The pirate prince, p.25
The Pirate Prince, page 25
part #4 of The Paladin Princess Series
The villagers came into view, then my parents. Then Tam, Jim, and Håkan, last of all.
They looked as if they were waking up from a dream.
I held my breath, tears in my eyes.
“Charlotte?” my mother said weakly.
Tupu and Khepri ran to check on the prisoners.
I couldn’t believe they were free.
A jubilant feeling ran through me, and I grinned.
The wizard began waving his hands again, in an even more intricate manner. The words that came out of his mouth were different, more guttural, more primal.
A purple cloud began to form over his head.
It was thick and billowing, emerging out of thin air directly over his head.
“The magic is coming directly from him,” Khepri said.
He continued his chanting and spelling.
The counter-spell!
We watched him closely. The purple cloud began to grow.
The magic actually made a sound as it spread, an almost sizzling sound.
“Such strong magic,” whispered Christianne.
The bewitching cloud spread out, growing exponentially.
Larger and larger.
Until it filled the cavern.
It touched the walls of the ice cave.
And they began to melt.
THANK GOD!
The walls of the icy cavern were melting.
And still the ice wizard continued to chant in that husky tone of voice that was almost like a primitive growl. His hands continued to wave in the air as he performed the intricate pattern of the counter-spell.
The purple cloud continued to grow.
At one point, it seemed to squeeze out of the cavern through multiple fissures and archways, escaping in every way possible.
And I knew. I knew the cloud was going outside.
Outside.
Out into the world.
Into the air, into the ground, into the oceans.
The Warming was being reversed.
I wanted to cry in relief and happiness.
I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths.
I felt a peace begin to flow through me.
Could it be happening? Finally?
The ice wizard continued for many, many minutes, until finally, the chanting came to the end.
His voice stopped, his hands dropped, and his entire body slouched in defeat.
“It’s done,” Jim said.
“The Warming is reversed?” Kym asked.
I nodded, sniffing. “I think so, Kymmy.”
“Don’t call me ‘Kymmy’.” She scowled.
Everyone laughed.
It was like a release.
We laughed in happiness.
The nightmare was over.
Finally.
Then everything happened at once, in slow motion.
Something caught my eye.
Movement.
The ice wizard grabbing my dagger from his mouth and swinging around.
I reached for him, catching his sleeve and pulling him back.
He lunged at the last minute, throwing all his weight in the opposite direction and thrusting the dagger...
... and plunging it into Christianne’s side.
He cackled in glee, laughter sputtering from his swollen, bloody mouth.
I looked on, stunned, and caught Christianne as she fell, her wings fluttering weakly.
I heard a growl behind me.
The ice wizard moved to push the dagger into Christianne again.
Olof ran forward ...
and plunged his knife deep into the middle of the wizard’s chest.
Chaos.
The wizard screamed weakly and fell to the ground.
I knelt, holding Christianne.
“Oh, God,” I murmured. “Christianne ...” I turned my head up. “KHEPRI!”
She was still breathing. She looked up at me with surprised eyes.
Khepri was there in an instant, untying Christianne’s leather armor.
“Lay her down,” Khepri said in a quiet voice.
“Charlotte?” My mother’s voice called.
I raised my head and sought out her face.
“Mother, I’m here. We have a warrior down.” I glanced down at Christianne.
Olof was kneeling beside her. He kissed her forehead and held her hand.
“Charlotte,” my father’s voice rang out. “Let us know if we can help.”
I nodded.
I felt a hand on my back. Tam.
“You did it, Babe. You rescued us,” Tam smiled, tears in his eyes.
I looked close and gasped.
Tam had been badly beaten. He was covered in bruises, and his lip was split open.
“It looks worse than it is,” he assured me.
I glanced down at Christianne.
Khepri was pulling her bag forward and opening Christianne’s lower tunic, exposing the wound.
I released the breath I’d been holding.
The knife had pierced her side, not her middle.
I watched Khepri’s shoulders and saw the tension leave them.
“You’re going to be okay, Chrissy. The knife bounced off your ribs and went out the other side,” she whispered.
Christianne grinned, then grimaced as Khepri cleaned the wound.
I looked.
Yep, a glancing blow. One chance in a million. I relaxed.
I heard the newly freed villagers talking, happy voices murmuring in the background.
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I held Christianne.
I was unwilling to let go of her.
So brave. Those wings of hers saved the day.
I opened my eyes and smiled down at Christianne.
“You did it. You saved us,” I whispered.
She smiled up at me.
Olof remained where he was, unwilling to let go of Christianne’s hand.
I understood how he felt.
I glanced to my side and saw the ice wizard splayed out in the dirt. His eyes were open and glassy.
Jim leaned over us and peered at the wizard. “Is he …?”
“He’s dead, Jim.” Tam said, kneeling beside the body.
I leaned forward and kissed Tam.
Then I closed my eyes in relief.
Chapter Thirty-One
Opening a Can of Whoopass
Merry.
