Chapter 272: The Crythian Expanse
Maelor’s composure cracked for the first time. "The Crythian Expanse is uninhabitable outside of a dead kingdom." He glanced at Elara. "No offense."
"That’s false," Elara commented, not looking at him. "But I understand why you’d think so, given your sources."
"She just said ’given my sources’ to me. To me." Maelor let out a short, disbelieving laugh. "I want to be very clear about something. My sources are the definitive record of pre-Accord history."
"They’re not," Elara said, still not looking at him.
"They are."
"They’re really not."
Serena walked to the wall and pressed her palm against the ice.
She whispered in Glaciovox again.
Elara inhaled sharply. Then moved faster than any she-wolf should be able to move, even with a Beta’s mark. She tackled Serena to the ground.
Behind her, Hale had fallen to his knees with one hand over his sternum. His eyes went wide for one second.
From the ground, Serena’s possessed head looked at Hale, then at Elara, who was on top of her. She blinked, then seemed to understand, and began speaking in Glaciovox.
They went back and forth in a full-blown casual conversation as if Elara hadn’t just tackled her. Elara got off of her, and pulled Serena up gently. Serena turned to the group, addressing them still in Glaciovox.
Elara translated. "She says everyone needs to turn around and not look until I say."
"Oh for fuck’s sake," Maelor grumbled. "We won’t tell anyone."
Hale met Elara’s eyes. No words were needed. He turned right away. Dex and Gav had already guessed it. Fin seemed to have connected the dots as well. All of them turned without looking.
Three irritated mages followed.
Behind them, Elara and Serena continued speaking in Glaciovox. The ones who knew Draken-Vorah caught fragments of what they were saying with the languages overlapping but not enough to understand what was happening.
The frozen wall ignited in cascading runes, ancient symbols racing upward on the wall. It was so bright, that everyone with their backs turned could see their shadow in a blizzard.
Then the ground shook. None of the men turned around.
Aeron clapped his hands together, delighted. Hyran attempted, very poorly, to hide a smile pulling at his mouth.
Gav scratched his jaw. "Maelor, do you iron your robes or do you have someone who does that for you?"
Maelor’s expression suggested he was recalculating every decision that had led him to this moment. "I am not answering that."
"That means someone does it for you."
The rumbling continued for two minutes. When it finally stopped, Serena spoke in Glaciovox, and Elara translated.
"You can look now, but you’ll need to turn around again when we get to the Inner Seal."
Everyone turned to see the wall had split, leaving an opening wide enough for them to file two at a time.
No one bothered to ask what the inner seal was.
Maelor put both hands on top of his head and turned in a slow circle, mouth open, staring at the walls.
Hyran looked to Aeron for the mutual disapproval he deserved, but Aeron was doing the exact same thing. He was left with Gavriel. Gavriel waved. The look on Hyran’s face said everything about where his life had gone.
Serena and Elara led the way, walking through the center of the plateau, the others following behind. The moment they crossed between the two walls, the blizzard cut off.
Silence fell.
The air stilled.
Only then did the scale reveal itself. This wasn’t a wall. It was a plateau, a massive continent-spine she had just split in half. At least a thousand feet high, stretching outward for miles.
The runes on the walls illuminated their path in a blue glow.
"Oh, this is exquisite." Maelor stopped so abruptly Hale nearly walked into him. "The ward structure is pre-Accord. Older than anything in the Nightspire archives. You can see the Fae influence here." He pointed. "There. And there. Unmistakable." He turned to face the group, which consisted of the mages, Gavriel, and Hale, not allowing anyone to pass, like this was the most important thing, not the two women and alphas getting further ahead. "What I’m about to say is only known by a select few people. If it ever got out, most would consider this a conspiracy. If you quote me I will deny it. There is evidence that Fae migrated here first and integrated with wolves, before this continent was ice-covered."
"That’s not a conspiracy," Hyran said. "That’s been widely theorized for decades."
Maelor turned to him with the controlled fury of a man who had just been told his secret wasn’t special. "Widely theorized by whom?"
"Anyone with access to pre-Accord texts, a surface-level understanding of wards, geology, and basic deductive reasoning."
"Basic deductive reasoning," Maelor repeated, voice flat enough to cut glass.
"Yes," Hyran answered. "Not all scholars are aware of kingdoms still alive here today. The ones who are well-read on it would unanimously share that sentiment."
Maelor looked like he wanted to set Hyran on fire and write a paper about the results.
Aeron, meanwhile, had his face two inches from the wall, tracing a rune in the air with his finger, whispering, "Oh, that’s clever. That’s very clever," to absolutely no one.
Hale nodded slowly. "Fascinating. I’m going to squeeze by you now." He pushed past Maelor like the mage was a piece of furniture and trudged after Elara.
Maelor watched him go, genuinely confused. "What’s his problem?"
Gav clapped him on the shoulder as he pushed past too. "Couldn’t tell you."
Maelor looked at the spot Gavriel’s hand had touched his robe for three full seconds.
Hyran fell into step beside Gav, leaving Maelor and Aeron behind.
"Your protege just cracked a continent in half," Gav commented lightly.
"I saw," Hyran said flatly.
"Cool. Just making sure you’re keeping up."
Hyran’s mouth twitched. Gone before it formed.
Maelor and Aeron had barely caught up when Serena stopped abruptly.
Aeron rubbed his hands together, practically vibrating. "Something interesting is about to happen."
Hyran glanced at him. "Your enthusiasm has always been profoundly unhelpful."
"That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me." Aeron pulled a small journal from his coat and began sketching a rune while waiting for whatever was about to happen. In a blizzard. On an unknown continent. During a mission.
"I should have brought my journal," Hyran muttered.
Serena turned towards Hale.
Everyone looked at Hale. Then at Serena.
She spoke again. Elara’s eyes widened, but she didn’t translate.
Hale looked down at himself, then back up at Serena. Then pointed at his chest and mouthed, "Me?"
