The Power of Ice

The Power of Ice, sometimes called ice-call, is the second of the nine powers, which commands everything that is cold: ice and snow and freezing. It is also the power of all that is dark: shadows and night and the blackness that lies in the deepest caverns and between the stars. And it is the power of all that is dead.

The Power of Ice is most common in Antaris, west of Kalysons in the mountains. When the Ancient Ones fought amongst each other and scattered, it is said that the women who sang the chantments of ice, sometimes called iceworkers or priestesses, were so sickened by the bloodshed that they withdrew into the mountains, where they built a peaceful place, a place of safety.

The most commonly known chantments of ice are chantments for ice, cold, water, etc. In The Tenth Power, Marna reveals the darker side of the Second Power. The Power of Ice also encompasses the "shadow chantments", which had the power to kill in a dozen different ways, to cause illness, to paralyze, to bring pain, and to put someone in a sleep so deep only another chantment could wake them.

The Power of Ice is contained within the soprano vocal range, most commonly sung by women, which explains the matriarchal society within Antaris. The iceworkers are raised in cloisters as novices. At the midwinter of their sixteenth year, the novices go to the sacred valley, where the cold, dark pool and the waterfall would be stilled by the chantment of the priestesses, turned to black ice beneath the black sky. The novices set out one by one across the sheet of ice, each girl alone holding up the ice beneath her feet. If her lone chantment faltered, if the ice cracked, she would be plunged into the freezing water, in the dark, to drown. But if she reached to the other side, to embrace the frozen column of the waterfall and return to receive the High Priestess's kiss, then she would step onto the shore again as a full priestess. One or two priestesses would be chosen to rule Antaris, both chosen by the High Priestess. One would be chosen as the Guardian of the Wall, referring to the Wall that guards Antaris, made of ice and maintained by the chantment of the priestesses. Usually, the Guardian succeeds the High Priestess, but in some cases, the High Priestess can choose a different priestess to be her successor.