Return to the Nine Kingdoms

45

The Twins
It's all gone so terribly wrong, Teeth thought. His sister ran beside him and they had reluctantly followed behind the three Royals. King Wendell had pecked his way through corridors, searching for any sign of Honeymoon Castle's Royal Guard. Those that had been cut down—frozen into blocks of Ice by Queen Iyla—made up only one or two squads and the others, whether on-duty or not, should have formed themselves into patrols at the first sign of trouble. With one monarch dead of natural causes and another dead by her husband's ruthless ambition, the Guard should have been on high alert. The small retinue of Guards from Wendell's own castle that had accompanied the convoy of carriages to the First Kingdom had been instructed to remain in the Guard House, but even they should have come to the King's aid by then.
"It's so cold!" Princess Red had cried as she attempted to hug close to her mother while they navigated t.
Without her Hood, Queen Red III's exposed arms were bright pink with the chill. Even she, the wise Queen hadn't thought to wear her warmer clothes that the her attendants had packed for her and Teeth was sure that she was regretting that decision then. In the narrow corridors, the temperature had dropped even further and he noticed the Queen and the Princess had tried their best to walk side-by-side. Whether that was because of the cold or because Queen Red III was more interested in keeping her daughter close, he didn't know, but their efforts made passing through doorways more difficult.
The ice had followed them as they scurried to the dormitories, and, finding none of their party or any of King Wendell's Guard there, they'd quickly taken whatever supplies they could carry on their backs.
"Take these," King Wendell had instructed to Teeth, holding a pair of linens that had been stripped from the bed.
Teeth had found it incredible that interacting with the King of the Fourth Kingdom had been reduced to whether sheets and blankets from the Princess's bed would be enough for the two wolf cubs.
"We're not..."
Fangs finished the thought for her brother, "You lot should take 'em. We don't feel cold like you."
Another strip of ice had covered the floor at their feet and as Fangs took a step to hand the linens over to the Princess, her borrowed boots had slipped. Princess Red had caught her by the elbow and had helped to right her again without thinking of how easy it would have been to just let Fangs fall.
"Perhaps not," Princess Red had scolded. "But at least we can find out footing."
"If the plan is to escape before the Ice Queen can trap us again, we should leave," Queen Red III had warned.
They'd all shoved themselves into the warm clothes that had been stowed in Queen Red III and Princess Red's rooms—hardly anything had even been unpacked except for what the two of them had worn to Queen Cinderella's funeral. Neither King Wendell nor Teeth had balked at wearing any of the Queen's clothes or even the lacy linens from the room, but Fangs had continued to assert that she needed nothing but the borrowed uniform she wore. Despite the Queen's urging that they needed to leave the castle and quickly, King Wendell began to insist again that, now better prepared, he should rendezvous with the Guard.
Teeth had crossed the Princess's room to the window and had used the edge of his coat sleeve to wipe away the frost and ice that covered the glass. Like their room did, Teeth had seen at once that the window looked out over the courtyard where the chapel, Guard House, and stables were housed. Where they'd been the day before, attending the funeral, the chapel was completely coated in rime ice and even the bell was frozen, mid-ring. The stables and Guard House were covered in hoarfrost alike and there was no sign of life in either.
"The horses!" Princess Red cried when Teeth had pointed out the damage that the Ice Queen's raging storm had caused already.
"The Guard," King Wendell had sighed.
While those that they'd already witnessed becoming frozen in solid ice seemed irretrievably lost, each of their party of five wished silently that both the people and creatures trapped in ice could be freed in the future.
"What about the Queen's maids?" Princess Red had asked.
"If they're alive, they've gotten free of the castle by now," Queen Red III had answered her. "If that wretch didn't snuff them out when he did Queen Eleanor."
"Eleanor," King Wendell had groaned with more than a passing amount of mourning.
Teeth had turned to watch the King's face envelop all of the sadness and heartbreak they'd all experienced over the last few hours. His love of his Grandmothers, whatever their relationship was to him, was honest. He missed them both and painfully.
"We must go," Queen Red III had insisted.
"Where?" Teeth had asked immediately. "Where can we go?"
Surely the two Royals had thought of that, Teeth had thought. Wendell's Kingdom was closest, with the northern border just a few hours away on foot. But, as evidenced by the reports of the Great Golden River freezing over in the storm, their path north could very well be purposefully blocked by the Ice Queen's deadly storm. They could go east, and try their luck with the Dwarves, but even if they could gain entry to the Ninth Kingdom and the storm's ferocity was lessened there, the Dwarves, and the new King Wulfgar, may not receive them with open arms. Further south would only leave them further away from any allies and at the Ice Queen's mercy—she would use her control over the Mirrors to find them eventually. West would lead them toward the more rural regions of the First Kingdom and to Divorce Palace, which had been unoccupied by any of the First Kingdom's Royals for several years but was still operated as a grand home.
Teeth had taken a moment to explain his theories, testing if the Queen had assumed the same. She had.
"King Wendell," Queen Red III had urged her fellow monarch. "The wolf cub has deduced it as well. We should try for Divorce Palace. See if we have any allies there."
King Wendell had dropped his eyes again but nodded as slid his feet away from the encroaching sheet of ice on the floor. Not only had he agreed with where they must go, he had agreed that they could linger no more. Leading the way through the halls again, he'd traced his way toward the kitchens and through the supply rooms to the servants' passageway. They'd found several of the castle's servants huddling in the warmest parts of the castle, terrified of the commotions they'd heard above but still not completely aware of the imminent danger. Even as Teeth and Fangs, the trailing end of their party, had reached the kitchen entrance, the intense chill had followed them and the ice came creeping down the walls and floors.
They'd escaped through the servants' entrance as the ice took its firmest hold on the grounds. The skies above them were no less sinister as the storm raging in and out of the castle, and thick snow had battered against their cheeks as they sought refuge among the few others who had managed to survive the initial attack. Huddling together, Royal, wolf, servant, and peasant, their small group of survivors had fled to the west, though they trudged slowly through the bitterly cold snow drifts.