by Sarah Noffke
Although Sophia thought they had fallen through a tunnel, when she brought her eyes up, there was a domed ceiling. More disconcerting was that there was no exit.
Sophia spun around and looked at Wilder, who shared her expression of panic. They were trapped. But she had been able to pull the sword.
“I don’t understand,” she said, her breathing fogging up from the cold. “Where are we?”
He shook his head, turning in a circle as he continued to search the space. There wasn’t too much to it. It looked like they were locked inside of an igloo, although Sophia could make out movement on the other side of the ice wall in front of them.
The cold bit at her insides, and Sophia pulled her cloak tighter. When she had left the Antarctic, after defeating the abominable snowman, she had said if she didn’t see ice and snow for the rest of her life, that would be okay. It appeared the angels had ignored her request.
Wilder went over to Excalibur, his hand hesitating an inch from the hilt. He looked over his shoulder to Sophia, a question in his eyes. She nodded, encouraging him to pick it up. What could happen now? She had already pulled the sword from the stone. It appeared there was another part of the challenge.
To her relief and surprise, absolutely nothing happened when he picked up the sword. She watched him as he swung the sword.
“Well?” she asked, curious what he felt from the sword that had seen its fair share of battles.
“It’s incredibly impressive,” he said, testing the balance.
“Can it get us out of here?”
Wilder nodded. “I’m sure it can.” He lowered the blade though, distracted. He took a step in her direction, a serious expression on his face. “You did it. I knew you could, and you did, risking your dragon for mine.”
Sophia felt something draw her forward, and she took a step in his direction. They stared at each other, both mesmerized.
Wilder lifted his free hand, his mouth twitching to the side. Sophia was sure he was about to touch her face. Just over his shoulder, she saw movement. It was an unmistakable figure, just behind the ice.
“Simi!” Sophia yelled, pointing.
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Wilder whipped around, his eyes widening.
Behind the wall of ice, a shadow moved. At first, it appeared indistinct. Sophia was worried she had mistaken something else for the dragon’s figure. But a moment later, it turned, and the clear outline of the dragon could be seen.
It was unmistakably Wilder’s dragon.
He dashed forward, throwing his palm flat on the ice wall. “Simi! Can you hear me? I’m here!”
He beat on the ice with his fist.
The outline of the dragon didn’t change as Sophia would have expected if she just caught notice of them.
“Can you hear her?” Sophia asked, referring to the telepathic communication Wilder would share with his dragon, the same as Lunis and she.
He shook his head, stepping backward. “No, but that has to be her.”
She nodded. “We will get her out.”
Sophia glanced around, looking for anything that would clue her in on what they were supposed to do next. This had to be a riddle of some kind. If she could just figure out what the next part of the challenge was, they would be that much closer to rescuing the white dragon and freeing themselves.
Wilder seemed to be doing the same thing, looking for clues, his blue eyes searching the space. There wasn’t much, just ice and bright whites, blues, and greens.
Then both of their eyes landed on the sword in Wilder’s hand. There was a silent understanding between them when they looked at each other.
“Do you think?” he asked her, his question lingering in the air.
Sophia shrugged. “It makes sense. I think it’s worth a try.”
“But Excalibur is a trick. You can’t just try something with it because it will punish you if you are wrong.”
Sophia knew he still felt guilty losing his dragon when he tried to pull the sword. “Do you want me to try wielding it?”
He considered for a moment before nodding. Expertly, he turned the large sword around, offering her the hilt and presenting it over his forearm like a true gentleman.
She gave him a smile and took the sword with two hands. When she lifted Excalibur into the air, she was again amazed by how heavy it was. Sophia was used to carrying Inexorabilis, which was light and sleek.
In contrast, Excalibur had to weigh four times as much and was massive. This wasn’t a sword she would have much luck with in battle. Still, she didn’t have to fight with the blade. Hopefully, she only had to use it once.
