Prologue
“When the rule of shadow awakens the land,
Wolves shall bow to her command,
A daughter of ice, born in cruel domain,
Shall claim the northern crown again.”
Prologue
The first snowflakes of winter settle on the ground of the lower courtyard. The black mass of the temple building looms above, protruded into the rock, almost as old as the mountain itself. And just as unchanging.
Oh, to walk these halls again,he thinks.
The man pulls his attention back to the girl standing unmoving in the centre of the courtyard. Her eyes are closed, her hands clasped behind her back.
She’s taller than he expected.
There is a shift in the air as the ground around her begins to cover in frost. It creeps out from under her feet in slow, lazy lines, spreading across the stone as if alive.
She pulls it back, the lines of frost slowly fading away. Then she tries again. Slower this time.
The silhouette at the tree line does not move.
One of the wolves lifts its head from the snow. The white one. It stares directly at the trees for a long moment then gets up.
The girl calls it back without looking up, her focus unbroken.
Not yet, he thinks.But soon.
The shadow grows around him, a cloud so dark it looks out of place in the natural light of dusk. He turns and walks into the darkness.
The girl opens her eyes and looks toward the trees. But all that is left is wind moving between the branches.
