Fire and Ice Collide » Places

         Within seconds of Ahuv stopping before Crystal and digging things out of his bag, Keanu grabbed his sword that was on the ground by his side, and pointed it at the Eldurian Prince’s neck. “Get away from her!” He growled, but the enemy continued on, starting to grind what Keanu now noticed were herds. Lowering his sword, he carefully watched Ahuv prepare some form of medicine. Ahuv dipped a cloth into the liquid, then proceeded to wipe it on Crystal’s face, neck, and forehead. Moments later, Crystal stopped coughing, and her fever started to go down a bit.

"Here. Have her drink this when she wakes up. It will aid in the recovery process. If anybody asks, you intimidated an Eldurian intruder into making this for you." Ahuv instructed, handing the jar over.

“If she wakes up…” Keanu muttered, taking the strange liquid medicine from him. Though he knew if he tells The King that an Eldurian intruder made the medicine, His Majesty would question why Keanu didn’t detain the enemy and being him with them.

Hearing guards in the distance, Ahuv got up and took out a box of matches. “We got company! Let's get out of here, Saul!" He ran over to his brother, as Saul replied, "Couldn't agree more!" Ahuv light the match, getting ready to leave.

“If you ever go near my little sister again, I’ll kill you.” He warned, just before the two Eldurian Princes clocked themselves in fire and lightning and disappeared. Keanu finally stood up, carrying Crystal in his arms, with the jar clutched in his hand the supported under her knees.

The guards and Tamar arrived almost right at the same time. The guards came up to Keanu, bombarding him with questions. "Wh-what happened!?" "We saw fire and lightning just now!" "What's... that liquid for?"

“It’s medicine, now quiet!” He barked, as he went straight towards his horse. Tamar shot a flare up into the sky, a signal to tell the others they have Crystal and are heading back to the castle now. She then helped Keanu get up on his horse with Crystal.

Once everyone was situated and ready to go, the group began traveling back to the castle. Tamar was in front leading the group, while Keanu and Crystal were positioned in the middle, and the guards flanked the sides and back. One of the back guards also took hold of the reins of Crystal’s horse. Another guard in the back, murmured "It's a wonder Prince Keanu hasn't made that Eldurian his wife or concubine, by now... They practically flirt with each other..." Which awarded him a not-so-amused glare from Keanu. ”You know that can’t happen. It’s against the law here.” The guard next to him whispered.

The rest of the ride back was a quiet one. It took them a good two to three hours to get back, as Keanu didn’t want to rush so much that it would injury Crystal further. But they were still going at a fast pace because Crystal needed to see a healer as soon as possible.

Upon reaching the castle, everyone dismounted their horses in the courtyard. Keanu passed Crystal on to one of the guards. “Take Princess Crystal to the healers. Have them analyze the liquid that’s in this jar to make sure it’s safe. If it is, then tell the healers to have the Princess drink it when she wakes up.” He ordered, also giving the jar of medicine to him. He turned to look at Tamar, giving her a job as well. “Tamar, take another guard and bring the ex-General to the cellars until further instructions on what to do with him.” He moved towards the remaining four guards, and told them “Return the horses back to the stables.” Straightening his back up, he face the full group. “By order of the Second Prince, all you know is that you found us with Princess Crystal already unconscious, you did not see or hear anything else. Say something otherwise and you will be punished.” He waved his right hand, “Alright, disperse.”

Walking up the stairs to the main entrance of the castle, Keanu sighed as he rubbed his left temple “Oh Gods, what I am I going to tell Father…”

---

The King banged the bottom of his scepter on the floor. "Silence!" His voice roared throughout the council room. Once the chattering of guards, councilmen, and spectators died down; King Mortimer continued, "We will now begin the trial of Former General Arnold Landvik. 10 years ago, this man led an army of 50 soldiers, under the false order of your King, to Eldur. There, he and his men invaded a village near the Haevan Wall, leaving little to no survivors. During this raid; The Queen, Crown Princess, and First Prince of the Eldur Royal Takeda Family just so happened to be present at the time, in which The Queen and Crown Princess were slaughtered. This caused the signing of the treaty between Vantis and Eldur to be denied, and we fell even deeper into conflict with the opposing kingdom. As punishment, Arnold Landvik and the remainder of his 50 men (about 15 of them survived) were to be stripped of their powers and banished to the outer regions of Vantis, separated from each other, to live out the rest of their days alone.” Murmurs began again to fill the room, King Mortimer brought down his scepter once again to silence them. “Until yesterday that is; when my daughter, Princess Crystal went out for a ride with my son, Prince Keanu and his attendant Tamar.” The King momentarily paused to glance over at Keanu, who was standing to the side on the steps of the Dais.

