Chapter 78

The icy water ran from her hair and clung to her wool tunic, but Izzy barely paid it any attention. She forced her nearly frozen fingers to uncurl themselves, then curl again around the rope to pull herself forward again. And again. The tunnel had always seemed longer and steeper in the cold. Izzy could hear the scurrying of rat feet on the rocks around her. There seemed to be more of them than usual, but their numbers usually increased in the winter. Hopefully they hadn’t started to gnaw at the rope yet this year. If it gave way, the plunge back into the icy water would not be pleasant. It could very easily attract the attention of some of the guards too. There were so many more of them standing out on the walls! Either the mercenaries really had taken over, or her father had noticed there was a threat.

She found the torch and flint against the wall at the top of the slope, just where she always left them. Cursing the cold and damp, Izzy struggled with the flint, trying to spark the