Cursed by Ice by Jacquelyn Frank

lower swells.”
    “Take us there at once.”
    The man quailed. “No one crosses the bennesah and his mage. He will put a curse on you!”
    “Then point out the way,” Garreth said in aggravation. “He need never know you helped us.”
    Garreth brought out a map of the city, which he had procured upon first arriving, and the servant pointed to a house near where the river ran through the rear of the city.
    “Double the guard at the gates,” Dethan said to Tonkin. “Mind magery can be fought if you but remain aware. Tell this to the men. Brother, come. Let’s see a man about some gold.”
    “I am more concerned with the young girls,” Garrethsaid with a frown. “The bennesah is sure to have them with him. If we find him, then we find the girls.”
    “Strange priorities, brother,” Dethan said, lifting a brow. “We have come to conquer a city … not one woman.”
    “This city cannot be safely ours as long as the wyvern is out there,” Garreth argued.
    “True. Let’s go.”
    Together, and with a contingent of armed men, they descended on the manor house of the bennesah. Dethan walked up and thundered his fist against the door.
    There was no answer.
    “Enough of this,” Garreth said after several minutes of the same. He drew his brother’s sword, and with a mighty swing, he cleaved the door down the middle. He and Dethan pushed inside. In the front hallway, a couple of servants were crouched down low in a corner, shivering and quaking with fear.
    “Where’s your master? And I’m tired of asking the question, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll show the way,” Garreth said stormily.
    “H-he said he was leaving the city,” the male said.
    “That’s a lie!” The female popped upright, shoving her male counterpart over.
    “Moyra, don’t!” the man cried tremulously.
    “He’s in the undercity! With the mage! But you’ll never capture him now. The mage will trick you! He makes you see things. Terrible, terrible things!”
    “And the girls?” Garreth demanded.
    “Poor lambs.” The woman tsked. “The mage holds them over the wrena … only lets her visit with them if she behaves according to his will.”
    “The
wrena
?” Garreth asked.
    “Aye. The woman who controls the wyvern.”
    “Where’s the undercity?” Dethan wanted to know.
    “Just as it says. Under the city.”
    The brothers exchanged looks. They had not been aware there was a city beneath the city they were in the process of conquering.
    “Tell me, how do we get past this mage?”
    “You can’t!” the man cried. “He’ll melt away your mind like steel in a forge. Liquefies it and shapes it whatever way he pleases!”
    “There must be a way,” Garreth said quietly to the woman, meeting her eyes. “I want to bring those girls safely back to the wrena. Tell me how.”
    She bit her lip and seemed to think on it. “He’s weakest when he sleeps.”
    “You mean he can’t hold sway over magic when he sleeps? And I’ll bet he can’t hold sway when he can’t focus either.” He patted the woman on her plump little cheek. “There’s a good woman. Come to the keep on the morrow; find Tonkin, our head page. He’ll find you work if you’d like it.”
    Garreth turned to his brother. “I have an idea.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “First, let’s get a feel for this undercity. How do we get to it?” he asked the woman.
    “Wherever there’s a city gate, there’s a door leading to the undercity beside it.”
    “So all four compass points. We’re closest to the south gate right now,” Dethan said.
    “I don’t like the idea of heading underground to a place we know nothing about,” Garreth said. He had a very bad feeling about the whole situation. It was almost as though the bennesah had planned for every contingency … perhaps including them finding servants and compelling them to divulge the location of their master. It was possible none of these leads were worthwhile and they were simply being led