Deelind and The Icefire

by Lance Dempster

  ‘From what I know you can only talk to each other when you are in dragon form,’ said Nurse Amy. Deelind was not so sure about that. Zara had spoken to her in the tunnels and when she was on the stretcher, but then Nurse Amy was not a featherlite.

  ‘I miss her and Gran,’ said Deelind and she felt her face crumple as tears slid down her cheek.

  Seeing her tears, Nurse Amy rested a hand on her shoulder and said, ‘It will get easier to bear, I promise. Now rest.’

  Nodding, Deelind swallowed and brushed away her tears. Pulling at the choker, she said, ‘Why can’t I take this off? It’s annoying.’

  ‘Stop tugging at it. You won’t break it, but you will rub your skin raw,’ said Nurse Amy. ‘The choker can only be removed by the person who put it on. It is called a dragon choker. It stops a bonded pair from going dragon, which is especially important when they are healing. Sudden, strong pain can cause the pair to transform at the worst possible time, like in surgery or when I reset your arm. It is much easier to help and heal through the human form than deal with an angry and injured dragon.’

  While listening to Nurse Amy’s explanation, Deelind saw Princess Lee come into the room. Nurse Amy greeted the princess and walked away as Princess Lee sat on the chair next to the bed.

  ‘Well, now. You are looking much better than when I first saw you here,’ said Princess Lee with a gentle smile. ‘Deelind, I am so sorry about your gran.’ Seeing tears well up in Deelind’s eyes, Princess Lee placed her hand over Deelind’s in comfort. ‘I’m sure you have lots of questions, as do I on your recent experiences. Ask a few questions and the rest we will get back to when you are stronger. Some answers will be too long or complicated and they will have to wait for another time.’

  Where to start? She had so many questions. ‘Where exactly are we and who are you? Are you really a princess?’

  ‘We are in the sickroom room in the mound at the back of the manor house,’ replied Princess Lee. ‘As for the other question, we will need to come back to that one as it will take too long to fully explain now. In short, I am Princess Lee because I belong to an ancient royal family. I use the title Lady Lee in the outside world as a cover.’

  ‘Did I really hurt that tree in the hall?’ she said, her voice threaded with worry and guilt.

  Princess Lee’s eyes softened at Deelind’s concern. ‘You have so many big questions about your new world and yet Oakman is one of your first thoughts. I see you two hit it off,’ she said with a smile. ‘No. You did not hurt Oakman. It was just poor timing. The Oak tree in Buttercup town centre was bound to Oakman and was killed in that same moment you were with Oakman.

  Deelind was relieved to hear that Oakman was alright but felt sad for the tree in Buttercup centre and Oakman’s loss. She liked Oakman and could still hear the tree’s screams. She hadn’t wanted to be the cause of its pain and damage. ‘What has happened to me and why did no one ever tell me what happens here?’

  Princess Lee sighed. ‘That is a big question and one that I will answer in a few days. Now is not the time.’ Deelind gritted her teeth in frustration but she could see that Princess Lee was not going to budge on her answer.

  ‘Why can’t I talk to Zara? How is it that I miss her so badly? She and I barely know each other.’

  ‘As you know, the dragon choker you are wearing stops the magic of transformation to prevent further injury to your arm. It has the unfortunate side effect of dulling the bond.

  ‘As for why you miss her already, the bond itself is powerful and melds your bodies, thoughts and feelings. You both gain an instant loved one and friend. In the beginning the bond can be intense and the mind struggles to accept and adapt.’

  ‘Please can you take this choker off? I promise I won’t transform. I just want to talk to Zara,’ she said desperately.

  ‘Not yet. We will not risk it,’ said Princess Lee gently but firmly. ‘On the day your plaster cast is removed, I promise to do so. I understand you miss Zara. She will be missing you as well, but she can hear and see everything when she is not sleeping and our dragons do sleep a lot. You can feel her, if you concentrate, or be with her in your dreams. That’s enough for today. Next time I visit, I will bring Miss Tibi with me and it will be your turn to explain things to us.’

  ‘Miss Tibi!’ She desperately wanted to see her but oh, the trouble she was in.

