Chapter 9 · A Pulse Under the Ice

"We leave now or we die here."

Virrak's voice cut through the wind. He stood in the center of camp with blood still dripping from his sleeve, pack already on his shoulder. Around us the fires guttered low. Thirty-two soldiers left. Maybe half of them could walk without limping.

"Where?" I said. "South puts us in Aldric's path. North is frozen wasteland. East loops back to the capital."

"West, then."

"West is the Shatter."

Virrak spat into the snow. "Better than waiting for three thousand men to run us down."

I looked at the numbers floating over his head. MORALE: 41%. SUPPLY CAPACITY: 19%. COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS: 22%. The system didn't lie. We were already broken.

"He'll be here tomorrow night," I said. "We've got maybe twenty hours."

"Then we move in ten."

"And go where? The Shatter killed the last clan that tried to cross it."

Virrak stepped closer. His breath fogged between us. "You stood in front of the council and told them you were taking this clan back. You burned their decree. You can't do that and then run."

"I can't do it dead, either."

"So don't die." He grabbed my shoulder, the one that wasn't bandaged.