Heart of Ice

The Hound lunged, too fast for Vasil to prepare, only for him to raise his hands and pray for it to be quick. Clara curled down, also praying for a quick death, but when instead it was quiet, she opened her eyes cautiously. The other two hounds were cowering, and on the edge of the clearing was the last hound, a spear of ice pierced its body. There seemed to be no blood, as it had frozen where the spear had gone through. Clara looked around, and stood slowly as someone approached. A thick fog filled the trees, and Clara immediately felt cold, seeing her breath as she exhaled. As they looked through the flurry, a white horse walked forward, with a rider on its back. Wait, Clara thought.

"Is that a unicorn?" Clara asked, and as she looked over, Vasil made a fist, putting it over his heart. The rider did the same, his free hand glowing a ghostly blue, with wisps floating from it. As the rider took his hand away, two white wolves flanked the unicorn. The rider nodded, and the wolves gave chase after the remaining hounds.

"They won't catch those dogs," Vasil said, and the rider scoffed.

"They'll at least chase them out of my Kingdom." The rider was wearing a suit of silver armor, and a longsword sat sheathed at his side. He removed his helmet, revealing an almost human looking face. His light brown hair was worn longer, and it stuck out at awkward angles from the helmet. But his features were too sharp, too perfect, and Clara noticed his pointed ears.

"Are you an elf?" Clara asked, and the man turned to look at Clara.

"How observant of you," the man said, then looked back at Vasil. "Who's your genius friend?" Vasil put a protective hand on Clara's shoulder.

"This is Doe," Clara waved. "And she's the Outsider."

"Please don't tell me you're talking about the Outsider of-"

"Of the prophecy, yes," Vasil finished. The elf waved his hand in dismissal. "Jokull please, I can feel it. She's it." Vasil seemed to have a repore with the elf and Clara pulled on her cloak, wrapping the hood around her face, trying to hide from the cold. Jokull remained silent. "Please," Vasil said. "Let her at least try."

"Fine. Pleased to make your acquaintance Doe. I am the Winter King." Jokull frowned. "Let's go before more Hounds show up." Jokull looked around as a far off howl echoed through the trees and held out his hand, but Clara just looked at it. Jokull gestured to her to come closer. "Humans can't keep up with me, but fairies can. Get on the horse." Clara nodded, taking Jokull's hand as he lifted her into the saddle. Jokull turned the horse quickly, and before Clara realized they were galloping through the snow. She could feel the ice crystals forming on her eyelashes, and closed her eyes, leaning into Jokull's back, with the only reprieve from the cold being the warmth radiating off of the horse. Clara tried to look around, but everything looked the same, with white covering all the trees, and snow falling sideways. Although she was more comfortable on the back of a horse, she would've preferred travelling with Vasil. Clara couldn't see Vasil, but hoped that he was somewhere close. He felt Jokull slow down and Clara leaned back to see where they were. She gasped as she took in the sight of what was in front of her. A palace that seemed to be made competely out of ice rose from the snowy ground. Jokull dismounted, then held out a hand to help Clara down. Clara accepted, letting Jokull lead her down as she heard muttered cursing from behind.

"This weather is horrible," Vasil complained, his cloak crusted in ice. "How do you live like this?"

"Oh you know," Jokull began, walking up the ice steps, which Clara immediately recognized as a bad design. "You live somewhere that matches your personality," he smiled over his shoulder and Vasil and Clara followed him into the palace.

The floors were surprisingly non slippery, and they made their way to what looked like the main hall. Clara pushed her hood back as they walked, and despite the cold temperatures outside, the castle seemed to be surprisingly warm.They watched Jokull ascend another set of stairs to a throne of ice, draped in white furs, and lounged himself across the chair. Clara thought he looked bored, as if he was sitting on the couch watching TV, not looking down from a throne. As he sat, Clara was struck by how strikingly beautiful the elf was. His petite features looked to be carved from stone, or maybe ice, Clara thought. Vasil stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and Clara decided it was probably best to stop next to him. She looked around curiously, admiring the high arches and strange architecture of the ice castle.

"So what do you want from me?" Jokull began, then added, "Besides the missing Piece." Vasil laughed, but there wasn't a hint of lightness in his voice.

"Why would you think I want something from you?" Vasil responded, and Jokull sighed.

"You only ever visit when you want something. I miss when you would come to just see me," Jokull almost whined. They gazed for a moment at each other in silence.

"You know I've been busy," Vasil excused, and Jokull smiled, a much kinder look on his cold face. Jokull righted himself in the chair, sitting more like a king.

"Jokull?" Another voice called out from a side archway, and Clara turned to see a woman standing there. "Vasil?" she added. "You didn't tell me you would be visiting!" She smiled, rushing over and squeezing Vasil into a hug. She shared the same sharp features as Jokull, but wore them in a way that seemed much warmer. Her dark hair floated around her shoulders, her large, pointed ears decorated with various earrings. She wore a long blue dress adorned around the collar in fur, and as she turned to Clara, her dress flowed around her like snow.