The boy slightly shifted on his feet, not daring to look anywhere but straight ahead at Arnold Landvik. He could also sense his older siblings looking at him too. Dimitri and Sylvia were standing adjacent to Keanu on the Dais, Sylvia a few steps lower then Dimitri. He noticed others were looking at him to. Please stop looking at me…. Keanu did what he had to do, in order to not gain any serious problems for himself and Crystal. And if that was to lie about what really happened, then….

The King cleared his throat, in order to gain the room’s attention back to him. “The three of them left on a short journey to visit my late son, Prince Jayden’s place of death. There, they encountered Arnold Landvik, who was said to be banished a few miles south west from the site. Arnold Landvik engaged with them by taunting Princess Crystal about the death of Prince Jayden, which a fight broke out between Prince Keanu, Tamar, and Arnold Landvik. Princess Crystal was injured in the process by Arnold Landvik and that’s when her power, Glacial erupted. But, just like before, she quickly fell unconscious due to the energy draining of her power. Arnold Landvik was swiftly apprehended by Tamar and was already in custody when the guards showed up.” King Mortimer looked to the table of councilmen. “Councilmen of the court, you are here to discuss what should be done of Arnold Landvik. Should he live in confinement in the dungeons for the rest of his days? Or should he be executed?”

Whispers among the councilmen began, discussing on what to do. The head of the councilmen (besides the King) stood. “We have made our decision, Your Majesty. Former General Arnold Landvik shall be executed within the week. He was already giving the chance to start anew when he was banished, and now, if he were to be kept in the dungeons it would

The King nodded. “It has been decided then.” He pounded his scepter on the floor once. “Former General Arnold Landvik, you are hereby guilty of attempted assassination of the Second Princess of Vantis, Crystal Feya Zamrażać and the Sceond Prince of Vantis, Keanu Thierry Zamrażać. As punishment, you are to be sentence to death.” The scepter struck the floor twice more, and the guards took Arnold away, back to the cellar until his execution.

---

Crystal groaned as she slowly slipped out of sleep, opening up her eyes she noticed the room was dark except for the moonlight coming through the window. Where am I? She was still half asleep, but realized she was back in her own room. Although, as soon as she was more awake, her whole body started aching. Her head pounding, her arms and legs stung immensely, and her ribcage felt like someone had kicked her hard. She carefully sat herself up in the bed when she noticed bandaged wrapped all up her arms, then proceeded to flinging the blankets off of her. Her legs were also bandaged all the way up to her knees. “What…What happened?” She quietly whispered, trying to remember what had caused her to be in this situation. That’s when it hit her.

She was at Jayden’s grave, in the forest near the beach. She met up with Ahuv to try and stop him from killing the blue-haired man. Then his brother showed up and they got into a fight. After that, the man, Tamar, and Keanu appeared. They all started fighting each other. That’s when…What happened after? Crystal couldn’t remember. Everything just was blank. Before she knew it, everyone was trapped in this weird ice-prison thing. There was, these pointed shards reaching for their necks, and then…she passed out. What happened to everyone? Her eyes widened. “Keanu…” Her voice was a bit scratchy, her tone worried.

The Princess jumped out of the bed, ignoring that pain the shocked through her body. She needed to know if Keanu was okay. She rushed to her door and flung it opened, crashing into a slightly taller and more muscular body. Crystal fell back, having a bucket of water dump on her.

“Princess Crystal!” A very familiar voice sounded. When she looked up, it was Haydn. He help her back up on her feet. “You’re awake! You’re finally awake! Forgive me for this but,” he gently hugged her. “I need to tell the others!” He turned around, about to make a dash for the exit, when Crystal grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“Wait! Where’s Keanu? Is he alright? What about Tamar?” She questioned him, complete fear and worry showed clear across her face. “And what do you mean ‘finally awake?’ Haven’t I only been asleep for the day?” She added, a bit confused. She let go of his arm as he turned to face her again.

“Prince Keanu is perfectly fine. He’s the one that brought you back to the castle with Tamar and some other guards.” Haydn reassured her. “Besides I think you should be more worried about yourself. Aren’t you in pain standing up?” He asked, noticing that any movement she made, she winced. “You should go back to bed. I’ll get one of the healers for you and let everyone know you’re awake.” He helped her back over to her bed, once she was laying back down, he sighed. “Princess Crystal, you have been unconscious for a week and your body is very weak right now. Please don’t push yourself.” With that, he turned away and left her room, running down the halls. He told the first maid he saw to go fetch a healer and bring them to Crystal’s room. Then he ran to Keanu’s room, to let him know to tell the rest of the Royal Family that she was awake.

Crystal just stared after him, and still stared when he was gone and the door had shut. “I’m been unconscious for a week…? But how? What the hell happened in the forest?” She asked herself, looking down at her bandaged hands.