Cold hit Ashen like a hammer.
The river swallowed him and Lira in a single violent rush, an icy fist that crushed breath, thought, and pain into one numb blur. The current dragged them downward, deeper into a darkness so cold it felt like teeth biting into bone.
Lira's arms were locked around his neck. She didn't scream; she had no air to. Her small body trembled violently against him.
Hold on, Ashen thought, though he could no longer feel his lips to speak it.
The current slammed them against rocks, ripped at his cloak, tore at his boots. The world became chaos, cold, black, and endless. Ashen forced his limbs to obey, kicking toward what little light flickered above.
Then the current spit them sideways into an ice hollow carved into the ravine wall. Ashen's shoulder struck stone with a crack of pain, and suddenly the water wasn't around them anymore. It surged past the opening like a beast racing by, leaving them thrown onto a narrow shelf of frozen rock.
Ashen coughed violently, water spilling from his lungs, vision swimming.
Lira lay beside him, shivering violently.
He dragged himself toward her, muscles shaking uncontrollably. "Lira," he rasped. "Stay awake."
She nodded weakly, but her eyes fluttered.
Ashen stripped off his soaked cloak and wrapped it around her, ignoring the cold clawing at his own skin. Her teeth chattered so hard he feared they might break.
Above them, the roar of the river filled the cavern like the growl of something ancient.
Ironhand's voice did not echo down from the ravine's lip.
Either he thought they'd died… or he was already finding another way down.
Ashen forced himself upright.
They needed warmth. Shelter. Time.
The shelf led deeper into the ravine wall—into an opening half-hidden by curling sheets of ice. A cave.
He lifted Lira into his arms and carried her toward it.
She pressed her face weakly against his chest. "Ashen… my hands… can't feel them."
"You will," he said. "Stay awake."
He ducked inside the cave.
The air within was marginally warmer, though "warm" was generous. But it blocked the wind, and the river's spray, and the sky Ironhand might be searching from.
The cave opened into a surprisingly wide chamber. Ancient stone carvings lined the walls, spiraling lines and unfamiliar symbols etched in frost-bitten rock. Soot stains suggested old fires, old lives. Someone had sheltered here before.
Ashen laid Lira near one of the walls, rubbing her arms to spark heat.
"Ashen…" she whispered, voice trembling. "Why does he want me?"
Her question hung in the icy air.
Ashen hesitated, not because he didn't know the answer, but because he finally realized he did.
And the truth was far uglier than he had imagined.
He sat beside her, letting the flickering cave light trace the memory that rose in him.
"Before I took the contract on the Baron," he said slowly, "I studied him. Like I study every target. Patterns. Secrets. Weaknesses." He paused. "The Baron's secrets ran deeper than most."
Lira shivered. "What… what did he do?"
Ashen looked at the carvings on the cave wall, swirling shapes in the rock. "Aldric Thorn bought children."
Lira stiffened.
"Not as servants," Ashen continued, "and not as heirs. He bought them for blood."
Her eyes widened, breath halting.
Ashen nodded grimly. "He believed certain children... children with a rare lineage carried what he called 'the old spark.' A dormant power. Not magic. Not exactly. Something older."
Lira whispered, "My mother… she always said I was 'marked.' But she never wanted to explain."
"She was hiding you," Ashen said softly. "From him. From the Baron."
Lira's lip trembled. "But why did he want me?"
Ashen exhaled slowly. "The Baron wanted to use that spark to bind loyalty. Control it. Create soldiers who couldn't betray him. Ironhand was his first attempt."
Lira froze, horror dawning. "Ironhand…?"
Ashen nodded. "He was taken as a child. Trained. Conditioned. Warped. The Baron believed pain could unlock obedience. Ironhand became the proof."
The girl's breath hitched. "So… he wants me because... "
"He thinks you are the last of that lineage," Ashen said. "And the Baron died before finishing whatever he intended for you."
Silence settled over them.
It wasn't peaceful.
It was heavy. Thick with fear and revelation.
Lira looked down at her hands as if expecting to see something glowing beneath the skin. "I'm not… special," she whispered. "I'm just Lira."
Ashen reached out and placed a steady hand on her shoulder.
"You are a child," he said. "And that is enough."
Her eyes filled with tears, but not from fear alone. Something else shuddered through her.
Ashen stood, scanning the cave for anything usable. Old ashes lay scattered in a corner, along with a long-decayed crate. He broke the crate apart with his knee, collecting the driest fragments of wood.
He knelt, striking his dagger against a flint from his belt. Sparks jumped, danced, then caught on a scrap of old fabric. A moment later, fire flickered to life, orange warmth filling the cave.
Lira curled closer to it, hands outstretched.
Ashen allowed himself a single breath of relief.
Safe, for now.
Until a voice echoed from the cavern mouth.
"You always did survive impossible things, Ashen."
Ashen's blades were in his hands before he consciously moved.
A shadow entered the cave tall, hooded, wrapped in gray furs. Not Ironhand. Smaller. Quieter. Deadlier in a different way.
The figure lowered their hood.
A woman. Pale eyes. Dark hair braided over one shoulder. A face Ashen recognized instantly.
Elyra. Once an assassin of the Silent Order. Once his partner. Once the blade beside him in a hundred kills.
He didn't lower his weapons.
"What are you doing here?" Ashen said.
Elyra stepped closer to the fire, eyeing Lira. "Following the trail of a child the Baron kept hidden all these years." Her eyes flicked to Ashen. "And the man he hired to kill the Baron."
Ashen stiffened. "You took a contract on me?"
"No." She shook her head. "On the girl."
Lira backed away, trembling.
Elyra lifted a hand. "Child. I don't want to hurt you."
Ashen stepped between them, blades crossed. "Then leave."
She sighed. "Ashen… you don't understand. There's more at stake than you know. The Baron wasn't just experimenting. He wasn't just creating soldiers."
She met his eyes.
"He woke something. And it wants her."
Lira's breath trembled. "Something?"
Ashen tightened his grip on his blades. "What did he wake?"
Elyra opened her mouth but the cave suddenly shook, dust raining from the ceiling. The river outside roared louder, as if something huge moved through it.
Then a familiar voice boomed from the ravine above.
"Ashen!"
Ironhand.
Alive. Close.
Elyra's eyes widened. "We don't have much time."
She pointed deeper into the cave, toward a narrow tunnel Ashen hadn't noticed.
"If you want the girl to live," she said, "then come with me."
Ashen didn't move.
Not yet.
Not until he understood her intent.
Until he knew whether she was ally or executioner.