So many animals lay dead or dying. Snow’s monsters, too. Monsters who had once been human. More birds swooped down, and when she looked behind, she saw other animals continuing to charge forth from the woods. But Snow had also sent reinforcements. Danielle could hear their cries closing in from either side.
The animals forced their way forward, even as the creatures tried to surround them. If they slowed, Danielle doubted they would be able to fight their way free. Wolves threw themselves at Snow’s guardians, snarling and snapping. A brown bear reared up and struck a sixlegged lizard that looked vaguely like a dragon. Talia’s spear knocked a giant porcupine aside, and then they were through.
The wolves followed, spreading out in a thin line behind Danielle and her friends. More animals joined them, a wall of claws and teeth against the frozen creatures who tried to reach them. Talia jumped from her reindeer, clutching her spear in one hand as she tossed her pack to the base of the wall. She stabbed the spear into the snow and grabbed a coil of rope. “Gerta, I need another knife. Danielle, give me a boost.”
Gerta tossed her dagger to Talia. Danielle braced herself. Talia climbed Danielle’s body as easily as a spider until she stood balanced upon Danielle’s shoulders. Danielle grimaced and did her best not to move. Her legs were weak after two days’ hard riding, but she held firm as Talia rammed the blade into the ice. She had to strike three times to get it to hold. She pulled herself up and stabbed her hunting knife into the ice with her other hand.
Danielle picked up the darkling spear and moved to join the animals. She stabbed past the line at the twisted creatures beyond, doing what she could to help and trying to ignore the cold, sickly feeling of the darkling in her hands.
“This isn’t going to be fast enough,” said Gerta. She whispered a quick spell. The next time Talia struck, her blade sank deeper into the ice, and Danielle saw steam emerge.
Danielle backed toward the wall, their defensive line shrinking into a tighter and tighter arc as one wolf after another fell to Snow’s monsters.
“I’m ready!” Talia shouted from atop the wall. One end of the rope dropped to the ice.
Danielle didn’t turn. “Gerta, get moving.”
Gerta hurried up the wall, and then Talia was yelling for Danielle.
Danielle flung the spear straight into the air. Talia snatched it and set it down beside her. Danielle hesitated only long enough to thank the animals for their help. Then, tears blurring her eyes, she grabbed the rope and climbed. She was halfway up when she spotted a white shape streaking along the top of the wall toward Talia. “To your left!”
“I see it.” Talia flung her darkling spear, catching the monster in the side. It howled and toppled away, out of sight. Talia reached down with her free hand.
Danielle climbed faster, ignoring the burning of her muscles and the cramps in her fingers until she was able to reach up and grasp Talia’s hand.
There was a short clearing on the opposite side, about ten paces between the wall and the palace itself. Gerta stood at the base of the wall below, dagger in one hand as she searched the snowy courtyard, but Danielle didn’t spot any of Snow’s monsters here save the one Talia had struck with her spear. It lay dead in the snow, the darkling standing beside it.
The palace was relatively small, perhaps half the size of Whiteshore Palace. It was a thing of spires, like three narrow mountaintops pressed together in a tight triangle. Icicles as long as spears lined every visible edge.
“How do I get down?” Danielle asked.
Talia gave her a wicked grin and pushed. Danielle bit back a shriek as the air rushed past. She had just enough time to hope the drifted snow was enough to cushion her fall, and then cold arms caught her body. The darkling set her gently upon her feet.
“She did that to me, too,” said Gerta. She had tied her scarf around the wound on her leg. “I say we feed her to the wolves.”
Danielle backed away from the darkling. “Sounds good to me.”
Talia landed on all fours in the snow. The impact looked solid enough to make Danielle wince, but Talia shook it off.
“I know this place,” Gerta whispered. “She built it from our daydreams, back when we were children. It’s been so long I’d forgotten. The palace of the Snow Queen, the true ruler of all Allesandria, who would use her magic to fix all that was wrong in the world. She’ll be in the throne room at the center.”
As would Jakob. Danielle stopped herself from calling out to her son. “Can you get us to Snow?”
Gerta limped toward the palace. Snowflakes swirled around her, and more of the ice wasps circled overhead. They merely watched, no longer trying to sting. Gerta stopped before a door of frosted ice. She held out one hand, and Talia slapped the hunting knife into it without a word. Gerta jammed the thick blade as deep as it would go.
Danielle shivered. The sun was setting, and the wind had picked up. “Whatever happens, I want you both to know how much-”
“Shut up,” said Talia. “We know.” She jabbed a finger at the darkling. “You. I need my spear back.”
“Gerta…”
Gerta managed a one-shouldered shrug, but her fear was easy to see. “This is what I was made for.”
“Thank you.” The words were inadequate, but they were all she had. And then a blur of white leaped from atop the palace, and there was no time for words.
CHAPTER 22
Talia jumped back as the monster dropped into the snow. The darkling hadn’t finished changing back into its spear form, so she grabbed it by one spindly arm and flung it directly into the monster’s face. The darkling clung like an insect, and the monster roared from shock and pain. Talia slammed into it from the side, trying to force it away from Gerta.
She needn’t have bothered. The darkling’s touch had done its job, and the monster soon stopped moving. Talia grimaced and looked away, trying to shut out the image of mummified flesh and dry bone.
Snow’s next attack was magical in nature. Three of the icicles overhead cracked and dropped like spears. Talia yanked Gerta back as the ice shattered on the ground, close enough that smaller shards jabbed her legs. “What other sort of protections did Snow daydream about?”
“Mostly traps that would protect us from our mother.” Gerta ran the knife around the edge of the hole she had created, widening it with every touch. “Bottomless pits. Passages that seal behind you. Things like that.”
“Is that all?” Talia grimaced.
“No.” Gerta forced a smile. “But we don’t have time to list all the ways we dreamed about stopping her.”
Talia glanced at Danielle, who appeared unfazed by the traps. She looked ready to carve her way through every wall in the palace if that was what it took. Talia hoped her determination wouldn’t get her killed.
“I’m ready.” Gerta stepped back from a hole just wide enough to squeeze through. “It probably won’t stay open for long.”
Talia retrieved her knife and pushed past. To the darkling, she snapped, “Aren’t you supposed to be a spear?”
Between one step and the next, a white-furred arm shot out and seized the darkling by the throat, dragging it inside. Talia swore and climbed after them.
The darkling was doing its best to hold off a trollshaped creature with claws of ice. Darklings were quick and agile, but the troll held it fast. One white hand crushed the darkling’s neck while the other slammed its head against the ice wall. The darkling tried to shift its form, but the troll wouldn’t let go.
Talia flung her knife into the side of the troll’s neck. When that did nothing, she reached back through the hole to take Gerta’s knife, which she used to stab the back of the troll’s leg. She ducked as it swiped at her with one hand.