Deelind and The Icefire

by Lance Dempster

  ‘Sit still or I will break your finger,’ she said. Spike stopped moving and glared at her. She moved behind him. ‘Shout and I will choke you.’ She untied Spike’s gag. ‘Tell me how to remove this iron collar.’

  ‘You can’t, you silly cow,’ he said. She quickly squeezed his throat, which made his eyes water. ‘You can’t. There is no lock and key. Once on, it can never be removed,’ he rasped. Deelind loosened her grip.

  ‘Why did you attack my home?’

  ‘It was a distraction so that we could plant the bushes around the town. It was a pity you weren’t home at the time,’ he blurted out.

  ‘You and Blackthorn will pay for killing my gran.’ Deelind squeezed Spike’s throat, making him gag. ‘What is Blackthorn planning and when?’

  ‘How would I know?’

  Deelind quickly reapplied the pressure onto his throat, bringing tears to his eyes.

  ‘Master Blackthorn does not discuss his plans with the likes of me. Why do you care anyway? You will never get out of here alive.’

  She heard wings and wind roared in her ears as Rudy said, ‘Get ready, I am coming to get you out of there.’

  Her time had run out. She regagged Spike. She could see he was crying and had wet his pants.

  ‘I am not going to kill you this time but next time, though, well, it’ll be my delight.’ Pulling her fist back, she punched him so hard she broke his nose again. She knew that would keep him busy for a while and climbed onto the bus’s roof. She saw Rudy flying towards her from the town. He was being followed by a rotviper.

  ‘Stretch your arms up,’ said Rudy. Raising her arms Rudy managed to grab her with his claws without puncturing her arms. She sure was glad of Rudy’s skill. He flew them back towards the hedge, to the same place that Kate was waiting for them. She realised that Kate had been keeping the hedge open with the remaining powder.

  ‘No! The hedge is closing. I have more powder,’ Deelind said.

  ‘Too late,’ Rudy replied, his voice filled with leaves being tossed about in the breeze. She knew he was right. He was not going to make it through because of his wingspan.

  ‘Get ready to roll like a ball,’ he said. As they got close enough, she felt Rudy pull his legs back with her in them and then he flung her at the hole. She flew through, curled herself into a ball and rolled along the ground until she stopped. She turned to see if Rudy had made it, but there was just the hedge, no Rudy. Looking around, she saw a group of molers with Ivan. He was holding Kate.

  CHAPTER 18

  THE GRIMPLINS

  Deelind could not believe that Rudy had not made it through the hedge. Ivan and Kate ran to her side.

  ‘Here, open the hedge,’ she said, pushing the bag into their hands. ‘We have to get Rudy out of there!’

  ‘It is too dangerous,’ said Ivan, shaking his head.

  ‘But Rudy! We cannot leave him on the other side. He saved me! It’s not fair that he’s stuck there again. We have to try!’ she said, her eyes filling with tears. She grabbed the bag back and ran towards the hedge.

  ‘Quick! Get everyone out of here!’ Ivan said, gesturing to the others to leave.

  She took out the powder and threw it at the hedge. A hole opened and she ran into the middle of it and stopped in surprise. It was chaos on the other side. The rotvipers and Rudy were no longer there but deathburners were firing out randomly from the centre of the town in all directions. She watched a deathburner land in the fields full of Blackthorn’s young plants. Fire took hold and ripped through the fields. Other fields had the same fate. Even Blackthorn’s new fort took a direct hit. The damage was going to hurt Blackthorn’s plans for some time. Somehow he had been attacked. An idea took hold. Rudy! It had to be Rudy. That would mean he was still alive!

  ‘Rudy?’ she called out with her mind but got no response back.

  ‘Get back, Deelind!’ said Ivan. ‘The hedge is closing.’ Reluctantly she retreated, feeling numb with shock and loss. She couldn’t believe that she had found Rudy and rescued him only to lose him.

  Kate was talking quietly to Ivan, but Deelind’s featherlite hearing caught what they said just fine.

