Two

�"TWO�"



Earlier that morning, a Winter scout had arrived with a message that Felix had found the Princess and would have her by evening. All Varick could do was sit back in horror, and allow the scribe to leave.
Now they were sitting in the Council Hall, Varick at the end of the long table. Puck was on his right, and his wife Elena was on his left. The other Council Members included Lord Aurum, who was the Lord of the Southern Beaches, Ser Devon, the leader of the Knights, and Lady Blythe, who was the Lady of the Summer Valley. It was a small council, but they were all respected, and they all had loud opinions.
“Someone should go after the Princess, before Felix can use her as a weapon,” Lord Aurum was saying.
“A rescue mission could end very badly,” Ser Devon countered. “Even if someone managed to get past the Ironwoods, Felix would find out that we were there and kill us before we could reach her.”
“And who would go, anyway?” Lady Blythe argued. “It would not be a rescue mission, it would be suicide. The Ironwoods are too dangerous.”
“People have crossed the Ironwoods before and survived,” Lord Aurum reminded them. “It could be done.”
“STOP!” Varick shouted, and they silenced. “All of you, shut up. I can’t take your arguing right now. Lord Aurum is right. A rescue mission is our best option. We can’t allow Felix to keep her. We cannot allow him to use her as a weapon.”
“There has already been too much bloodshed. And sending anyone through the Ironwoods would make even more,” Lady Blythe said. “I say we strike a bargain with Felix.”
“We have nothing to give him that he would want,” Varick argued. “A bargain would be pointless.”
“Then we find another way,” Lady Blythe said. “We cannot risk more lives to rescue her, and if we cannot bargain for her, we will have to find another way.”
“The Summer Solstice is coming up soon,” Lady Elena said. “We will have access to the Winter Court then. If we could sneak one of ours inside while the festivities are happening, we might stand a chance to get her out then.”
“It won’t work,” Varick said, shaking his head. “We could free her, yes, but what then? We would have to get her to the portal, and I don’t think we could sneak her past Felix fast enough to get her out.”
“Puck could. With his magic, he could do it. His glamour is the strongest I have ever seen. We could make Felix think she was invisible, and sneak her through the Portal,” Lady Blythe suggested.
As much as he didn’t like being mentioned, he had to admit it was a good plan. “That might actually work,” Varick said. “But the Solstice is not for another week yet. In that time, Felix could have easily turned her into his perfect weapon.”
“I’ll do it,” Puck said. The words came out without his permission, and everyone turned to look at him. But he couldn’t take it back. He swallowed. “I’ll do it. I’ll go after the Princess. I’ll go through the Ironwoods.”
“I respect your bravery, but I need you here,” Varick said. “I will not risk losing you. You are too valuable.”
Though his words sent a rush of pride through Puck, he knew there was a reason why Varick didn’t want him to go. Yes, he was valuable, and it would be a great loss to the Summer Kingdom if he died, but it was more than that. Varick didn’t believe he could do it. It was impossible for anyone to imagine that he could actually survive the Ironwoods, let alone rescue the Princess. Probably they all thought he would fail.
He should have been happy that he was needed, that he was valuable, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to prove that he was more than magic and visions. He might not be brave enough, or strong enough, or even worthy enough, to go. He would probably die. But still, he wanted the chance to prove that he could be a hero, too.
“I will leave no matter what you say,” Puck found himself saying. “I will take a horse and flee anyway, if you fight me. And if you try to hold me here, I will use my magic to escape. I would rather have your permission, my Lord, but it will not stop me one way or another.”
He had never spoken so boldly to Varick before. Varick stared at him, shock and pride on his face. Finally, he sighed. “Fine, then,” Varick said. “If I cannot keep you here, I will give you permission. You realize what you are getting yourself into? That you may very well die on this quest? The Ironwoods are dangerous. People have gone mad in them. The things you will face will not be easily defeated.”
“I know,” Puck said. “But it is a risk I am willing to take. I will do what I must to protect the people of Summer.”
“I admire your bravery, young Master, but perhaps you should rethink this decision,” Lady Blythe said. “You are too valuable to our kingdom to risk yourself in this way. Perhaps you should let another go in your place.”
“Thank you for your concern, Lady Blythe, but it must be me who goes,” Puck said, turning to her. “You said it yourself, my magic is the strongest you have ever seen. We cannot afford to risk more knights than we have already lost. Too much blood has already been shed. You can afford the life of one scribe, even if my visions have been a valuable asset to the Kingdom.”
