Frost Burn

by K T Munson

  “You’re okay,” he breathed into her hair, kissing the side of her head. “You’re okay.” Coor put his hands on her cheeks and slightly pulled away so he could kiss her lips.

  Thea let him kiss her for a long moment, but as badly as she wanted to stay in his arms, she gently pulled away from him. “We’ve got wounded.”

  Coor nodded once. “I’ve got healers.” He went to the entrance of the cave and waved some people inside. A group of four healers came in, all of them outfitted in the same leather protection gear, including Kimbro, the most powerful healer in the Fire Nation.

  Kimbro took his hood off and dipped his head in respect as he quickly passed Thea to tend the wounded. “Lady Thea.”

  “Kimbro,” Thea said relieved. “Thank you for coming.”

  He didn’t respond, as he was already kneeling next to Lord Guyus, speaking gently to him and tending to his ankle. Kimbro was always like that. He didn’t mean to be rude or absentminded, but when it came to wounds and illness, he was intensely focused. He was nearly forty and very short, only coming up to Thea’s shoulders, and very thin. He had short, light brown hair and enormous light gray eyes that almost seemed too large for his face until he smiled. His smile was so wide and broad that it balanced out his large eyes.

  Thea faced Coor again. “Darha? The palace? Is everything all right?”

  Coor shook his head. “That quake set off a reaction of massive tidal waves in the north that came seven miles inland and flooded all the northern islands.” Thea’s eyes went wide, and Coor shook his head. “The Fire Island is wiped out. We watched everything, the reserve palace and every home, crumble into oblivion from the watch towers.”

  “What?” Thea gasped.

  “Your magic? Is it replenished?”

  Thea shook her head. “Not for another couple of hours.”

  “All right.” Coor put his hood back on and headed out into the rain again.

  Thea turned back watching the healers work. She listened as life began to echo off the walls of the cave as people were healed and energized. Thea could not believe the relief that came over her with those sounds of life.

  Lord Guyus approached her with his head bowed low and tears streaming down his youthful cheeks. “Thank you,” he choked out, and then cleared his throat to try and compose himself. “Thank you,” he said a little stronger, “for saving my life, Lady Thea.”

  Thea gently touched his shoulder. “Of course, Lord Guyus. I was glad I was able to.” Lord Guyus nodded once and then left to comfort one of the wounded until a healer could reach her.

  Fitzu approached Thea, looking well with the gash in his forehead completely mended. Thea had seen her share of injuries and knew that only Kimbro could have healed a wound that wide without even leaving a scar. “I’ll wait here with the survivors until the rain stops or our magic replenishes. You get to the Queen.”

  Thea nodded. Just then, Coor came back into the cave holding piles of leather tarps and leather protective gear in his arms.

  “My Prince,” Fitzu said, stepping forward immediately, “allow me to assist you.” Fitzu started taking the pile of leather out of Coor’s hands before he even responded.

  Coor glanced at Thea and gave her a small shake of his head, which made Thea chuckle quietly. Fitzu was always formal and proper with Coor, even when Coor told him not to be. Fitzu would even kneel before him, right in the middle of a pub, before every casual social occasion. When it had gotten to the point of bothering Coor, he’d asked Thea about it. Fitzu was her second in command in the scout division, so Thea asked him. Fitzu said he never wanted to forget he was beneath the royal family’s authority, no matter how good of friends he became with Coor—and they were very good friends.

  “Thanks, Fitzu.” Coor took one thin stack of leather off the top of the pile. “Please pass the personal protective garments out to the strongest of those among you. Have them bear the leather tarps that will cover the rest of them so you all can get back to Vlid.”

  Fitzu bowed once. “As you command,” he said and went to carry out the task.

  Coor handed Thea the leather parka and gloves he’d taken off the pile. “We’ve got to get to the palace.”

