An eerie silence came from the room, it was strange, but they didn't really think much of it as they walked. They turned the corner and Kirin stopped. Aurelie took one step forward, then stopped, turning to see what drew Kirin's attention.
Purple swirls surrounded him, and a silver ring formed around his pupil. As his shadow split from him and grew its own form. A wall of ice lurched out of the ground and split the two of them.
Aurelie set fire to her hands and turned. A chill wind blew. The dull knocks of Kirin's fists were almost unheard. Lukas stood in the middle of the room, clad in a floor-length, ice-blue coat, the collar of which was covered in sharp transparent crystals.
"Welcome," he said, putting his hands together as if in prayer.
Kaiden's body was frozen right beside him, and the bodies of the council members were spread around the room in various positions. One had his hands up, the other looked to be running toward the door. Aurelie stopped herself from inspecting Kaiden. She didn't want that to be her last memory of him.
"Fire always wins, Lukas," she said.
"What have you won?" He cocked his head like an inquisitive bird. "You've done nothing for yourself. You got your power by being born. Your granddaddy gave you more power because he thought you'd be the easiest target. The only reason he couldn't is that you had an army protecting you and I wasn't bothered enough to help him. I killed your daddy so that you could have his crown. And then, like a good little girl you dragged them all her." He lifted a finger. "I bet it was when I killed your daddy. I can almost picture you now," his lifted his hands as if an image appeared right in front of him, "dressed in white - nice job marrying the bloke from Redayrah, that I didn't see coming - "
"Is that because I was so utterly and completely disgusted by you?"
"Is that my - " He looked at her and exaggerated look of surprise on his face. "It cannot be!"
"Lukas," she said, she looked away and back again in confusion, "We have you surrounded." Had he woken up by a sudden slumber?
A loud cracking noise sounded from above her. It sounded like glass but duller, less
"No," Lukas said quite smugly. raising a finger, "actually, that's incorrect."
A spine turning, a raspy grinding sound came from above her, before Aurelie could even look up, icicles, three times the size of her, landed around her, entrapping her in a thick icy prison.
"I called," he shrugged, "and you answered."
There was very little room for her to move.
"Aurelie!" she heard Kirin's muffled voice come from outside along with dull knocks. It sounded like more people had gathered outside and started to beat at the wall with pickaxes.
Aurelie called fire to her hands and pressed them against the ice. It melted but much too slowly. She was a sitting duck. Who knows what that maniac was up to. It didn't feel cold at first, but a deep chill quickly set into her bones. After a moment, she couldn't feel her hands. She'd only gotten through about a centimeter of ice before she started to let go.
When she pulled her hands away, a paper-thin layer of ice formed over both her hands. Lukas laughed. The ice thickened. Aurelie pulled back but the ice was too strong to break now.
Her heart hammered. Had Lukas gotten to Alorah after all? Aurelie was sure she died. She even heard her grandfather say it. There was no way that Lukas was able to absorb her magic. And yet . . . somehow, he had magic that was overpowering hers.
"Got ya!" he told her.
Aurelie pulled back harder, starting to panic. The tips of her fingers ached and she couldn't feel the rest of her hands. The ice went up her wrists and crawled higher, the rest was frozen solid. Her skin looked blue beneath the ice . . . just like Kaiden's and that of the rest of the council.
Ou, ou, ou. Aurelie tried to remain calm. Panic was what he wanted. No, actually her frozen corpse is what he wanted.
She felt the ice overpower the fire within her. It couldn't be. Nothing was stronger than a dragon. It was up to her elbows now.
Lukas came to stand beside one of the openings of her icy cage. "Well," he stood leaned his head sideways, faking curiosity, "how's that coming along? No, too well, ay?"
Fire and ice fought for control over her body. After the ordeal with her grandfather, she had barely any strength left. It didn't sound like Kirin or the rest of her army were having any luck with breaking through the door.
The ice reached the top of her shoulders.
"I always wondered," Lukas said. He was behind her now but she couldn't turn.
His ice-cold fingers wrapped around her neck from behind. His touch disgusted her. Goosebumps covered her skin. She tried to shift away from him but even if there would be enough room to move, which there wasn't, her hands were frozen solid.
Heat rushed to the spot where he held his hand. The realization hit her. His mother's magic wasn't all he wanted, her grandfather was either too desperate or too dumb to connect the dots. Whatever happened, the dragon magic would have never gone to him. Now she struggled. Her hammering heart skipped a beat and then dropped down before starting to beat twice as rapidly. What the hell had she gotten herself into?
"Scared yet?" he asked her.
Yes. Yes. Oh dear God, yes, I'm scared.
"Get your hands off me!" she screamed. She shook her head, hair wildly flowing around her. "Get off! Get off!"
"Aurelie! We're coming!" Kirin's muffled voice didn't sound any louder than seconds ago, which wasn't reassuring in the slightest.
The ice climbed up her neck. It was getting harder to breathe. For the first time since her hands had frozen, she felt something in her fingers. It wasn't heated. It was a movement. At first, she only felt a quick stir of something beneath the nail of her middle finger. Then, it felt as if whatever it was hand multiplied, again and again. Pins and needles, strong and unbearably dull and achy crawled from her fingertips and then up her hands.
Next came a tearing of flesh. Her eyes watered. Scaled formed out of her frostbitten flesh. She saw red below the ice, and then it darkened, turning black. The ice started to melt off of her hands.
Lukas was still behind her, pulling her magic into him.
