Winter: Story of the Seasons

Chapter 10

     "What?" Winter asked in almost a whisper. Ember's expression had fear and sadness mixing. And then a terrible thought occurred to Winter. "Ember," she asked quietly. "How did King Sahara die?" she asked quietly, her voice shaking. "He- He just got sick one day, and then the castle collapsed and he died almost immediately in the explosion." Ember said sadly. "He got sick?" Winter asked. Her voice quieter than a whisper. "Why do you look so afraid?" Ember asked. "Ember, Queen Crystal got sick and died in one day. Our castle didn't get destroyed until after, but..." Winter couldn't finish. 

    Ember was silent for a long time and finally she said,"So whoever destroyed the castle killed my Uncle Sahara on purpose." her voice shaking with barely contained rage. "I'm so sorry." Winter said moving closer but then stepping back quickly. Ember was radiating heat so strongly that Winter had been burned the moment she felt it. "I know you don't know me very well, but you can scream or cry or anything and I won't tell anyone. Ember looked at her and said, "You might want to make a bubble and duck. Winter took her advice and Ember screamed and heat blasted in every direction almost breaking her bubble.

    Once she was done Ember said,"Okay, what do we do next?" That was a question she hadn't thought about. She'd been so focused on the other revelations. "Gosh, I don't even know where to start. We know nothing about him, not even his name. Much less where he would be if we wanted to find him." Winter said biting her lip. "Well, I may know where he could be..." Ember said slowly. "What? Where?". "Well if you think about it, there's only one place he could be if we're right about the past rulers all dying. None of the other territories would accept him and he wouldn't blend in very well there. So he would have to be in-" "the outlands!" Winter finished. "But the outlands are huge! We'd never be able to find him in that much land!" Winter said. "Do you remember learning in school that the outlands have many different habitats? Well there's only one where he would be able to hide very well, and it coincidentally very close to the Peace Path that links to all the kingdoms..." Ember said. "So he would be in the jungle!" Winter exclaimed. 

    "Okay but, how are we going to get there?" Winter asked. "Even if we followed the path it would takes us at least two weeks to get there by sled or carriage." "That's why we are going to travel as the wind." Ember said. "Good idea." Winter agreed. "So what are we waiting for?" Ember asked. "Well, I have an idea that could be really helpful, so hear me out." Winter said slowly. "Okay... you're scaring me a little." Ember said, looking at her suspiciously. "I think we need to go get the other two seasons to help us."