  Thea nodded and unfolded the parka, throwing it around her shoulders. This was one of the reasons the scouts’ armor was leather—in the case of rain, which used to be a rare occurrence, they would be safe if they were caught in it. Thea didn’t need more than the parka and gloves to cover her skin because her armor was leather already. She put the gloves on, pulled the hood over her head, put her arms through the long bell sleeves, and clipped the front secure.

  Before heading out, she faced the cave. “Fitzu,” she called. He looked back at her amid passing out the leather protective gear. Thea grinned. “I don’t have to tell you what to do here, do I?”

  Fitzu rolled his eyes. “Get our people home safe.”

  “And don’t be stupid,” she added.

  Fitzu shook his head, “Goodbye Thea,” he said in a flat tone of dismissal.

  Thea grinned as she and Coor headed out into the rain together. She was glad Fitzu didn’t treat her with the same formality he did Coor because she would probably have dismissed him from the scouts long ago, despite his skill. She could not spend long treks over the land with him talking to her like that. The rocks were no place for formality, especially for extended amounts of time. She wasn’t royalty, though she was considered a member of the royal family, and because of that he didn’t have to treat her with any kind of formality, except maybe as a ranking officer; but he didn’t even do that, for which she was glad.

  Coor led Thea over to the horses that had brought the rescue party. Before even mounting, Coor grabbed Thea’s shoulders out of nowhere, pulled her against him, and kissed her mouth firmly and deeply right in the rain. Thea sunk into his embrace until his arms around her were pretty much the only thing holding her up.

  After a few minutes, Coor finally pulled away. Both were breathing a little heavily. He pressed his lips to her forehead, lingering for another moment before his intense hazel eyes met hers under the leather hood. “You know that I love you, right?”

  Thea smiled. “I know.” She placed her hands on his cheeks and kissed the hollow of his throat before pressing her cheek to his chest. “I love you too.”

  Coor wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her hood. Eventually he sighed and reluctantly pulled away. “Come on.” He kissed her lips quickly. “We have to get back to Darha.”

  They mounted two of the six horses and started in a full gallop across the land. It was a very long and wet two-hour ride before they reached the outskirts of the capital, Vlid. They didn’t talk much, too focused on getting back to their fragile young sister and Queen to have much else on their mind. Thea’s magic replenished and the rain had slowed to a misty drizzle by the time the thirty-foot brown stone wall of First Gate rose up before her eyes. They passed under the raised portcullis, and then her tunnel vision ended.

  Blazing her core, Thea threw back her leather hood and looked around with unconcealed horror at the overrun lower ring of First Gate. The safe houses were so overcrowded that leather tarps had been erected outside each one, and people were sitting under them wrapped in blankets and next to pit fires. Worse, some of the safe houses were in ruin and nothing more than a pile of debris on the ground now. Tarps were the only shelter many people had. The stone statues of the deceased that had become victim to the cold were arranged in lines to Thea’s left, out of the way of the chaotic streets. People’s eyes were wide and fearful, yet hollow and hopeless at the same time. People that Thea recognized as healers, or medical professionals, were running all over the place in a hurry to tend to hundreds of wounded, either wrapped in leather or blazing their cores if they were magic users. Lifesaving healing and procedures were being done under the few erected medical tarps, but many of them were being done right in the middle of the brown stone streets under randomly erected and heavily worn spare
tarps.

  Thea picked up her horse’s pace to ride up next to Coor. “These aren’t just the southern region evacuees,” she said.

  Coor shook his head. “Many are likely refugees from the north that were affected by the tidal waves.”

  Thea shook her head. “Come on.” She pulled out ahead of Coor, and both of them went as fast as they could through the clogged streets toward the palace. They still had four gates to go through, so it was another thirty minutes before they were dismounting at the foot of the steps. They went up the wide, smooth brown stone staircase to the twenty-foot gold double doors. Two guards stationed there each pulled one open, bowing low at the waist as Thea and Coor headed inside.