“He is right,” said Lady Elena. “It must be Puck who rescues her.”
Lady Blythe sighed. “If you insist on sending the boy to his death, then so be it,” she said. “You are all too stubborn to see that we are fighting a battle that cannot be won.”
“Oh, don’t be so discouraging, Lianne,” Lord Aurum said. “Honestly, you can stand to have a little hope.”
Lady Blythe scowled. Puck tried to hide his smile. There had never been a council meeting where the two didn’t bicker over something. Though their bickering was that of a banter between good friends, and both enjoyed the other’s company.
“Well, it’s settled, then,” Varick said. “You will leave at dusk, and stay overnight in Summerlyn. It is not wise to venture into the Ironwoods at nighttime.”
Dusk was only hours away. Summerlyn, he knew, was on the borders of the Ironwoods. He had never been there, but he knew it was a small village of roughly three hundred people. It was only a couple of hours by horseback�"or so he had been told. He could have made it there before dinner, if he had left immediately, but he was glad he would have a few more hours in the Summer Palace. There was something he had to do first, anyway.


~*~


When Liv awoke, every muscle in her body was frozen, and it hurt to move. It was freezing, wherever she was. The kind of cold that caused frostbite and hypothermia. The kind that had made her violently sick for as long as she could remember.
Slowly, she forced herself to sit up, and began rubbing at her feet. Someone had given her a pair of wool socks that almost went up to her knees, which was a good thing because the floor appeared to be a literal ice rink, covered in intricate swirling patterns. Whoever had given her the socks had also given her a heavy blanket, which she had thrown off when she sat up. She was glad that she was in warmer clothes, though the cold still hit her hard and she still felt like she was going to be sick.
When she was certain that she wouldn’t through up, she picked up the blanket, and noticed that it, too, was ice-cold. She folded it and threw it at the end of the bed, which she noticed was made of pure white wood.
The walls of the room in which she sat were clearly made of snow. There were no windows, and no door, a fact that made her wonder how she had gotten here in the first place. Though she got the sensed that she was being watched, for some reason. Wherever she was, it certainly wasn’t anywhere normal. Unless Canadians really did live in Igloos.
Suddenly, as she stared around the room, the wall across from her slit into a gaping hole in the centre, and Felix walked through it. The hole disappeared as soon as he was in the room, too fast for her to see beyond it, and she stared at it for a long moment, disappointed, before turning to Felix.
She was only half-surprised to see him here. The voice on the answering machine had sounded familiar, and seeing him wasn’t that surprising, for some reason.
The first thing she noticed was that he looked different. The black duster he had worn had been replaced with a long, silver cloak that swept the floor, and he was wearing suede brown boots that had a pointed toe, like the kind that cowboys wore. He had a pale blue shirt underneath the cloak, and grey pants. It looked like the sort of outfit that she’d expect to see in a movie about the Medieval Times, or another era where a similar outfit might be worn.
The second thing she noticed�"and she wouldn’t have noticed it all if she hadn’t grown up watching countless fantasy movies�"was that he was carrying a sword at his belt, and even though it was sheathed, it swung dangerously. She wondered if it was the sword that would deliver her death, and suppressed a shiver.
“Good. You’re awake,” Felix said. He was watching her the way a cat watched a mouse right before it pounced. “We all thought you were dead. Even the guards.”
“Guards? What are you talking about?” She demanded. “Where the Hell am I? Who are you? What the Hell is going on?”
“Whoa. Slow down for a second�"breathe,” he said. And she took a deep breath. “The guards I spoke of are simply here to make sure that you don’t try to escape. Not that you could, but if you did, it wouldn’t be very good for you. Their names are Jasper and Roman, if that’s of any interest to you.”
“I don’t care what their names are,” she spat. “Who. Are. You?”
He sighed. “You already know that. I’m Felix. Except my last name isn’t Jones, obviously. It’s Winterbourne. Felix Winterbourne, Crown Prince of the Winter Court. At your service,” he said, and he swept a bow.
She stared at him for a long minute, and then burst into laughter. “That was good. That was really, really good. I almost believed you,” she said. She stood up, crossing her arms. “Alright, Holly, enough. You guys can come out now�"you’ve had your fun.”
“Who, exactly, are you talking to?” Felix asked.
