Valerie Starlight
Valerie Starlight had a simple life till now. She killed the men that wanted to take her forcefully. She killed the men that wanted to steal her village's food.
She definitely killed those men who wanted to hurt her Family.
Eventually those men understood she is the stronger fighter.
However, in all those situations, she knew… those men only ever meant harm.
Even if she were to beg on her knees, she wouldn't come out of it alive.
Thus, she never did.
However, she still feared Sasha Winterchild more than all those men.
Not because she has a dragon, not because she could wield ice as well as the necromancer. She feared her because she knew beyond doubt, Sasha will feed her today with greatest kindness, only to kill her with a cold knife in the back if it's needed for her country.
There was nothing personal in countess winter's kindness, there would be nothing personal in her betrayal.
That's what scared her most.
The frontier guard in castle one called her Snorc princess, no matter how she stopped them.
It is true her brother assembled most of the tribes here, to raid and live in winterland this winter.
However, there was an attack from the army of the dead, and he perished in the attack .
The alliance crumbled like a sand castle, yet, her brother's greatest friend Talon stuck with her. Thus, the worst of the tribes farmed another association.
Dan Frost gave her asylum, along with the tribes that had chosen her.
She has taken the opportunity, despite the opposition from her own tribe members.
For allowing the Snorcs in, Dan Frost was stabbed in the back. The resulting battle reduced their fighting strength in half.
She has always wondered why the Snorcs never succeeded in conquering winterland if they had been so powerful. When Dan Winterchild rose from his deathbed to breathe once more, Valerie finally understood.
Winterchilden are not human.
They looked human, they felt human, but they are monsters.
Otherwise, how could a man who was betrayed by all he has known still have the strength to get up from his deathbed, only to save the enemies to his own land? Yet, Dan Frost did so, because the Ice sorceress is a bigger threat.
Sure, there's some kind of exotic witch using her shadow magic on him. It could very well be the power of the shadow witch. However, Valerie spied on the shadow witch, and the man who called himself prime minister.
If not for this prime minister barging in on them, the Frontier guard would have never known what's happening outside the Barrier.
The Winterchild family fought a great war, and all the Winterchild heirs died, save for Dan Frost. Or, at least that's what they thought six months ago, when Raul Winterchild died in a battle.
The southerners are so cowardly, they broke guest rites at a wedding to kill king Raul.
From all accounts of her brother, who has seen Raul once upon a time, and his party, Raul Winterchild was a fine man.
Thus, When Raul died, the prime minister of the south came from distant lands of summer to beg Dan Frost to take control of the winterchild army, and then help them.
Dan refused, ofcourse.
Frontier guard captains serve for life, and it was a tradition of the Winterchild family to send at least one child to serve at Barrier.
A Winter child must always be there at Barrier. A Winter child must always be there at Strongfort. Even Valerie does not know why, but it was so since the times unknown.
No Frontier guard captain leaves the Barrier, much less one of the Winterchild family. Yet, everyone around looked ever so agreeable to let Dan Frost go and be a king.
Why ?! Because that way laid more benefits for them.
That is when Valerie realized why her brother was so insistent on making friends with Dan Frost. When Dan was on his stint with the Snorcs, her brother protected Dan unconditionally.
No matter how naive, no matter how green and soft, Dan Frost is a Winterchild.
One word from him is enough to kill them all to the last, similarly, one word from him is enough to allow fifty thousand Snorcs through the barrier.
For the first time in her life, Valerie felt fear.
In the frontier, everything you own is fought for with your own hands. What you could not hold in your hand will never belong to you.
However, it is not the same with southerners. Their words held power. The power of their words can kill without using their own hands. The power of their words could put food in the bellies of her tribe, or it can cut the throats of her tribe.
In this kind of situation, Dan got assassinated, then rose from his deathbed.
It brought an enlightenment to herself.
As long as Dan Frost is there, the Ice sorceress will not win. Thus, like her brother, she tried her best to get along with Dan frost with the best of her behavior.