  Spectacular red and gold marble floors greeted their feet as they entered the throne room. The gold of the floor flashed like metal in the firelight as it swirled around the red, looking as if it had gently been stirred in liquid form then suddenly frozen solid. A long red carpet with gold tassels sewn along the edges began a few steps in, a thin pathway that led up to the Queen’s throne. As if people needed directions. The single elaborate golden throne with puffy red cushions sat on a wide circle platform with two steps around the entire edge of it so the Queen could leave in any direction. Two small gold pillars rose on either side of the platform, each holding a steady, constant flame.

  As Thea and Coor walked the carpet, five enormous golden columns, twenty feet thick and fifty feet high, stood like sentries guarding the throne room on both sides. Golden decorative arches connected the columns at the top, which supported the red and gold marble balcony above. The room was lit by thousands of decoratively placed oil lamps and in four chandeliers, forty-feet each in diameter, hanging from the ceiling. Three large decorative red tapestries with the Fire Nation crest sewn down the length of them adorned the back walls just under the grand window.

  Up near the roof, and coming halfway down the back wall, was a gold-paned window. The gold metal work depicted an abstract outline of the sun with S-shaped rays going in every direction. It was the most magnificent window Thea had ever seen. It faced the southeast, so the sun would always shine on the throne. Now, however, gray clouds were the only thing visible out the window.

  A group of about seventy-five people surrounded the platform on which Darha’s throne sat. All of them were tense, appearing eager to get their concerns out, but only one person was speaking, her words quick and her tone nervous. Darha sat listening intently. She was never more at home than when she sat on that throne dealing with political issues and trying to help her people. Coor and Thea were not like her in that respect. They were warriors. Darha had a gentle, peaceful, and fragile heart that always wanted to please people. She looked calm now, but anyone who knew her like Thea did, knew she was more rigid and wide-eyed then she’d ever been in her life.

  Thea caught Darha’s eye as she and Coor approached the platform. “A moment,” Darha declared, and the crowd in front of her instantly fell silent. Darha stood from her throne, hitched up the front of her red gown, and went down the two steps quickly. The crowd parted as she made her way toward Thea, her waist-length honey blonde hair flashing in the firelight like the gold in the marble. “You’re alive,” she gasped and threw her arms around Thea.

  Thea smiled and hugged her little sister back. Darha was a half a foot shorter than Thea, so she had to bend a little to fully embrace her. “Did you really think the world shaking to pieces would kill me?”

  Thea had meant for that to be a joke to lighten the mood, but she saw restrained tears in Darha’s light gray eyes when she pulled away. Darha took the sleeve of her gown in her hand and dabbed them dry. “I need you both to head north. I already dispatched nearly the entire army in that direction.”

  “What do you want us to do there?” Coor asked.

  Darha glanced at him and shrugged weakly. “I think all that’s left to do at this point is to search for survivors. Bring them here.”

  Coor nodded and leaned down to kiss his sister’s cheek. Thea gave her a weak smile and touched her shoulder, and then both of them headed back out of the throne room to aid the north.

  Frost: Chapter Seven

  Aradel was in the throne room with the other candidates when she felt the first trembling of the planet. The Queen had been addressing their people and answering some of their questions about the stream of Outlanders coming from beyond The Wall; everyone had seen them. Queen Vesna believed every voice and concern should be heard in order to calm them into making sensible decisions. The Queen seemed to give particular attention to the voices that involved the Fire Nation, and the rumors that were already spreading about their possible involvement with the early arrival of spring.

  The shaking rose like a tide. Aradel stumbled and gave a cry of terror, joining the other voices in the room. The shaking increased and people fell to the ground. Pillars cracked, and bits of ice dust rained down on everyone that was gathered in the throne room.

  Aradel’s heart raced with fear and worry. The palace had not been built to withstand such quakes. The first place she looked was to the decorative ceiling behind the throne. She built up her magic in her chest, preparing to seal any cracks in the ice that might occur. But when nothing in the ice palace came crashing down, she scanned the room looking for anyone wounded.

  Just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. “What was that?” a woman exclaimed.

  “A quake,” Queen Vesna responded as she stood. People helped each other to their feet.