She moved her middle finger, cracking the thin layer of ice that had been covering it. Her hands were unrecognizable. Long, thick black nails, like that of a crocodile, stuck out of her blackened scaly fingers. The heat she felt in her neck was weakening. Lukas felt it too. He began to withdraw his hand, and then, like the greedy bastard that he was, he gripped her tighter. Aurelie smirked.
The advantage of being a woman, Nina kept drilling into her, was that any untrained fighter would expect nothing but crippling fear once they trapped you. It's in times like this that you should keep your head straight, be the best-damned actress on the planet, and indeed pretend to be that frail, little flower.
"No, Lukas!" Aurelie pleaded and the ice on her left hand melted away.
"It's too late to plead with me now," he said. "You should have thought of that when you refused me. Remember that?"
Aurelie took a shaky breath, keeping the theatrics alive. Her pulse rose into her eyes. Kirin's hammering synced with the beating of her heart.
"I remember," he said.
His hand tightened in greed.
Now, she told herself. Now. Do it.
"I just want you to know that we could have avoided all of this," he said. "If you had just," he gripped her hair and yanked her head backward, "not been such a prude."
Something in her neck snapped at that, and a hot pain spread. She had to wait for him to let go before she could make any sudden movements now. Instead of letting go, he pulled her backward by her hair. She heard a dull thud as her head knocked against the icy wall behind her.
"Oh," he pushed his head ever so slightly into her prison, whispering in her ear, "did that hurt?"
If he could fit his head through the barrier, there was enough space to reach out and grab him, but the damn moment never came.
"It sounded like it hu - " he paused and she felt the grip on her hair loosen. "What in God's name?"
Aurelie spun around and grabbed his arm before he could retract it any further but he yanked back, pulling it back out. He had more strength than she anticipated. Kicking against the icy walls of her icicle cage, Aurelie pulled him back in. What she really wanted was his head to come closer.
Lukas grunted, and with his free hand, grabbed her arm from around the icicle and dragged her closer. He grabbed her by the hair and twisted her around so that her back pressed against the wall again. He had his right left arm in her hands, fighting and pulling, and his right hand around her hair. For the first time since she had come to use her magic, she set fire to the back of her head. He hissed but didn't let go. Instead, he pushed her head forward, and yanked it back, so that it hit the icy wall. Stars filled Aurelie's eyes.
She didn't know what to do. Holding back, she managed to lessen the blow, but he hit her head against the ice again. Aurelie set fire to her hands and twisted so that her newly formed claws dug into his skin. Any sudden movement and he would help her slice his own flesh. His hand had a chill wind around them, but as much as he pressed them against her, hoping that she'd turn into his ice sculptures, nothing of the sort happened.
He pushed her head forward again and slammed it. Rage, hot and violent, spread over her like nothing before. She screamed and a blast of fire ripped from her body and shattered the cage.
She and Lukas fell backward. He landed on his back and she landed on top of him. Taking advantage of the situation, she hurried back onto her feet. He followed suit. They face each other, both unsure of what to do.
The knocking sounded louder now. The men were actually getting somewhere. Lukas looked to the door, realizing the same thing. Though, looking at the frozen council members, it hardly mattered how many guards came in. All he needed to do what touch them once. Aurelie wondered what was going on in that head of his.
"What's the plan, Lukas?" she asked.
His eyes flicked to her, cold and sharp.
"I don't have to kill you but I will." She had her hands out in front of her, waiting for him to lurch. "Gladly."
He swallowed.
A crack sounded, then a louder one, and a piece of ice fell into the room. Her men finally broke through.
"Aurelie," She heard Kirin yell.
"I'm here," she said. "It's fine. I'm fine."
"Oh thank God!" he said. "I'm coming in."
A large chunk of ice fell through. The hole was now big enough for someone to get through. Aurelie saw Kirin's leg and instantly knew that she and Lukas were thinking the same thing.
"Kirin! Don't come in!" she screamed and leaped at Lukas. "Don't!"
She took two quick steps and jumped, landing on his back. It stopped him for a second, but she continued toward Kirin immediately, albeit slower because of her weight. Aurelie clawed her hand and slashed it against his throat.
He didn't even flinch, running at Kirin with her on his back and his hands stretched out. They were nearing the wall. Lukas was one step away from touching Kirin and turning him into one of his statues. Aurelie kicked her leg out just as they reached the wall. This wouldn't have done much but Lukas had bled so much that his blood dripped down his shoes and created a wet spot on the floor. He slipped and the two of them tumbled backward.
The air was knocked right out of Aurelie upon landing. She coughed and wrapped her legs around Lukas, making sure it'd be hard for him to move. With the amount of blood pouring out of his neck, it wouldn't take long now . . .
Kirin brought his last foot into the room and observed the scene with wide eyes.
Lukas was barely moving now. His breathing was low and heavy.
"What part of 'don't come in' do you not understand?" she asked him.
"I didn't hear you," he shrugged summoning a creature out of her shadow.
"You didn't hear me screaming 'don't come in' but you heard barely whisper 'I'm fine'."
Kirin's shadow Aurelie stood up, grabbed Lukas by the hand and pulled him off of Aurelie.
"Yes, that's right," he said.
"Uhu." She stood up and sighed a heavy sigh. "You almost got yourself killed."
"You almost got yourself killed," he retorted in the mocking voice of a child.
Aurelie glanced down at her bloodstained armor and then at Lukas. The guards had made a bigger opening and were walking in one by one. "Give me your dagger," she said to Kirin, "I want to make sure he's properly put down."