We caught back up with Asher and not a word was said about our delay.

Instead of trying fruitlessly to stall any further, I let the full weight of my body sink onto the male carrying me, and I meditated. Under the circumstances I think my focus was pretty good, but with every step I had to fight for control.

In the little cabin in my mind, I had some cleaning up to do.

Whatever I did when it all came out of me, had disastrous effects in my head. The cabin was distorted, and I couldn't focus on any one part of it. I began the task of re-constructing it, until finally I could settle myself back inside.

But everything was different.

Just like my physical body, my magical body was more sensitive. Sounds, feelings, everything was amplified. I sat down in the middle of it and meditated.

One... Two... Three...

I could nearly hear Schula in my head, sitting outside Thanantholl and instructing me.

One... Two... Three...

And on the edge of my hearing was fluttering. The sound of a preening bird.

Still counting and doing my breathing, I carefully stood and walked to the window. Since I hadn't constructed anything around my little cabin but an empty field, so there on the ground with nowhere else to land was Puko, staring at me with his milky blind eye.

I opened my mouth to call out to him, but nothing came out. It dawned on me that I couldn't speak while in this form, so I went to the door instead and reached out for him.

He opened his beak in an empty caw, and hopped a few steps toward me, but he kept his milky eye trained on me, unblinking.

I reached out my hands to pick him up, but he pecked my wrist and backed away with another silent caw.

'I don't know what you want' I shook my head at him.

He shook his head back at me, and took off. I watched him go until he was a speck in the sky.

I retreated back into the cabin but left the door open in case he returned.

Then I sat on the floor once again, and focused.

One... Two... Three...

Then I felt the subtle warmth. Floating just above my shoulder was a tiny thread of fire. I almost didn't notice it, but as soon as I reached out to touch it I felt it sink into me.

My heart skipped a beat, it was my fire. It was a part of me. It was coming back.

I was jolted by a large bump in the road. My eyes, my real eyes, flew open. I blinked looking around. We had began to climb the foot of a mountainside at some point, because we were definitely traveling uphill. I craned my neck, trying to see Puko or where the brutes carrying Schula were, but they were nowhere to be found. There were trees and boulders here that blocked my view, and a cold wind that whipped my braid around me.

I tried to turn my head and see where we were going, but the guard hauling me like a sack of flour just prodded my ribs and grunted.

I sighed and dropped back down. But I still had a small smile on my face.

My fire was coming back to me.

I closed my eyes again, sitting and counting. Reaching around me for more tiny threads.

I slowly pulled little wisps of fire to me. Tiny bits of myself that were sinking back into where they came from.

When I couldn't find any more around me, I took inventory of what I was able to get back.

It was tiny. A small ball of heat inside me that could cook a meal or maybe light a small campfire. Was this my usual limit? Would this be my fire forever?

I didn't know, and I didn't have anywhere I could look for answers right now.

Instead, I settled the little ball of fire deep within myself, and opened my eyes again.

I don't know how much time had passed, but it was getting dark. The mountain peaks were tall around us, looming down with a threatening height and sharp evergreens growing tall towards the sky.

Our pace had picked up, I heard Asher mumble something in the front of the group and we began a gentle descent.

I was afraid to know exactly how high we had climbed to already be heading downward again, but hopefully we were heading somewhere safe for the night. I thought about the flesh hounds again and shivered.

"Getting cold, warm blood?" My guard, who still didn't have a name so I started calling Brute, chuckled at me.

"Where are we going?" I asked softly, not wanting to get in trouble for talking now that we were closer to Asher. The last thing I needed was his attention.

Brute shrugged. "Icehold."

Which was no answer for me, since I had no idea what or who Icehold was, but I let it go. Wherever we were heading, I would find out on my own.

The slope continued for a while, and I watched the sun dip dangerously close to the mountainside. It was getting too dark and too cold for my comfort, and I held my breath with every moment that passed, hoping we were almost to shelter.

Finally, the movement at the front of the group behind me changed. The fae took more of a marching order with more attention to their matching footsteps. Asher called something out about formation and Brute moved us to the back of the line.

I craned my neck to see where we were, and finally a structure of sorts came into view. Carved stone sprouting right from the mountain rock itself sprouted into a gaping maw that descended into the rock. Countless stairs that went down, down, down into a dark cavern. Instead of cave walls though, everything was carved. Inlays of gold, silver, and jade depicted fae, monsters, the mountains, and animals I had never seen before.

My jaw dropped, forgetting for a moment that I was being taken against my will into the depths of the Winter's Teeth. My eyes covered every inch of wall, of ceiling, of pillar that they could reach. Soft curves, intricate details, smooth edges. They put Bryn's little wood carvings to shame. A lump in my throat caught as I inspected the tiny gold inlay depicting the embroidery of a female's elaborate gown.

And it went on like that for as far as I could see in the fading light. We walked for a long time down those stairs and I wondered how any of them could bring themselves to step on such glorious decoration as though it were a worn rug that had always been there. I wondered what kind of people could have carved all of this.

