Outside, the night was still and quiet. Not even a gentle breeze caused the branches to creak or the ice upon them to clink like wind chimes. Thane followed the route he’d taken earlier in the week toward the meeting site, flinching a little every time his footsteps crunched in the snow.

He’d been walking half an hour when he first heard it.

The sound of hushed voices speaking to one another. A few minutes later he spotted light through the dense forest, ...