Snorting her frustration, Crystalia shoved the hand deep into her pocket. Did the indignities of this quest never end? Lowering down to Viola, the Snowy Maiden tried to quiet her friend. Turning to Traven, Crystalia demanded, “Tell me what to do.”
Wary of lowering his own weapon, the Hero agreed to talk her through picking the lock. Soon, both manacles were off, and Viola flung herself into Crystalia’s arms.
“Ask her if she know where the Icy Throne is,” Traven suggested with a bit of irritation to his voice.
Smoothing back her friend’s wild locks, Crystalia brought Viola’s face up to her own. “Vi, were you taken to a large hall? With a suspended mirror in the center of the room?”
Viola nodded bashfully. “They said they were going to kill me there.”
A look passed between them all. Crystalia knew what the next question needed to be. “Can you lead us there?”
“No! We must flee! Leave this place!” Her friend became hysterical again.
Crystalia rocked the blonde gently back and forth until the girl finally quieted a bit. “Vi, listen to me. You just need to lead us there. You don’t have to go in.”
“I don’t want to.” The words were more a whine than a statement. Like a child trying to weasel out of her monthly bath.
Rising to her feet, Crystalia urged Viola up. “Come. See, the Hero is here. He is very strong and brave. He will protect you.” Crystalia hated treating Viola like such a child, but it was the only way to get her friend moving. Worse, the Snowy Maiden knew she was quite possibly leading her friend into grave danger. Strangely, this did not perturb Crystalia the way it might have. They were all in grave danger whether they sought the Icy Throne or not. A few more steps closer were not going to endanger her friend that much more.
As they were leaving the chamber, Traven pulled Crystalia aside. She hated parting with her friend, but the Hero was insistent. His tone was harsh and rushed. “Pale fears this girl is corrupted. Human smell is not the only thing upon her skin.”
Could they not see that Viola was her friend? “She has been through much. If she is somehow damaged, Miss Emmert will heal her.” Crystalia tried to sound assured, but Pale’s low, insistent growl made her waver. The wolf had not been wrong before.
“And if she turns on us before we reach Miss Emmert?” Traven asked, concern thick in his voice.
The Snowy Maiden could not abide the thought. This girl was the same one Crystalia had known all her life. The blonde had taught her how to pull her hair into a Parisian Twist. Could the group not grasp that some things in this world were still constant and true? Still the same? Despite all of the horrible changes they had been through?
“She will not.” Crystalia rushed on before Traven could interrupt. “She is the only one who knows the way to the Icy Throne. Do you want to wander around the maze a bit more?”
The Hero was obviously not amused by either option. “We take her, but Pale stands guard.”
Crystalia agreed and rejoined her friend. The wolf hung close by, his hackles raised slightly. Even Corpse kept his distance. The tension was so thick between them all, that the dead man did not even have a jib upon his lips. Corpse moved slowly, separated as he was from his usual heat source, but he refused to come any closer to Crystalia and her friend as they made their way down the hallways. Viola was not always sure of which turn to take. They had gone down a few dead ends before they finally found a larger tunnel that seemed to be leading to the heart of the Citadel.
“It is down there,” Viola said, peeping like a mouse. She shrank from walking any further.
“We should leave someone to guard her,” Crystalia said.
Traven shook his head. “We can’t spare anyone. Either she follows, or we leave her here.”
Before Crystalia could answer, a wailing scream echoed off the walls. The entire group turned to find a winged beast hurtling towards them. It carried in its arms a woman whom the creature dropped as he dove towards their group.
“No!” Viola shouted, but it was a strange type of shout. More angry than scared.
Crystalia raised her tiny knife as the beast knocked the Hero out of the way. The creature had skin so red that it seemed black, and its huge fangs glistened in the light. Slashing with the knife, Crystalia was able to wound the beast’s arm, but he did not even slow. With one slash of his claws, he cleaved Viola’s head from her body.
Crystalia shrieked as her friend’s head rolled from her shoulders and fell to the ground. The Snowy Maiden looked to Pale for protection, but the wolf was wagging his tail. She turned back towards the creature and prepared for another attack. Surely, Crystalia was its next victim.
