Shadows of rafts and makeshift boats floating on the surface passed over Nienna and the two quaggan who escorted her to the edge of the Shattered Floe. She tried to ignore the dulled sounds of battle from above. It only fueled her concern for her friends she left behind in Deep and Troubled Waters and made her doubt her decisions.

Despite being nearly out of breath, Nienna kept up her sprinting pace as she jumped over what was left of a door laying on the frozen path. The cables looped around her shoulder started to slip, but she hoisted them back up and continued running toward the northern side of Deep and Troubled Waters. She had just finished speaking with Deep Song. The kodan Voice was skeptical of Nienna’s plan and not thrilled about the idea of using her people and their home as the focus of the battle.

Nienna watched her negotiation efforts disintegrate as Seren threw her weight into Captain Morrow’s side and knocked her over. Lord Aedan Byrne uttered a primal growl and pushed his wife aside as if she were a minor obstacle in his way. Lady Bryne fell to the ice with a pained cry. He ignored her, as she scuttled back out of the fray, her face frozen in bewilderment at being so easily pushed aside. She stared at her husband, mouth agape, as he then leapt at the young guardian with the Sanguinary Blade’s point aimed at her throat.

Quint eyed Nienna as he pulled the oars out of the water and rested them on his lap. “Where are you right now?”“Hrm?” Nienna replied. She absentmindedly rubbed at the bandage on her hand while lost in her thoughts. She furrowed her brow, suddenly realizing they were not moving. “Why have we stopped?”

“What do we do with the three back there?” Quint asked as they stepped out of the chamber. He glanced over his shoulder back inside.

Nienna winced and covered her eyes. There was a thick cover of clouds above, but the muted daylight was still bright enough to bother her vision which hadn’t adjusted from the darkness she had been in for so long. “We can’t let them roam about; they’re too dangerous. We should keep them locked up until we figure out what to do with them.”

Unnerved by the dark, rippling shadow slithering around her legs, Nienna scurried out of the water as quick as she could, kicking sprays of droplets everywhere. She fell upon the shore, gasping for breath from the exertion.

Lord Aedan Byrne walked out onto the ice floe, seething as he stared across the frigid waters separating them from Deep and Troubled Waters. Their quarry was there, hiding behind walls of wood and ice.