Loosening her freezing chest with a breath, Sophia stood in front of the ice wall where Simi was trapped. She held King Arthur’s blade in both hands and prepared for the strike she was about to attempt.
With a look of uncertainty, she glanced at Wilder.
He gave her a confident expression. “Do it.”
Sophia swallowed and swung Excalibur, finding it moved much quicker than she would have expected based on its size and weight. The blade connected with the ice wall. Although legend said it could slice through steel like it was wood, the blade just bounced off the ice, not shattering it and freeing Simi, as she and Wilder had assumed.
Her brow furrowed, and she looked at Wilder with confusion. He shared her perplexed expression as he opened his mouth.
She never heard what he was about to say because the ice under their feet and the walls around them began to vibrate violently, creating a cacophony of noise.
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Sophia rushed forward and pushed the sword into Wilder’s hands since he didn’t have a weapon. He took it at once, his movements full of urgency. She whipped Inexorabilis from its sheath, preparing for whatever came next.
While Sophia considered they were about to be crushed in the strange igloo, her instinct told her that wasn’t what hitting the ice wall with Excalibur had done. As if ready to confirm her assumption, a hole formed directly above them. It was black and about five feet in diameter.
Wilder held out an arm, encouraging her back away from the hole in the middle of the ceiling. It was a good thing too because a moment later, a large, green ogre who smelled as bad as it looked dropped through the hole.
The monster landed with a thud, the large knuckles of its oversized hands knocking into the ice floor. It was mostly naked to Sophia’s horror. Thankfully, the one-eyed monster had a loincloth wrapped around its privates, fashioned of what appeared to be small skulls. Maybe leftovers of its past enemies.
Around its forearms was spiked armor. Strange black tattoos covered the beast’s shoulders and bare chest. It had several silver rings in its large ears, and two large horns protruded from either of the ogre’s shoulders.
When it saw Sophia and Wilder standing on the far side of the domed igloo, it opened its mouth and screamed—a noise that vibrated the ground under Sophia’s boots. The monster had two large bottom fangs that framed a row of smaller but just as lethal teeth. It’s one eye blinked at them, a less than welcoming expression in its gaze.
“I don’t think it’s happy to see us,” Sophia said, holding her sword at the ready.
Wilder did the same with Excalibur. “Maybe it just got woken up from its nap.”
“Or maybe it just looked in the mirror,” Sophia joked.
“Should I take this one, or do you want to?” Wilder asked, giving her an entertained expression.
“Well, ‘ladies first’ is the rule, I believe.”
He waved his arm forward. “Be my guest, dear lady.”
Sophia stepped up, but before she could launch an attack at Skull Pants, the black hole opened in the ceiling again.
She jumped back, certain she knew what was going to happen next.
A second later another just as disgusting green ogre dropped through the opening, landing next to its ugly cousin. It was pretty much the same as Skull Pants, but this one was lucky enough to have two eyes.
“Oh, look,” Wilder commented, sounding amused. “One for you and one for me.”
“No one will feel left out,” Sophia agreed.
Under their feet, the ground shook again. The hole in the ceiling hadn’t closed yet, and once again, another angry ogre dropped through the hole, landing behind its brethren. This one had three eyes and somehow appeared more peeved than the other two.
“Okay, so one for you,” Wilder began. “One for me. And one to grow on.”
“Well, first one to finish their ugly ogre gets the third one,” Sophia challenged. “I will take Cyclops. You get Two-Eyes McGoo Head.”
“Two-Eyes McGoo Head,” Wilder said with a laugh. “That was my grandfather’s name, I believe.”
Cyclops stomped one foot, nearly throwing Sophia to the ground from the vibration that resulted. She shook her head at Wilder. “Save the jokes until after you have slaughtered your ogre. Then we chat.”
He nodded, new excitement in his eyes. “Okay, I will race you. The last one to defeat their ogre has to shovel the dragon poo from the Expanse for a month.”
