Frost Fire (Frost Series #6) (2 page)

Logan's cough interrupted her reverie. “We should get going,” Logan said.

“Yeah,” Rose agreed, more quickly than she had meant to. “My magic won't keep our torch going much longer – we want to get back in time for me to recharge.”

Rodney and Shasta broke apart hurriedly, clearly embarrassed at their so public display of affection. Shasta sighed. “What Delano told me,” she said at last. “Was that it would be difficult. We will have to journey far – further than any of us have ever been. To the ends of Feyland.” Rose's light began to sputter and give signs of going out – Logan removed a glowing red stone from his pocket, tapping the hilt of his sword lightly with the stone. Instantly his silver blade began to gleam scarlet, giving  the group a light not unlike that of warm coals.

“The ends of Feyland?” Logan could not suppress a dark laugh. “Not very specific, is it? Where do we start?”

“We could be going anywhere!” Rodney chimed in.

Rose frowned. Her mind was flashing back to something – some words were echoing in her ears. Something she'd read – one of the books she'd been reading in the palace library, a book covered in dust and cobwebs, a tome unread for centuries...

“There's something...” Rose cleared her throat. “Something I remember...”

“What is it Rose?”

Logan turned to Rose, and she lowered her eyes quickly, hoping he would not see the desire mingled in with her gaze.

“I've been reading,” Rose began. “In the palace. The Ends of Feyland – it's not just a phrase, it's a real place. Near the Kingdom of the Dead. It's supposed to be dangerous – it means going into Dark territories. The Dark Forces.” They shuddered in unison. It was the ancient magic of the Dark Forces that had given rise to the Hordes; none of them wanted to deal with that magic again.

“Breena went to the Kingdom of the Dead once,” said Logan, flinching at the mention of her name. “Perhaps she knows better than we what to do...”

“There's only one thing...” Rose said nervously, remembering her schoolgirl studies. “The Ends of Feyland is the home of the Sorceress.”

“The Sorceress?” Logan furrowed his brow. “Who's that?”

“Don't you read your Magical Histories?” Shasta was frowning. “The Sorceress of Feyland. The one who created Dark Magic to begin with. The one who created the Wolf Fey.”

“That can't be!” Logan cried. “The Sorceress who made the Wolf Fey was a good fairy...”

“Maybe she was once,” Rose said. She remembered well the essays that Professor Pebble had assigned her about the history of Feyland. “But she grew power-hungry. She wanted to be the strongest magician in the world – and so she was. But it required the sacrifice of goodness and the adoption of evil. We learn about her in alchemy studies as an example of the danger of the love of power.”

“And she's still living?” Logan looked confused.

“I don't know...” Rose said. “I thought maybe the book I read was just full of myths or legends – but after what Delano said...the Ends of Feyland...now I'm not so sure.”

Chapter 1

R
ose had been taught well. The Dark Forces – the unbridled power that drove the most wicked of love spells and the most dangerous of curses – they were tempting; any alchemist would likely encounter the desire to use the Dark Forces at one time or another. But Rose, like all alchemists, had been warned from the first day of their studies how dangerous such a succumbing could be. The Dark Forces were attractive at first, even alluring. They promised one fame and fortune, riches and romance, adulation and – above all things – savage power. But they got into one's soul – they caused cruelty, even madness. The Dark Hordes, the wicked beasts who had destroyed the Twin Suns, were called forth by such an evil power. Summer and Winter, though each rivaling the other in their hatred, had never dared to join forces with this darkness: not even to win the war. Not until Shasta had done so.

Rose raged inwardly as she recalled those final, terrible days of the war. How had Shasta been tricked into casting that spell? Into calling forth the Hordes? She knew that Delano had taken her under his wings, made her trust him, tricked her into casting the spell...but try as she might, Rose couldn't quite forgive Shasta, either. Thanks to her Rose's brother – once one of the noblest knights of Summer – had given up his reputation, his chance at an illustrious future – thanks to her, they spent their nights shivering and their mornings aching for the absent sun.

Rose knew Shasta had succumbed to the temptations of the Dark Forces once, and it had cost her and Feyland dearly. Shasta was born to rule, fashioned after the beautiful and cold Snow Queen herself, the mother of Winter, a powerful fey ruler. But she had succumbed to passion, to love, which drove her desperately seeking the powers of the Dark Forces. Rodney had gone along, while Rose, who loved her brother and her Kingdom, went along out of innocence and out of pure trust that her older and wiser sibling knew best.

Now it was different. Rose was different, having survived the battle that ended the War. Rose had a debt to pay Feyland for her part in the fall of the suns. She was merely a girl when she was called forth to serve as the Alchemist in Queen Breena’s court, but now she knew, she must rise and be a woman, as Queen Breena had become. With Shasta and Rodney easily overcome with the disease of love, and Logan still recovering from it; it left Rose the one most clear-headed to keep them focused on the immense task ahead.

Yet when she looked at Logan, she felt the stirring within her, a longing to reach out and touch him, to hold him, to take away his pain. Rose had always noticed Logan at Court. Who could not? But he only had eyes for Queen Breena.

