Trisha lay in a coma on life support, her parents crying near her hospital bed. Time was running out and the decision to discontinue the life support was being discussed. But unknown to her family and doctors she wasn't dead, but trapped inside, ins...
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While the Ice Man and Trisha sat waiting for the search party to leave and look elsewhere, Trisha learned that the Ice Man's name was Prince Otzil. But now he was King since his father and mother were dead, an outcast King his own people wanted to execute. All because his parents had refused to give the Fire Slinger the kingdoms most precious royal stone, the Fire Crystal. The Fire Crystal was discovered by his direct ancestor over a thousand years ago in the deepest of the great lava tubes. It gave off a red glow and radiated with power, connecting that power with the King that held it.
When the Fire Slinger visited, she was friendly at first and his parents had allowed her to see the stone. A blinding red light had burst from the stone once she came near and the Fire Slinger was struck in the chest. But instead of being thrown back by the force, she'd absorbed the power. The absorbed power was like a drug to the Fire Slinger. She suddenly became obsessed with the stone and wanted it for her own and tried to take it. Otzil's father had hit a switch on his throne and the stone had fallen from its display through a trapdoor.
The Fire Slinger became furious and lost all her control. Her hands had burst into roaring torches of flame and she had threatened his parents, trying to force them to give it to her. Otzil had thought she was going to kill them, but she wanted them to suffer. She knew the young were all together, training in the ways of the Ice People on the far side of the great cavern. The Fire Slinger had said if she couldn't have the stone, then they couldn't have their young. She reached out with her hands and the earth split open and the lava river was born. Permanently separating the people from their young.
The Fire Slinger left out the front gate. No one dared to get close to her. The people couldn't stop the Fire Slinger, couldn't force her to reverse what she had done. Couldn't punish her. So they took it out on his parents and punished them with death in the lava river.
After Otzil had finished telling the story, he figured it was safe. The Ice Man led Trisha from their small hiding spot and down the lava tube once they were certain the search for them had moved on. "The young are trapped this way on the other side of the lava river." The Ice Man told her. They rounded a corner, and a red glow showed ahead. The temperature was rising quickly. The ice on the walls was gone, and the floor was wet and steamy.
Trisha stopped to wipe the sweat from her eyes just as a projectile flew past, nearly grazing Trisha's head, and stuck itself in the wall. She gasped and ducked as several more came whizzing past. They were shards of ice traveling at high speed. Trisha glanced back in the direction the shots came from and saw a dozen ice men with long barreled rifles firing at them from an overhang in the cavern above.
"I'll try to lead them away from you while you get across and rescue the young." He said, squatting down behind a stone for cover next to her. As he rose to race down a side tunnel, Trisha put up her shield just in time to deflect several more shots and allowed him time to escape. She had meant for them both to cross, but this was as close as the Ice Man would get. She extended the shield around herself and walked out toward the lava river. The Ice Men on the ledge above watched her in amazement. They stopped firing and expected her to perish at any moment as she walked up to the river.
