Keepers of Ice

Chapter 17 - Seared

A loud cheer rose from behind him with someone yelling a command to attack. Rafael ran past David with an approving nod and charged into battle with a group of men and women. The Keepers of Ice were using this opportunity to turn the tides of battle and he could not help feeling pride knowing it was because of his reckless but impressive feat.

Soon enough, Cody and Estella were right beside him with shocked expressions. "That was impressive," Cody confirmed.

Estella, on the other hand, did not look very happy. "That was really stupid David! You could've gotten yourself killed!" As if on cue, David's glacial armour disappeared and his vitality abandoned him. He collapsed to the ground in pain, suddenly realising the impact of the dozens of hits he had taken.

Estella caught him before his head hit the ground. Her eyes were wide open. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," David mumbled with a pained grin. His whole body was aching terribly and not just from all the blows he had received. The amount of power he had used to defeat the group of enemy archers and swordsmen must have been a lot. The world was starting to spin around him and he held onto Cody and Estella for balance. "I have to find my sister."

"Hell no, not after all that. You need to rest," Estella told him sternly.

David noticed how Cody was avoiding his gaze as if he felt guilty of something. Does he also blame himself for Stacey's disappearance? "You can't stop me. I'm going." David pulled free from their hold and began to head towards the next room, which was guarded by enemy troops. Even though the Keepers of Ice now had an advantage in terms of field control and were slowly pushing back Order, the room that Stacey had sneakily escaped to was heavily guarded.

Pain and dizziness shot through his body again and David began to stumble. Estella placed his arm around her shoulder for support and stared at him angrily. "David!"

"Ella, if anything happens to my sister..."

She sighed. "Fine, do what you have to do. But I'm coming with you, and you can't stop me."

"I'm coming too." Cody was now gripping his sword with determination. "Stacey's my girlfriend, I'd do anything to save her."

David cringed at the word 'girlfriend.' Tired from exhaustion, David knew it was no use to argue. "Then I guess we have a common goal. Let's find my sister. But first, we'll have to sneak past the guards."

To their surprise, sneaking past the guards was not very difficult. They were too busy trying to fend off a very angry Rafael and a group of glacial and blizzard keepers. David soon approached a long hallway with multiple doors along the sides. "This place is huge."

"Sure is." Cody tried opening a few of them. "They're all bolted shut. I hope Stacey didn't get trapped in one of these rooms."

Estella cocked her head to the side. "What do you think is in there?"

"Probably goods from some black market," Cody suggested. "Or dead bodies, or worse."

David shuddered at the thought of finding something worse than dead bodies. "Let's just keep going." They progressed down the hall until a large double door came into view. It was made entirely of thick ice, with mysterious gold swirly patterns painted on it. "I bet Stacey and Ky are in there."

"I wonder what makes you think that?" Estella challenged with a hint of sarcasm.

"It's huge, grand-looking and pretty. If I was king of the castle, my throne room would be in there for sure." David raised his fists and positioned his body in a charging stance. "I'll handle this." Without hesitation, he sprinted towards the door and used his body weight to break the door open. Unfortunately, even though he had grown a layer of ice around him, he had failed to open the door and ended up bouncing back onto the ground in defeat.