The descent finally ended with a torch-lit gate. Two guards dressed in black leathers opened the metal bars as Asher approached.

A fragrance hit my nose and I winced as I realized they were burning their hands. The gate was solid iron.

The guards didn't flinch though, they just stared stone-faced ahead and didn't so much as glance at the half-breed being hauled past them.

We kept marching through the gates and to what could only be a city, only there were no separate buildings.

Icehold.

Everything, like the grand staircase behind us, was carved from the mountain. There was little made of wood and there were candles and oil lamps everywhere. Lanterns, windows, shelves carved outside of doorways seemingly for the express purpose of holding light.

Eyes peered at me from around corners and through window panes. The Winter court for sure. The thing that struck me as odd was their clothing. It all looked so shabby. Hand me downs of hand me downs. If this was their common citizen, the Winter Court was far poorer than either Autumn or Spring.

We continued though the streets, pushing fae out of our way who were brave enough to be there, and making our way toward something I couldn't see around Brute's shoulders thought the winding, carved city.

Then I started seeing silk.

And gold, and veils, and flowers. Money. It was as thought we stepped through a curtain and found the upper class. The difference between what I had been seeing and what I saw now was staggering. And the females...

I remembered Eberon saying that the clothing style here would be eccentric, but I wasn't prepared for this.

The females in this area wore fine lace or thin veils that covered their whole bodies and were held on by ornate circlets on their heads. Under the see-through layers they seemed to be in competition with each other as to who could wear the smallest amount of clothing despite the freezing temperatures. Several of them appeared to be in some decorative form of underclothes. At least I wouldn't be too out of place with my missing tunic.

The males were little better. Other than the leather-clad warriors, the fae in this aristocratic district of the city walked around with no shirts and a finer version of the kilted waist wraps that the human plainsmen favored in battle.

What they lacked in cloth on their bodies they made up for in jewelry. Rings, ear cuffs, bracelets, necklaces and items I couldn't even identify adorned them like a jeweled box. Even King Baeleon's court wasn't this extravagant.

I stared, bewildered, as we marched on. The ever-changing but ever the same carved walls still held my fascination over everything else. When I was thoroughly lost from the twists and turns of the carved city, Asher halted us in front of another grand gate made of iron.

This one took four guards to open and again I could smell the damage to their bare hands as we passed.

The gate took us to an open doorway, which took us through a grand carpeted entrance, which took us through a series of lavish halls, which finally had us approaching a gilded open door.

I was lifted and set on my feet in one swift motion. I hadn't realized how much blood must have been flowing to my head, because as it rushed to the rest of my now upright body I nearly fainted. I was still seeing spots when a gnarled voice spoke.

"Asher," it drawled. "What have you brought before me?"

The big male kneeled before a dais, on which was a grand throne of marble. A smaller, only slightly less elaborate throne sat empty next to the first. And the fae, who must only be the Winter King, sat with disgust and disinterest as he looked down his nose at his servant.

His skin was the palest blue, almost white, and his eyes matched. His hair was a smokey gray and it fell around his shoulders with a few small braids adorning it. Unlike his court, he wore little jewelry. A single pendant and three rings.

"My king, I bring you something we haven't seen in these lands in an age."

Mumbles pricked my ears and told me the room held more than just the captivating figure in front of us. I glanced around, quickly taking in the forms of more Winter nobility before focusing again on the fae on the throne.

A hand grabbed my bound wrists and pulled me into the light. I was yanked forward and left to stumble on the white carpet at the King's feet.

"We found this half-breed in the Sangolins without your permission." Asher bowed his head. "She was burning off a considerable amount of fire in the crater."

The king tapped a finger on the arm of his throne for a moment before he leaned forward and his nose twitched.

"You," he hissed and stood suddenly, bringing his court to their knees around him. "How did you come to exist?"

I had no clue how I was supposed to answer that. None at all, so I tried to say something that might lessen his wrath on me.

"I don't know my parents, your Majesty. I was raised by humans. Please, I am here with your permission. I was traveling with an envoy from the Autumn lands, I'm--"

Smack.

Asher stood over me in a flash, backhanding me. I spun and fell to the ground, landing on my shoulder hard as I cried out from the impact.

"That is not the answer King DuVarick asked for!" Asher roared.

"She was traveling with others?" The king asked, still not taking his piercing eyes off of me.

"Yes." Asher bowed his head and took a knee once again. "Sire, it was Schula."

The roar that echoed in the room could have shattered bone if we weren't all fae. My stomach lurched at the anger he had toward her.

"Throw this one to the blackness. We deal with her later. I will have Schula in front of me now."

So the king ordered, and I was taken away.

The room still spun as I was carried out by Brute and I cried out for Schula. Her still-limp body was carried by me as I screamed. She didn't wake up, she didn't even twitch.

Still I screamed for her as I was carried down a narrow hall until she was out of sight.

Until I was out of sight.

Until I noticed I was being taken somewhere even the torchlight wouldn't touch.

As the last flicker of distant fire left us, so did my raw voice.

Brute threw me onto what must have been a straw covered floor and then it was just me.

Me, and the blackness.