She ignored him, waiting for the cameras to make themselves known, for this entire thing to be a joke. An excellently planned, very well played out joke, but a joke nevertheless. Because this couldn’t be real. She was going to kill Holly when she saw her.
She waited. And waited. And the more she looked around the ice-room, the more she began to doubt that this was a joke. Felix didn’t say “Gotcha!” or whatever it was people said after they had fooled everyone on those prank shows. Nothing happened all.
She ran over to the other side of the room, and slammed her fists against the wall. She screamed as her knuckles made contact with solid ice, and when she pulled her hand away, her knuckles were bloody.
“Olivia!” Felix exclaimed. He grabbed her by the arm, and dragged her over to the bed. “Holy Morgana. Are you insane?”
“I think I should be asking you that,” she said. “This isn’t a joke, is it?”
He frowned, confused, and then he realized. “Ah, I see. You thought your friend, the pretty brunette�"Holly, you say�"was playing a trick on you, yes?” He asked, and she nodded. “Oh, no. This isn’t a trick, Princess. Now, sit still and shut up so I can fix your hand.”
She started to protest, but then he clapped his hands around hers, and she could only stare at him. He closed his eyes, and after a second, she felt a sharp sting against her knuckles. She looked down at their entwined hands, and gasped.
There was blue light escaping through the cracks of Felix’s fingers, and his hands and fingertips were tinged blue. She looked up at him, and noticed that his lips and face were blue, too.
When he pulled his hands away, though, the blue-tinge disappeared. “W-what was that?” She whispered.
“Look,” he said.
She looked down at her hands, and screamed. Her knuckles were perfectly fine now, as if she had never slammed her fist into solid ice. “What did you do to me?” She demanded, horrified and awed at the same time.
“I healed you. With magic,” he said.
She stared at him. “You are insane,” she decided. “Magic doesn’t exist.”
“Well, you just saw that it does, so maybe you should be questing your own sanity rather than mine,” he said. “Though I can assure you that you are not insane, Princess.”
“That... that thing that brought me here. That was magic, too?” She asked, slowly.
He nodded. “It was a troll, actually. Their cry obviously knocks people out, and they do have a small level of magic, mostly glamours. Illusions. You saw that when it pretended to be your mother,” he said. “I apologize for the troll. It was probably traumatizing for you. They aren’t very patient creatures, trolls. But yes, that was magic.”
“My mother,” Liv repeated, remembering. “What did you do to my mother?”
He sighed, as if he had been hoping she wouldn’t ask. “She’s completely fine, don’t worry. I used a harmless sleeping potion on her, put her in bed, and used a spell to hide her. That’s why you couldn’t see her. But the sleeping potion should’ve worn off by now,” he said.
“She tried to fight you,” Liv said. “There was blood on the floor. The house looked like it was ransacked. You tried to hurt my mother.”
“The blood was mine,” he said. “She threw a glass at me and it cut my face. Obviously it’s healed now. And I apologize for the house being a mess. I was given orders to find any weapons and take them.”
“Why?” She whispered. “Why did you take me? Where am I, anyway?”
He didn’t answer her for a long moment, staring at the wall. “In the old legends of Camelot, they say that there’s an island. The island of the dead. It’s the place where the famous sword Excalibur was forged. It was once called the Fortunate Isle for the fact that it produces all things of itself. It is the island of good things,” he said. “I think you know what island I’m talking about.”
“Avalon,” she breathed. She had read the legend once, when she was still in public school. “But it’s not a real place. It’s a myth.”
“I’d be careful saying those words around here, if I were you,” he warned. “It used to be a real place, just like the legends said. But it has faded to legend, and now it exists purely on imagination. On dreams. It’s been called many names over the years. Atlantis, the lost island, by those who have found it but can never find it again. Elysium. Valhalla, the home of the Valkyries of Norse Myths. Olympus, home of the Gods. And some have even gone so far as to call it Eden, the biblical paradise. That’s only a small list of the island’s names, mind you. There are many more, and the list keeps growing along with the island.”
Liv stared at him, her mind whirling. She’d read enough books to know the names he’d listed, and most of them were familiar, but they were supposed to be mythical places. They weren’t supposed to actually exist. But yet, neither were magic or trolls, and she couldn’t deny that they were real.
“On the message you left my mother, you mentioned wards, and that you had broken them down. What are wards?” She asked, deciding not to argue about Avalon’s existence. She would see it for herself soon enough, hopefully.
