Inside Montgomery Clairbourne’s house, the wooden floor creaked as Jonah crept down the hall. He had slipped into Clairbourne’s home looking for information on Bishop and the evil that was slowly taking over Blackrock. When Esma Horlock warned them about the man of ice, Jonah thought it was just a figure of speech. But then he discovered that Clairbourne could somehow generate ice out of thin air.
Jonah stopped at the end of the hall and reached out to open a door. Suddenly he found that he couldn’t move. He looked down at his feet and saw that they were trapped in ice.
“Oh my goodness. Would you look at the size of the rodent I have caught sneaking into my house,” Clairbourne said with feigned surprise.
The wood around Clairbourne’s feet began to freeze as ice ran along the floor in tracks headed straight for Jonah.
Jonah quickly raised his bat and struck the ice repeatedly until he was able to break his feet free.
Then he dashed down the hall, hoping to lose Clairbourne in the large house. He was playing a life or death game of hide and seek.
“You know I never really had much interest in the goings on of you and your people. I was content to live and let live,” Clairbourne said, speaking loudly. “That was until that girl Scarlett came to town. Before she started stirring the pot, we lived peacefully and everyone stayed on their own side.”
Jonah moved quietly through the house, his bat raised for a chance to strike Clairbourne.
Hoping to use Clairbourne’s voice as a beacon, Jonah listened and tried to find a way to come up behind Clairbourne for the attack, but as Clairbourne moved around, his voice reverberated from one end of the house to the other.
“Having trouble finding me?” Clairbourne asked. “Over time, I have become quite familiar with every inch of this place. I know every corner, every nook. But those who are unfamiliar with my little house are easily lost here.”
Jonah came upon a second hallway running crossways. Keeping low, he quieted his breathing as he listened. When he didn’t hear anything, he risked a peek around the corner.
“Got you!” Clairbourne snapped.
Jonah jerked his head back a second before an icicle sliced through the air and stuck into the wall.
“Just missed you,” Clairbourne said.
Jonah didn’t want to risk doubling back, so he quickly rolled forward through the crossways.
A succession of icicles struck the floor, each barely missing Jonah as he leapt to his feet and ran down the hall, trying to put distance between him and Clairbourne. Suddenly a hand reached out and pulled him into a closet.
Jonah raised his bat to strike but stopped when he saw the butler.
Putting a finger to his mouth, the butler pointed to the back of the large linen closet.
Jonah watched as the butler walked to the far end of the closet and pressed on a section of wall. After a faint click, the wall slid open.
The butler motioned for Jonah to hurry inside the wall.
Although Jonah didn’t know if he could trust Clairbourne’s butler, he knew he didn’t have much choice. When Jonah ducked into the dark passage, the butler closed the secret panel behind him.
On the other side of the closet panel, Jonah heard Clairbourne ask,
“Fredrick, where is the intruder?”
Fredrick made no sound.
“If you are lying to me, I will remove more than your tongue this time,” Clairbourne threatened.
Jonah listened for a moment longer. When it grew quiet, he dug into his pocket and pulled out an old lighter.
He flicked the flint wheel several times before the flame appeared. Waving the lighter around, he discovered he was not in a crawlspace but a solid passage. Unable to open the secret panel behind him, he decided to follow the passage to its end.
Thirty feet in, the passage split with one branch turning left and a staircase on the right leading down.
Something about the left passage made Jonah uncomfortable, so he took the stairs.
The farther he went, the colder the air grew.
“I’ve got to get out of here,” Jonah thought. “I’m lost inside these walls.”
At the bottom of the stairs, Jonah saw a door and reached for the handle. It was ice cold. When he tried to push the door open, it wouldn’t budge. Something was blocking it. After a couple of tries, he managed to force it open.
As he stepped out of the passage, he almost slipped. Looking down at the floor and walls, he saw they were covered in ice.
“Oh I’ve made a huge mistake,” Jonah said.
“You and Fredrick both,” Clairbourne replied out of the darkness.
Suddenly the room was filled with light. Jonah squinted to adjust his eyes. He saw he was standing in a room of ice, and scattered throughout were people frozen in place.
“Welcome to my menagerie,” Clairbourne said.
Clairbourne pointed to an empty spot and said,
“I think I’ll put you there. To fill in this empty space, you understand.”
His first instinct was to run, but Jonah struggled to stand on the icy floor. Jasmine and his children flashed into his mind as Clairbourne brought his hands together to form a great icicle.
“On second thought, you won’t be much of a statue with a giant hole in your chest,” Clairbourne laughed.
When the icicle was complete, Clairbourne said,
“I suppose I will just have to use you for crushed ice.”
Jonah raised his bat, ready to deflect the icicle.
Just as Clairbourne launched the icicle, someone grabbed Jonah’s arm and pulled him out of the way, sending the icicle smashing into the wall.
Sir Thomas stepped into the line of fire with Winter’s Light sheathed over his shoulder and the large shield on his arm.
“Montgomery Clairbourne,” Sir Thomas announced. “You have been found guilty for crimes against the Lady Wintervale and her people. Lower your weapon and submit yourself to arrest.”
“I will do nothing of the sort,” Clairbourne said with a tone of haughty disdain. “You are at my mercy. I am not at yours.”
“Very well,” Sir Thomas said.
Sir Thomas raised the large shield and slammed it into the floor just as Clairbourne began throwing a volley of icicles.
Jonah and Scarlett hid behind the stairwell as Sir Thomas held his ground.
“We have to do something,” Scarlett cried. “Thomas is pinned down.”
“I agree but Clairbourne almost killed me twice already. He may be old, but he’s quick with that ice.”
Just then there was a sound at the top of the stairs. Jonah looked up and saw a man entering the room. He wore sunglasses and held a 357 Magnum in his hand.
“Oh this is just great,” Jonah said, moving between the stranger and Scarlett.
Jonah readied himself for a fight as the man came closer.
“Excuse me,” he said, moving past Jonah.
Jonah watched as the man easily stepped across the floor of ice and took his position next to Sir Thomas.
He calmly pointed the 357 at Clairbourne and pulled the trigger.
The barrel exploded as a bullet broke free and sliced through the air, throwing Clairbourne backwards as the bullet struck him in the chest.
Clairbourne slowly got to his knees and looked with surprise at the hole in his chest. Blood poured out of the wound, freezing the moment it touched his skin.
Sir Thomas stood over Clairbourne with his sword Winter’s Light raised.
“Montgomery Clairbourne,” Sir Thomas announced, “you have been found guilty for crimes against the Lady Wintervale and her people. Do you have anything to say before I carry out your execution?”
“Help me!” Clairbourne pleaded.
With one swing of Winter’s Light, Clairbourne’s head fell away and his body froze in place.
A moment later, the stranger’s 357 Magnum fell apart in his hands.
“Who are you?” Scarlett asked, walking up to the stranger.
“One moment,” the stranger said.
He walked over to one of Clairbourne’s victims. As he pulled a sword free from her frozen hands, he respectfully apologized.
Holding the sword into the air, he shuddered as a strange energy ran through his arms.
“Wait a minute,” Jonah said. “Who are you?”
The stranger looked at them and removed his sunglasses.
“I’m Simon Eldridge. I have been searching for this,” he said.
As he slowly lowered the sword, he explained,
“This is Chavari, the Soul Sword.”
“Can we trust you?” Scarlett asked.
Sir Thomas turned to Simon and said,
“Sir Eldridge, the Lady Wintervale told me you would be arriving. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”