Wona leaned forward in her saddle with a grin. "You're right, Visch. We can't all spend years leading scouting missions all across this continent. Don't worry, though. All that time spent in Morganon sharpening your sword will surely come in just as useful someday.”
Vischuno opened his mouth to retort, but the Yubik started to move again. Wona winked at Jularra as she turned back to face the trail.
The group resumed their trek, and the trail opened back up soon afterwards. After a gentle bend around a large outcropping, the Yubik riding in the front sped up and grouped up. The Yubik in the rear signaled at Jularra and her people to move faster. They were then corralled and grouped in front of a man-made trail that cut down into the glacier itself.
The Yubik captain waded through the others and approached Jularra.
“Please continue following us down into the glacier, my lady.”
“Down into the glacier?”
“Correct.”
Jularra didn’t understand. “What’s down there?”
“Over the years since our lands were returned to us, we have used the glacier to our people's benefit.”
Jularra looked at Vischuno, and then to Wona. Both shrugged. Jularra looked back at the Yubik captain. He was smirking as he spoke again.
“If you hope to see Annutsik, we must take this path. It is perfectly safe.”
Annutsik. She pondered the name.
Jularra wasn’t so much concerned for their safety as she was confused as to what could actually be done with a glacier. Was this simply some kind of stall tactic, or a trick? She considered refusing, and demanding to wait for Annutsik where they were. But time was already short. Besides, if the Yubik wanted them dead, then they would likely already be so.
Jularra held out her hand to the Yubik captain. After you.
***
The path was surprisingly wide. The ground was dark gray and black with centuries of deposited sediment. As the group descended, the path veered diagonally to the right—to accommodate the gradual movement of the glacier, Jularra presumed, and to minimize the need to carve out additional sections from it. The horses hesitated frequently at the foreign environment.
The last few hundred feet of the trail were shadowed by an imposing portion of the glacier hanging overhead. Once they reached the lowest point, the ceiling lowered even more until those on horseback were obliged to dismount and continue on foot.
Everyone soon collected in a cramped cavity facing three even smaller tunnels, one to each side and one ahead. Jularra took in their surroundings, again fighting off the instinct that this was a trap. Before she could voice a question, a figure appeared from the tunnel straight ahead.
“Queen Jularra. Welcome. You are requesting an audience with Annutsik. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Can you take us to—”
“We will need your weapons before the audience can be granted,” interrupted the lone Yubik standing across the chamber.
Jularra sighed and rubbed her temples. “Is that necessary?”
“It’s for the safety of our leader,” the Yubik replied. “Surely you can appreciate that.”
She scoffed in frustration. “Do you know what my last interaction with the Yubik was?”
The Yubik stared at her, expressionless.
“The Treaty of Itirriok?” She added, “When I gave you your lands back?”
“Yes,” their guide broke in sharply. “When you gave us back the lands your ancestors stole from us with blood and terror!”
Jularra turned to Wona and Vischuno in disbelief, then back to the nameless Yubik. “Do you also know that we've been to war with the Torgurians? They won't be raiding your lands anymore.”
The Yubik captain laughed. “You attacked them for their supplies. Do not try to claim you did it for us!”
Jularra swung a leg around and shoved angrily off her horse.
“I am the sovereign queen of Acorilan, seeking an audience with my counterpart within a neighboring nation. Is that audience granted, or not? Do we need to leave—or fight?”
The Yubik speaker stood calmly.
“That still depends on whether you will surrender your weapons. You requested this unannounced audience. We did not.”
Jularra bit her tongue as she considered her response. After a moment, she furiously fumbled for her sword belt, undid the buckle and slapped her sword on the ground, prompting the Bedrock and Spire to do the same. She held up her hands at the Yubik and asked impatiently, “What now?”
The Yubik wasn’t in a hurry to respond, though. He peered around Jularra and waited for the rest of the Acorilinians to hand their weapons to nearby Yubik guards. Jularra examined the back of her hand, feigning boredom.
“Wonderful, thank you," said the Yubik finally. "Now, allow me to lead the way to Annutsik.”
Jularra looked up from her hand. “That would be lovely,” she said, her voice coated with exaggerated pleasantry. The Yubik captain bowed and turned towards the tunnel.
Jularra was expecting to arrive in another cramped cavity with a low ceiling of ice and the blue of frozen glacial walls, but after fifty paces or so, the group climbed a dozen frozen steps into something entirely unexpected.
Jularra’s jaw plummeted.
The area they stepped up into was an expansive hall, with sights and sounds to rival those of Morganon on its busiest days. With no discernible end, the massive city under ice had been hollowed out over what must have been years, and made structurally secure by leaving frequent, massive columns of ice between the floor and tall ceiling. Jularra guessed that the floor of the city was still some distance above the bottom of the glacier, which meant it was in little danger from being damaged as the glacier moved.
Cut into sweeping sections of the underground walls were doors and windows of homes. Merchant shops, as well as civil and defensive structures such as walls, obstacles and spikes, meant to direct possible invaders, flowed seamlessly, shaped up from—and out of—the ice floor. To maximize space, and to minimize harm to the glacier, other structures sloped down from the ceiling, seemingly floating above the other buildings and with ice staircases leading
