Skylands Legends

17.2 Winter Keep

Shortly after she had got Spyro to open up to her, Stealth Elf had sent him down below to get some rest. Only time would tell if he would feel any better about what happened.

Stealth Elf took over flying the ship and guided them all afternoon and night until they reached the island of Frostfest. Spyro came from below deck around dawn and told her to get some sleep while he piloted them to Winter Keep. She asked if he was sure and he smiled and nodded, shooing her down below where she could rest.

She eventually caved in, figuring it would probably be best to have at least a little sleep before they reached the city. Frostfest was one of the few continental islands in Skylands, meaning that rather than being ten to fifteen miles long, it was more like ten to fifteen thousand miles long. It was supposed to be a twenty four hour trek on ship just to cross the entirety of the island. Luckily, they only needed to reach the center of the colossal island where Winter Keep lie. This meant that she had plenty of time to get some rest before her meeting with Chill.

When Stealth Elf had first radioed into Winter Keep, she had received a cold welcome from the frost elf who had answered. They notified her that they would be heard out in the Winter Hall when they arrived before rather rudely hanging up.

Elf may not have been a fan of Splat, but the faun was right about something; The Empire of Ice was holding a grudge against them.

The Empire ruled most of the land on Frostfest, with exception to the Frostfest Mountains. The indigenous yetis lived free of the Empire there after a war of secession a few decades ago. The Empire of Ice was still bitter about having lost the territory that was the mountains of Frostfest, and would refuse to acknowledge the yetis as their own sovereign state. Any realm that accepted the yetis as their own people would typically receive the cold shoulder from the frost elves. And about four years ago, Mabulon had opened up their trade routes with yetis, and even announced their support for them.

The Empire of Ice had been angered by this, but — in need of the exported wool from Mabulon — they had resigned themselves to slights against the people of Mabulon rather than trade embargoes. And as the Skylanders were based in Mabulon, the cold shoulder was turned to them as well. Which meant the already difficult task of convincing them to give up their most precious gem was only going to be even more impossible.

Stealth Elf found one of the hammocks below deck and laid down in it. Her mind was racing over things to say or do to get the Empire of Ice on their side. Eventually it all faded away as sleep took her.

The flight must have been exceptionally smooth — either that or she was more tired than she realized — because the next thing she knew, Pop Fizz was waking her up saying they had docked.

"Already?" She groggily asked. "We went through the energy field and everything?"

"Uh, yeah." Pop Fizz said in a tone that conveyed, 'Duh'. "That's the only way we could have docked."

Stealth Elf suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and instead channeled that energy into rolling out of the hammock. Stepping on the hardwood floor, she stretched before following the gremlin above deck.

Spyro waited for her above with a sheep's wool cloak ready. She took it gratefully at the feel of the cold winter air and put it over her shoulders, reveling in the warmth it gave.

She stepped up to the edge of the ship and looked out over the winter hangar. It was a massive dome building sculpted completely out of ice, a fact that didn't make the structure any less sturdy. The ice was nearly fifteen feet thick around the structure, making it heavily fortifiable — just like the rest of Winter Keep.

Hundreds of sky ships were docked along platforms that stretched vertically as well as horizontally across the hangar. People milled about, going down the ramps and stairs to head down to the Frost Tracks.