  Aradel could still feel vibrations under her feet as she stood. Her eyes scanned the room again as she helped up one of the other candidates. Suddenly a second quake hit, throwing Aradel onto her back. This time, she heard the ceiling crack with a noisy snap.

  “The ceiling!” Aradel yelled, as cracks ran along the ice like spider webs above her.

  She got to her feet and raised her arms, using her magic to reinforce the crumbling ceiling. One of the candidates joined her.

  “Protect the Queen!” the candidate shouted.

  The Queen had fallen from her throne. On her knees, she gazed up at the chandelier as it swung up and struck the ceiling, shattering to pieces. The sharp ice splinters rained down on the throne room. A woman ducked and screamed, holding her arms above her head to protect herself from the falling shards. Before they could reach her, Queen Vesna held her arm out, and the moon pearls around her throat began to glow brighter. Just as swiftly as Aradel could take a breath, the dangerous falling ice turned into snow, and floated gently around the woman in a harmless heap. The Queen did not need to be protected.

  Aradel fell hard to her knees but continued to reinforce the ceiling even as a jolt of pain went through her. The other candidates joined her in her efforts until the shaking finally subsided. Aradel hurried to Queen Vesna, helping her stand.

  “This is more powerful than anything I’ve ever seen,” the Queen exclaimed, taking hold of Aradel’s arm.

  “We have had quakes before that have cracked the ceiling,” Aradel said, remembering that it had been reinforced after the last powerful quake two hundred years ago.

  “That chandelier survived them all, yet now it breaks?” Queen Vesna said with worry in her eyes before addressing everyone else. “Is anyone injured?”

  “Not here,” one of the candidates called. She had gone to aid the crowd when Aradel had gone to the Queen.

  “Thank you, my Queen,” the woman in the snow heap said as she hugged a child to her chest.

  “Go back to your homes,” Queen Vesna called loudly enough so everyone could hear her. “Help those you can, but make sure your families are well. We shall continue these discussions at a later date. Special mass will be held at the Moon Temple until this disaster is behind us.”

  Even though Queen Vesna stood tall, she was using Aradel to support some of her weight. Aradel stayed next to her, waiting until the last person had left before turning to the candidates. They instantly swarmed toward her, but the Queen waved them off. “Attend to
the town. Go and help those you can.”

  “Is it them?” a girl asked, and Aradel didn’t have to ask who she meant.

  “I do not know,” Queen Vesna said. “But I don’t believe they have this kind of power.”

  The girl nodded but seemed unconvinced by the Queen’s words as she left. Aradel watched her go. As soon as they were alone, the queen let out a sigh and leaned heavily against Aradel, who bore her weight. She had felt the Queen straining earlier and now understood how much of a toll the planet’s trembling had taken.

  “Are you hurt?” Aradel asked, instantly inspecting her.

  “It’s these old legs,” she said, but she began moving with Aradel’s help. “Not as young as they once were.”

  “Your power is unchanged,” she countered, making a valid point.

  “That is true,” Queen Vesna said, fingering the pearls around her throat.

  “Do you really mean what you said? About the Fire Nation?” Aradel asked, because she doubted even they were strong enough to cause this.

  “I do,” she replied. “I would not be surprised if they were as devastated as us.”

  “What will we do?” Aradel asked as they reached the doors.

  Queen Vesna stopped as her personal attendant opened the door for her. She touched Aradel’s face. “You were always the strongest of my girls. Quick to act and plan, but you always defer to me. One day I won’t be here, and then you must make your own decisions.”

  “That won’t be anytime soon,” Aradel insisted, but she felt a pit form in her stomach at the thought.

  “Then tell me,” Vesna said, dropping her hand to Aradel’s shoulder, “what would you do?”

  “I’d defer to you,” Aradel responded with a smile. “You are the Queen.”

  “If I told you to command our outer regions to start building and fixing our boats, and send a message to the Fire Nation to meet, would you agree?” Queen Vesna asked, her face the picture of a wise matriarch.