***
Traven stood completely confused. His body longed to attack the winged beast that had just executed the blonde girl, but Pale’s sending of restraint was so strong that the Hero could not move a muscle against the attacker.
“She was not a friend,” the beast hissed.
“Well, not any more. That is for certain,” Corpse commented.
The Hero flashed an irritated look to the dead man, then surveyed the new woman in their midst. She was slow to rise from the floor where the winged creature had dropped her. Was she a new threat, or was she another of the creature’s victims?
The woman nodded towards the black-skinned beast. “Holt speaks the truth. Back away and prepare.”
“Prepare for —” Traven did not get a chance to finish his question as the decapitated girl’s body rose from the icy floor. A foul smell emanated from the body, and an ugly sound bubbled from the tissues. Pale leapt at the animated body, chewing at its arms, but the demon threw the wolf off. A pointed head emerged from the severed neck.
The transformed demon turned to the winged creature. “Your mother is not here to protect you, Holt. You shall pay for her crimes.”
Traven watched as Holt lunged forward, joined by Pale. Any enemy of an enemy was your friend, Traven reasoned and added his sword to the assault. Before any of them could reach the foul demon, she snatched the stunned Crystalia and slipped through the icy wall. Pale slammed into the barricade, trying to follow. Traven pounded on the ice, but no opening could be found. The new woman grabbed his arm and turned him around.
“None of us have the magick necessary to open the secret postern,” she stated. “We must use the hallways.”
Traven jerked away from the woman’s hold. They did not even know who these strangers were. With their common enemy fled, these two newcomers might turn on the Hero’s party. “Who are you?”
“I am Ekoli. Mine is a long story. This is Ornery’s uncle, Sele’s sister. We must reach them before the Ice Princess and Snowy Maiden’s blood is mixed.”
The Hero stared at the winged beast. It did not resemble Ornery or Miss Emmert in any way. How did Traven know they were not just lying? Trying to lure them into a trap as the demon inhabiting Viola did? Traven turned to the wolf, but Pale urged the Hero to trust these two. Did the Hero not recognize the Goddess of the Light? Traven turned on his heel and stared at the woman. This could not be. “You are Ekoli, the goddess?”
The woman again grabbed Traven’s arm. “Used to be, yes. But we do not have time for explanations. We must hurry.”
Pale was already down the corridor by the time Traven made up his mind to follow. Corpse was just a few steps behind. The feeling of imminent doom pressed against the Hero’s heart. Traven realized the gathering was now complete. Each character of every fable of the Siege of the Winter Citadel was now assembled. A part of Traven had remained hopeful while the cast was incomplete. It meant they might have been able to change the course of the story, give it a happier ending. Now though, with the addition of the Vampyr and the Fallen Goddess, the Fates could complete this sordid tale.
*****
CHAPTER 35
Ornery helped Miss Emmert bind Glacial’s wounds. They knelt closely by the Ice Princess as more and more of the Frigid Knights entered the Throne room. The frozen soldiers assemb
led themselves in a huge circle around the Spiral Vortex. Ornery wanted to ask Miss Emmert all sorts of questions, but his mother had shushed him to silence. The boy’s heart was heavy. Perhaps against the two Griffins they might have made an escape, but against this host? This well-armed army of Winter? There was no way. The odds were staggering.
Glacial moaned again as Miss Emmert sinched down a dressing. The Ice Princess turned her head, gave a weak smile to Ornery then closed her eyelid again. It seemed that the girl roused only to be sure that the Centaur was still there. Ornery gave Glacial’s hand a squeeze even though he knew she had slipped back into the darkness. The poor girl was hanging on by the narrowest of threads.
Miss Emmert pulled Ornery close as a green-skinned demon entered over the threshold, dragging the Snowy Maiden behind it.
“Crystalia!” Ornery screamed, but a Frigid Knight knocked him back.
