“Oh, too bad you can’t get her power the proper way, brother,” sneered Dieter. “But you can’t do that anymore, now, can you? You ought to let a real man have her—”

“Oh yes, a real man who’d kill her in his rage and let the power drain away altogether? Just like you did the first girl we let you have? You get no second chance, dolt.” “Johann” spat into the snow. “The village must be missing its idiot with you gone.”

“That’s enough Johann!” the old man growled. “You’re on probation yourself, here. We’re only giving you a second chance at this bitch because you promised a rare fount of power from her and any of the treasure her protector left behind. So your plan had better work, or you’ll be the one stretching his neck on the altar.”

“You and what army will put me there, Father?” Johann grated back. “Even crippled, I can take you!”

This might have turned into something even more interesting than it already was, had the old woman not hissed at them. “Be quiet!” she spat. “I think I heard something!”

And with that, the vision faded away.

“What happened?” Giselle asked, stabbed with fear.

“The raven faded into the spirit world,” Fox said, in reassuring tones. “A wise move, to avoid detection. They will find no trace of him. He will return to his post when he believes it is safe—or if that does not happen, at night I can send an owl. And now . . . now we know what it is we are dealing with.”

“The Breath of the Ice Wurm. . . .”

They turned to Rosa, who was as white as the snow outside. “What?” Cody snapped. “What is it?”

“It’s . . . cold. The very essence of cold,” Rosa replied, her words laden with a fear that Giselle had never heard in her before. “It’s cold so intense that it is said that even fire freezes. If they can direct that at us, nothing, no spell, no protection, will keep it out. And there is nothing we can do to keep ourselves warm enough in here. We’ll freeze to death. That’s if we’re lucky.”

“And if we’re not?” Giselle asked, her hands trembling and fear running down her spine. She had never seen Rosa at a loss before, and never, ever seen her show more than a moment of fear. To see Rosa so terrified made her insides clench with fear herself.