Scorched

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Upon arriving at the throne room she saw a crowd of people gathered in one side of the room and all that could be heard were the agonised screams of a child 'excuse me. Please, let me through' Ayla frantically moved through the crowd until she was in the centre and lying on the floor screaming was a little boy, no older than four. 'What happened?' she asked Elsa, who was standing close by 'Tommy found your mask outside and put it on and some of the embers have gone in his eyes' Elsa explained holding up Ayla's mask. 'Ok, I'll take him into the parlour just keep everyone else occupied' Ayla carefully lifted the youngster into her arms and carried him down the corridor to the parlour.

She didn't want the rest of the guests to see her removing the embers because she knew it was not a pretty sight, and she knew that if she was under too much pressure something could go wrong and the boy would either go blind or worst of all die from his injury.

'Tommy, listen to me. I want you to be a brave boy, this is going to hurt a little bit but what I want you to do is hold onto my hand and I'll help you ok' Ayla soothed sitting Tommy on her knee and holding out her hand for him. He sniffled but nodded his head and placed his small hand in hers 'please Queen Ayla, it hurts' he whimpered. Ayla placed her other hand over his eyes and using her powers she managed to extract the embers after a few minutes. She hated listening to Tommy's screams but she couldn't make it hurt any less. When she was finished she gently kissed his forehead and led him back into the throne room where he ran into his mother's arms and Ayla was met with applause from the other guests.

A middle aged woman rushed over to Ayla 'thank you for saving my baby your majesty' 'please do not thank me; it was my fault he got the embers into his eyes in the first place. I left my mask unattended if I had been more careful he wouldn't have gotten hurt' Ayla looked at the floor full of shame for being so careless. 'But if you were not here he would be blind now' the woman smiled reassuringly to which Ayla looked up and smiled at her.

Ayla slipped her mask back onto her face and continued to talk to the guests until it got late and everyone began to depart. Eventually the only people in the great hall were some of the princes, Elsa, Ayla and King Sven, 'thank you for a very enjoyable evening your majesty's but I feel it is time for me to retire' the King mentioned to the twins 'we're glad you enjoyed yourself, have a pleasant night' Ayla smiled before he left the room and went up the stairs to his room. 'I'm going to go to bed as well Elsa, I'll see you in the morning' Ayla mentioned but before she left she extinguished her fire statues then went to bed. Elsa bid the Princes goodnight then once everyone was gone she cast her hands out and made the ice rink disappear and all of the snow and ice in the great hall vanish.

Elsa ascended the staircase towards her own room but not before she heard voices coming from one of the rooms 'what do you think you're playing at, that boy could have died because of your stunt' 'I knew she had powers and I wanted to see what she could do with them' came his whispered reply. Elsa hovered outside the door but couldn't hear the rest of the conversation. She stared at the door as if it would tell her what they were saying but after a few seconds she gave up and continued her journey to bed.