The Palace of Glass (13 page)

HELGA THE ICE FLOWER

F
IVE DAYS, ELEVEN HOURS
left.
Alice snapped the watch closed.

“Readers are supposed to be practically
gods,
” Flicker complained. “What kind of a god lets herself get thrown in a cell?”

“The kind who doesn't want anybody to get hurt,” Alice said. “Especially her friends.”

“The one time I'm on a Reader's side, and I get
you
.”

Alice had to admit she couldn't imagine Geryon submitting meekly to capture, or even speaking to the ice giant on any terms other than conqueror to
conquered.
He'd probably have laid waste to the whole fortress.
That's what makes me different from him,
she thought fiercely.
He
deserves
what I've got planned for him.

The ice giants hadn't treated them too badly, all things considered. They'd taken their packs and Flicker's spear and walked them gently but firmly to this cell in the depths of the fortress. It probably would have been uncomfortably small for one of their own people, but it was larger than Alice's bedroom back in the Library. The last she'd seen of Erdrodr, the ice giant girl had been speaking frantically to her mother.

“We'll be all right,” Alice said. “They can't keep us in here forever.”

“Oh?” Flicker said. “Why not, exactly?”

He had a point. “I don't
think
they will,” she amended. “And if they try, I'll—”

“Think of something,” Flicker finished for her. “So far, that's worked out very well.”

Alice was in the midst of trying to think of an appropriately cutting response when heavy footsteps came from outside. A key turned in the lock with a
clank
, and a heavyset woman opened the door. She had an ax strapped to her shoulder.

“Helga desires your presence,” the ice woman said. “Follow me.”

“What about Erdrodr?” Alice said, getting to her feet. “Is she all right?”

The ice woman did not answer.

Alice and Flicker had to jog behind the giant to keep up with her strides. For the hundredth time, Alice wondered if she ought to simply take hold of her threads and smash the giant aside.
There are too many, though. And I don't know the way to the portal.
Better to keep violence as a last resort, until time started to really run short.

They passed through more stone corridors, then cut out into the starlight and across the central courtyard, where several ice giants were tending the ice flowers.

The largest building facing the square had huge metal doors standing half-open. Inside, a broad timbered hall was occupied by a pair of long tables, where it looked like the feast Byrvorda spoke of had recently taken place. Joints from some large animal and smaller, bird-like carcasses were scattered across the tables, reduced to a mess of gristle and bones.

Only a half-dozen ice giants remained, clustered at one end of one of the tables. Just beyond them, in a large chair, sat Helga the Ice Flower. She still wore her furs
and leather, and her axes rested against the arms of her throne. One of her massive hands was wrapped around a tankard. In front of her, Erdrodr was on her knees, head bowed. Alice was glad to see that she seemed unharmed.

Helga looked up as they entered, peering down at Alice and Flicker. Their guard led them through the big hall to stand beside Erdrodr. Alice tried to catch the giant girl's eye, but she didn't raise her head.

“The prisoners,” the guard announced.

“A human,” Helga rumbled, “and a fire-kin. Curious. And my daughter tells me that the human is a
Reader,
which is stranger still. It has been a very long time since we have crossed paths with one of that benighted breed.” She shifted irritably on her throne. “Is it true, then?”

“It is,” Alice said. She fought an urge to say “Your Majesty”—the place resembled nothing so much as a medieval throne room blown up to twice normal size.

“And are you here to enslave my people to your books?” Helga's scarred lip twitched upward.

“No,” Alice said. “I just want to use the portal.”

“That is what my daughter tells me,” Helga said. “She is young, however, and more naive than she ought to be.” Her eyes sought out Byrvorda, who was among the giants gathered at the table. “My Keen Eyes tells me you wish to
visit the Palace of Glass. Have the mighty Readers grown so careless of their lives?”

Alice shook her head, not sure what to say. Helga yawned.

“No matter. Tell me, Reader, what did you promise my daughter, that she agreed to betray her family?”

“She came to us,” Alice said. “She said she could get us to the wild portal, if we took her with us to the other side.”

“I
told
you,” Erdrodr said. “They—”

“
Silence,
” Helga snapped. “When I wish you to speak, girl, I will say so. Reader, you did not think what you were doing was wrong?”

“I only want to pass through,” Alice said. “Erdrodr told us—”

“No doubt she spun you a tale of woe. Cruel creature that I am, I keep her locked away for no reason other than malice.” Helga's lip twitched again. “Did she tell you what happened the last time she was allowed to join the hunt? How she was nearly killed by a long-horn because she was busy
sketching
some pretty bug? Did you show the Reader your scars, Erdrodr?”

“That was two years ago,” Erdrodr said. “I have grown, Mother.”

“So you say. I see a silly girl still obsessed with her drawings. Until you demonstrate you're no longer a child, you will be treated like one.”

Alice, standing beside Erdrodr, could feel her tension, but the giant girl lowered her head and went quiet.

“Well.” Helga rolled her shoulders. “My daughter has pleaded quite eloquently on your behalf, Reader. She says that the idea of breaking you into the fortress was entirely hers, which is
exactly
the sort of foolish notion I expect from her. Since the only real harm done is a broken door, I believe I will be generous. You and your companion may pass through the curtain, and good riddance to you. If you wish to kill yourself at the Palace of Glass, it is hardly my concern.” She waved a hand. “Bring their things and take them away.”

