I sat reading a book on the couch downstairs.
Yes, you heard me. I was reading a book. We had like, a dozen in the ice palace that weren't schoolbooks, so I had memorized most of them. And I was bored. It wasn't supply day, so I wasn't leaving the cave. Every month I would sneak into a kingdom and steal supplies. Normally it took two days, but it was my favorite time of the month. Sometimes I would snag a newspaper so me and Scott could read about what was going on.
For the past five months me and Scott had been hiding out. We were wanted in every kingdom now. Scott was especially angry that Fwhip had taken over "ruling" the Elven Empire. So were most of the elves apparently. There have been riots in Rivendale against human rule.
I had finally started to get used to the cold. By that I mean I didn't need blankets 24/7.
Scott spent most of his time teaching me how to read. I was doing a lot better than I was when I started at least. Scott said something about me being almost middle school level, which is good, I think. Especially because he said I had something called dyslexia, whatever that meant. Apparently not all people saw their words swim across the page like they were at a pool party.
As I said I was sitting on a couch. Technically, it was a bench with cushions I had found in Mythland, but we're going to call it a couch. I had my feet kicked up on a makeshift table in front of me while I read this book for the hundredth time.
I heard Scott coming down the stairs, but I didn't look up. For like, the first time ever, I had woken up before Scott. I don't know why, don't blame me. The sun woke me up, ok?
"Happy Birthday!" Scott said when he was halfway down the staircase.
"Huh?" I asked and looked up. He was smirking and holding a small cake. "What?"
"Happy Birthday." He repeated and continued down the staircase. "I know its March 1st instead of the 29th but since it's not a leap year I thought we'd celebrate today."
I stared at him in absolute confusion. "Again. What?"
"It's your 15th birthday." He said.
"It is?" I said in shock, dropping my book onto my lap.
He slapped his forehead. "I keep forgetting that you don't remember any of this stuff. Yeah, it is." He put the cake down on the table at the other end of the room.
I got up. "Where did you even get a cake?" I asked him.
"Don't ask." He teased and handed me a fork.
I stabbed into the cake, it was chocolate, and took a bite. "It's cold." I said through a mouthful and a smirk.
Scott gave me the death stare before his mouth twitched into a smile. "Phoenix Draconis Major." He said with a disappointed sigh, shaking his head at my joke.
"What did you just call me?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and scrunched nose.
"It's your full name." he snickered.
I was appalled. "What idiots would name their child that?" I asked, slamming my fork down on the rickety table. "Phoenix Draconis Major. What's your middle name?"
"Gilded." He shrugged. "For these." He tapped one of his antlers. He laughed at my expression. "Your name isn't that bad. You know Xornoth's middle name was Rohan?"
"Like, after the king?" I snorted. "Imagine, my middle name, Pandora. Oh god I would kill myself."
Scott laughed. "You two are the opposite of our late parents. Heaven and hell, am I right?"
"Kicking two out of three kids doesn't seem like heaven to me." I mumbled and my face slid out of its smirk.
Scott's face fell. "Oh, right. Sorry." He muttered.
We stood there in awkward silence for a moment before I slid into a seat and began picking at the cake again. "So, when's your birthday?" I asked.
Scott sat down next to me. "November." He shrugged.
My mouth fell open. "Your birthday was four months ago, and you didn't tell me?" I asked and elbowed him in the ribs.
"Ow. I didn't think it was that important." He said and glared at me, massaging his side.
"So, your 21 now?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Huh. In the human kingdoms you can go to adult prison now." I snickered. Scott rolled his eyes.
"How have I lived with you this long?"
"I have no idea. You're the first person to deal with me this long."
We sat at the table for a while and ate the cake while we joked around. After a little while Scott had taken to staring down at the table. He seemed a little more depressed than usual.
"What's up?" I asked him.
He looked up at me. "Nothing, just-" he had started to say, but I saw something bright flash in the corner of my eye. It consumed the entire room and I fell off my chair. I heard Scott shout something in elvish and I screamed into my teeth in panic. When it finally reduced, I was propped up on my elbows on the floor, and there was a glowing figure, standing there. I swear I had seen him somewhere before.
It was hard to make out his features thanks to the light, but I saw silver hair, bright golden eyes, strange markings on his face, and two golden antlers, just like Scott's. He was an elf...at least I think he was.
"Scott." He said sternly.
Scott was standing up now and he was staring at the man in absolute shock. "Who- How- how did you find us? Who are you?" he stuttered.
"I think you know." He said, his eyes narrowing the slightest bit. Not quite a glare, but not a friendly look either. He had his hands folded behind his back formally. The glow made it impossible for me to look at him directly. If you had asked me afterward to describe his features better, I wouldn't have been able to.
Scott's eyes doubled in size. "Aeor." He whispered. Hold up.
I scrambled to my feet. "Wait. The Aeor? I thought you were a giant deer." I sneered.
