Chapter 4

“What are we to do, your majesty?” Asked a pale, skinny man fawning over Yolandi. She slapped his hand and waved him away, his voice was high-pitched and he was unable to control the levels as he spoke.

         “Try to keep your distance, Guntha.” Zornan slowly recited, standing on the side of Yolandi, dressed in black fur, except for the red that lined his sleeves.

          “War, it will certainly come to war, Agneta, the little bitch, I’m positive she’s telling my sweet boy about the prophecy. She’ll be turning him against me!” Yolandi raised her voice while looking in the mirror, she banged her hands on her vanity as the ones still loyal guarded her door. She quickly turned to face Zornan, “Grab Seti from the dungeons, I will kill him myself!” He nodded as Guntha quickly scampered off. He's not as tall as everyone else, he has short braided pure white hair, pink eyes, and a thin white mustache. An outcast as the last albino born there was over two hundred years ago. Yolandi and Zornan discussed a strategic plan for they both anticipate what will happen to the kingdom now. A few hours later there was a knock on the door and in came a messenger with a bag and a note. She quickly grabbed the note that read, “You sent your minion to do your dirty work, Mother? For shame, he called your name when I chopped off his head. I released everyone I found down here including my uncle. Your tyrant rule is over, Ice Queen.” Yolandi screamed as she ripped up the note and pushed Zornan holding the decapitated head of Guntha in the bag, as she stood up. After sending the gift to his mother down in the dungeons, Raiden watched as Guntha’s body was being dragged away by some broad-shouldered guards.

        “Uncle, I’m so glad to be with you again.” Raiden grabbed onto Seti’s shoulders and then turned to Agneta. “Cousin, you were always there for me, I will make you my right-hand man. You will ride with me into battle and we shall come out victorious!” He shouted, holding up his father’s sword that was his father’s before him and so forth. It was named Humkai in their language, Acktorian, meaning bringer of death. It was much broader than normal swords with gold lining that had diamonds and pearls encrusted on the handle. Raiden helped his uncle and lead the way for the others out of the dark dungeon and to the infirmary to get the much-needed help they deserved.

          As they prepared for the battle a messenger came to Bridgette’s room, “A letter, Raiden, from your mother.” Agneta grabbed the letter and started reading it out loud. “My darling, as of now I’m sure you know about the spell cast on you as a child by the fae, Magdala. As I’m sure Agneta has turned you against me, I will not give up this throne, or the power. If it’s a war you want then it’s a war you’ll have my sweet boy, I will not fight but I will send Zornan. I have a plan. Your Mother.” Bridgette wearing a long flowing sheer light blue dress walked over to Raiden and wrapped her arms around him. Something was comforting in just being around him, she didn’t quite know how to put it. All she knew was that she finally felt whole and knew she could comfort him.

        “Raiden, there’s something else you have to know about Magdala’s spell.” Seti stood up from a chair in the corner of the room still weak; he slowly made his way toward Raiden as Agneta rushed to his side. Seti had a build similar to Raiden, a trait the family shared as Raiden’s father, Rodan had the same. He had short bright red hair like his daughter and red stubble on his face along with a mustache. He had a long scar running down his right leg and along his right cheek. “I was there next to your father and mother when the fae put the spell on you. As you were slowly encased with ice your father told you that your true love would break the spell. Magdala said that because of the ice around your mother’s heart, it would reflect on you. Your mother harbored hateful feelings toward your father and so she killed him, two days after the fae’s spell. My boy, your father didn’t want to upset you, by telling you that you had to kill your mother. He wanted to talk to the fae, But your mother, enraged, had Zornan kill her. I was put into the dungeon because I confronted her, about killing your father, there’s something else.” He paused for a moment and put his hand on Raiden’s shoulder as Seti’s piercing blue eyes meet his. “Your father had another son, with another woman before you were born, his name is Theron. Your grandmother, Tressa, sent him away.”

          “What?” These are all the words that Raiden could muster, as he slowly moved away from his uncle to the other side of the room.

         “You were too young to remember but your mother had another baby, and your father, as well as everyone, had doubts about paternity. So, after the baby was born, your father and grandmother also sent her away, her name is Nylah.”

         Raiden slowly fell down the wall and put his hands on his head. “Uncle, I don’t understand, I have two other siblings?” He brushed back his hair out of his eyes, as he stood back up letting out a loud sigh. He doesn’t quite know how to process his feelings, all he knew was that it was all too much at one time. “Tomorrow the war begins and our battle starts, we should retire, we ride at dawn.” As Raiden, Seti, Agneta, and a hundred others back their rightful king, they sit upon horses that could withstand the cold from genetic mutation and a few large polar bears. The thick fog rolled in as the dawn approached, the start of the bright light appeared over the ice, and the bears yawned as the day began. Raiden looked over his shoulder at a soldier and gave a quick nod as the man blew into a horn to alert the king’s men into a ready stance. A faint horn is heard from the other side for a ready battle. “Ride with me today and I promise to be a fair and just King, I know you have suffered under the Ice Queen’s reign, help me fulfill the fae, Magdala’s spell. Help me, avenge my father, my fallen kin, and defeat the Ice Queen!” Raiden shouted as he proudly sat upon a white horse, and unsheathed Humkai as he thrusted it into the air. They swiftly rode into battle with the wind at their backs meeting the Ice Queen’s forces in the middle of the snow, Raiden looked on as his sword met with Zornan’s while searching for his mother on the bloody battlefield. As the battle continued Raiden caught a glimpse of Zornan escaping through the hidden mines, as the carnage lay before him he did one last blow through the chest of his foe.

He wiped the blood from his face as Seti approached him, “Zornan fled, my King, where is he going? Where is Yolandi?” 

          Just as the words left Seti’s lips, Raiden’s eyes grew larger as he uttered, “Bridgette! The others!” He nodded at a guardsman to round up the remaining prisoners that surrendered, as he, Seti, Agneta, and three other guardsmen set off back underground to catch his mother, and Zornan before any harm could befall the others.