The Ice Princess

Chapter 18

Once we reached the basement, making a couple wrong turns before we did, we walked straight into the wall of the basement. I made the ice crumble, and Anthony was swept away.

"Sorry," I said. He was standing in front of the ice we came out of. The basement was empty.

"The soldiers went into battle and the civilians are locked up in their homes," Carter informed us.

"What about the castle servants?"

"In their respective rooms," Anthony brushed himself off. "They couldn't care less as to what Marie-Hale said."

"Speaking of," I ran towards the stairs. "Where's the Almighty Queen and her BFF?"

"Holed up somewhere in the castle."

Above, I heard repetitive charging and splashing. Some soldiers on our side were trying to swim/wade/slosh through the moat.

"What's going on outside?" Carter asked.

"All five kingdoms are now battling, Isabelle apparently couldn't talk them into joining one side and fighting against Marie-Hale," Cora said.

"You should've seen her," Olivia commented. "She was in the middle of all five kingdoms's best warriors ready to fight, and she was standing on top of this tall ice tower!"

Anthony's and Carter's eyes bugged out.

"Long story," I sighed.

Some servants and soldiers were guarding the entrances to the castle. We ran through the front hall, the den, and some other rooms. We figured Devora and Marie-Hale probably were hiding in the throne room. Lo and behold, they were there. Devora was pacing the length, and Marie-Hale was sitting at her throne. A few guards loyal to them were positioned at random points. They spotted me at the same time and froze.

The guards pointed their weapons but Marie-Hale grabbed her scepter and used her other hand to freeze the guards, much to my surprise.

"You," Devora spat. "How'd you get out?"

"Doesn't matter. Just give it up, lady," I said. "Surrender and all that," - I gestured outside - "will cease."

Marie-Hale lazily waved her scepter around. "We'd rather see it play out. After all, there is a chance our side would win."

My eyes followed the scepter as she waved it. The smoke inside the orb seemed to shimmer. I started to walk closer, but Marie-Hale froze my feet. I saw the orb glow brighter. Queen Cassandra's words rang in my head.

"I live...in the queen's possessions..." My jaw dropped at what I saw inside the orb.

The face of Queen Cassandra disappeared as quickly as it had come. Realization dawned on me.

"You don't have powers, do you, Marie-Hale?" Her eyebrows shot up.

"What are you talking about, child? Of course I do!" I unfroze my feet, and Devora lunged at me. Anthony and Carter held her back. Quickly, Marie-Hale stood up, her hand poised to strike me with ice shards. But Olivia was quicker. She used her fire to melt them, and I grabbed for the scepter.

"No!" Marie-Hale shouted. I pried her fingers off the staff and stepped back. Gazing at the scepter, I didn't see Marie-Hale quickly get to me and tackled me to the ground. She pinned my arms down.

"You little troublemaker," she growled. "I knew we didn't need a princess, but no, Devora argued that we needed an 'heir' so people wouldn't get suspicious. We thought you were some dumb blonde who's more interested in appearance than good. What happened? You cost us more than a hundred years' worth of our plans!"

She transferred one hand onto my throat and used he knee to pin down my arm. I struggled, but she was strong. Everybody else was frozen, unsure of what to do. Carter and Anthony were busy struggling with Devora.

Suddenly, vines appeared out of nowhere, wrapping around Marie-Hale, turning her into a plant mummy, leaving her head uncovered.

I rolled away from her, and pried the orb off of the staff. It glowed again, revealing the former queen's face.

"Trapping the much-respected queen in an orb for her power, eh? That's low. Is that why she could appear in front of me? Her spirit hasn't been released?"

"She what?" Marie-Hale stopped struggling.

I didn't answer, instead raised the orb high.

"No!" Devora and Marie-Hale screamed. I threw the orb down. It shattered into a million tiny pieces, shimmering smoke coming out of all of them. Light lit up the entire room. The smoke formed the graceful, bright Queen Cassandra, looking upwards.

Everyone looked thunderstruck. She closed her eyes, and her spirit disappeared.

"Thank you," she whispered, and faded away.

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This is horrifying. My mind is sort of blank...I'll make it up next chapter! I promise! I'll make sure it's a long, action packed one, since it's the last one before the epilogue. Imagine that!