Christianne was sitting up, her side a neat, tan bandage Khepri was just finishing tying.
“Where’s my baby?” I asked.
I looked around.
I stood up.
“Tupu, Tam, Caroline. EVERYONE.” The murmured and hubbub of the crowd quieted and I turned to look at their faces.
“WHERE. IS. THE. BABY?” I said loudly.
Everyone looked around and shrugged.
“Look everywhere,” called Tupu. “Search the cavern! GO!”
We lit torches and were soon spread out and searching every square inch of the huge ice cavern.
Merry was nowhere to be found.
“Charlotte!” called Jim. “I found something.”
I ran to where he was waving, and my troupe followed me.
Christianne walked a little slower, holding Olof’s hand, but with Khepri’s help she was able to keep up.
Jim indicated the side of the cavern, icy moss glittering with melting snow. He pulled it aside to reveal a small tunnel.
It was about four feet high. We would have to crouch.
“Come on!” I called, darting in the tunnel.
The sides were rock and dirt, and I ran as fast as I could, my torch held high.
After a running for a few minutes along the passageway, the tunnel branched into two.
“Take that one, and I’ll go this way,” I said hurriedly.
Tam took Jim and Håkan and ran down the right-side tunnel, while I hurried down the left path, Tupu and Caroline fast on my heels.
I could hear others following us.
I got into a rhythm, bent over, my feet running forward. It worked great until I tripped and went sprawling forward.
“Oh! Miss, let me help you,” Caroline lifted my arm and I got to my feet and began running again.
I soon arrived at a branching of four different tunnels: the one from which we’d just emerged, and three more.
“Okay,” I said, “let’s split up.” I didn’t wait for their response, I just started running down the middle tunnel.
It went on forever.
At one point, I stopped to rest and take a sip from my water skin.
It had been more than an hour, I guessed.
I took a deep breath and continued running down my tunnel. After ten more minutes, I came to a dead end.
“What?!” I said under my breath. I searched every square foot of the dead end, and found nothing. “Sheesh,” I panted, turning back and running back the way I’d come.
I finally got to the spot where the tunnel had last branched off, picked the tunnel next to the one I’d gone down, and ran.
And ran.
And ran.
Crouched, running was making my back sore, but I didn’t care. Until I was forced to stop and rest again.
I could see adult-sized bootprints in the dirt on the tunnel floor.
Tupu or Caroline must have gone this way.
I got up after just a few minutes and began to run again.
After a while, I came to another branch in the tunnel, and without thinking, picked one at random and began running down it.
Running.
Running.
After several hours I had to admit I was lost.
“HELLO?” I called.
I heard voices answer from far away, but I couldn’t tell if they belonged to someone in my troupe or a villager or someone else.
I sat resting again, my head down, my eyes closed.
Everything was still and quiet for a few minutes.
It was then that I heard it, very faintly.
A baby crying.
My head snapped up.
I got up and started running again, calling out.
“DOES ANYBODY HEAR THAT TOO?”
I heard a faint voice in the distance. I kept running.
Twice I came to forks in the tunnel, with multiple shafts branching off in many directions. I stopped worrying about which one I should go through, and just kept picking one at random and running.
Always running.
The tunnels were cool, but no longer icy.
The mountain is thawing. The whole earth will cool now.
It ran against common sense, but Khepri suspected that the ice wizard had preferred his home chilly, so he’d kept this mountain and his cavern icy, while the rest of the world warmed at a dangerous rate.
Hopefully everything will go back to normal.
I kept running.
After another hour, hearing the baby’s faint cry, then hearing it grow fainter, then doubling back and taking a different tunnel, and hearing it grow a bit less faint, I finally emerged into a larger section.
And there was Tam.
“Tam!” I ran to him. “Have you found anything?” I panted.
“Not yet, but I’m not giving up.”
Khepri and Christianne emerged from a different tunnel.
I looked and saw a half dozen that emptied out on our location.
A few minutes later, Tupu ran out of another.
Then Caroline.
“The only one we haven’t tried,” Tam said, “is this one.” He pointed to a smaller side tunnel that looked abandoned.
“We have no choice. We have to try it.” I ran into the tunnel. I heard the others running after me.
It was a long time.
It felt like I was lost. I couldn’t hear the baby crying any longer, but I kept running forward.
It was the only thing I could do.
An hour later I emerged, dripping with sweat, into a larger cave.
And I heard voices.
As the others emerged behind me, I held my finger to my lips.
We gathered behind a large rock and looked.
OH!
I spotted Tupu, Olof, and Kym hiding behind another boulder, off about fifty feet. Their tunnels had ended in this cave as well.
This is promising.
I decided to get a closer look at where the voices were coming from. They sounded strangely high-pitched.
I darted around the corner, and hid behind another boulder.
Then another.
Then I peeked and saw them.
They looked a bit like the mountain gnomes, only smaller.
And they were blue.
Why are they blue?
