𝐍𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 // 𝐊𝐚𝐳 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐤𝐤𝐞𝐫

𝐗𝐈.

CHAPTER 11

The Ice Court

     When the wagon finally passed through the prison gate, Brynn poked Kaz in his thigh to wake him up. The entire time he was asleep, she listened to his breathing to keep herself awake, and didn't want to bring him back to the dreary and musty smell of the wagon. She wanted to know why he'd fainted, but that was a question for another time.

"Kaz," whispered Brynn.

Kaz shuddered and she jabbed him again with her finger. "Kaz." He took a deep breath and Brynn took a step away from him, trying to give him enough room. Her heart was still pounding in her chest.

"Keep talking," he said in his familiar raspy voice.

"What?"

"Just keep talking."

Brynn swallowed. "Uh, okay. We're passing through the prison gate. We made it past the first checkpoint."

"First two," Inej corrected quietly from next to her.

"Right, first two checkpoints."

Kaz stayed silent. Brynn was very tempted to ask him what that was back there, but there were many reasons why she couldn't. He'd probably snap at her to be quiet and she'd flush from embarrassment. The others in the wagon would hear, bringing light to Kaz's weakness that he tried to cover up so fruitlessly.

The wagon came to a stop and the doors flew open. Many people around them were speaking Fjerdan, but Brynn was too distracted to realize what they were saying. Someone unlocked her collar and pulled her out of the wagon roughly, the sounds of other prisoners with their shackles sounding in front and behind her. They shuffled through what sounded like a creaky gate.

Suddenly, Brynn's hood was yanked off her head. They stood in a large courtyard, the gate set into the ringwall already being lowered closed, making a series of loud clanks and groans on its way down. Fjerdan guards were stationed all along the roof of the courtyard with their rifles aimed at the prisoners as the guards moved up and down the captives, trying to match them to the driver's paperwork.

Brynn had never actually seen the Ice Court up close, she didn't even know what she expected it to look like. Something depressing, she supposed. But it was hardly that. The walls were beautiful marble that glowed so brightly against the midday sun Brynn had to shield her eyes.

"If this isn't Fabrikator craft, then I'm the queen of the wood sprites," muttered Nina in Kerch. Brynn snorted in agreement.

"Tig!" shouted one of the guards, slamming his rifle into her gut. Nina doubled over in pain. Brynn didn't miss the tension in Matthias's figure and was reminded again about how lonely she really was.