A/N: I finally broke hiatus! 3 weeks before my exams -.-||| which means I'm on another now…
Disclaimer: If I didn't own the Seventh Tower back when I last updated, I don't own it now. Ok?
Chapter 9 – Return
At the foot of the path that led up the Mountain of Light, a moth-lamp illuminated two figures upon the Ice. Miria walked over to one of them, her face freezing despite the bone mask. As she drew close, the taller of the two – a Shield Maiden, realised Miria with a faint stab in her chest – held out a Merwin horn sword.
Miria clapped her fist in thanks but shook her head. "I didn't kill the Merwin. This should belong to the Icecarl who did."
The Shield Maiden did not withdraw her hand. "You helped in slaying it. And if the Mother Crone's prophecies are to come true, you have more need of it than any other. Take it."
Miria was glad for the bone mask that hid the senseless tears that threatened to flow again. She took the sword and clapped her fists once more, before strapping it to her side.
"He will travel with you," said the Shield Maiden, gesturing with her now-free hand to the other Icecarl with her. Without waiting for acknowledgement or agreement, she gave Miria the good hunting sign and skated away.
Miria returned the gesture a tad too late, and turned to the other Icecarl who stayed behind. Strangely, he was staring at the road and talking to himself. When she went closer, she got even more puzzled. This Icecarl… Was he speaking to his chest?
The pieces suddenly clicked into place in her mind. This must be the Ebbitt Milla spoke of, realised Miria. And that, following that train of thought, must be the Codex he is talking to.
Ebbitt obviously heard her approach, but didn't bother to do anything about it. Miria clapped her fists in greeting and introduced herself. "I am Miria Light-Arrow, of the Ruin Ship." She couldn't resist adding, "Are you Ebbitt, who was once a Chosen?"
"Hmph." The old man snorted. "Who else would it be? And what trouble has my stupid great-nephew gotten himself into this time?"
Miria gestured with one hand for them to start up the path. "You mean, His Highness the Emperor? He's not in trouble. Well, maybe he is," she corrected as she recalled, with some guilt, the cut she gave him, "but it has something to do with politics in the castle."
"Never cared much for politics," remarked Ebbitt, as though Miria asked him for his opinion. "What's the big deal with shooting each other down when nobody who doesn't want to listen won't anyway? I heard from the Crones you kidnapped Milla. I expected that girl to put up more of a fight."
"It's for her own good." Miria glanced around them out of habit and stress. "We have to hurry. The guards from the Castle will be making a sweep along the road any time now."
"Hurry? Of course. This place is freezing. Did you know that the higher you go, the colder it gets?" mumbled the old man absently, obviously talking to the Codex again.
Miria was glad for the Codex. There was so much to find out. And maybe, when the whole thing was over, she could ask it some other questions, questions that had nothing to do with the Castle.
They got to the heatways shortly before the first patrol made its sweep. Miria was grateful it had begun to snow. It would cover their tracks and make them virtually untraceable. Not that the Guards would have noticed anything. Not being used to the cold, they were more preoccupied with getting the job done quickly, never mind well done or not.
Not that Miria and Ebbitt didn't have their own share of problems. Before leaving, Miria had taken a strand of airweed from a barrel left behind after the war. The air inside was stale, but it sustained her. What she hadn't anticipated was using up most of it. There was no way the two of them would make it through. The chance of one of them making it through the bad air was slim enough on its own.
Ebbitt wasn't perturbed. "Use your Sunstone to make a globe of air, you fool!" he snapped.
Miria didn't retaliate, in part because she deserved it. She looked up from tying her outer furs to her ankle. "I don't know how to," she admitted. If only she paid more attention to Milla before! She slipped the Sunstone off her hand and held it out to Ebbitt. "You do it."
"I am old," retorted Ebbitt. "You are still young. I'll teach you now, and you make it."
"Fine," she huffed. Despite his strange and somewhat cranky manner, Miria quite liked him. He reminded her of the Shield Maiden who had trained her, four circlings ago. Miria never knew her name, but still… "Show me."
After several false tries, including a globe with no air that nearly asphyxiated her until Ebbitt snatched the Sunstone away, Miria finally understood not to manipulate the Green light the way she wanted, and made two globes of air to Ebbitt's satisfaction. She felt a great sense of achievement. Before this, all she could call up was white light.
In the Freefolk Fortress, Milla meditated, mainly because there wasn't anything better to do. In fact, the not-doing-anything got on her nerves more than the meditating did. She had long memorized the message carved into the ground.
"Milla! Milla!"
Milla's eyes snapped opened immediately. She scrambled up and ran into the courtyard, knife in hand. To her relief, she saw an Icecarl with long white-blod hair.
