Read Online Fireborn Champion by AB Bradley - Free Book Online

shoulder and smashed in a tinkling pile by the door frame. “Your coins are from before the fall. Tell me: How long have you two been in Skaard?”
    Sander remained silent. He slammed open the door. Tongues of chill, salty wind licked at Iron’s sweaty cheeks. Above, bird cries warbled in shrill notes, the soft rhythm of water lapping the shore kept a steady beat beyond the wall of mist greeting them. Iron didn’t recognize the bird, but he’d heard water make that sound when the wind was high and summer briefly melted the lakes around their home.  
    “How long have you been in Skaard,” Thyra demanded, her heavy footsteps thumping toward the door.  
    His master twisted, yanking Iron outside. The man jerked the door shut, grabbed the sleigh propped on the outside wall, and wedged it beneath the knob.  
    A weight smacked the door. The knob twisted. The wood muffled Thyra’s angry scream.  
    Sander sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “The world’s changed since we’ve been hiding from it. I’m more ignorant than I thought.”
    “Are we just going to leave her locked in there?” Iron scanned their surroundings. They stood on a wide catwalk, beyond which only pale fog speckled with snowflakes swirled. His heart sunk at the sight. He’d hoped for a city, not another world of white and grey. He twisted to the door and gasped at the gargantuan wall hewn in shades of translucent blue. He stepped toward the barrier and looked up. Another catwalk a few yards above theirs blocked his view of the top, but he thought he caught another catwalk beyond that one, and then perhaps another.  
    Iron pressed his hand against the wall. “Cold as ice,” he whispered.  
    “Stop gawking at the glacier. She’ll get out soon enough and summon the fucking guards, and trust me when I say they’re no baby greyhorns. Thyra’s a gasbag like I said, but she’s about as slippery as we are when she needs to be. Don’t believe anything she says.”  
    Thyra’s slapping quieted. Iron thought that probably was not a good sign, even though her words piqued his interest in his master’s past. “Where do we go? I thought the sun was out.”
    “Reflected sun from above the glacier. There’re mirrored shafts carved down the ice to light the lower apartments and keep them livable. Fog’s thick and unpredictable in Ormhild. It doesn’t make a pretty view, but it does makes an invasion difficult, especially considering how the city’s built. Follow me, we’ll go higher, and if you’re lucky, the wind will clear the fog for a few breaths.”
    They struck down the catwalk. Door after door revealed the homes carved into the glacial wall. Oil lamps set in even intervals promised light once darkness fell. Every so often, they’d pass a barrel or crate, or brutish, fiery-haired merchants selling fish or clams.  
    Sander had to constantly grab Iron’s arm and tug him along. Iron wanted to touch that hair. It was like sunlight sprouting from their scalps or fire threaded by the Six and woven into men. The townsfolk didn’t return his looks of curious wonder. Even the merchants narrowed their eyes and quieted their calls when the two dark-haired men passed them by.
    His master cocked his head and impatiently yanked Iron onward. “Ormhild’s not like it used to be. We need to find a way out of the city before Thyra’s able to raise the alarm. We’ll need to climb to the top of the crevasse then back down to the docks. They’re on the other side since bigger ships don’t fit in the crevasse’s shallow waters, and when it’s crowded and a storm comes it can cause some nasty wreckage.”
    “Crevasse?” Iron followed Sander to where their wall met another in a sharp point. The catwalk climbed the angle in steep switchbacks. They ascended in a rush, pushing past grumbling locals.  
    As they climbed, the wind gained strength. So did his heartbeat. “Is the fog going to clear?”
    “Maybe,” Sander said. “And just in time.