Scott gave me a warning look, but I ignored it. Aeor turned his gaze to me. "You did, did you?" his eyes narrowed even more as he looked me up and down. "Well, you thought wrong Phoenix." His manner wasn't rude or unfriendly, more, stern and regal.
"Erin." I snapped. "It's Erin."
One of his eyebrows raised. "Is it now? I could have sworn they named you Phoenix." I couldn't tell if he was mocking me or not.
"I don't want anything they gave me!" I snarled.
Scott was frozen in fear. He shook his head, but I didn't back down. Aeor started to walk toward me, and I felt the overwhelming urge to bow, but instead I straightened up and looked Aeor dead in the eyes with a scowl.
He grabbed my jaw and pulled my chin up. "You've got spirit, don't you?"
I pulled my face from his grip. "What are you doing here?" I growled. "Why show your face now?"
"Funnily enough, I'm not here for you." He said and turned back to Scott. Scott gulped and backed up a few feet. "What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean?" Scott asked. I could see his hands trembling.
"You abandoned your empire and the other emperors, Scott."
"I had to! I-"
"You're running from yourself." Aeor cut off. "I'm afraid you've taken the wrong path."
"What?" Scott breathed.
"My champion cannot be unsure of himself and who his allegiance is to, and my champion certainly cannot be starting wars." Aeor said grimly.
"What war?" I cut in. "There is no war."
"Not yet." Aeor said. "But I fear it if you aren't careful."
"And we're trying to be! That's why we're here! To protect people!" I argued.
"Erin." Scott said through his teeth. "Not a good time."
"Well, you can't stay here much longer. The crystal you imprisoned your brother in has been stolen." Aeor said.
"WHAT?" Scott shouted. "By who!?"
"The gnome."
Scott's face contorted in fury. "She has the nerve-"
"This is exactly what I mean. You've lost control of yourself Scott. I'm afraid I can no longer let you represent what we stand for. What I stand for." Aeor reprimanded.
"Wha-" Scott started again. A golden shimmer seemed to evaporate from Scott, and he gasped in surprise, as if something was being pulled from him.
"I regret it. Maybe you can renew my trust. But not now. Not yet." Aeor said and disappeared, taking all the light in the room with him.
Absolute silence buzzed in my ears for a moment. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion until Scott staggered into one of the seats.
"Scott what is it?" I asked and jogged over the table, next to him.
"I- I don't know." Scott said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just feel...different."
"Different how?" I asked as ice started to creep up and around the room again.
"Vulnerable."
I squeezed his shoulder. "What did he do to you?" I asked.
"I think- I don't think I'm his champion anymore." He said and looked up at me with a pained expression. Not physical. Internal.
Then, what Aeor had said came back to me. "Scott- The crystal."
Scott shot up. "Pack up, Erin. We're going home."
An hour later we had everything we would need.'
"I have a feeling we won't be back here for a while." Scott said, gazing at our ice cave/palace. We both had bags over our shoulders with all the things we would need.
"Let's go confront a gnome." I smirked.
I had memorized the route back from all my trips back and forth to get food and supplies. But I hadn't been to Rivendale since we had left...
By late afternoon we had landed near the enchanting tower. It looked exactly how we'd left it. Frozen and cold.
"It didn't thaw...?" Scott said slowly to himself. Anxiety began to creep into his expression.
"Scott, it was winter while we were gone. Of course it didn't thaw." I snapped. "Now let's go make sure the crystal's still there."
"But Aeor said-" Scott started.
"Well Aeor could be lying." I said impatiently.
"I don't think Aeor would lie." Scott pointed out.
"I wouldn't put it past him." I snarled. "He's a stuck-up fool."
"Erin!" Scott said with a look of shock.
"What? He is. Stop defending the guy." I said with a look of disgust.
"No, I'm not defending him. But he is a god Erin. You can't just go around offending gods." He looked nervous, like I was about to be struck by lightning.
"Watch me." I said and strutted across the bridge to the other mountain near the palace. Scott had to run to catch up with me.
"I swear you have a death wish." He said.
"You know it." I smirked without turning to face him.
We barged into the secret room. The lever had been frozen in place, so it took both of us to pull it. Scott sprinted to the shelf we had left it on before squeezing the bridge of his nose. It was gone.
"This was such a stupid, stupid place to put it." Scott said. "Gem, Fwhip, Shrub, Katherine, Pearl. They all knew about it! Of course this is the first place they'd look."
"Hey, don't beat yourself up. Or do for all I care." I said. "We need to figure out how to steal it back from Shrub."
Scott had started to pace. "Alright...alright. We can go tomorrow. Force her to give it back. But first, you need to rest. The flight always exhausts you."
"I'm fine." I said. "We can go now."
"No. We rest first." He insisted. "Come on. To the palace." He put an arm around my shoulders and steered me back through the city to the palace. On the way back I realized that nobody was out. It was too cold. Windows were frosted over and frozen shut. The street was slick with ice and curtains were drawn.
I tried to draw Scott's attention from how much Rivendale seemed like a ghost town. "So, what's the plan? Are we going to storm the Undergrove? Claim it for the elves?" I was starting to get excited.
