Silenced Voice

Chapter 32 Winter

"What? Why? Is that why..." He trailed off dumbfounded.
"I lied to you...", Puffin sobbed.
"But why?"
"I couldn't help it, forgive me. They surprised me from listening. They said... that if I don't do as they say, they'll kill us both. They wanted to know if you were planning anything."

Winter growled in rage and stood up.
"I asked you if you trust me, when I should have asked Can I trust you", he growled and paced the room. "How do I know if anything you've said is true? Are you trained for this job?" Winter stopped and looked darkly at Puffin, who did not answer, but lowered her gaze even further as gusts of crying shook her.

"I guessed it", he spat and continued go to and fro, lashing his tail so that its spikes clattered against the icy floor.
"No!" Puffin exclaimed through tears. "I didn't mean that... I... what could I have done?" Her desperate gaze tried to reach Winter's eyes which sparkled ice crystals.

"Then what did you mean? Didn't you say you didn't want Snowfall to die? Then why do you do the exact opposite? What exactly did you do to expose me?" He yelled at Puffin, feeling sick about it, and stopped next to the ice shelf, knocking the moon globe on the floor by accident with his wing.

"They told me to tell that Snowfall dies at the party - it was true -"
"Except hardly anymore", Winter interrupted with a grunt. "Now that they know we know, they're bound to change their plans and there's no way for us to find out let alone stop them from carrying out their plans, so Bravo to you", he growled, banging his fist on the ice shelf with a loud 'crack'. He set off again.

"No, I don't think they're changing plans... They just made sure we can't escape anymore..."
"How do they do it? By burying us here alive or what? Of course, it's pointless to ask you that, you're just accusing more lies."

"Winter, please... forgive me. I'm a coward and you have every right to blame me and be angry, but could you listen to this one more time? I'm telling the truth, I wouldn't have wanted to lie and deceive you. I've never met anyone like you, you're a thousand times better dragon than I could ever be", Puffin wailed.

Winter stopped and blew icy mist from his nostrils, staring at the floor, frowning.

"I've never been able to do anything right", Puffin continued in a weak voice. "I am bad and miserable. My parents have always made that very clear. My brother is the only one who has stood up for me or been kind. He saved me when I was about to be eaten by killer whales at the age of three. Our parents thought I should have worked my way up from that ice hole myself... it was punishment for not getting a catch for the third day in a row. It wasn't the only time, I usually got up in the end..."

Winter glanced at her in wonder. In terror. That treatment sounded almost identical to what he himself had received as a dragonet. Except twice as bad. Many IceWing parents imagined that dragonets would grow stronger through punishment and shaming, but here was a prime example of what happened when a fragile individual was raised that way. Her self and her own will were crushed and trampled like a lump of snow crumbling under talons. It was creepy.
He scratches the ice with his claws.

"They made it clear that I absolutely have to follow Icicle's regulations. They said there is no coming back unless I'm the queen's sister-in-law. I wouldn't even want to go back even if I could..." Her voice shook and tears rolled down her cheeks streaking her pale purple scales.

"Icicle insisted that if you were planning to escape, I had to suggest that I hide and wait, and then I had to come out after you left and get the guards' attention. I thought I would stay here and wait, but they grabbed me and dragged me along. I am so sorry what I did to you." She collapsed in a heap and pulled her wings over her head.

Winter listened to the inconsolable sobbing for a while as emotions churned inside him. So what, even if this escape attempt had failed. After all, it wasn't Puffin's fault. She had been cruelly forced to act this way. She had been taken advantage of. She was a victim just like he was.