“Thank you,” Flicker said, bowing low. “We are very—”

“What about Erdrodr?” Alice said. “What will happen to her?”

Helga's face went cold. “I hardly think that is any of
your
concern.”

“I gave my word that I would bring her through the portal,” Alice said, not daring to look at either of her companions. “I don't know if that means anything among your people, but it does for me.”

“Your
word
?” Helga's sneer broadened. “All the worlds know what the word of a Reader is worth. You had best go at once. I can feel my generosity waning by the moment.”

“Go,” Erdrodr said in a low voice. “It's all right, Alice. Just—”

“She comes with us,” Alice said.

“
Now
she's willing to put up a fight,” Flicker muttered.

Helga glared down at Alice, blue eyes gleaming with fury. “Are you challenging me, little Reader?”

“I don't want to challenge anyone,” Alice said. Her heart was hammering, but she forced herself to meet Helga's gaze. “But I will, if that's what it takes to keep my word.”

Muttering ran through the ice giants behind them. Helga's face twisted for a moment into a mask of rage that was quickly replaced with a superior smirk.

“Is that so?” she said softly. “How shall we compete, then? A race around the castle? Shall we see who can shift the heaviest weight? Who can make the climb to the top of the tower?”

Alice kept her expression neutral, but she was thinking frantically. She doubted even Spike's strength would let her out-lift, out-run, or out-climb Helga. The giant was twice her size, and her limbs were corded with thick
muscle.
Maybe I could try to out-think her.
But intelligence glittered in those ice-blue eyes, and Alice had a nasty suspicion that if the ice giants had anything like chess or checkers, then Helga was a master of it.

Then it came to her, all at once, and she found a grin spreading across her face.
Of course.

“Flowers,” she said. “We'll compete with flowers.”

A silence fell throughout the hall.

“Alice, no,” Erdrodr hissed. “You don't know what you're asking—”

A deep, raspy sound cut her off, rising until it filled the great room and echoed off the walls. Helga was laughing.

“I will say this for Readers,” she said, lips stretching in a wolfish smile that reminded Alice of the labyrinthine Torment. “You do not lack for courage. Or for arrogance. But unless you plan to be my guest until you can grow your own crop, how do you plan to hold this competition?”

“Give me a few minutes and one of your trees,” Alice said. “If I can produce a more impressive flower than any of yours, then Erdrodr comes with us.”

Helga was still smiling. “And if you cannot?”

“You let Flicker go,” Alice said, “and I'll do whatever you like.”

“Reader,” Flicker whispered. “Are you sure about this?”

“Not at all,” Alice whispered back. “But you told me to think of something . . .”

“I was hoping for something a bit less mad.”

“Done,” Helga said. “Having my own Reader would be a useful thing. Do you need a rest to prepare yourself?”

“No,” Alice said.

“Then let's waste no further time.”

They all gathered in the courtyard, and passersby stopped their work at the sight of their leader and the tiny visitors. Helga prowled among her trees, examining the pale flowers and running her hand across the petals. She muttered to herself as she went, finally halting in front of a particularly large specimen stippled with blue and red. The ice giant broke the flower off with a
crack
like an icicle snapping, and carried it in both hands back to Alice.

“This is the finest flower in my garden,” she said, her voice softening. “Have you ever seen its like?”

It was beautiful, Alice had to admit. Layers of delicate ice petals, so thin that they looked as though they would melt under her breath, opened outward from a central bud. Some were tinted a very faint red, and others a deep,
icy blue, giving the whole flower a dappled look. And, Alice was surprised to find, it had a sweet, cold scent, a bit like peppermint.

“If you wish to back down,” Helga said, quiet enough that only Alice could hear, “I will permit it.”

Alice looked around. The edges of the courtyard were full of ice women now, in robes, furs, and bits of armor. All their eyes were on her. Flicker looked as nervous as Ashes walking on the edge of a bath, and Erdrodr's face was ashen and pale.

“It's a beautiful flower,” Alice said. “But I'll give it a try, if it's all the same to you.”

Helga's scarred lip twisted into a sneer. “Then pick whatever tree you like, Reader, and let us see your magic.”

Alice nodded and walked past Helga, to the edge of the grid of potted trees. She stopped at one that had no flowers at all, and put her hand against it while she took hold of the tree-sprite thread. She could feel the tree, ancient and tired, with only the feeble light of the stars to draw on.

She dug in her pocket and produced one of her acorns. With the tree-sprite's power in her, she could feel the energy packed into the acorn as it lay in her palm, a blazing star of the raw stuff of life. She tossed it into the ice tree's pot, where it fell into the water with a
plop
. There
was no soil in there, only a tangle of roots and small rocks, and the acorn drifted down among them.

Touching the tree again, she willed its roots to find the acorn and break it open, absorbing the unexpected nourishment. Power thrilled through the tree. It wanted to grow, to shoot up like a weed, to drill its roots through the sides of its pot in a quest for more water. But Alice held it in check, directing all that energy into a single bud at the end of a long branch.