The Palace of Glass (12 page)

Flicker picked up the discarded page, stared at it curiously for a moment, then shook his head. Alice took a seat on a rock across from the giant, so the disparity in their heights wouldn't be so extreme. Flicker settled himself close by her side.

“That is the heart of it, really,” Erdrodr said. “The drawing. Mother says it is no fit pursuit for a warrior, let alone a daughter of the first family. As long as I persist, she refuses to let me claim my name or my proper place.”

“What does that have to do with us?” Flicker said.

Alice shot him a look, but Erdrodr didn't seem offended.

“She has forbidden me from joining the hunt in the land beyond the curtain,” the giant said. “I must languish here, where there is nothing but rocks and ash to draw, while those of an age with me go forth to win their names. It is not . . .
just
. Mother is . . .” She paused. “Too cautious.”

“So you want us to help you get through the gate?” Alice said.

“Why?” Flicker said.

“If I go to the other side and live to return, Mother will have no choice but to grant me my name and my place.” Erdrodr bent forward, eyes shining. “Please.”

Alice thought for a moment. “Why do you need
us
? You're already inside the fortress. Why can't you just go through?”

“The room with the gate is sealed while Mother is on the other side.” The giant sat back, blushing again. “I have tried to steal the key, but Nordra the Warden keeps it out of my grasp. But I'm certain a mere locked door would present only a small obstacle to a Reader!”

Alice had to admit that was probably true. She looked at Flicker, who met her gaze and shrugged, as if to say,
You're the Reader. This is your show.

“All right,” Alice said. “If you can get us into the fortress, I'll get you through the door to the portal.”

“You give your word you'll bring me through?” Erdrodr said. “You won't leave me behind?”

“I give my word,” Alice said. “Now, how are you going to sneak us inside?”

The ice giant grinned, and rummaged once again in her basket.

A SUBTLE ENTRANCE

Y
OU DON'T HAVE TO
come, you know,” Alice said.

Flicker stared miserably at the river. It was calm, to Alice's eyes. She wouldn't have worried about going for a swim, if it weren't so cold. But from the way the fire-sprite looked at it, it might have been Niagara Falls.

“Pyros told me to take you all the way to the Palace,” Flicker said. “My memories of the other side may be useful.”

“You've shown me to the gate. I'm sure that's enough.”

He shook his head. “No. Get on with it.”

They were at the bottom of the hill, out of sight of the ice giants' fortress. Erdrodr had told them to wait an hour, which Alice had timed precisely by the hands of the
silver watch. Erdrodr had gone back to the fortress and made her own preparations.

Now Alice held the ice giant's gift. It was a sphere of ice about the size of her head, cool and slick like an enormous marble, heavy enough that she had to carry it in both hands. Alice had covered it with a ragged bit of bedsheet to keep it from freezing to her fingertips. When the hour was up, as Erdrodr had instructed, she tipped it into the water with a splash. The water was cold, but not frozen, so the ice ball ought to have begun to melt.

Instead, the exact opposite happened. Feathery tendrils of frost shot across the surface of the water, extending out from the sphere in a carpet that rapidly condensed into a solid surface. The expanding ice pushed the sphere a bit farther from the bank, still bobbing in the current. As the iceberg grew, it changed shape, ice creaking and snapping under the influence of an invisible force. The top hollowed out, and within a few moments Alice could see the shape of the thing that was growing.

It was a boat, made entirely of ice, with the sphere embedded in the deck at the very center. It looked like the small wooden rowboats that Alice and her father had taken out on the lake in Central Park, but much larger, as befit a craft designed for giants. Alice borrowed Flicker's
spear and used it to pull the vessel up against the bank. The slope was shallow enough that they could step from shore to boat without even getting their feet wet, but the fire-sprite still looked deeply unhappy.

“Last chance to back out,” Alice said.

Flicker shook his head. With a major effort of will, he stepped gingerly over the side of the boat. When it swayed under his weight, he hurriedly sat down, hugging his knees.