Shasta and Breena, Rose could not help but wonder? Girls so special that they could make men fall desperately in love with them at the drop of a hat – without even expending the slightest bit of effort! Rose smiled bitterly. She had been far too busy to worry about making men fall in love with her – after Alistair had been called back to Autumn Springs, she had devoted her time to studies, poring over alchemical texts in the palace library, resigned to never seeing him again as long as the war lasted. She hadn't thought to bother with romance; after all, one couldn't become the world's greatest alchemist if one spent all one's time worrying about love-affairs! But as she thought of Logan's face, his eyes wide with love for Breena, she couldn't will away the feeling of gloomy darkness that came over her.

It's all right for some
, Rose thought.
Some of us have more important things to do than worry about boys.
But as she shook away her sighs, she couldn't help but think once more of Logan's face, Logan's voice.
We have more important things to worry about
. Rose told herself again, but she didn't feel convinced.

At last they returned back to the palace from their night watch, and Rose scrambled straightaway to the library, searching for the book she remembered reading. “Come on,” she whispered, bringing the others closer. “Here it is, look...”

When the Twin Suns of the Ancient Feyland are Diminished by the darkness and its forces, then it shall presage the weeping and the lamentation; the harbinger of the end of days. In the emptiness of the sunless sky there shall be a vacuum, and she who rises to fill it will be darker still than those destroyers of the Sun. She will be called the Dark Sorceress, and she will bring together the mortal and the immortal, the Winter and the Summer, the light and the dark – all to destroy that which is good in the world, and to cast her evil like a net or snare over all the world.

Rodney gulped. “That doesn't sound too pleasant,” he said.

“The Dark Sorceress?” Shasta said. “Do we even know who that is?”

Logan shook his head. “I've never heard of this, Rose,” he said. “How did you come across this book? It's very old – and very obscure. It isn't something that they teach in ordinary alchemy classes, is it?”

Rose blushed at the compliment “I just do my research,” she said, looking adamantly at the floor. “Professor Pebble always set very high standards for his essays. Besides, when I'm bored, I like to poke about in the library for fun.”

“Well done, Rose,” Logan said. “A girl after my own heart. I used to raid the library in Grandfather's wolf lair when I was a boy. I guess you and I have something in common.”

Rose's cheeks flushed red, but she said nothing.

“Rose was always a scarily good student,” Rodney seconded Logan's praise.

“Do you know how to get to the Ends of Feyland?” Shasta turned to Rose, fixing her intense gaze upon Rose's face. “Do you know what to do next?”

Rose looked down at the book and read aloud.
The most ancient magic of the Twin Suns of Feyland is in the possession of the Sorceress. She dwells beyond the Kingdom of the Dead, further still than these the departed. She dwells in a cave deeper than any cave, at the end of a road longer than any road. The way is beset by trials and misfortunes, for woe betide any who dare to look upon her magic! Only the purest and bravest of heart shall make it to her lair alive – and even then, many shall not survive the dark magic of her gaze. I, the Prophesier of Worlds, do foresee and foretell: only one shall reconquer Feyland's magic, if it is lost. Only one shall re-light the two candles of the world, the mountain suns; only one shall bring light to Feyland. If the chosen one does not – then Feyland will be plunged into darkness forever.

They were all silent. When they had last read this book – long before she'd ever dreamed that the Suns of Feyland would ever be extinguished – Rose had dismissed it as one of hundreds of books of prophecy – many of which were false or, if true, so diluted as to be entirely worthless. It was the Alchemists who have been trained throughout the ages to discern these books. They were both scholars and magicians, the ones chosen to further their studies of magic beyond natural abilities of the fey.

Rose traced the pages again with her fingers, and she felt a sense of certainty in her heart. This book of prophecies was a true one. It had foreseen the death of the Twin Suns; it would tell them how to get them back again.

“So I guess we have to find the Dark Sorceress,” said Shasta. “And battle her – is that it? That doesn't sound too bad – I mean, it's dangerous, but at least we know what we have to do – or die trying. Rose!” She snatched the book out of Rose's hands. “Where does it tell us where to find the Dark Sorceress – or who she is? I know there are lots of powerful Dark Magic practitioners out there – maybe it's someone I've heard of already...”

“I don't think so.” Rose calmly, but firmly, took the book back. “Battling the Dark Sorceress isn't going to be the only hard part. We'll also have to find her. We don't know who she is – and likely neither does she.”

Rose showed Shasta the passage just below the one she had previously read.
The Sorceress will be born with no knowledge of her destiny. She who will bring Chaos into Feyland, who will bring all to darkness – she will be born innocent of the magic she possesses. She will be born a mere mortal, as unawares as any babe. She will be raised among those who have no magic, and she will not know even what is meant by the word until she is a woman. Only then will she discover her own darkness. Only then will the evil that is in her come to light.

“
Hold on!” said Rodney. “Are you saying we have to battle someone who doesn't even know she's a Sorceress? That's not fair.” He frowned. “How are we supposed to do that – go up to some random girl and say “Sorry, you're evil, you just don't know it yet” before running her through with a sword?”

“I don't know,” Rose said. “I don't know if she even knows who she is now – I can't make this book any clearer than it is!”