Chapter 29 · Frontier Lord - Chapter 29: Torches on the Ice

The torches weren't just crossing the ice. They were dragging something.

Ava squinted through the dark, one hand braced on the parapet. The wind bit through her coat, but she didn't move. Couldn't. Not until she understood what she was looking at.

"Rain." Her voice came out flat. "Tell me those aren't people."

He was already beside her, telescope raised. His jaw went tight. "They are."

Four figures stumbled ahead of the battering ram—roped together at the wrists, pulled forward by riders on either side. Even from here, Ava could see how they staggered. One fell. The rider didn't slow. Just dragged him through the snow until he found his feet again.

"Hostages," Sera breathed from behind them. "They're using hostages."

Ava's fingers dug into the stone. The ram itself was a monster—raw timber lashed with iron, mounted on a wheeled sled that a dozen men hauled forward. But it was the people in front that made her stomach drop.

"Can you see their faces?" she asked.

Rain adjusted the scope. His mouth thinned. "Two men, two women. Civilian clothes. One of the women is limping."

"Are they ours?" The question came from one of the wall guards—