All the same, Dan left Barrier, after advising themselves to seek out alternatives for their winterstead.
Winterland will soon belong to Flayers. While Dan Frost was free from his guard captain duty, owing to his death, he is not free from bastardy, which prevented him from inheriting winter kingdom.
Valerie said goodbye to him. Watching his back, she felt like a little girl, who was playing only sticks and stones. For that was what she is, she understood thoroughly while looking at the guards standing to salute at the departure of Dan Frost.
Over the next few days, Valerie's thoughts are complex.
She wondered about powerful magic wielded by eastern Witch. She thought about the orange aura surrounding Dan Frost. She thought of the future of her tribe. She thought about what the fighting clans of Frontier would do.
While she was thinking about all these things seriously, a dragon landed atop the barrier.
A Dragon!!!
A real life, honest to goodness dragon.
Dan Frost rolled over from god knows where, and stood in front of the dragon, looking like a little boy.
She has never seen that kind of look on Dan.
For the first time since he has known Dan Frost, he looked like he was waiting for a peer.
Sure enough, plenty of Snorcs picked fights with Dan for looking down on them, even more frontier guards grumbled about it, including his superiors. However, she thought it was just his usual look, and everyone is being unnecessarily mean.
Now, looking at him, waiting so eagerly for the person on the dragon, Valerie realized Dan had always been looking down on them. Afterall, how couldn't he ? no matter what he says, their lives are affected by mere words from him.
Thus, the great god like Dan Frost, whose aura is greater than every one she has ever seen, is waiting for someone looking like a little boy.
When the dragon itself extended it's wing, and Sasha Winterchild descended from the dragon's back, Valerie felt like her heart was being pressed with a pestle.
Sasha's aura completely dwarfed everyone.
Valerie was sure it would not lose out to even the ice sorceresses aura.
The following events proved Sasha winterchild is not only good at magic, but also at words.
If Dan's words could make her tribe for a day, Sasha Winterchild's words could make their tribe live for a century.
That's how it felt.
A woman, a little girl, just an expensive whore, the men around her tossed all sorts of insults at Sasha.
Yet, not a single one of them could look her in the eye.
The frontier guards who were ever so fond of leering at the women turned their heads sideways respectfully, despite the incredible feminine beauty of Sasha.
They are too frightened to even leer in her direction.
Well, not without a good reason.
Three wolves followed her, Sunshine, her brother Bran's tan wolf, Phantom, white wolf of Dan Frost, Princess, Sasha's own wolf, who made its way to Sasha from the Fronteir.
Soul flier's are not uncommon in the Frontier. One man among thousand is a soul flier, one among thousand soul fier's is a seer, one among thousand seers is a sorcerer.
That's how Ice sorceress was born.
Yet, looking at the winter child siblings, all of them are soul fliers. Does it make sense for such a family to be human ?
At that moment, Valerie decided she would never go against the Winterchild family.
Her brother told her something before he died.
The era of the cold star will begin any time soon. Ice sorceress will be free once more, as her power could very well be far more than what the seal could hold by the epoch of the cold star.
If only snorcs would kneel, her brother would have knelt and begged Winterchilds to take his tribe in.
However, Snorcs specialized in being short sighted, short tempered and overly prideful.
It would have been an impossible task to negotiate for peace in autumn.
However, now, looking at Sasha Winterchild, as she closed off the exit route for the disobedient women and children with ice, Valerie felt a chill go down her spine.
Her brother was correct. In a fight with a true Winterchild, they would have never made it through conquest.
If Sasha Winterchild, who was described by all accounts as sweet, kind and lady-like was this cold and ruthless, then what about Raul Winterchild, who was called the most powerful commander in history?
Valerie shuddered to even imagine.
However, thankfully, she was the first one to cut a deal with Sasha Winterchild. For convincing the woman and children to live peacefully at the barrier, and work the fields of castle seven, all of her tribe will be given permission to live at Castle three, which is the only castle to hold a glass garden, thus, one who could keep themselves fed even in winter.