone It had formed itself from loose ice and snow, and she could nowcontrol its flight with the motion of her right hand

She whipped her right hand forward to point at the cultist speaker, thenbrought her left hand in as well

A second giant snowflake followed

She didn't know any of the powers associated specifically with thesixteenth floor, but she could use this one anywhere Very few people in theentire Tower could form two White Razors at once, much less so quickly.Donia was counting on the surprise

One cultist called up a burst of wind, blasting a single Razor from the air,but not before it could nick her in the leg A second cultist dropped to hisknees, letting the Razor fly over his head, straight at the speaker

The speaker spoke the last syllable of his key and stumbled backwards Infront of him, the loose ice-shards rose into the air, forming into a blue-whitewall

The White Razor slammed into his ice-wall in a thunderous collision,sending chips of ice and a freezing wind flying in all directions

Donia was already forming new signs, speaking the key to her nextsummons

The cultists muttered along, doing the same.

Then Inspector Lukis picked his head up once more, thrusting a bloody fist

It didn't look anything like incalculable tons of ice rushing toward her atlethal speeds

All of this flashed through her mind in a single instant, then she grabbedNikolos' arm and hauled him along behind her, running recklessly over theicy surface She didn't know which way she was going, and she didn't care abit, so long as it was away from that mountainous hammer of ice

Ordinarily, she would never have run over this ice One slip on ice thisirregular could mean death at the best of times, and now it certainly would.Mentally, she thanked her father for the gift of the new boots that he had senther last Winter's End She did not slip, and she did not look back She justkept running

For a few seconds

She crested the rise of a frozen wave, dragging Nikolos behind her like acart behind a horse She jumped off and almost landed on another Traveler in

a black coat

He had fallen onto his backside, scrambling backwards, face locked on thedescending icicle Donia couldn't blame him She vaguely noticed a half-dozen other figures, dressed the same as the first, all around her, and a hugered circle painted on the ice

She would worry about all that after she survived She kept running

She made it a few more steps before the icicle hit, tossing her from herfeet

Donia slammed face-first into the ice, and the world went dark

***

She woke to agonizing pain

Donia's cheek, pressed against the ice, had begun to burn with the cold.She felt like she had been stabbed with a dozen knives, all up the right side ofher body Her hip sent up lances of pain when she tried to move, and it made

a disturbing clicking sound

Worse, she could barely move She was trapped Her breath came fasterand faster as she rolled her eyes around, trying to see a way out All she couldsee, by the light of the dim glow beneath her, was ice: chunks of ice pressedagainst her face, above her, beneath her, all around She was buried alive.The thought brought on a new wave of panic, and she instinctively tried topush herself up with her right hand As soon as she leaned on her arm, painshot through her as though someone had crushed every bone in the arm with

a hammer

She couldn't help herself She screamed

When her shout faded from her own ears, she realized she could hearvoices Not from far away, either; maybe she wasn't buried as deeply as shethought

As loud as she could, Donia shouted for help

Outside, someone cleared his throat "Someone survived in there," henoted Donia recognized the voice

It was the cultist who had spoken earlier And he wasn't alone; severalothers muttered along with him

Just when she had thought things couldn't get any worse

The thought of other people outside, not far away, actually calmed herdown For the first time, she managed to take a calm look at hersurroundings

Piles of ice, many the size of boulders, had fallen all around her None ofthem rested on her directly, for which she was thankful Several could havecrushed her to death

Upon further inspection, there were gaps here and there around her Shemight even be able to lever herself into a sitting position

Taking a deep breath, and ignoring her pain, Donia wriggled inch by inch

up, so that she wouldn't have to lie trapped under the ice

The speaker outside wouldn't shut up, though

"Was it the lady who made it?" he called "Do you have the boy with you?"Donia was having trouble breathing through the pain, but the thought ofNikolos took the rest of the breath from her lungs

Nikolos was most likely dead She would have to face his father Suddenly

she wished that the collapsing pillar of ice had managed to crush her, too.

"Let me out and we'll talk about it," Donia managed to yell

"Hmmm no, I don't think I will," the speaker said cheerily "Though youcouldn't have been more of a help to us, really All that blood and noise andpower flying around The Frozen One is stirring He just needs one morepush I'm going to do you a favor; I'll allow you to be one of the firstwitnesses to the birth of a new Tower."

Donia had a little pride left, so she only screamed at them She didn'tthreaten She didn't beg

But she was going to die buried alive under a thousand tons of ice; she feltshe was due a little screaming

She had heard nothing but her own shouts for so long that she almost didn'tbelieve it when she heard another sound

"Um," someone said "Hello?"

It sounded scared Vulnerable Young

"Nikolos?" she asked, barely willing to hope

"Traveler Donia? Is that you?"

Donia felt more relief at the sound of Nikolos' voice than she would haveever expected "Nikolos You're safe Are you hurt?"

"I don't know I I can't feel my legs." Panic entered the boy's words "Ican't feel my legs!"

It took Donia many long minutes to calm Nikolos down She was nearly atthe end of her road, but giving in to terror wouldn't help anyone She toldNikolos so

"They're outside," she told him "I heard them They're doing their ritual,and that gives us some time I'll think of a plan, and as soon as we get anopportunity, I'll get us out of here."

"Okay," Nikolos said, gasping out the word "Okay."

To her, waiting for an opportunity felt a little too much like doing nothing.She could call up enough power to shift the ice, but doing so mightdestabilize the entire pile and crush her Besides, she had no idea whereNikolos was Anything she did might kill him She had some bondedcreatures who could dig her out, but her summons had failed earlier

If she had to, she would try summoning every being of Helgard whosename she knew She would keep it up until her voice failed her or somethinggot through

But she wasn't sure what had happened to Rishla when she had tried to

summon him earlier She wouldn't call anything else into an unknown dangeruntil she had no other choice.

