Page 46 of Winter's Echo
“Close it,” I said quietly.
No one argued. The gate groaned as two soldiers pushed it shut behind us, the heavy iron sealing with a dull, final thud. I heard the sound of the wooden deadbolt sliding across the doors, which would prevent them from being opened.
The sound carried, echoing down the empty street, bouncing between the stone buildings and coming back to us warped and hollow.
We all stilled, waiting to see if anything would hear us, or worse, if something would answer. Nothing did. No sound from the mercenaries either, and that was worse.
The houses in Skallfen were nearly identical. Made of stone, they were one-and-a-half stories tall with thatched roofs. Inside, the ground floor featured the living area, which included a large fireplace for heating the house. Most homes had their kitchens within the same room, with no wall separating the two areas. A hatch in the ceiling, along with a permanent stair or ladder, led to the upper level. If used, the ladder could be pulled up at night for safety.
I took a step forward and stopped when I saw a shadow move just ahead.
“Don’t take another step.” Nicco’s voice came from the side of the building.
I hadn’t heard him approach, or maybe he’d been waiting there the whole time.
I looked down at the snow. My boot hovered just above the ground, and the snow beneath it wasn’t smooth.
It looked smooth, but there was something underneath. A ripple, unnatural, as if the surface had melted, then frozen incorrectly.
“What is it?” Nicco asked me. “What other monsters roam this land that we don’t know?”
I didn’t look at him or reply. “Where are the others? Did you go inside?”
“They’re fine. We’re scouting, making sure it’s alone.” He glanced at me. “What is it?”
I gaped at him. “Did you kill it?”
“Whatis it, bunny?”
“A Frosttaken.” I licked my lips. “I’ve… I‘ve never seen one before.” I looked at the men around me. “I didn’t think they were real.”
Nicco scoffed. “In this fucking kingdom, let’s just assumeeverymyth is real.”
Someone huffed from behind us. “Because only monsters would live in a place like this.”
I turned to glare at the men behind me. “Really?” I met each of their gazes. “Do I look like a monster?”
“In the interest of not losing any more of your men, Captain, I wouldn’t let anyone answer that,” Nicco murmured as he scanned the street ahead. “We’ve all seen her anger issues.”
Anger issues? I didn’t have anger issues. I almost snapped at him to say that, and then I noticed his slight smirk, knowing I was about to give him an angry retort. Instead, I kept my mouth shut. I refused to play his game.
Asshole.
“What do you mean alone? Are there more?” I asked instead, keeping my voice level.
Nicco’s gaze flicked back to me, something sharper than amusement there now. “Inside,” he said. “Come see.”
I almost didn’t want to. Was I afraid? Of the Frosttaken or him? If it was the latter, that wasn’t reassuring.
“Stay close,” Captain Marson ordered, though his voice had lost some of its certainty.
I didn’t wait for the others. I stepped around the warped patch in the snow, careful not to touch it, and followed Nicco down the street.
The farther we moved in, the worse it felt. The air pressed thinner against my lungs. Each breath was shallow and unsatisfying, like I was breathing through cloth.
The door to the house I’d been in earlier stood open. It wasn’t broken, just…open. Nicco walked past it and stopped in front of the neighboring house. I saw that the door to this house was open, too.
Nicco pushed it wider with the back of his hand and stepped aside, letting me look first.