  ‘They will clip her wings if they find out she is on IceFire. No one will ever trust her again,’ said Ivan. ‘I have no choice. I must take her down. Deelind,’ he said, turning to her, ‘do you trust me?’ Too numb to say anything, she just nodded.

  ‘Good. You must keep up or you will die. The burrow will close in behind us. Crawl like you’ve never crawled before.’ Ivan grabbed a bag that looked like the bag she had left on the branch outside her gran’s cottage and tucked it into the front of his dungarees. He then took Deelind by the hand and checked the chain in her bag, making sure it was secure.

  ‘Quick. Someone is coming,’ whispered Kate.

  ‘Crawl in behind me as fast as you can,’ Ivan said to Deelind. In a blink of an eye Ivan pulled her to her feet and dived head first at the soil in front of them. Ivan was ten times stronger than she had imagined. His front arms worked the soil so fast they became a blur. A burrow formed and soon Ivan was already disappearing into it. She sped into the burrow, which was just big enough for her to fit. It went straight down and as soon as she was in the ground the soil behind her closed. It happened so fast that she could feel the soil falling on her legs and feet. All light was sealed out and it was just her and Ivan in the pitch-black burrow. Ivan kept them moving forwards and downwards. Following Ivan was not easy. He dug so fast and she was constantly showered in dirt. More than once Deelind blew dirt off her face. She kept her eyes closed. It was too dark to see anyway, so she just scrambled forward as fast as she could.

  They had been travelling this way for what felt like forever when they popped out into an underground cave, lit with glowing crystals hanging from the cave roof.

  ‘Good,’ gasped Ivan, lying on the hard floor trying to get his breath back, ‘we are heading in the right direction. We can rest awhile. No one will be able to find us from this point onwards.’

  ‘Gosh, you are strong,’ she said, collapsing next to Ivan. The sweat on Ivan’s face told her he had worked hard to get them there. Shrugging, he said, ‘All molers are. It’s part of the job, although the older we are, the stronger we are. Marvin is stronger than me when he’s at full health and not emaciated from captivity.’ Sitting up, he reached for his bag. He took out some bread and handed it to her. She ate it quickly. The bread did not make a dent on how hungry she was.

  ‘Where are we?’ she said, brushing dirt off her clothing.

  She saw Ivan doing the same when he answered, ‘We are in a Grimplin’s outer cave. We have to wait here to see if they will help you.’

  She felt her forehead crease. ‘Grimplins?’ she said, not altogether sure she wanted to know after the day she’d had.

  Ivan scooted up against a cave wall, pulled one knee up for support and leaned back, closing his eyes. ‘They are ancient rock beings that have been around since the earth was first formed. They help few people and seldom come to the surface anymore. Most molers don’t even believe that they exist.’

  In the middle of trying to untangle her hair and dislodge the remaining dirt, she flicked Ivan a sidelong glance. ‘Why are we looking for their help and how do you know that they exist?’

  Ivan’s face softened for a moment when he said, ‘They helped me when I was a toddler. I got bitten by a snake when we were on our way to Mole City. Mum knew I would die if she did not get me treatment straightaway, so she took me to the Grimplins. I am hoping they will be able to remove the IceFire from your body. If you go back to Brakenhill hooked on IceFire you will have your wings clipped or possibly be expelled from Brakenhill to the Wastelands.’

  ‘Wastelands?’ She could hear the surprise in her voice. Giving up on her hair, she pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on her knees.

  ‘The Wastelands lie just beyond the Dragon Valley. I’m told that if you fly to the end of the valley there is a narrow gateway which allo
ws you to see into the valley. A few Dragonknights have looked into the Wastelands and they say that it looks like an alien desert. Only day exists and there is never a night for reprieve from the day.’

  Deelind shuddered. She jerked her head upwards when she remembered something Ivan had said that sounded even worse.

  ‘What do you mean by clipping my wings?’

  Ivan’s mouth twitched. ‘Tom wasn’t far wrong when he told me that you ask more questions than he does! I am not sure how it is done exactly, but they would clip the end part of your wing which would stop you flying for a couple of months.’