“Wait, since when did we have to clean up the dragon droppings?” Sophia asked, aware the ogres were growing restless and about to attack.
“Exactly,” Wilder fired back. “Someone has skirted this responsibility for long enough, being the newbie. It’s about time you step up, Soph.”
She flashed him a defiant expression. “Yeah, not yet, I don’t. I don’t plan on losing.”
Chapter Eighty
Sophia faced off against Cyclops and gave him a threatening look. “You ready to go down, Mr. Ugly Face?”
The monster screamed, his breath smelling as bad as him.
The three ogres were so huge, they took up over half of the igloo. Sophia knew defeating three at a time in a confined space would be challenging. She made the executive decision to freeze the ogre with three eyes, Mr. Wrinkles as she was affectionately referring to him.
“Oh, are you afraid you can’t handle two at a time?” Wilder taunted, aiming Excalibur at Two-Eyes McGoo Head as he charged. He threw up his forearm and the blade hit the spiked armor, bouncing off. The beast yelled in Wilder’s face, brushing his hair back from the wind soaring out of its mouth.
“Why don’t you focus on your ogre,” Sophia ordered, giving Cyclops a challenging expression.
He stomped, his knuckles dragging on the ground.
“You must have horrible back issues,” Sophia remarked to the monster. This seemed to make it even angrier.
It put its head down like a bull and raced straight at her. She could have used the Wilder approach and raised her sword at the beast, using its momentum against it, but she didn’t do things the same way as Wilder or the other men of the Dragon Elite. Sophia fought smart, not hard.
Cyclops’ head rammed straight into the ice wall, and it stumbled backward, nearly stepping on Sophia. She backed up rapidly, accidentally stepping on Mr. Wrinkle’s foot. Thankfully the ugly creature was still frozen.
For a moment, Cyclops staggered around like a drunk. It almost looked like it was a cartoon and had been hit with an anvil. Sophia imagined little tweeting birds circling over his head. It fell, landing on its front side.
In a flash, Wilder spun around, slashing Excalibur so quickly it made the same musical sound they had heard when she’d pulled it from the stone. It sliced cleanly through the massive midsection of the beast. Instead of blood and guts spilling out everywhere, the same light that had illuminated the blade and the stone shot out from the cut, spreading out throughout the space, and momentarily blinding them.
Sophia shielded her eyes with her arm, the light so bright it felt like it might burn her skin. Just when she worried the intensity would be too much, the light evaporated and took with it the hulking figure of Two-Eyes McGoo Head.
Perplexed, Sophia lowered her hand. The beast had simply disappeared, but something seemed off. Wilder didn’t share her skepticism. Proud of himself, he twirled the large sword in his hand, pressing out his lips.
“That was easy,” he said, nodding confidently. He indicated her ogre, still lying face down on his one good eye. “You want me to take care of Cyclops for you?”
Sophia gave him a cautious expression, looking around as she thought. “No, something isn’t right here.”
He laughed. “What are you talking about? We have King Arthur’s sword. When you have the best weapons, things are just easier.”
Sophia shook her head. “No, because whoever pulled that sword would have it when battling these ugly brutes. There is something else to this.”
“Like it’s a riddle?” Wilder asked, not convinced by her skeptical reasoning.
“I don’t know,” she mused, watching as the muscles on Cyclops’ back twitched. He was coming to.
“Well, you lost this round,” Wilder informed her. “Do you want to unfreeze Three Eyes and go double or nothing?”
“His name is Mr. Wrinkles,” Sophia corrected. “And no, I’m not taking that as a loss.”
“But I defeated my guy first,” he argued as Cyclops put his hands under his shoulder and pushed up to his knees.
Sophia clapped her boot on the back of his spine and stomped down, combining the effort with a combat spell. The ogre was immediately sent back down to the ice on his face, a muffled grunt spilling from his mouth.
“I’m not sure you did defeat him,” Sophia countered. “He disappeared, but that doesn’t mean he is gone.”