  Interpreting Deelind’s expression correctly, she said, ‘Oh, it’s nothing to worry about, we just want to hear about your adventures. We thought it better if you told us both in one go.’ Seeing Deelind’s eyes droop, Princess Lee patted her hand and left quietly.

  * * *

  Deelind was voraciously hungry. She wanted meat, lots and lots of meat. She sniffed the air, the smell making her mouth water. Just then, Nurse Amy walked in, followed by Miss Tibi, who held a tray full of food, enough to feed five people.

  ‘You!’ shouted Miss Tibi. ‘You gave me a heart attack! What were you thinking? What was I thinking sending you to get flowers? What are we going to do with you? I—’

  ‘Tibs,’ interrupted Nurse Amy, ‘you are babbling. Let her eat then you can talk.’

  Miss Tibi put the food down on the side table and pulled a chair up to the bed. Deelind could see a tear in the corner of Miss Tibi’s eye and she was sorry to have caused her so much distress.

  She pulled herself up into a sitting position with her good arm. Miss Tibi quickly got up, fluffed her pillows and straightened the bedding. She leaned in to give Deelind a hug and whispered in her ear, ‘I’m sorry to hear about Gran. Many of us knew her and will miss her.’ With concern in her eyes, Miss Tibi placed the tray onto Deelind’s lap. Even though Deelind’s eyes welled up yet again, the smell of the warm food washed over her. She grabbed the fork and dug into the mash potato as if she had never seen food before. She could not wait to sink her teeth into the roast beef and vegetables. She loved eating as much as she liked. Before she knew it she was finished and sank back into the bed.

  ‘Good,’ said Miss Tibi, ‘that will help you heal. Now, you best start talking.’

  ‘But, but, I need to know what is happening. I am so confused. What’s going to happen to me now?’

  ‘I know, dear, but you need to tell me what happened from the beginning and then we can piece it all together.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘No buts. From the beginning.’

  Princess Lee came in the door and pulled a chair up next to Miss Tibi just as Deelind started telling her story. She began at the point she saw Mug appear in the vegetable garden. ‘I do not want to get Mug and Tom into trouble.’

  ‘Do not worry about them, their father is dealing with them. It is okay,’ said Princess Lee, seeing how distressed Deelind had become. ‘They will just be doing some long hours in their father’s workshop and tunnels for the next couple of weeks. At least it will keep Mug out of trouble and help him learn to use his new skills as a moler better. Now, I need to know everything, Deelind.’

  She continued with her story. Princess Lee sat quietly while Miss Tibi fidgeted. As she was coming to the end, she saw Miss Tibi had more tears in her eyes.

  ‘Miss Tibi?’ she said.

  Miss Tibi took a deep breath. ‘I’m alright, I’m just so proud of you. You did well under difficult circumstances.’

  Nurse Amy had kept bringing her food while she had been telling her story. Her stomach was at last full and her eyes had grown heavy. Before she fell asleep she heard Miss Tibi say, ‘Did you hear all that, Princess Lee? Is she going to be okay?’

  ‘Yes, Tibs. She is young and strong and is now destined to complete this journey we all tried to protect her from or at the very least tried to delay. I thought we had another two years but all the signs are there. She received the rainbow crystal and there is the death of Oakman’s one branch. She is now a featherlite, an unlikely happening since she never knew about our world.’

  * * *

  For the next three days Deelind was confined to bed and baths. The choke
r irritated her. She was unable to take it off and she desperately wanted to talk to Zara. She distracted herself at bath time by making rainbows with her crystal. She could now get the rainbow to rise out of the bathwater if one end always remained in the water. She played with the rainbow for hours, loving the feel of each colour, and she was sure she was starting to feel the colours as if they were solid. Her hand would slide over, in and through them. She wondered what else the crystal could do but did not want to put Nurse Amy in a difficult position by asking. At night-time while lying in bed when no one was about she tried to create a rainbow with her crystal but didn’t have the slightest success. It must need light and maybe water.

  Miss Tibi visited every day but would not answer any of her questions, always saying that Princess Lee will be discussing it with her soon. It was getting exceedingly frustrating.