"Kyra, you truly are the only warmth in this place," Vasil said, and she curtsied.

"Who is this?" she asked, and Jokull opened his mouth to answer.

"My name is Doe," Clara answered instead. She was a little tired of people talking for her. "I'm apparently the Outsider of the Prophecy."

"Oooh," she said, turning to Jokull. "Wonderful." She walked up the stairs, waving her hand as a chair appeared next to Jokull and she sat.

"How do I know you're not just using her to collect the pieces yourself?" Jokull asked Vasil, and Vasil shook his head.

"You know as well as me that only the Savior can don the armor. Clara is merely the means to collect it."

"Wow thanks for that," Clara mumbles, and Vasil turns to him.

"It is still a great honor. No one born of this land can bring the pieces together, bringing back what was lost," Vasil says, giving Clara a smile.

"I know the words of the prophecy as well as you," Jokull grumbles. "We'll take her to the chamber," Jokull agrees, and stands, walking down the steps past the pair. Vasil and Clara look at each other then back to Jokull and follow, Kyra following behind them. They walked down another hallway of ice, their footsteps echoing off the cold walls. At the end was a strangely out of place wood door that Jokull pushed open. Clara could see the beginning of a set of stairs leading down, but then it became too dark to see. Jokull lazily raised his hand, and Clara watched his veins seem to glow a bright blue before a small blue flame materialized out of his hand. Jokull then grabbed the wooden torch on the wall, touching the top and suddenly the hallway was filled with the light of genuine fire. Clara could feel its heat from a few feet away and wanted to lean in to touch its warmth.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Jokull said, descending the stairs into the darkness. The rest of the group followed, and Clara could feel an uneasiness rising in her throat as they went deeper and deeper. Finally, they reached the bottom, and walked along a small hallway to reach another...wall.

"This is as far as we can go," Jokull shrugged. "Unless she really is the Outsider." Clara no longer felt uneasy. In fact, she felt almost drawn to the door, could hear the faint sound of whispering.

"Do you hear that?" She asked out loud, and both Vasil and Jokull shook their heads. Clara held her hands out, almost touching the wall. She didn't mean to, the action was involuntary. The cold of the stones radiated off, and goosebumps traveled up her arms. She had no idea what she was doing, but this felt like what she was supposed to do. She closed his eyes, pushing on one of the blocks of the wall. She stepped back, opening her eyes, and to her surprise the spaces between the blocks began to glow a soft white, getting brighter and brighter until Clara had to avert her eyes. When the light faded, the wall was gone, opening up to another room. Clara looked back at the group, and could see the shock reflected in all of their faces. They all turned their attention to Clara, who looked down. Jokull held out the torch.

"Lead the way then," Jokull said, and Clara waited for a second before taking the torch and turning back, slowly walking through the new opening. As they walked in, the ceiling illuminated with different colors, fading in and out like a churning sea. "The auroras," Jokull said, the green and purple lights reflecting off of his face as he gazed upwards. "But how?" He asked no one in particular, reaching his arm up to the ceiling, into the colorful cloud. As he pulled his hand back, the gas seemed to pull down with him, sending tendrils of color along his arm before dissipating.

"Remarkable," Vasil whispered, looking over to Clara. In the center of the room was a single pillar, displaying a rather plain looking silver circlet. It was adorned with a single white stone, smaller than even Clara's thumb.

"Is this it?" Jokull asked, turning to look at the crown. "It can't be."

"It is," Clara insisted. "I don't know why, but I know it is." She looked to the confused faces around him. "Don't you hear it?" The whispering was even louder now, and she felt like she was yelling to be heard over it.

"Hear what?" Vasil asked, taking a step forward. Clara could see the concern on his face, his eyebrows drawn together, his mouth forming a frown.

"It's…" Clara didn't want to say now. "It's whispering." She reached out to the circlet, pausing before picking it up. Flash images played quickly through her head. She saw four kings in a line, a giant grey castle, a forest of burnt trees, a creature slithering through the earth. She blinked and it was all gone.

"Are you good?" Vasil asked, and Clara shook her head, handing the circlet to Vasil, who placed it gently in his bag. They took one last look around the room before returning to the surface, and as Jokull closed the wooden door, Clara suddenly felt very tired, falling forward as Vasil caught her. Jokull caught the motion, and stopped walking, turning to face the two.

"It's getting late, would you, uh," He paused, his voice getting quieter. "You are welcome to stay until morning to continue your journey." He seemed much more humble now, his words less like a King and more a concerned friend.

"We will accept your invitation," Vasil nodded, his hand around Clara's shoulders. Clara nodded as well, her head heavy.

Jokull led them to an upstairs room, to two different rooms. The bed frames were made of ice, and if Clara wasn't so tired, she would have laughed, but the soft and warm fabric covering it was too tempting for her to care, and as she closed her eyes and laid down, she was instantly asleep.