“In Avalon, there are two kinds of magic. Summer and Winter. Though both kinds of magic have their own defensive spells, Summer is much more peaceful, more protective. Winter is harsh, used mainly for defence, which is why it’s an excellent weapon in any battle. The spells your mother put up around your home were simple wards, the same ones that are put up around Starkeep, the Summer Palace. A difficult spell, but easy and effective enough, and nearly impossible to break. Your mother was very good at spells growing up, and of course, the stronger your intention, the stronger the ward,” he explained. “It’s easy enough to understand magic, Princess, once you learn the basics. Magic comes from Earth, from nature. The energy around you, the very air you breathe in, that’s where magic comes from. Magic is your essence. The very spirit that lives within you. You only have to be willing to access it. To allow it to escape and flow from your body.”
She stared at him. “You keep calling me Princess,” she said. “Why?” What she really wanted to ask was when she could start using magic, too, but she held back.
“Your mother is a Queen. Queen Aleksandra Nightingale, Ruler of the Summer Kingdom,” he said. “She escaped with you when you were just a baby.”
“She never told me,” Liv whispered. “She said she would one day, when it was safe. She really was trying to protect me.”
“She started a war, Princess,” Felix said sharply. “When she left and took you with her, she started a war that has not stopped for seventeen years. Your mother is a coward. She abandoned her people when they needed her the most.”
“Why would her leaving start a war?” She asked. She wanted to yell at him, to tell him that her mother wasn’t a coward, but she couldn’t.
“To understand that, you must first understand something,” he said. “Avalon has been divided for thousands of years, Princess. We are not one people anymore. And one hundred years ago, there was a prophecy. A prophecy that spoke of a Kingdom united by one girl. A girl born of summer and winter. The hope of Avalon. And seventeen years ago, you were born.”
She couldn’t breathe. “So what? If I’m supposed to bring peace, why did my mother leave? There’s something you’re not telling me,” she said.
“Avalon is dying, you see,” he said. “War has left too many dead bodies. And every year, it gets weaker. Of course, it will never really die, not as long as there are children, artists and writers and all those people with brilliant minds and imaginations. Avalon will always be around, to some extent. But it is losing its power. Something dark has come to destroy it.”
“What do you expect me to do?” She asked. “You think I’m the Hope of Avalon. You think I can save it, don’t you?”
“Perhaps,” he said. “I think that you will be our saving grace, yes. I think the problem is that we are at an unbalance. We have spent too long divided. And when you were born, I believe that you were supposed to right the balance. Then, your mother took you away, and now Avalon is fading. The darkness will destroy it, unless we can do something to stop it. And soon.”
“Like what?” She asked.
He smiled. It was a creepy sort of smile, she thought, and she had a feeling that she wasn’t going to like whatever he was going to say.
“Unite the kingdoms. Restore the balance. But mostly, teach you to unlock your magic. Both summer and winter,” he said. “You will bring us peace again.”
“Unite the kingdoms. What do you mean by that? Not marriage, right?” She asked. If he said yes, she would punch him.
“Not now, but eventually that will probably happen,” he said. “Don’t worry. You won’t be marrying me. I’m already engaged.”
She nearly sagged with relief. The last thing she wanted was to marry him, even if it was in ten years. “Poor girl,” she said.
“She’s actually pretty happy, actually,” he said. “You look surprised, Princess. I’m not that horrible, you know.”
“I doubt it,” she said.
He made a face at her. “I was going to take you on a tour and get you something to eat, you know, but since you just insulted me, I don’t think I will,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
At the mention of food, her stomach growled. “Oh, man. I didn’t even realize I was hungry,” she said. “How long has it been since I ate something?”
“It was evening when we arrived, now it’s late afternoon. I would say it’s been almost a full day since you last ate,” he said.
She stared at him. “My mother must be worried sick,” she whispered.
“Probably. We left a note, though, so she knows where you are,” he said. “I imagine she’s probably already at the Summer Court by now. If not, she’s on her way.”
She sighed. She tried not to imagine her mother waking up and finding that Liv was gone. She must have been terrified. Especially when she realized where she was. “Can we go and eat now?” She asked, changing the subject.
He laughed, and got up and walked over to the wall. She watched as he pressed his palm against the ice, and the doorway-shaped hole appeared in the centre of it once again. She got up, and they walked through the doorway, stepping into a long corridor. Like her cell, the walls of the corridor were made of snow, and at first it seemed empty, except for the guards standing across from them. But on further inspection, she realized that there were other cells lining both sides of the corridor, hidden behind thick sheets of ice. They were spaced evenly, and as far as she could tell, they were empty.
