It was the last day of Ryan's journey and they were supposed to arrive in the royal capital, which was called Lusaris, any minute.
Ryan glanced at Elisa, who was riding with Anna.
He hadn't spoken to the girl all month; whenever she saw him, she would move away, not look at him, or rather, avoid him.
'Of course, how could she talk to me after she saw me kill someone without hesitation?'
Ryan looked away from her and gazed ahead, and in the distance he began to see something on the horizon.
'Lusaris'
From a distance, Lusaris appeared as a golden scar upon the bare face of the earth. Its towers were made of rose-pink sandstone laced with strips of old yellow copper, reflecting the sunset light in shades of orange and burgundy.
As Ryan approached with the Frost Soldiers, the city walls appeared: not high, but two-tiered, with a narrow passage between them from which hung small iron bells that would only move if an army approached.
The main gate was made of ebony wood, carved with golden lines telling ancient battles. Above it stood a statue of a faceless woman, her hand extended as if offering something, but her palm was empty.
Ryan once read about the city and the woman, a book that spoke of the wars this city endured and of the woman who led those battles.
But the woman's name wasn't mentioned, and the book didn't even describe what she looked like. Ryan looked at the statue again.
'It seems no one knows what she looks like.'
Once they crossed the stone bridge over the dry moat, they began to hear a faint rumble: not war drums, but brass instruments playing the same repetitive melody from atop the houses.
The Lusares soldiers who greeted them were different from the Frost soldiers. They wore light armor of polished copper, engraved with patterns resembling sand ripples, and their helmets were open so that their features were visible. They carried no long swords, only short, slender spears, and small bells hanging from their belts—
Ryan looked at the bells.
'What are these bells doing?'
Of course, the bells were a revelation of your location in a fight, so they had no meaning for him; therefore, he concluded that they had another purpose.
Even more strangely, they didn't stand in a rigid formation, but rather gathered in a loose circle. Ryan noticed that their eyes were sleepy yet alert. Their leader, the oldest among them, carried a wooden club instead of a spear and wore the King's Academy badge on his chest—a golden eagle on a crimson background.
According to Ryan's knowledge, this was the badge worn by soldiers in war, the royal family, and also by teachers at the academy, while students wore a different badge.
The Frost Soldiers stopped moving as Anna met their commander after a few seconds of eye contact.the man said, smiling.
"Welcome to Lusares , Frost Soldiers,"
Anna sighed.
"It looks like we won't be getting in."
The man replied with a smile,
"Don't worry, we'll get Miss Serissa to the academy without any problems. As for you, you must return quickly."
Upon hearing his words, the faces of the Frosty Soldiers darkened, but they did not move from their places and remained calm.
Then he opened the carriage door and Serissa got out.
Serissa was very pale compared to everyone else in Losares. Pale like the northerners, but there was something else about her pallor: it wasn't the pallor of ice, but the pallor of the moon on a clear night, or the pallor of an untouched book page. Of course, Anna was as pale as her younger sister, too.
The Frost Soldiers were also pale, but not like Anna and Seresa, and that was of course due to living in the north.
Her white dress was not simple. It was long to her ankles, covering everything except her hands and neck. The sleeves were wide, draping like broken wings, and on the bodice was silver embroidery resembling winter stars—ornaments from her distant homeland that the hot streets of Lusaris would never understand. The fabric was not light cotton, but heavy velvet, as if she were wearing petrified snow in the middle of the day.
Her hair was light silver, gleaming like rare metal under the sunlight, falling to her shoulders like threads of frozen moonlight. Some strands had come loose during the long journey, but she made no attempt to fix them.
Then she looked at him.
Her eyes were icy blue. Not the warm blue of the sky, nor the calm blue of the sea. But the blue of deep ice—cold, clear, piercing like wind through bone.
His eyes met her icy blue ones, and for a moment he felt as if he had been struck by sudden frost in the heart of a city that knew no cold. She did not smile. She did not lower her gaze. She simply held his stare for a moment long enough for him to feel that she had something to say without uttering a single word.
Then she took her first step onto the soil of Lusaris.
And she headed towards the soldiers who had blocked their passage.