"No, we ask her for it. If she refuses, we sneak back in the night and steal it." Scott said sternly.
"Aw that's boring." I said and crossed my arms. Scott rolled his eyes.
"You think everything is boring." He sighed.
"No, you're just no fun." I shot back.
"If you don't shut up I'm going to stuff the crystal down your throat once we get it." Scott threatened.
I elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow. Why are you always hurting me." Scott whined.
This time I rolled my eyes. "You are so dramatic." I said.
"I'm the dramatic one?" he looked offended. I always knew how to wind him up. We had this conversation often. By often, I mean every day.
"Yes, you come across power, which, let me remind you, is something I've had every day of my life, and then you decide, "oh, I'm going to go panic now and send the world into an eternal winter.'" I snapped playfully.
Scott grabbed my legs and threw me over his shoulder like a potato sack. "I'm not dealing with this today." He said as he began to carry me to the palace.
"SCOTT, LET ME DOWN." I shrieked. I swear i saw a few people peeking through their curtains.
"Nope." He replied. "This is your punishment for backtalking the king."
"You're not even the king anymore!" I cried and tried to wiggle out of his arms.
"Says who?" Scott asked.
"The paper! Everyone!" I started hitting his back, but he still wouldn't let me go. "Scott." I moaned.
"You did this to yourself." Scott said as he opened the door to the palace. The entrance hall was covered in dust. At least, the part of it I could see. I was still over Scott's shoulder.
Then all of a sudden, as Scott was walking across the room, the floor came up above our heads and we were falling. I screamed and in panic, kicked Scott in the face. Scott shouted and then we made contact with a hard surface.
I was on my side. I rolled onto my back to look up. 30 feet above us was the floor. We were lying on the carpet. Someone had set a trap.
I swore in elvish as I scrambled to my feet. I had no idea what it meant but I knew it was a bad one.
"Where did you learn that one?" I heard Scott ask. I couldn't see him in the dark.
"It was Xornoth's favorite." I shrugged. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I saw Scott on the ground.
"What happened?" Scott groaned as I helped him up.
"No idea." I said and looked around. There was a message, pinned to the earthy wall by a small knife. I stared at it for a moment but could only make out a few words.
"Scott. Read it." I said.
"Jesus, you don't need to be so bossy." Scott mumbled, holding the back of his head. "Stay away from Gem, and all of us if you know what's good for you- Count Fwhip and Lord Sausage."
My jaw dropped. "Those two sons of a-" I started.
"I wonder what else they trapped..." Scott cut off. His eyes suddenly widened. "The embassy!"
"What about it?" I asked.
"I bet you Fwhip rigged that too. Come on." Me and Scott shot out from the pit and back into the entrance hall. Scott stormed out of the palace, and I jogged to catch up with him. We traveled back through the streets to the edge of the city. There was a Grimlands style building. The embassy.
I realized how furious Scott was about Fwhip and Sausage's trap. His eyes flickered the icy blue they did every time he got anxious, or he used the ice.
His wrist twitched and a rumbling came from deep in the ground. I almost fell over as a huge spike of ice impaled the building through the middle. It lifted the entire building over 50 feet into the air. Explosives rained out of the holes in the floor as the building started to fall apart.
"That's what I thought." Scott growled.
I backed away from him. "Scott...that was intense." I said. "I like this you much better." I smirked, but he didn't seem to hear me.
"How much of my empire has he contaminated?" Scott muttered to himself.
Then, something I hadn't seen before, caught my eye. A tower. A Grimlands style tower. On a nearby mountain, level with the city.
"Scott...has that always been there?" I asked and pointed to the tower. Scott followed my finger to the tower.
"No. It hasn't." he said, his wings unfolding as he started to fly toward it without warning. I took off right after him. As I landed, Scott twisted the doorknob. But it was locked. He squeezed the brass handle, and it froze. He broke the knob and shoved the door open.
A cold, dry breeze blew in after us as we stepped inside. It was carpeted and there was a spiral staircase wrapping around the wall. We followed it to the top. There was a desk, like a principals, with the elven crown placed on it. This is where Fwhip was ruling from.
Scott grabbed the crown. "He doesn't even deserve to rule the Grimlands..." Scott muttered.
"Let me do the honors of destroying this building." I smirked. I made sure Scott was a good distance away before I stood in front of the building and clenched my fists. The walls of the tower began to crack, and the stone base began to split. Dust crumbled away from the concrete walls.
"You need some help there?" Scott called.
"Sure." I said as a hovered a few feet above the ground. Together we rammed into the building with our shoulders from the air a few times. The building began to tip backwards. Me and Scott flew backwards as it crashed and began to slide a little ways down the mountain.
I brushed my hands off. "Nice work." I said.
Scott did a little midair bow before we landed. "Rivendale belongs to us again." He said proudly.
"You. It belongs to you." I corrected.
"Fine, it belongs to me again." He said, rolling his eyes. "Now, I'm starving, I haven't had anything since the cake."