  Deelind felt her face harden and fury burnt a path through her. ‘To do that I would have to go dragon. Zara will kill anyone who tries that, and I’d be right with her. They underestimate us at their peril.’

  At that, Ivan opened an eye. He looked at her and nodded. They fell into silence.

  After what seemed like ages of waiting, Ivan grabbed her arm and said, ‘There!’ He pointed to an arrow which had formed on the cave floor, made from the same crystals that hung from the ceiling. He launched to his feet, pulling her with him. Securing his bag, he immediately began digging at the tip of the arrow point. This time the burrow did not close as quickly as the first one, though it felt like they had been in the pitch-black for ages when they eventually burst out into a large, moist cave that was almost pitch-black. The ceiling crystals appeared to be almost out of power. Thin trickles of water fell from the ceiling and disappeared into the darkness. Ivan sat down, exhausted.

  ‘Now what?’ she said, looking around for rock creatures.

  ‘Now we wait and sleep. The Grimplins will come to us when they are ready. Time works differently for them. We could wait hours, days or even weeks,’ said Ivan who stretched out on the floor. He had placed his bag under his head and with his eyes closed he settled down to sleep.

  ‘We would starve!’ she said in horror, but Ivan was fast asleep and soon she joined him.

  * * *

  When Deelind awoke, Ivan was gone. Her chain was out of her bag and most of it was now stuck in a large rock that had certainly not been there when they arrived. The rock was round with a smooth, greenish finish. She could not see any eyes or mouth. There was yet another rock by her side.

  ‘Hello,’ she said, wondering if she was losing her mind talking to a rock, but as it hadn’t been there when she fell asleep, it was surely safe to assume that this was a Grimplin.

  ‘Yes. Well. Hello, I suppose,’ said the large slab of rock next to her. ‘Hello, goodbye, day, night. It is all the same to us.’

  Looking closely, she could see a single eye shape in the middle of the rock with a mouth just below it. The mouth and eye were a slightly deeper shade than the rock.

  ‘You are in bad shape, I see. We have been waiting hundreds of years for this day. You are not what we expected.’

  ‘Waited for me? Why?’ she said and gasped when the Grimplin that was holding the chain sucked the rest of it into its body, pulling her until she was stretched across the slab.

  ‘No more talk. The longer IceFire is in you the harder it is to remove,’ said the Grimplin, whose edges began to flow over her, swallowing her feet and legs, and then went solid. She lay there wondering and dreading what was going to happen next. She had heard that withdrawal was no fun for addicts at the best of times, and she felt sure that magically created drugs were probably even worse. It was safe to say that she was more scared now than at any other time since she joined this new world.

  * * *

  A short while later she could feel prickles running up her body, rapidly followed by the craving for IceFire. She sweated profusely and cold flushed her body. It felt like she was on a never-ending IceFire high. She completely lost track of time. It could have been hours or even days. She lost consciousness so many times and each time it was blessed oblivion. Thrashing about, she screamed and beat at the rocks. She begged, cried, threatened and swore at them for IceFire, but nothing worked. They were Grimplins, the very best at being immovable.

  The pain was agonising and yet she sensed it was being dulled for her. Without their help she would surely have gone insane. The soft glow stones on the ceiling were imprinted on her mind as she flung her head back and forth, her eyes wide and rolling back in her head. The dark recesses of her mind had her grateful for this tiny bit of light. The nightmares and hallucinations had her vomiting and voiding her bowels and screaming into the dark. At last the pain and demons receded. Rivulets of sweat poured off her and a powerful stench arose from her. Finally, she passed out again into blessed peace.

  As consciousness returned, she could feel her mind was cleaner. Her thoughts were crisp, and a quick inventory told her she was lying on the cold floor. The cave was dim, and the crystals were now emitting soft, weak light. She was dirty and hungry, and she’d kill for a bath but, gosh, her body, mind and spirit had never felt so good. It was as if more had been healed than just the removal of the IceFire. The chain was gone but the iron collar was still around her neck. Zara poured into her consciousness and she went dragon, shattering the collar.

