Wisdom's Daughter

Chapter 11: The Ice Is Melted

Kai and I were still talking about a scene of the movie that we had enjoyed when the alarm rang.

We dashed to the mess hall. Everyone was flustered, having no warning as to what was happening. Nyssa sped past us, still pulling on her armor, and Mateo was walking rapidly, looking worried.

Dylan was holding a half-eaten doughnut and he and Nyssa were talking in hushed voices in a corner. Crea was crying while Avani comforted her with a worried look on her face. When Crea looked up, her face was stark-white.

"Oh. Diana you're-you're here," she said shakily.

"What's happened? Why is everyone so—" I paused as I realised who was missing. "Where is Amara?"

"Diana, I'm so sorry! It's all my fault," Crea sobbed. "I was talking to her on deck and I went below to get something from the hall—and she was gone. Just like that. There were signs she put up a fight, and a large—a large ice crystal—I'm sorry, I couldn't stop it!" She broke down and Avani went back to comforting her.

I called at Mateo to summon some pegasi (flying horses) that we kept in stables inside the Pegasus for everyone onboard. Everyone knew then that our plan of confronting Khione would have to happen— right now.

She had taken Amara- She was only speeding up our process of heading there and defeating her.

I boiled over with rage as we ran to the deck. There were ice crystals embedded in the deck, and what was a pair of axes were smashed to pieces. My heart broke when I realised it was Amara's.

We mounted our pegasi. As soon as everyone was ready, Dylan, Nyssa, and I took off to Khione's headquarters. We were already quite close to Ripek, so getting there would be a quick journey. I couldn't wait to give Khione a taste of the Sword of Wisdom's solid, Pyreum blade.

"Diana?" Dylan yelled over the whipping wind and snow. "Amara is fine. I don't know why or how I know, but she's okay. They haven't hurt her, she's just chained up in some sort of chamber. I know it might seem crazy to trust me but- you have to."

I sniffled—then gasped. "Dylan, in how many minutes will we be landing, and what will the place look like?"

"Um..." He closed his eyes, then opened them after a second. They were wider than usual, and he was shaking as though in pain. "Exactly 2 minutes and 24.76 seconds. And the place will look blue because of one gigantic blue crystal in the centre, but it's actually made of ice and it's shaped like a large icicle listing to the right."

"Dylan... I think you might be able to see into the near future. We got it!" I exclaimed. "Nyssa, start a stopwatch."

2 minutes and 24.76 seconds later, we reached the ground. I went to congratulate Dylan on his success, until I saw how scared he looked. He stood very still and was rubbing his temples.

We looked around. The castle was large, just as Dylan had described it. His eyes widened as he turned and we saw a large shadow. It was some kind of creature, but it was too dark to see what it was.

Dylan's face had turned white as paper and he was trembling. I looked at him in concern, but he straightened and took a breath. We moved on.

The older people made up the front, the younger ones in the rear. We all held our weapons at the ready, poised to strike at any disturbance. We crept inside and I gave the signal to Mateo to make the planned diversion. The rest of the adults ran to find a room big enough to attack Khione's servants.

Mateo ran off to a corner and mimicked a Hyperborean Giant.

"OVER HERE!" He bellowed. "I HAVE A NEW REALLY AWESOME GAME WE CAN PLAY, GUYS! COME ON!"