Page 15 of Throne of Ice and Blood
Determination fills my heart as I gaze towards the city.
Straightening, I squeeze my hand into a fist and thump it against the ice railing while I give myself a firm nod. I have to risk it.
There looks to be a side gate set into the high defensive walls a short distance to my left, and now that I have my magic back, I should be able to get through it. All I need to do is to get down there.
My stomach turns again as I follow the uneven ice wall all the way down to the ground. I swallow once more as I try to push back the nausea. I can do this. It’s just like the Atonement Trials. Just a little higher. Well, a lot higher. But hey, who’s counting?
I draw in a deep breath to steady myself as I move towards the side of the balcony. After climbing up so that I’m sitting on the railing, I reach towards the closest chunk of ice that juts out a little from the wall.
Just like the rest of this castle, it’s not freezing the way normal ice is. Only cool. I grip the improvised handhold tightly as I twist my body and ram my foot into a small indentation. My heart slams against my ribs.
After drawing in another bracing breath, I push off from the railing and swing myself onto the wall.
A jolt of dread shoots through my whole body, making me feel lightheaded. I squeeze my eyes shut for a second while I cling to my temporary handholds so hard that my fingers ache.
Once the sense of dread and vertigo has passed, I pry my eyes open again and focus firmly on the ice wall in front of my face. As long as I only watch that, and don’t look down, I won’t know just how high up I really am right now.
There is another handhold a little farther down. I shift my hand down towards it while letting one leg drop down as well in search of another foothold. Once I find it, I slowly ease my way down.
And then I climb.
My pulse thrums in my ears as I make my way down the side of the Ice Palace. I can barely force air in and out of my lungs because my mind keeps screaming at me that this is a terrible fucking idea and that I’m going to slip and plummet to my death. But it’s too late to stop. I need to make it down now. One way or another. But preferably in the way that doesn’t leave me broken and dying on the stones below.
A gust of wind rips through the air.
I gasp as it catches in my cloak, yanking it hard to the side. It pulls me off balance, and I miss the next foothold.
My stomach lurches as I step right into the air instead.
I cry out in panic.
Air rushes in my ears as my body drops downwards. I grip the ice hard with my hands, but the sudden yank downwardswhen my feet can’t brace on anything rips my left hand off the chunk of ice I was holding on to.
Another wind slams into me.
Tears, from both the cold wind and the panic, sting my eyes as I scramble to get my hand back up to another handhold. My cloak whips in the wind behind me. I throw my left hand out blindly while gripping the ice hard with my right. But it’s slipping.
Panic spikes through my spine.
I just need to?—
My hand slips from the wall.
I don’t even have time to be afraid. Instead, a strange sense of breathless disappointment washes through my entire body as I plummet downwards. I’m going to die. I’m going to hit the stones below and break my legs. Shatter my spine. Crack my skull. The fall is going to?—
My feet slam into the ground after only a second.
The impact is so sudden, and so unexpected, that my knees buckle even though the force of it wasn’t particularly strong. Toppling over, I crash down on the ground.
For a few seconds, all I can do is to lie there on my side and stare at the uneven gray stone that makes up the surface beneath me. My mind is convinced that I should still be falling through the air. But the rough stone underneath my cheek says otherwise.
Dragging in a shuddering breath, I slide my hand along the cold stones.
The ground.
Which was apparently a lot closer than I thought.
Pushing myself up onto my knees, I elbow a scraggly bush out of the way and then tilt my head back to look up at the ice wall before me. The handhold I slipped from stares back at me from only a short distance above me. While I was climbing, I wasso focused on the wall that I never looked down to see how far up I was. I had apparently made more progress than I realized.