  ‘Zara!’ she said, feeling overwhelmed by the sensation of her cleansed body, the relief of the collar coming off and Zara’s return.

  ‘I am here, and we will kill the others that infected you!’ roared Zara. A snow blizzard whipped around her. ‘Never again shall we be collared. Twice already! It’s an insult! Let’s fly and kill,’ spat the dragon. Feeling Zara’s rage, she struggled to manage her own.

  ‘Soon, my friend. They will get what they’re owed,’ she said and went human. Turning to the Grimplins, she said, ‘Saying thank you seems so inadequate for what you have done for us. We owe you a life debt and it will be our honour to pay it when and where you wish.’

  A snowflake brushed against her cheek as she sensed Zara’s initial concern that she was talking to a rock, then came Zara’s realisation of the sentience of these rocks and how they had helped to cure Deelind.

  ‘It has been our honour to help you. All we ask is that you light our crystals and the debt is paid.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘With blue dragon fire.’

  ‘Blue dragon fire?’ she said, confused. ‘I’ve never even breathed normal fire.’

  ‘I know how,’ said Zara. ‘Change and I will do it.’

  Going dragon, she let Zara take control.

  ‘All dragons have a high-pressure gas pocket which stores the gas obtained from our stomach acids,’ explained Zara. ‘We just mix our stomach juices together to make the gas. Luckily, we haven’t eaten recently, or this would be difficult because we need the food in the stomach to be mostly digested. From now onwards we should make sure our gas pocket is kept full, ready for use.’

  Powerful stomach muscles rippled rhythmically as Zara mixed the juices. Slowly their stomach expanded as the juices mixed and released gas that Zara fed into the gas pocket. Just when the gas pocket felt like it was about to explode, Zara inhaled a massive amount of air into her lungs.

  ‘If we wanted to breathe normal fire, we would just expel the gas from the pocket and out of our mouth, but for blue flame we must use our ice gland at the back of our throat. Only featherlites and featherlite egg bearers have this gland.’ Deelind felt the gland contract and a cool sensation rushed to the gas pocket. An ice storm raged, and pressure built. Zara released the gas from the stomach. The icy gas raced up two tubes on either side of their neck and into the back of the mouth. Zara rubbed their two back teeth against each other causing them to spark and igniting the gas. Using a controlled breath, Zara squeezed the gas out of the pocket and, to Deelind’s delight, out came a beautiful plume of blue fire. Zara sprayed the entire cave, including the floor and Grimplins.

  The ceiling crystals were now shining bright, lighting up the cave, and even the Grimplins were sparkling. Instead of their dull, greenish colour they now looked like they had an entire galaxy trapped inside them. Stars and colours twinkled all over them.


  ‘It has been a long time since we had a featherlite burning. It might even have been from one of your ancestors,’ said the Grimplin in an excited voice.

  Deelind went human and said, ‘We are happy to do that for you as often as you like. Please let us know if ever you wish us to do that again. Might I ask one small favour? Is there anywhere that I can have a quick wash?’

  ‘Behind you there is a small pool you can use. The water will be warm now since the blue flame.’

  Expressing her thanks, she hurried to the pool and sank into the water, clothes and all. The warm water seemed to have its own special qualities as the grime from her body and clothes disappeared. With pure enjoyment she submerged her head in the water, letting her greasy hair be washed clean. There was no need for her to linger and soak since she did not have a single ache or pain in her body. Standing up, the water poured down her and she was astonished to find herself completely dry. Would she ever get used to the properties of water in this new world?

  ‘How do we leave here?’ she said.

  ‘Just climb through me. Where do you want to go?’ said the sparkling Grimplin.

  ‘Back to Dragon Valley,’ Zara said to Deelind. Deelind agreed. All she wanted to do was fly. She needed the wind under her wings. To be high up, away from everything, free.

  ‘To Dragon Valley,’ she said to the Grimplin.