  On the morning of the fourth day Nurse Amy walked in and woke her earlier than usual with breakfast of toast, fried eggs, bacon, sausages and a mug of milk.

  ‘Time for you to get up, bathe and get ready for a visitor,’ said Nurse Amy. ‘There is no time to play with rainbows today.’

  ‘You know about the rainbow?’

  Brown eyes twinkled at her. ‘Of course, Deelind, it lights up the whole room. It is good for you. It has been helping you heal.’

  ‘Oh,’ she said, ducking her head, her cheeks warming. ‘I want to learn more about it and everything else. There seems to be so much I don’t know.’

  ‘You will learn everything at school and Princess Lee will be teaching you how to use your crystal. In fact, she is possibly the only person alive who is able to teach you.’

  ‘I hope it happens soon,’ she said, suppressing a sigh. ‘Who is coming to visit?’

  ‘Now stop wasting time and eat up,’ said Nurse Amy with a small smile on her lips as she hurried away. Clearly, the visitor was to be a surprise.

  She ate quickly and made her way to the bathroom. Her body felt stiff but not sore anymore. Her arm was still in the plaster cast so she bathed carefully, trying not to wet it. Just as she got back into her bed, the door opened. She was hoping the visitor was going to be Princess Lee and she could get some answers at last, but she was just as pleased to see Mug walk through the door.

  Mug’s face lit up as he came in, closed the door and walked straight over to her.

  ‘What happened to you? How on earth did you become a featherlite? That’s just mad. You’re not even eighteen. Tom is so jealous!’

  ‘Hello to you, too, Mug,’ she teased.

  His eyes twinkling cheerfully, Mug carefully sat at the bottom of her bed as she set about telling him the events that had changed her life forever.

  ‘Now,’ she said when she had finished bringing Mug up to date, ‘it is your turn. I need answers. I am tired of being kept in the dark.’

  ‘Okay, what do you want to know?’

  ‘Let’s start from when we got separated,’ she said.

  ‘Tom and I were leaving the guard hut when the portcullis closed, separating us. The guards tried to open the door but only a member of the council can open it when it is sealed. The door only closes like that when there is an attack on the mound, which hasn’t happened since the attack twelve years ago, the one that killed Princess Lee’s family and nearly killed you and the other children visiting the manor house.’

  ‘What do you mean the attack that nearly killed me?’ she spluttered.

  Mug’s face went red and then white. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m not allowed to talk with you about it. You’re my friend and I don’t want to lie. Please don’t ask me any questions, rather ask Princess Lee. She is not someone I would want to disobey.’ He rushed on with his story, ignoring her questions. Deelind gritted her teeth, feeling licks of anger curling through her body. She had had enough of all the secrets, especially those concerning her.

  ‘Tom and I turned to go up to the surface to get into the mound via the manor house, but Ivan arrived with Sergeant George and his patrol. It turns out that I triggered the alarm when I exited my tunnel into the outer defence perimeter burrow, and then the lockdown alarm blared when the tunnel flooded. I’ve never seen Sergeant George so angry.’

  ‘You must have got into big trouble,’ Deelind said, feeling alarmed for them.

  ‘We all did. Tom and I have to clean the main tunnels every Sunday until Dad decides otherwise. Tom isn’t happy. Apparently, he has other much more important things to do. Goodness knows what he’s up to because he won’t tell me. Meanwhile, when I’m not cleaning the tunnels, I have been restricted to the pit and have to practise digging burrows and navigating in the training mound,’ said Mug miserably. ‘This is the first time I have been allowed out. Ivan has been assigned guard duty every night at the castle gate portcullis, which has made him hopping mad as he cannot slip out to see Kate.’

  ‘Who is Kate? Is she a moler?’

  ‘Kate is a local hairdresser in Buttercup town. She is not of our world. Ivan met Kate when a fight with the Thorn gang erupted outside her shop late one night. Ivan was thrown through her shop window which ended the fight but brought Kate running down from her flat above the shop. It seems it was love at first sight. Kate spent the rest of the night picking glass out of Ivan’s fur. Princess Lee does not let outsiders visit so Ivan must see Kate in town. Not that he can see her now with that hedge surrounding the town.’

