The planet Orbis

Chapter 3: Unwanted guest

Chapter 3: Unwanted guest

He wasn't sure what or why, but something was different. He was told this land was stuck in a never-ending winter, but the sun was shining and the snow was starting to melt. "Was the spell undone? Why?" Alexander de Stella was wondering if someone else defeated the ice queen or if she undid the spell by her own free will? "My plans are ruined now... or maybe I can still use this situation."

In the novel, Alex defeated the ice queen to get the favors of the nobles of Nix and around. Without the aid of those nobles, he would have trouble becoming the crown prince instead of his useless older brother. "Well I can just say I deal with her but unfortunately she ran way. If she starts the winter again, I might get in trouble. I just have to hunt her down everywhere possible." The prince said to himself with a nasty smirk on his face.

Alex was alone today, his guards were installing themselves in the inn so he took this time to see the surroundings. The winter wind was cold but not as bad as before, he had been here a few times this year trying to find the ice queen castle. He was unsuccessful in the past times but today was different.

After riding his horse around for a few minutes, he stumbled across the enormous ice castle. Even if it was his enemy's, it was a beauty. "Shame it has to go down." Alex walked closer to it, leaving his horse at a safe distance. Up close Alexander noticed the castle was slowly melting, he wasn't wrong after all, the winter was ending.

He approached the castle's main entrance and open it just a tiny bit so he could spare a glance inside before anything else. It was cold outside and but an ever colder freeze came out of the building. It was so cold it felt like knives piercing his skin but there was no helping it, he was going inside either way.

The prince carefully went inside the castle after making sure no one was around. It was rather empty, from the outside it looked an outstanding castle but on the inside was rather boring, sure it was made of ice but besides that there was nothing. No furniture or any kind of decoration. Right after the entrance hall there was a staircase leading to the upper floor, behind said the staircase was just empty rooms. In the normal castles, those rooms would be the kitchen and other servant's workplaces and resting areas. Usually, the dining hall would be at one of the sides after entering the main gate. But just like before it was just an empty room, at least this time it had some windows, On the opposite side would be a tea room or a room where people would take their guests. Unlike the other rooms, this one wasn't empty. A small table made of ice with a matching chair was in the middle of the room. A block of ice made to look like a sofa was seem one of the sides of the room. "It would be rather uncomfortable sitting on a sofa made of ice, huh..." Alex said in a mocking tone.

After inspecting the lower floor, the prince decided it was time to walk up the stairs. To walk around freely in a witch's house, he was rather confident. He trusted is skills a little too much but one thing was certain. His insists were always right, he could feel danger from kilometers away and today he felt no hostility or danger. He was pretty confident nonetheless he still walked carefully along the handrail until the top of the stairs. On the top, he would see a 3-way corridor, to left, to the right and in front of him. "Which way should I go?" he asked himself as he looked around. There were no lights on said corridors and the few windows it had wasn't enough to illuminate everything. Alex decided to just go straight ahead, the corridor was longer than he expected, said corridor branched out to other corridors, truly a maze to foreign person. The best decision was to fall back but Alex was so close now, his pride wouldn't allow it so he pressed on turning left and right, left again or was it right?

He would peek into the rooms as he walked past them but they were mostly empty or just some furniture made of ice. As time went by the cold air was getting harsher. Alex could barely feel his hands and feet, it was extremely cold, he started thinking it was time to return. As he turned around to leave, he noticed... How could he be so stupid, greed had blinded him. He was completely lost, freezing and hungry. He was so excited to find the castle that he lost track of the time, the few lights it came from outside had decreased quite a bit. He wasn't dead yet though and that was enough for him to keep going.

He turned back and tried to trace his steps back, luckily, he had left some of the ice doors open, if he saw one, he knew he was on the right track. No matter how much he walked he couldn't find the staircase that led outside. He was exhausted and wouldn't last long in this cold. He sat down leaning on the wall "I can't die here, what a disgrace would that be" he told himself trying to find the strength to keep going.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a silhouette of a person. Startled, he stood up. "There can just be one person! The witch." He regained some of his strength and chased after the shadow. Whenever he turned a corner there it was waiting for him but never letting him get to close. From the distance he could see the slender silhouette of an average height woman, her features were hidden by a hooded cape. He just noticed how her long hair shinned thanks to the sunset as if it was a white pearl.

After pursuing the woman for a while Alex found himself alone again, the woman had vanished and in front of Alex was an abnormally thick ice door. The prince easily opened the door even though it was quite heavy. Once open a warm air came out of the room. "I'm saved" he let himself think.

Inside was hot, not like "summer hot" but a more "nice day of spring" warm, there was a pool in the middle of the room, steam coming out of it. He walked closer, inspecting the room carefully. The woman had come to this direction, there was no other door leading anywhere else at first glance but no signs of said woman. The 2nd prince of the Stellaris wanted to keep looking for her but he still had some common sense. Before anything, he should warm up a bit. The young man crouched near the pool putting his hand inside carefully, the water was hot, not "my skin going to melt" hot but a pleasant hot bathwater.

Close to the pool, there were some towels and some other warm clothes. "Why are there towels here? Don't tell me that woman left them here? For me, perhaps? "It made no sense, why would the evil which led him to a warm place and even leave towels and cloths. She didn't even have to bother killing intruders since they would most likely get lost like Alex and eventually freeze to death. It was too cold for Alexander to think so he decided after a few minutes of his body warming up from the warmer atmosphere he would get into the bath. It was pleasant and relaxing, he wasn't going to lie even though he is in enemy territory.

Soaking for a few minutes Alex noticed something. There was a door in one of the sides of the room, how couldn't he have noticed it before? He decided he was warm enough and got out of the water, quickly dried himself and got dressed. Along with his clothes, he was now wearing a thick warm cape that was left in the room. With care he opened the door, he was prepared for anything except that. He was finally outside. "What the f..." he cursed, he didn't see any side entrance before how come there was another door leading outside. He walked away from the door onto the porch which had stairs that led to the ground level. Did the woman leave using this door? He wasn't sure of anything, he hadn't seen the door until later. He decided to go back inside, he wasn't done yet! But alas! The door leading inside was gone. "I see, this is her way of kicking unwanted guests away" Alex took the hint, "I think it's enough for today then." He walked downstairs and around the castle, it was dark now but he could still see it "Huh it has gotten smaller, yeh?"

His horse was faithfully waiting for him, a majestic warrior horse otherwise wouldn't have survived so long in the cold temperature. Alex hopped on his horse and left. "Just you wait, I won't give up."