Chapter Sixteen
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The dungeon of the ice palace was, as expected, cold. Very cold. I curled up in my cloak, trying to keep warm, but the cold bled through, chilling me to the bone. I hoped I wasn't getting frostbite.
Why am I even helping these creatures? I thought. They are ungrateful. They don't deserve my help. I should just leave and forget about it all.
But, the problem was, I couldn't leave. I was trapped in an icy prison without any heat source. I was going to die.
You know what? I told myself. You've thought you were going to die plenty of times on this journey, and you haven't. You're a survivor. You can live through this.
I breathed on my hands and rubbed them together. Yes, I was a survivor, and I was going to live through this.
I got up and began running in place. It warmed me up a little bit, but all I could think about was how cold my ears and toes were. I sat back down dejectedly and began to succumb to the cold.
Every time you have survived, I told myself. It has been because of someone else. You can't do anything on your own. And there's no one to assist you this time.
I felt tears pour from my eyes, and I didn't stop them because they felt warm on my face. And I was desperate for any warmth.
I thought of my life back home. Should I have never left?
No.
Without me, these peoples would have no hope. Jax would be alone. Assana would feel alone. I liked to think that me coming here had been a change for the better.
And I would feel incomplete without this adventure. I felt like, for once, I was fulfilling something destined to happen. It felt . . . right.
I heard a door creek open. It was probably a guard bringing me some food.
It wasn't.
It was Urora.
"Evelin," she whispered, "I've come to free you."
"Urora!" I gasped. Tears ran down my face once more. Someone still needed me.
She used a key to open the cell door. "Follow me."
She didn't have to tell me twice. I hopped up and tiptoed behind her as we passed sleeping guards and a quiet city of stiria. I looked back once at the castle, which shone like glass in the moonlight. It was beautiful, but cold. The way the stiria seemed to be.
Urora pulled me onto the white horse and handed me my satchel, which the guards had taken from me.
"Thanks," I whispered.
She nodded in response.
She took me to a cave a league away from the Stiriae Castle. It was dark and damp, but it was warmer than outside. I built a fire. Stiria got sick from too much warmth, Urora told me. She sat as close to the edge of the cave as possible.
"The other stiria do not know," Urora said quietly. "But I believe I am the Enchanter of the stiria. It explains my prophesies and visions. I am not sure."
Urora? The Enchanter? "I think you are right," I said, closing my eyes and recalling that dream. I'd seen a pale girl with wide blue eyes. It was obviously . . . Urora.
"How do I help you?" Urora asked.
"Tell me about the stiria," I said. "Then help me find the faeries. Later, when I come back to Havane, I will need you to come with me. Are you willing?"
"Yes," she said. "I am. I know you will help us. I have foreseen it."
"Tell me about it."
She smiled. "No one ever wants to hear about my visions."
"I do," I said.
She began. "I saw you battling something . . . something a couldn't quite understand. It was large and dark and powerful. You fought it."
"And I won?"
She faltered. "I don't know."
"Did I die?" I asked.
"I have absolutely no idea. It didn't show any more."
I sighed. "That's all?"
She nodded. "All I've seen about you anyway. I've also seen the faces of all the Enchanters. Glimpses of them, anyway."
"Me, too," I said excitedly. "Could I be the human Enchanter?"
"I didn't see your face, but I suppose it's possible."
Me having magic? That sounded amazing. I hadn't thought of it before.
"But it is unlikely," she finished, and my spirits dropped. Who was I kidding? I had never shown any signs of being magic at all.
"That's fine," I lied. "I can do plenty on my own without magic." Like almost dying. Or drowning. Or burning myself with troll food.
"So I've heard," she said.
"What can stiria do that makes them special?" I asked.
"Watch." Urora turned her hand over so it's palm faced upwards.
I leaned forward in anticipation and watched as little frost patterns climbed up her wrist, completely covering it in frost. She shook her hand, and the frost fell off like snowflakes.
I gasped. "Can you do that to other things and people? Or just yourself?"
"It converts body heat into movement of the ice. I can only do it to others with heat."
"Try it on me," I said.
"Very well." She let the ice climb up her wrist, and then she touched me.
I felt a cold blade of ice travel up my arm. I could feel it draining heat. I shivered.
Urora stopped it. "What do you think?"
"That is extremely dangerous," I said.
"Yes, but when a stirian is in a warmer place, he or she can cover himself or herself in frost so they do not get sick. It is how our bodies control our heat. I feel the frost crawl up my legs and arms when I am too warm."
"Fascinating," I said. "What would happen if that ice stayed on me for too long?"
"It would make you sick, but it would not kill. The frost is made to help stiria. It cannot kill."
"Good," I said. "Tell me more. Do all stiria have blue lips?"
"Yes. Do all humans have pink lips?"
I shrugged. "Mostly. But none have blue lips. Haven't you seen the elves? They do, as well."
"I'm not supposed to leave," Urora said.
"Oh. When was your king taken away?"
"A decade ago. We let a human come to our castle, and he betrayed us."
"What did he look like?" I asked eagerly.
"I wasn't born then. I don't know," she said.
"That's fine. What more can you tell me?"
"Why don't you try drawing the castle by memory? I'll tell you what you do wrong," she suggested.
"Very well." As I drew, Urora told me stories about her father who'd died protecting the emperor. She'd never met him.
"Is that good?" I asked, holding up my picture.
She nodded. "Yes, but the windows are more diamond-shaped."
I adjusted it and painted it with watercolor. Urora fell asleep.
She reminded me a little bit of Jax. I wondered if they could become friends. They were both so strong and diligent. And yet, they were the outcasts of their societies. Maybe I could learn from them.
When it was morning, I was hungry, but Urora had nothing to feed me. "I'll sneak away to the palace," she said. "And get some food."
She returned with some foods I'd never seen before. I poked at a bread-like thing. "What is this?"
"A pastry. You'll like it."
"It's not spicy, is it?" I asked.
"No. Why?"
I thought of that purple carrot and shuddered. "No reason."
Urora showed me how she could make a little blizzard with her stirian magic. "Most stiria cannot do this," she said. "But they can learn how." She made a design of frost on her closed fist. Then she opened it up quickly, and a little pattern of ice shot into the air. It fell down as snow.
I admit, I was jealous.
I was also starting to doubt myself. All the races were born with magic. And I wasn't even exemplar compared to boring humans. I was ordinary.
"Urora," I said that evening, "how am I supposed to help any of you? I can't do anything. I'm just plain and ordinary and not special at all. I don't think I can do this."
She opened her wide blue eyes even wider. "Don't say that!" she said. "You were chosen. I know it. It was meant to be you!"
"I don't think so," I said.
"Go to the faeries," Urora said. "Perhaps they can convince. There is not much more I can help you with here, without getting into the city."
"What about you?" I asked. "Will they let you back in?"
She nodded. "They'll punish me, but they cannot prove that I helped you escape. My mother will blame it on me being crazy, anyway. They cannot punish an insane person." She smiled sadly.
I gave her a hug. "Thank you, Urora."
"Do you know how to get there?" she asked.
"Not completely," I admitted.
She looked skeptical.
"All right. Not at all," I mumbled.
"Just look for the mountain in the east. The faeries live on the mountain. Take my horse and go. I wish you luck, Evelin."
"Thank you."
And then, I was off.
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