Wilder shook his head at her. “We really should work on your vocabulary. Gone and disappeared are the same thing.”
Sophia’s mind scanned what she knew so far and ignored Wilder, who was trying to be cool, flashing her a grin and acting like the victor. “We are stuck in an igloo with ogres.”
“Yep,” Wilder agreed, running his gaze over the area where Simi’s shadow could still be seen behind the ice wall.
“And Excalibur should cut through the ice, but it doesn’t,” Sophia thought out loud.
“Yeah, that is weird.” Wilder pulled back the blade, and before Sophia could stop him, he swung it at the wall again.
“NO!” she yelled, but it was too late.
Like a bell being hit, the dome over them rattled, vibrating Sophia’s brain from the echoing sound. Again, the blade of Excalibur simply bounced off the ice wall, having no effect on it.
Wilder gave her a confused expression. “Why did you tell me no?”
A moment later, the black hole in the top of the igloo dome opened, and another ogre as angry as the other three, dropped through.
Sophia shook her head, lowering her chin. “That is why.”
Chapter Eighty-One
Sophia lifted her sword and brought it straight down into Cyclops’ back. Like with Two-Eyes McGoo, light shot out from the place where the blade pierced his skin, nearly blinding them again as the large body disappeared.
The new and energized ogre charged Wilder. This time he didn’t strike the beast with Excalibur. Instead, he deflected the monster’s attacks, although they sent Wilder straight into the wall at his back. The shadow of Simi moved behind him, the dragon perhaps sensing her rider had just been assaulted.
The ogre grabbed Wilder by the throat and held him up in the air.
“Do I kill him or not?” Wilder asked through sips of breath, his face turning a violent shade of red.
Sophia thought. “I’m not sure, actually.”
Wilder’s feet kicked, having been hauled up higher off the ground. “I’m going to need you to make a decision sooner rather than later.”
She pretended to be put off. “Don’t rush me. I’m thinking.”
He brought his elbows down, striking the ogre in the place between its neck and shoulder, and making it drop him. Wilder landed with a thud and rolled out of reach as it grabbed for him.
“You killed your ogre, but you don’t want me to kill this one? Is that it?” he panted, crouched down low and ducking as Fourths, as Sophia decided to call
him, swung its fist. It wasn’t that great at fighting, more blindly throwing its wide arms around and hoping to hit something by sheer luck.
“My ogre was keeping me from thinking,” Sophia said. “Since we know how to get another one, I think we are okay.”
The next attack by Fourths connected with Wilder’s chest and threw him across the igloo into the ice wall. He hit with a thud and slid down, Excalibur still in his grasp. Thankfully he only looked badly jarred but not injured.
“Can I kill this one to give me time to think?”
She shook her head. “No, I want to experiment on him.”
Wilder dove when Fourths reached for him. He rolled and jumped back to his feet before wheeling around. “Can’t we use Mr. Wrinkles? He’s still frozen.”
“Yeah, but what if we need two at a time,” Sophia reasoned. “I mean, the Ice Dome of Doom did give us three, to begin with. There might be something to the number.”
“Ice…Dome…of…Doom,” he said in between breaths as he jumped away from the attempts on his life from Fourths. “That is what we are calling this place, huh?”
“Well, it has a better ring to it than Ogre Paradise,” Sophia remarked, still considering what they had learned about this place. She pulled back her sword and struck the wall, wondering if it would produce another ogre.
With her eyes pinned up high, she waited for the opening to form. It didn’t.
“It must be Excalibur that creates the portal for the ogres,” Sophia observed.
“Great.” Wilder did not sound excited about the information. “I will remember that for when I turn in my report. Now can I kill this guy?”
Wilder ducked to the side just as Fourths rammed his shoulder into the ice wall where his face had been moments prior. The horns on his shoulder stuck in the ice, making cracks spray out around it.
Wilder and Sophia looked at each other, their eyes wide.