The cultists hadn't left They still spoke with one another outside her frozenprison Occasionally Donia heard a crunching footstep on the ice, or a singleword made oddly clear Some of them began to chant

When she yelled, they ignored her She shouted until her throat hurt andshe started coughing, but she never got another response

That left her sitting there with her injuries, propped up against the bittercold of the ice Even through her Helgard training and her thick coat, the chill

of the ice seeped into her bones She needed something to distract her fromthe cold and the pain

Nikolos chose that moment to ask a question

"Traveler Donia?"

"Hm?"

"What are they doing out there?" he asked "What are the Frozen Ones?"Donia thought back to her long years in the Helgard libraries, readingthrough the long history of myths and legends in the Tower of Winter Shehad never taken the stories seriously, and comparative mythology was hardlyher field, but some of it stuck

"Stories," she said "Very old stories."

"True ones?"

"Nobody knows These Travelers outside obviously think so There's alegend that says that Helgard was once part of a greater world A world thatwas being torn apart by unimaginable beings of terror and rage The men ofthat world built the Tower of Winter to freeze these things, to keep themasleep for all of time Now, we call those beings the Frozen Ones."

"So the whole tower is nothing but a big icebox," Nikolos said

"Right now, I can believe it," Donia replied, pulling her coat closer

Outside, the chanting of the cultists grew louder The light beneath herflickered

Time passed, she wasn't sure quite how much, but Nikolos said nothing.Donia had seen people fall asleep and freeze, here in the Tower They movedand spoke a little less, and then still less, and finally not at all It was hard tonotice the transition

If that happened to Nikolos, she would never forgive herself Forget whatthe Overlord would do to her; Nikolos was a fifteen-year-old boy, raised byover-indulgent parents, thrust in a situation for which he wasn't prepared She

was responsible for him, and she had put him here.

The pain shooting down the right side of her body didn't matter She had tokeep him awake, aware, and alive until she could find a way to get him out ofhere

"Both your parents are Travelers," Donia called

Nikolos said nothing for so long that Donia's heart dropped, but he finallygrunted in agreement

"Did you never take the tests?"

" every week since I was ten," Nikolos said "They put me through everytest known to mankind I've spent the night in Asphodel gardens; I've had aCorvinus raven read my mind; I even hiked up a mountain in Ornheim."

"Not Helgard?" That would be surprising, considering that his father wasone of the most skilled and powerful Helgard Travelers in the world

Nikolos laughed for a moment, and then gasped in pain Still, he forced hiswords out "Oh yeah Helgard more than anything They forced me to keep anicefang as a pet for months, to see if I would bond with it They didn't get rid

of it until the third time it chased me up a bookshelf and wouldn't let mecome down Another time, they brought me to the edge of the Badari Desert,and gave me this little frozen goblet They told me that, if Helgard accepted

me, then the goblet would fill up with water, and I'd be fine I passed out sixhours in, and my father had to get an Avernus Traveler to fly me out."

"That sounds terrible," Donia said honestly She had to keep him talking.The cold was starting to slice through even her, so she could only imaginehow Nikolos must feel

"It wasn't so bad," the boy said "If I was a Helgard Traveler, then I couldbecome Overlord after my father Even if I Traveled a different Territory, atleast I could do something worthwhile."

"It's not like Travelers are the only ones worth anything," Donia said

"Most people aren't Travelers, and they live perfectly productive lives."

"Yeah," Nikolos said, "let me just go and sell carpets for the rest of mylife That's just as good as calling fire from the sky."

He sighed "Anyway," he went on, "what about you? Did your parentshave you tested?" “Not exactly,” Donia responded A real conversation, atlast Some part of her was convinced that, if they could just keep talking,everything would turn out all right

“My mother works for the Seamstress Guild when she can, and my fatherserves in your household,” she said “They couldn’t afford to give me a real

test And it would never have occurred to them anyway.”

“Hold on a moment,” Nikolos said “Is Master Sarkis your father?”

Donia smiled, even though she knew no one could see her The trust thatOverlord Vasilios had for Donia’s father was one of the main reasons whyshe had been trusted with this mission in the first place And the boy hadn’teven known who she really was

“He is,” she said

“Seven stones! I never knew.”

“Well, when I was twelve, your father sent a team of Helgard Travelers toour house, to live with my family while new quarters were constructed Thiswas a few years before you were born, by the way One of the Travelers had

an icefang with him, crawling along at his feet, and I decided to reach downand pet it.”

She could still see the creature: a clump of snow running along at itsmaster’s heels like a dog, sparkling in the sunlight as if it were covered in

diamonds Something in her had to touch it, as though the icefang itself were

calling to her

“And you survived?” Nikolos sounded horrified

“Instead of tearing my finger off, it hopped up on my shoulder andwouldn’t leave Its Traveler couldn’t get it to come off all day.”

Nikolos stayed silent for a moment, then he burst out laughing Out ofinstinct, she almost told him to be quiet, but what was the point? He couldn’twake anything worse than what the Travelers outside were already calling up

So she might as well keep talking

“They took me to Helgard immediately for training, though I was stillallowed to live with my parents I spent most of the next fifteen yearsstudying and learning I wasn’t allowed full access to the Tower until a fewyears ago.”

In truth, most Helgard Travelers were never allowed to travel freely fromfloor to floor They were restricted according to their ability, and most neverprogressed beyond a certain point

“I wish I could be like you,” Nikolos said "Even among Travelers, youstand out You've got the talent You've got the skill I bet you could freeyourself if I wasn't here, couldn't you?"

Maybe she could It wasn't a sure thing, but if Nikolos hadn't been indanger, she would have rolled the dice already As it was, she couldn't riskhis life as easily as she could risk her own