He and Ashes would get along. Neither of them likes to get wet.
Alice put her pack in the bottom of the boat and climbed in herself, spear in hand. Erdrodr had assured her that the current would carry them downstream, into the fortress and up to a smaller gate, where the ice giant girl would be waiting.

The important thing was that they not be seen on the way in. Alice tossed the remains of her bedsheet-pack over Flicker like a shroud. Not being able to see the river seemed to comfort the fire-sprite, and he pulled the sheet tighter around himself. The fabric blocked the light from his hair, leaving Alice in almost total darkness. She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust, the bulk of the hill just barely visible in the starlight, and then she pushed them away from the bank. Using the
spear like a pole, she shoved the little craft out into deep water, until she could no longer reach the bottom. Then there was nothing to do but hunker down beside Flicker and wait.

The current was so smooth that there was hardly any sense of motion, but soon they were rounding the side of the hill, the fortress looming larger by the moment. Alice could see Byrvorda still standing at the gate, but the river was some distance away from her, and the boat was nearly invisible in the darkness.

The current got faster, rocking the boat, and Alice pushed Flicker down and ducked her own head. The stones of the fortress swept above them as they passed under a low archway, the ice boat scraping alarmingly against the wall of the tunnel. Then, with a
clang,
they stopped. Alice raised her head slowly and found that she had enough space to stand, though the boat shifted under her feet. It was completely dark, without even the faint illumination of the stars.

Hinges creaked, and a blue-green glow appeared. Alice saw Erdrodr, standing in a narrow doorway, a lamp in one hand. The boat had come to rest in a square chamber, with a slimy stone walkway serving as a dock. The river roared on through the bowels of the fortress, but closely
set iron bars kept the boat from being swept along with it. The air smelled of damp and mildew.

“No one's raised the alarm,” Erdrodr said, “but we must hurry.”

She extended her hand, and Alice took it, her own fingers impossibly slender against the giant's. The boat shifted, but she managed the quick step to the dock. Flicker, who'd thrown off the bedsheet and raised his head, squeezed his eyes shut with a queasy expression and sank back into the bottom of the boat.

“It's all right,” Alice said. “It's just a little step.”

“I can't,” the fire-sprite said in a tiny voice. “It'll tip over, and I'll fall in.”

“You cannot stay here,” Erdrodr said, looking over her shoulder.

“Flicker . . .”

“Just leave me,” he said. “I'll . . . I'll figure something out. Go on.”

“Don't be an idiot.” Alice pulled his spear out of the boat and held the butt end out to him. “Here. Grab on. You don't even have to open your eyes.”

“I can't,” Flicker repeated. “It's—”

Erdrodr made an exasperated noise and leaned over the boat, grabbing Flicker under his armpits. She might
have been smaller than Byrvorda, but she was still strong enough to lift the fire-sprite like he was a child, his legs dangling until she set him down on the dock. Alice hurriedly grabbed his arm when he threatened to fall over.

“I must retrieve the boat,” the ice giant said, bending down to work the ice sphere loose from the center of the craft. “We will need it, on the other side.”

“What?” Flicker's eyes opened. “What did she say?”

“Never mind,” Alice said. “Are you all right?”

“I'm . . .” He looked at the glittering surface of the water, swallowed hard, and averted his gaze. “I'm fine. Sorry. I didn't . . . I just kept thinking about falling in, and having that stuff all around me, and . . . urgh.”

“You'll be fine.” Alice patted his shoulder and handed back his spear. His skin was hot to the touch, and faint wisps of steam were rising from the damp stone under his feet.

“There.” Erdrodr stood up, tucking the ice sphere into her oversized pocket. The rest of the boat sagged, rapidly melting back into the river. “Now, follow me, and be as quiet as you can.”

