Free Web NovelChapter 403: Chapter 403
Her words were carefully chosen, meant to instill fear in the young woman standing before her. If Elka believed herself to be in danger, she would become easier to influence, easier to control.
Little did Nheera know that the war brewing on the horizon was precisely what Elka had hoped for when she sent that letter to Rycoff. On her own, she had no power to challenge her father or damage the standing he enjoyed among the nobility. She lacked the influence and the allies needed to do such a thing. But Lord Rycoff possessed all of those things in abundance. And the best part of it all was that the man would never even realize that he was being used.
Elka blinked, forcing a look of confusion onto her face. "Your Majesty, I don’t understand—"
"You are to have a word with your father as soon as possible," Nheera interrupted, cutting her off. "Plead with him to see reason if you must. Do whatever it takes to stop this conflict from escalating further. Convince him that it is in his best interest to make peace with Rycoff."
Elka straightened her back, making herself stand a little taller.
"Your Majesty, I am just as concerned about the situation as you are. It truly saddens me to think that our two families might be dragged into a needless war." She lowered her gaze, allowing her voice to soften as though weighed down by sorrow. "But my father is not the type of man who listens to the words of others, least of all those of his own daughter. I am not regarded highly by my father. We do not even share what one might call a decent relationship. I wish the situation were different. I wish a single word from me could influence his decisions... but I have long since lost hope that such a thing will ever happen."
***
Their journey was long and arduous, stretching across several exhausting days spent traveling through vast expanses of snow-covered terrain. The cold bit sharply at exposed skin, and the wind howled relentlessly across the open land, carrying with it fine flakes of snow that clung stubbornly to their cloaks and horse manes.
True to her word, Cornelia rode with them, guiding the group toward the cave where she claimed to have awakened. Their progress, however, was slowed by the carriages and wagons they had brought with them. It forced them to move at a far more cautious pace than Ragnar would have preferred. But they had not come unprepared.
They had set out with the expectation that they might find survivors trapped inside that cave, just as Circe had suggested. Because of that possibility, they had ensured that they carried everything they might need—blankets, medical supplies, food, and space in the wagons to transport anyone they might discover back to safety.
At some point during the journey, they had crossed into the eastern region of the kingdom.
The change was subtle at first, but the evidence of unrest soon became impossible to ignore. More than once, they passed the charred remains of homes and farmhouses left behind after one of the rebels’ brutal attacks. Blackened beams jutted toward the sky like skeletal fingers, and the air still carried the faint scent of smoke and ruin. In some places, entire villages had been reduced to little more than debris scattered across frozen ground.
Ragnar felt a wave of anger rise inside him each time his eyes fell upon another ruined settlement. He could not stop thinking about the people who had once lived there, the families who had built their lives in those homes, the children who had played in those fields, the farmers who had worked the land season after season. All of it gone. All of it was destroyed because powerful people were too busy clawing at one another for power.
Those people did not care how many innocent lives were shattered in the process. All that mattered to them was gaining what they desired.
And most of all, Ragnar was furious that the king had allowed things to get to this point in the first place.
By the last half of the journey, the group had been forced to split into two.
The terrain ahead had grown far too difficult for the wagons to safely traverse, so they had chosen a wide clearing to serve as a temporary meeting point. The carriages and supply wagons would remain there, guarded by several armed men, while the rest of them continued forward on horseback.
Even then, the road ahead proved unforgiving. They spent another full day navigating winding paths that twisted through steep, hilly terrain. Snow clung thickly to the ground beneath their horses’ hooves, and in many places the path narrowed so much that only one rider could pass at a time.
By the time Cornelia finally raised a hand to signal them to stop, exhaustion weighed heavily on everyone in the group.
"It’s not far from here," she said as she carefully climbed down from her horse, her shoes sinking slightly into the snow as they touched the ground. "But the roads up the hills are very narrow and steep. We might have to leave the horses here and walk the rest of the way on foot."
Circe dismounted soon after, swinging one leg over her horse and landing lightly beside it. Her breath came out in puffs before her as she lifted her gaze toward the trail ahead. Her eyes lingered on the winding path that disappeared between the snow-covered hill.
If Cornelia was telling the truth, the cave, and whatever secrets it held was waiting somewhere beyond it.
She felt the air around them crackle with a distant hum of magic. Closing her eyes, she reached out for its source. The world around her seemed to fade as she focused entirely on the task. She heard Ragnar’s voice somewhere nearby, but his words blurred into the background as a vision formed in her mind’s eye. freewebnøvel.coɱ
A dark cave appeared before her, its mouth opening toward a narrow passage of pale light. Jagged rocks hung from the ceiling like sharp teeth, and two tall stone pillars stood at the cave’s exit. Water pooled across the ground, reflecting the faint glow from outside.
Her eyes flew open, and she knew instantly that what she had seen was the source of the magic tainting the air, the cave from her dreams. They were so close to it now that she could feel its presence deep in her bones.