“Remove those two from the altar, but keep them close,” the demon hissed. The Knights jerked Miss Emmert and Ornery away from the Ice Princess. Ornery bellowed as Glacial’s hand slipped from his own. Luckily, the Ice Princess was still unconscious. The demon jerked Crystalia along and began binding her legs to the altar. The Snowy Maiden seemed in a daze and did not struggle against the demon’s restraint.
“A Drakol Priestess. I should have known,” Miss Emmert said with a sneer.
“Yes, you should have,” the demon answered without turning back.
Miss Emmert took a step forward, but a Knight blocked her path. “Do not do this, priestess. No matter what Winter’s minions have promised you, the Winter King cannot deliver.” The demon ignored his mother’s words, so Miss Emmert continued. “Look at him! He has no sense left, no honor.”
Ornery looked into the Vortex. Miss Emmert was right. The blurry picture of the other realm was that of insanity given form. The Winter King railed against his boundary. Frigid air would burst from the Vortex in fits and starts. With the Storm Gate closed, the volatile air had nowhere to escape. The room strummed with the bracing wind. The icicle chandelier above them swung precariously overhead. If released, the Winter King would most likely destroy his own Citadel.
The demon shrugged as she worked the knots on Crystalia’s ankles. “He is no concern of mine.”
Miss Emmert implored. “The Winter King will gnaw on your people’s bones like the rest of us.”
“Why do you think I have kept you alive? It is certainly not for your company.”
Ornery looked to his mother, who had paled. Even her hands shook. Miss Emmert’s voice was barely more than a whisper. “You would not.”
The demon laughed wickedly. “You do not think I would eat all your hearts? Consume your raw magick and use it to invoke the Aegis for my people against the Winter King’s destruction? You truly have underestimated me, woman.”
Ornery nearly gave a little cry as his mother’s fingers dug deeply into his shoulder. He did not need to ask Miss Emmert if the priestess was bluffing. By his mother’s response, Ornery knew the demon could do exactly what she proposed. The Drakol could unleash the Winter King and destroy all other life, leaving her people to rule the frosty world.
***
At first, Crystalia had honestly been shocked into compliance. It was not easy watching your best friend be decapitated, only to be revived as a horrible demon, but somehow the Snowy Maiden had managed it. Now though, she lay in wait. Traven and the rest could not be too far behind. Her palm itched as the Hero neared, closer and closer. If she pretended to be submissive, the demon had not bothered to disarm her. Not that the tiny knife was much protection, but the way it burned in her hand, the Snowy Maiden knew it would be of use.
Crystalia wished Miss Emmert would say something, anything, to keep the Drakol occupied. The longer the demon took, the more likely the Hero would arrive before Crystalia was sacrificed. Not that she planned on submitting any too quickly to the priestess’s blade.
“Do not!” Miss Emmert screamed, but it was too late. The Drakol had unceremoniously grabbed a sword and sliced Crystalia’s wrist. Blood spurted out of the deep cut in her left forearm.
“Spill your blood, Maiden! Open the Vortex!” the demon raved.
Crystalia did not even think. She just raised the knife and plunged it deep within the Drakol’s green eye.
“Add your own to the mix,” Crystalia said through gritted teeth. The Maiden drove the knife in with all her might and ground the blade against the back of the eye’s orbit.
The Drakol’s inhuman scream filled the chamber. Crystalia pulled out the knife and targeted the other eye, but the priestess stumbled back out of range.
“Crystalia, behind you!” Ornery shouted, drawing the Snowy Maiden’s attention to the Vortex behind her. The milky opaqueness was gone, and through the glasslike surface she could see the Winter King. His glistening crown was askew, and his face was contorted in madness. Snow-white hair billowed out around his manic visage. Thick eyebrows nearly obscured his frosty forehead. His eyes glowed with an unnatural blue. The mad god howled against the slim, invisible barrier that kept him trapped on the other side. As more of Crystalia’s blood swirled with Glacial’s blood, the magickal shield thinned until it seemed the Winter King would burst right through. Using her dress, Crystalia tried to staunch the gash in her arm, but the flow was too great. Instead, the Snowy Maiden began hacking at the rope around her ankles. Perhaps she could get away from the altar and forestall the process.