  ‘Why was Ivan fighting the gang on his own? They are dangerous. I have heard they have killed people.’

  ‘Oh, he wasn’t on his own. A team of molers patrol at night, trying to stop Blackthorn taking over the town. We only go in at night and we stick to the shadows. If people saw us in daylight they would freak, and our secret would be out. A few folk have spotted our skirmishes in the dark, and because molers are generally short they have mistakenly thought we were a rival gang of teenagers. They can’t place who our parents are, so they think we are orphans.’

  ‘I had heard about the orphans,’ she said, thinking of the time she had spent trying to find the orphanage on a map. ‘Also, I was there when the hedge began to grow around the town. I saw a thorn shoot out of the hedge and kill a bird. Then, of course, that Dragonknight died from his encounter with those thorns as well.’ She shuddered. She could still hear his moans of pain.

  ‘Yeah, it looks like Blackthorn has created a hedge that is able to fire poisonous thorns if anything gets close to it. The hedge releases a black smoke creating the dark cloud over Blackthorn Farm and the town. The Dragonknights have not been able to get through it. The cloud is so thick no one knows what is going on inside the town. We tried digging under the hedge but when we get close to it the roots just grow deeper and deeper to stop us.

  ‘Up until now, the townsfolk haven’t known about our world. It’s been kept secret to protect us all. It must be a nasty shock for them to discover this world through the eyes of Blackthorn,’ said Mug.

  ‘Does anyone know why Blackthorn is doing this? But wait, I’m sorry, Mug. I need to know, and everyone is keeping me in the dark. Tell me about the attack you mentioned. The one from twelve years ago.’

  Before Mug could answer and to his obvious relief Nurse Amy walked in and said, ‘Time for Deelind to rest and time for you to get back to the pit, Mug.’

  ‘But we have so much to discuss,’ Deelind complained.

  ‘No buts. You have been talking for two hours and it is time for food and rest. Move it, Mug,’ said Nurse Amy.

  Mug climbed off the bed, quickly pulling out a folded newspaper page from his pocket. ‘Here. Ivan managed to get this newspaper. I will come and see you again soon,’ he said, dropping the paper on the bed before running out of the door. She eagerly unfolded the paper and there sitting bold on the front page was:

  Buttercup Quarantined!

  An explosion at a local fireworks’ factory has left the picturesque town of Buttercup in quarantine. Local authorities are currently investigating. A poisonous black cloud is said to hang ove
r the town preventing all access. The public are being advised to stay away. All access roads to the town have now been blocked off until further notice. A number of people are feared dead, including members of the local fire department. Little is known at this time as to the cause or the situation inside the town.

  She blew out her breath in frustration and lay back in her bed. While the article was interesting and the town happenings had made the front page, it revealed nothing useful to her. The only person who could really help her was Lady… uh… Princess Lee. Ugh, that new title was going to take some getting used to.

  * * *

  Several hours later, Deelind was eating, mulling over her chat with Mug that morning and plotting how she was going to pin down Princess Lee. On the heels of her thoughts, the door opened and in walked Princess Lee.

  ‘It is time we had a chat,’ she said briskly, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to the bed. Smiling at Deelind’s obvious eagerness, she said, ‘You know now that there is a lot more to the manor house than meets the eye. My people belong to the Dragon Kingdom which consists of many different creatures like elves, molers, dragons and humans, to name but a few, that are hidden from the outside world. We brought new life to the earth, in the way of plants and some of the animals thousands of years ago. We live off the magic of Oakman, rainbows, crystals, molers and dragons, combined with the magic of The Four Elements, water, earth, fire and air.

  ‘Those of the outside world would destroy the earth if they had these powers and hunt us to extinction if they knew about us. They have already tried during the fourteenth- to sixteenth-century witch trials and the hunting of dragons many hundreds of years ago, until we went underground. We moved everyone here and created a magically protected haven containing the three valleys.

  ‘Unfortunately, my demented half-brother, Taric – you might know him as Blackthorn – believes we should come out of hiding and use our powers to rule the earth and mankind. This has never been our way. Taric’s lust for power and control has always been his downfall. He was responsible for killing my entire family and many others.’