“What is this place?” She asked, and she could hear the awe in her voice. “How can you create an entire dungeon out of nothing but ice?”
“Magic, obviously,” Felix replied. “And Ouranous�"that’s the name of the castle, by the way�"isn’t made of ice, exactly. The walls are made of stone, and there are floors and all of the other things that make a castle. We’re Winter, so we draw power from the ice, which is why it’s all around us, but it’s not completely covering everything.”
He began to lead her down the corridor, ignoring the guards. “That sucks. I was kind of hoping it would be a giant ice castle. That would be cool,” she said, but she was only mildly disappointed. She didn’t like the idea of living inside of an ice fortress. “So, what’s the Summer Palace like? Is it made of sunlight or something?”
“No. The Summer Palace, Starkeep, is a huge gold fortress and it’s entirely made of glass. Literally. There`s a whole level in the castle that has a glass floor, and there are so many windows it looks translucent. The rest of it is all a pale, pale blue colour that’s barely visible in the sunlight. The roof is just a huge window. I think you call them skylights, on the Outside. The glass makes the whole place sparkle,” he said, smiling. “I’ve never seen it, but I hear it’s beautiful.”
“It sounds amazing,” she said. “It’s hard to imagine that my mother grew up in a place like that. It’s like something from a fairytale.”
They reached the end of the corridor, and the two guards stationed there bowed to them. Liv wasn’t sure if they were bowing to her, or Felix, or both. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She had never been bowed to before. “Princess Olivia,” the one with dark hair and dark eyes said, smiling at her. “It’s good to see you awake and well. Welcome to Avalon, and may your dreams prosper.”
She was a little stunned at being called “Princess”, but she smiled at him. “Thank you. But I would very much appreciate it if you called me Liv,” she said. “You understand, I’m still new to my title, so I will take time getting used to it. But I would really just prefer it if you all just called me Liv, for the time being.”
“As you wish, Your Highness,” he said. “I am Jasper. This is Roman. It was a pleasure to meet you, and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing each other again soon.”
She smiled again. They bowed one more time, and let them pass. Felix led her up a steep staircase, and pushed open a heavy door at the top.
“How did you know to speak that way?” He asked. “Polite and cool and charming all at once. As if you’d been raised in royalty.”
“Not royalty, but my mother taught me to be polite,” she said. “And I’ve read enough books to know how to act the part of someone royalty. The last thing I want right now is for people to think I’m a clueless little girl.”
“You’ve caught on quickly, then. You don’t want to be treated as an Outsider here. Not with your position. Keep acting like you just did, and everyone will love you. But one wrong move, and you’ll ruin everything. We can’t convince people you’re going to save us all if they think you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing,” he said.
She nodded in agreement, suddenly thankful for her books. “It’ll take some time getting used to being called ‘Your Highness’, though,” she said. “And the bowing. Are they all going to do that?”
“They’re supposed to, especially in public,” he said. “And don’t think about asking them to stop, because then they just get insulted. Bowing is respectful. You’re a Princess. You have to accept what comes with being a princess.”
She scowled. “Can I ask them not to call me Princess?” She asked.
“You can ask them to call you Liv, if you want. But they’re still going to call you Princess anyway,” he said. “Believe me. Addison, my fiancé, tried to get them to stop calling her “Lady”, but she just gave up.”
“I’m a librarian, not a Princess. I’m not special. I can’t save you,” she said. “I don’t belong here.”
He stopped abruptly, turning to face her. “You do belong here,” he said. “You never belonged on the Outside, Liv. This is where you were supposed to be, where you’re meant to be. You’re one of us. You may not believe that now, but you are. You’re important, Liv, and we need you. You’ll see. This is where you belong.”
“I will never be one of you,” she said. “Never.”
He smirked. “You can’t fight destiny,” he said. “You will be one of us, whether you like it or not.”
She crossed her arms, and they continued walking. Whatever world she had entered, she did not like it. This was not like the magical places she had always dreamed of visiting. This world, she could sense, was dark. They might hide their darkness behind the glistening palace walls, but there were secrets hidden inside. And Liv had a feeling that one of these secrets were the very reason her mother had left this world in the first place, and why she had tried so hard to keep her from it.
For the first time in her life, Liv was completely, utterly alone, and it was terrifying.