The Forbidden Lands (Wattys 2015 Winner)

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen
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The dungeon of the ice palace was, as expected, cold. Very cold. I curled up in my cloak, trying to keep warm, but the cold bled through, chilling me to the bone. I hoped I wasn't getting frostbite.

Why am I even helping these creatures? I thought. They are ungrateful. They don't deserve my help. I should just leave and forget about it all.

But, the problem was, I couldn't leave. I was trapped in an icy prison without any heat source. I was going to die.

You know what? I told myself. You've thought you were going to die plenty of times on this journey, and you haven't. You're a survivor. You can live through this.

I breathed on my hands and rubbed them together. Yes, I was a survivor, and I was going to live through this.

I got up and began running in place. It warmed me up a little bit, but all I could think about was how cold my ears and toes were. I sat back down dejectedly and began to succumb to the cold.

Every time you have survived, I told myself. It has been because of someone else. You can't do anything on your own. And there's no one to assist you this time.

I felt tears pour from my eyes, and I didn't stop them because they felt warm on my face. And I was desperate for any warmth.

I thought of my life back home. Should I have never left?

No.

Without me, these peoples would have no hope. Jax would be alone. Assana would feel alone. I liked to think that me coming here had been a change for the better.

And I would feel incomplete without this adventure. I felt like, for once, I was fulfilling something destined to happen. It felt . . . right.

I heard a door creek open. It was probably a guard bringing me some food.

It wasn't.

It was Urora.

"Evelin," she whispered, "I've come to free you."

"Urora!" I gasped. Tears ran down my face once more. Someone still needed me.

She used a key to open the cell door. "Follow me."

She didn't have to tell me twice. I hopped up and tiptoed behind her as we passed sleeping guards and a quiet city of stiria. I looked back once at the castle, which shone like glass in the moonlight. It was beautiful, but cold. The way the stiria seemed to be.

Urora pulled me onto the white horse and handed me my satchel, which the guards had taken from me.

"Thanks," I whispered.

She nodded in response.

She took me to a cave a league away from the Stiriae Castle. It was dark and damp, but it was warmer than outside. I built a fire. Stiria got sick from too much warmth, Urora told me. She sat as close to the edge of the cave as possible.

"The other stiria do not know," Urora said quietly. "But I believe I am the Enchanter of the stiria. It explains my prophesies and visions. I am not sure."