Matt was the first one to remember how to talk. “How do you know?” he asked Vasily, eyes wide and saucer-round.
“There is no way that they would not fly again, with everything that has awakened,” Vasily said. “They hunted in times of old and now they will soar again, to hunt and kill and do the things as they had always did in times of old.”
“Bloody hell,” J.T. muttered.
A shudder crept through me and I bit my lip. Dragons. What else, now? I stared at the walls of the forge, the thick bricks insulating us from the wind and weather. “Damn,” I whispered.
The door swung open, momentarily blinding us as Phelan stepped inside, gaze fastening on me for a few seconds before it flicked toward Vasily. “What’s this about something under the ice and Thordin storming off?”
“Where’s Thom?” I asked.
“Went off after Thordin. Someone going to explain?”
Went off after… “Did he leave, Phelan?”
The Taliesin frowned, crossing his arms. “Took a horse, a bow, and his axe and rode out maybe ten minutes ago.”
I swore. Matt’s hammer clanged off the anvil on its way to the floor. My brother pushed past me toward the door. “Bank the flames,” he barked at J.T. “Leave that blade I was working to cool. I’m going after him.”
“Not alone,” I said, but he was already out the door. I swore again and looked at J.T. as he unfolded from his seat along the wall.
“I’m going after him,” I said, chin lifting, as if I was somehow daring J.T. to stop me.wall.
- “or a few seconds before it flicked toward Vasily. “, chin lifting, as if I was somehow daring J.T. to stop me. He just stared at me.
“I wouldn’t expect anything else,” J.T. said quietly. “But if I were you, I’d try to find Sif and take her along.” He looked at Phelan, who nodded slowly.
“I think I know where she is,” he said, turning toward the door. “I imagine by riding out, I’ll see for myself what this creature beneath the ice might be.” He threw his arm around my shoulders and smiled the wry, lopsided smile I’d come to miss over the last few months, so rarely had I seen it. “Let’s go find her and catch up with Thordin. He’s probably halfway to the new lakeshore by now.”
“I hope not.”
“Hope’s all we have, leannán. Hang onto it tight. This could be a nasty one.”
“I’m used to that,” I said as we stepped out into the snow.
Phelan’s smile faded. “Aye. I know.”
We headed back to the tents.