They were all huddled in one spot, and they were arguing.
A white-hot anger rose in my chest, and I decided to act.
I stomped over to them. They spotted me and squeaked in surprise, but held their ground.
One of them was taller than the others, who tried to hide behind him.
I walked right up to them, my scimitar drawn.
“WHO’S IN CHARGE?”
The little blue men pointed to the tallest one.
I looked at him, glowering.
“WHERE IS MY BABY?” I was yelling, I heard my voice echo off the cave walls behind me, but I didn’t care.
The little man flinched.
I grabbed his sleeve and pulled him to me.
“What’s your name? Where is the baby?”
He just squeaked in fear.
“Charlotte!” I turned, still holding on to the tiny blue man.
It was Jim.
He trotted up to me from an entirely different direction.
There must be dozens of tunnels in this mountain. It’s a maze.
“Let me try,” he said.
I shrugged, but kept hold of the creature’s sleeve.
“You,” said Jim. “You’re ice goblins, aren’t you?”
They nodded.
“Speak!” I said, tired of the slow pace of the conversation.
“Yes,” the tall goblins squeaked out.
Now we’re getting somewhere.
I leaned close to the leader’s face, glowering. “WHERE. IS. THE. BABY?”
He blinked.
“We hid it. He told us to,” the leader said. The other goblins nodded hurriedly.
“The ice wizard?” Jim asked.
“Well, of course the ice wizard,” I said, exasperated. “Who else would it be?”
Jim patted my shoulder, then turned to the lead goblin.
“Was it the wizard?” he asked.
The leader nodded slowly.
Another ice goblin came forward then, pushing his way through the crowd. He was shorter and fatter than his companions, and dressed in blue robes, and carried a wooden staff with a crystal on the top. He smiled at us craftily.
“What? Do you know where the baby is?”
“Of course, I do. I helped hide it,” the goblin mage said.
“Lead me to him! I demand it!” I said.
He just smiled and shook his head.
I lifted my sword and held it at the little man’s throat.
He didn’t flinch.
“I could run you through,” I said.
“You would never find the baby if you did,” he said softly.
ARGGGHHHHH!
“Listen, the ice wizard is dead,” I said. “Olof killed him,” I gestured to the young man beside me. “So you are free to tell us where the baby is hidden, understand?”
The other goblins seemed surprised, and turned to talk rapidly among themselves in their own tongue.
I waited.
A few minutes later, the tall one turned and whispered in the goblin mage’s ear.
The mage turned to us. “We don’t believe you.”
My eyes opened wide in surprise, and I opened my mouth to say something.
But Jim held his hand up, and I closed it again. He knew what he was doing.
I waited.
Jim said, “Why don’t you believe us?”
The goblin mage considered his question for a moment, then shrugged. “I guess it doesn’t hurt to tell you,” he said. “The wizard put us under a spell of compelling.” He grinned evilly.
Tam reach out and grabbed the goblin mage, bringing his face close to him.
“Goblin, you are coming with me,” he said. “Now point out the fastest route to the ice wizard’s cavern, or I will run you through. And do not think I won’t. There are a dozen more of you who can tell me how to find the baby. You’re hardly special.”
The goblin mage went white, and the grin fell off his face.
Tam nodded to Håkan, and they walked off with the goblin between them. I could hear the squeaky voice telling them which tunnel to enter.
I sat down to wait.
I had faith in Tam, so I tried to calm down.
Christianne sat next to me, and Olof on her other side.
I turned to her. “How’re you feeling?”
“Oh, she answered, laughing, “much, much better. Khepri gave me something for the pain, and it doped me up good. I feel great!”
We waited.
And waited.
After what seemed like an hour, but turned out to be less than ten minutes, Tam reappeared, Håkan behind him, dragging the goblin mage.
Tam was carrying the ice wizard’s head.
My eyebrows shot up.
Tam marched over to the other ice goblins, thrust the wizard’s severed head at them, and yelled, “SEE?! DEAD!”
The tall goblin began babbling in terror, and the others cowered behind him.
Håkan came forward and threw the goblin mage to the ground at their feet, drew his sword, and put the point at the tall goblin’s chest.
“Hi,” he growled in a rough voice. “My name is Håkan. I’m not as nice as the princess. I’m not as loud as Tam. You know what I am?” Håkan wiggled his eyebrows. “I am ruthless. And I don’t care.”
And with that, he pushed and ran the tall ice goblin through with his sword.
The blade appeared on the other side of the goblin; whose eyes were opened wide in surprise.
Håkan put his boot on the goblin’s chest and pushed, sliding him off his sword.
He turned to the goblin mage, “Who’s next?”
The mage’s mouth moved, but no sound came out.
He cleared his throat.
“Okay, okay, I’ll show you where the baby is,” he said. There was an enigmatic look on his face, and I felt a chilling horror at the man.
“Follow me,” he said quietly.
He led us to a far tunnel, which emptied out on a small chamber.