The ice giant led them through a series of corridors and up a flight of stairs. They emerged on a covered walkway overlooking the central courtyard of the fortress.
Several buildings fronted onto a rocky square of ground, which Alice was startled to see was full of
trees
. Each tall, slender plant had its roots in a round basin full of rocks and water, and trunks and leaves alike were made of translucent ice, drinking in the faint starlight. Ice flowers bloomed here and there, petals carrying subtle hints of color.

Erdrodr must have noticed Alice's expression, because she made a face. “Those are my mother's pride. No other has bred blooms so large and colorful. It gave her her name, when she was younger than me. Helga the Ice Flower.” She shook her head. “No one says
she
is less a warrior for it.”

“They're beautiful,” Alice said.

“I think she cares for them more than she does for me.” The ice giant's lip twisted. “Come. This way.”

At the end of the walkway, another door led them back inside. Another flight of stairs, down this time, opened onto a long hallway and then to a single massive door, ancient, hardened wood banded with metal bars and rivets. An iron plate just above the level of Alice's head bore a large keyhole.

“That is the door,” Erdrodr said. “Nordra has the only key, and she is asleep in the guard tower.”

“Is there anyone nearby?” Alice said.

“Most of the warriors are with Mother on the hunt. Only a few guards and
children
were left behind.”

“Then I think we won't try to be subtle,” Alice said. “Stand back.”

She reached out with her mind and grabbed Spike's thread, pulling the dinosaur into the world with a
pop
of displaced air. Erdrodr jumped, slapping a hand over her mouth to stifle a yell. Even Flicker, who'd seen Spike before, looked startled. Alice grinned a little to herself as she gave the dinosaur mental instructions. He grunted, lining up on the door, and lumbered into motion.

As she'd found out when she'd entered his prison-book, Spike's strength and considerable bulk let him build up the momentum of a freight train. By the time he hit the door, the wood and metal didn't stand a chance. Timbers snapped and cracked, the hinges gave way with a squeal of tortured iron, and then the entire door came free, hanging from Spike's horns as he skidded to a halt in the room beyond.

“
What,
” boomed a huge voice, “is going on here?”

“Oh no,” Erdrodr said. “No, no. Not
now
. She's not supposed to be back yet!”

As the dust cleared, Alice could see a group of huge ice
women, dressed in furs and leather and carrying enormous axes and bows, in the large, windowless stone chamber beyond the wrecked door. There were at least two dozen of them, and the one in the center, with a pair of ax handles sticking up over her shoulders, bore a distinct resemblance to Erdrodr. Her triple braid, which hung past her waist, was weighted with gold and silver rings. Her broad face was marred by a scar on her lip, which tugged at the corner of her mouth and gave her a perpetual scowl. She was a head taller than Erdrodr, towering several feet above Spike.

Behind the returned hunting party was something Alice had never seen before, a shivering, shifting curtain of light that hung in the air, rippling like a flag on a windy day. Rainbows scattered from its surface, as though it were a prism, but here and there it flattened out and she could glimpse something beyond it. She saw fragments of a blue sky, white clouds, and green foliage.
Another world.
That's the wild portal.

It was right there, not thirty feet away.
I could get there.
If she split into the Swarm, she could flow around the feet of the frost giants, leap through the portal before they could react.
They couldn't stop me.
Or she could have Spike clear her a path—she doubted he could fight all
of
them, but it didn't have to be for long.
I could get there, and—

And she'd leave Flicker and Erdrodr behind. Alice had no idea what the ice giants would do to a fire-sprite they caught sneaking into their fortress, but from Erdrodr's description of her mother, she couldn't imagine Flicker getting away with a stern talking-to. And while Erdrodr herself probably wouldn't be
hurt,
Alice had given her word to take her along.
She kept her part of the bargain. It's not her fault we happened to run into her mother . . .

Flicker had lowered his spear in the direction of the ice giants. The weapon looked unimaginably puny compared to the massive axes the women were beginning to unsheathe.

Alice let out a long breath and released Spike's thread, the broken door crashing to the ground as the dinosaur disappeared with a
pop
. She met Helga's eye and raised her hands over her head in surrender.

At her side, she heard Flicker sigh.