***
“Child, it is your blood that opened the gateway. It is you that can close it,” Ekoli said to the Snowy Maiden.
Traven charged through the door, heedless of the danger. He had heard Crystalia’s scream and could not stop his feet’s forward movement. Inside the Throne Room, the Hero found disarray. The Drakol priestess was venting her ire upon Miss Emmert. Ornery’s mother was lifted off her feet by the demon’s clutch hold.
“Sele!” Holt shouted and tried to take flight, but Ekoli held him back.
“No, we must go to the Snowy Maiden!” the Fallen Goddess cried out over the rush of wind.
Despite the Griffins joining in on the attack of Miss Emmert, Traven had to agree with Ekoli. The Hero knew his place was at the altar. It was there that the fate of the world would be decided. Traven raised his sword, charging forward with a battle cry on his lips. The group launched itself towards the Icy Throne, but only a few of them made it through. Traven, Holt and Ekoli rushed to Crystalia and Glacial’s side, but Pale and Corpse were rebuffed. It appeared there was a magical shield that prevented their entrance.
“Assist Ornery!” Traven shouted over the din before turning to Crystalia.
“I must get away from the altar!” the Snowy Maiden yelled as she cut away the last of her lashings. Crystalia tried to flee the area, but she was held by the same force that had denied the wolf and dead man’s entry.
Traven ripped off his sleeve and used it to tie off her bloody wound. The bleeding was stopped, but so much blood had already been split that it appeared that the Winter King was only moments from crossing through the Vortex. Traven swore he could feel the god’s cold breath upon his neck. The tip of his sword lowered as his mind raced. There was no way to close the Vortex once opened, or was there?
***
Crystalia groaned inwardly. She had used every ounce of cunning and resources to reach this point. The Snowy Maiden had nothing left to give. A shout drew all their attention to Ornery. The boy flailed at the Drakol, but the demon would not release his mother. The Griffins seemed a bit reluctant to enter the fray but were circling, awaiting their moment to pounce on the Centaur.
The Frigid Knights hung around the edge. Not yet engaged in battle, but with weapons bristling the Knights seemed ready to attack. The frozen warriors inched forward as the Drakol unleashed her frustration on Miss Emmert. The woman was flaming with magick, but the demon seemed only to feast on Miss Emmert’s efforts.
Pale and Corpse, unable to breach the altar’s magickal shield, rushed to Orn
ery’s side, but Crystalia knew they would not be enough to turn the tide. If something was not done, and done now, her friends would be slaughtered.
“The hand. Use the hand!” Traven whispered in her ear.
Crystalia dug Corpse’s hand from her dress and raised it high overhead. “Hear me, Knights.” All of the warriors eyes turned towards her, but what was she to say? She could not free these men of their shackles. No, but she could use their belief to her advantage. “Bathe in the Drakol’s blood, and you shall be sanctified!”
A wave passed through the Knights, but they held their ground. Even the Frigid Knights were reluctant to attack the raving priestess. Crystalia reared back and dug deep within her fear and angst to produce the most scathing tone. “Now!”
Upon her word, the legions broke and swarmed towards the demon. The Griffins roared and turned on their previous Knight allies. The Drakol dropped Miss Emmert and reached her hands up to the ceiling in supplication. The clouds that had been swirling formed into a single great cloud-mass, crackling with energy.
“No!” Miss Emmert screamed and threw herself at the demon, but it was too late. The words of power were spoken, and the clouds rained down Fire Toads.
Crystalia watched in horror as the disgusting creatures assaulted the Frigid Knights. With their hot skin, they burned into the warrior’s flesh, but did not kill the Knight. Soon, half the warrior hosts were writhing in agony upon the icy floor. Everywhere the Fire Toads touched, the ice began to melt. The once-smooth, glass-like floor was now marred with pocks filled with puddles of steaming water. The Drakol priestess did not care how she desecrated the Winter King’s Throne. The demon was mad with power and lust.
***
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