Miria was back. "I'm back!" she said unnecessarily.
The other Icecarl didn't escape Milla's notice, but then again, the Shield Maiden standing before her wasn't stupid enough to bring an enemy back. Still… "Who is this?"
"Hmph," snorted the Icecarl. "Forgot all about me. I knew it. Just like that idiot great-nephew of mine."
"Ebbitt!" exclaimed Milla. She turned to Miria. "You brought Ebbitt back?"
"Actually, he was forced on me," Miria said sourly, grimacing at the ground. "He sure was fun coming up."
Milla noted her sarcasm with amusement. So Ebbitt hadn't changed. But Miria was rarely sarcastic, and she was staring very hard at the ground like there was Norrworm under her feet. All together, it meant something was off. No doubt it was exhaustion.
"Alright, enough with the small talking. What is going on outside?"
The Shield Maiden filled her in on the details, occasionally with pointed interjections from Ebbitt to make his point of view heard. When the story was told, Milla sighed. "So they know it was a sham."
"No," corrected Miria, now playing with her sword. "They don't. They only suspect. They have no proof. Ebbitt, where is the Codex?"
"And what of the letter you received?" asked Milla as she watched amusing attempts to get Ebbitt's attention.
Miria looked at her War-Chief's eye for the first time since she entered. "By the shadows. I forgot!" She swore. "Ebbitt, please help me, I don't have time to play," she yelled as she ran over to her pack, dumped by the well. "Here," she extracted the scroll. "What does it say?"
Ebbitt, now that the fun was gone, came back with the Codex in hand. For the first time since Miria met him, he was dead serious. He took the letter and unsealed it. Milla, who had basic lessons in Castle script since becoming War-Chief, stood reading over his shoulder. Her face, too, grew somber, even more so than Ebbitt's.
"What does it say?" repeated Miria. The Codex slipped from Ebbitt and grew to its full size. Words in Icecarl runes appeared on its surface. Miria started reading the translation of the letter, and at the same time, Milla stalked off towards the exit.
"Where're you going?" Ebbitt asked. "Tal knows how to take care of himself."
"No he doesn't," replied Milla. "This is going too far, even for scum like Kazhua." She didn't stop walking or change direction.
"And you think giving yourself up will stop him?" Miria's voice rang out. She straightened up from reading. "You know it won't stop him from ever taking the Violet Keystone, just delay him."
Milla finally stopped and whirled around to face her friend. 'Then what do you suggest?" she demanded.
"I would suggest you take a long trip around the world, but I know you would object to that, so I suggest we not surrender you," was her acidic reply.
"And what about the Keystone?" And Tal. She didn't have to say it out loud. Miria knew that by now, even if she didn't admit it.
The Keystone could only be taken by force from the Emperor.
"I never said anything about leaving Kazhua to do what he wants."
Milla's eyes bored into the other Icecarl, who didn't back down. Instead, she met her stare with an equally forceful one. "So, what do you really suggest?"
On the rocks above a particular stretch of road leading up the Mountain of Light, two Icecarls hid. One was dressed in the furs that identified her as a Shield Maiden, and the other in a violet dress completely inappropriate for the weather, especially since it was ripped in several places.
That spot had been carefully chosen to be close to the Castle, yet far enough not to raise suspicion. Their actions were also carefully timed, for any mistake could be fatal.
They stood, seemingly waiting for something. The Icecarl inappropriately dressed had her hands bound behind her and her feet bound together with Wreska hide. The other held another strip of hide and a knife. She was unencumbered by anything else, for the purpose of easy escape.
The wind howled all around them, but they stood still, staring higher up. Then abruptly, they saw a brief green flash and moved. The Shield Maiden tied the Wreska hide over the other Icecarl's mouth to gag her. That done, she turned her around carefully and sat her down before kneeling next to her. "Ready?" she asked quietly.
Her "prisoner" nodded. Through the amber lenses of the bone mask, the Shield Maiden could see her, but not detect the faint signs of nervousness and anticipation. She clapped her fists and murmured a soft "sorry" before plunging the bone knife deep, past the thin dress and into her abdomen. No sound was heard, for the gag muffled it. Leaving the knife, the Shield Maiden stood up and shoved the still-conscious casualty off the rocks and onto the road.
A/N: I got the inspiration to write this very long ago (to be exact, last October to December), but I hadn't had to motivation to type it out. And since you all know I'm going on hiatus for the next 3 weeks, please do leave lots of reviews (or long reviews) for me to come crying to after my exams at the beginning of October (wow… I've left this for so long…)