The Chronicles of Fire and Ice

by L. L Hunter

  “You talked to Lakyn?” Asked Jacob, he wasn’t convinced.

  “Well, I admit I had to flirt maybe a little. But it worked, he agreed to take me. I’m going to get Dyston out.”

  “Good luck,” Kat told her, pulling away from Jacob for just a second to hug her.

  “Do you have a weapon?” Jacob asked. “Dyston has a special dagger, the Blackbell dagger, it…” Before Jacob could finish, Scarlett had pulled the dagger out from under her jeans’ leg.

  “You mean this?” she asked, waving in front of them.

  “Yes, how did you get it?”

  “Dyston gave it to me one night, after he realised who I truly was. I guess he knew what was coming.”

  “It’s inevitable,” muttered Jacob. Kat glanced at him, concerned.

  “I better go. You know how impatient Lakyn is. I love you guys,” she told her friends, hugging them one more time before she left.

  She opened the door to the library. It was dark, apart from a single glowing ball of bluish-white light emanating from within the tree.

  “Lakyn?” she called, moving gingerly forward into the library.

  “Here,” he said, appearing in front of the light.

  “What’s this?”

  “The gateway.”

  “To the Realm of Light?”

  “Yes, but we have to hurry. I can’t keep it open forever. Here, take my hand,” he told her. She stepped forward into the light and took his hand.

  “Now, promise me you won’t be scared,” he said, before they stepped into the gateway in the tree. Scarlett was confused. Why would she be scared? They were going to a place she had always thought was a myth, the way her grandmother had told her. A place full of globes of light and crystal rivers, and castles that floated on clouds. It sounded magical.

  ~

  Scarlett didn’t know what to expect as she stepped through, solid ground maybe, or clouds? But not this, not a feeling of falling from an unimaginable height. She wanted to scream, but then she realised that she was moving forward, not down. And that Lakyn was carrying her. His arms were around her waist, and his enormous marbled wings were carrying them gracefully through the light. Scarlett blinked, everything was so white it hurt her eyes.

  “Where are we?” she asked, blinking. But the voice didn’t come from her throat, she realised, it came from inside her head.

  “Above the realm, I’ll land soon,” he said back telepathically. The sensation was strange. Did they all talk this way here?

  “Above? You mean we’re not actually in the realm?”

  “We’re in, but we’re just flying in its stratosphere. Okay, it’s all right now. Hold on.” And then Scarlett felt herself suddenly dropping. She gripped Lakyn tighter.

  “Why did you do that?” she asked, once he was flying horizontally again.

  “I had to make sure the airspace was okay.”

  “How come? I thought that all full-fledged angels just come and go as they please?”

  “They do. It’s just that they might not be okay with me bringing you in,” he told her. Scarlett pondered that as they flew through the whiteness and into the dark. Well not complete darkness, everything was glittering.

  “Oh, Lakyn.” She exclaimed.

  “Amazing for virgin eyes, I know.”

  They flew over the mountains and the Forest of Lights. Scarlett realised that her jaw was open, and she quickly shut it again because the air around them was bitterly cold.

  “It snows here?” she asked

  “Yeah, but its not the kind of snow we have back on Earth. This snow is ethereal snow.”

  “You mean, it’s made of Heavenly matter?”

  “Exactly. You have been doing your research,” he chuckled. She hadn’t really. Once, Dyston had put a dream in her head of them skiing together, and in the dream he had explained that it was ethereal snow, not real snow made of ice.

  “What is that?” She asked as they came upon the spires of the castle in the clouds.

  “That is The Chambers, where we go when we get summoned.”

  “Are we going there now?” she asked as they flew closer.

  “Yeah, I have to speak to someone inside.”

  A few moments later, they had landed on the stony walkway, just before the bridge. Scarlett stepped on it and it crunched and shimmered. She looked closer and saw individual feathers. She suddenly felt sick with the realisation of what she was standing on.

  “This is the Bridge of Wings,” she gasped.

  “Yes, where disrespectful angels have their wings laid, it’s an honour actually.”

  “An honour to have your wings ripped out and turn human?”

  “Not that part. I’d rather go to The Realm of Ice, than become human,” replied Lakyn, walking across the bridge. She followed him reluctantly, and prayed that she wasn’t stepping on Dyston’s wings.

  ~

  “Why am I here? Have I been summoned? Hello, is anyone there?” shouted Dyston in his mind. He had taken to mentally yelling and bashing on the walls. He had been there for a long time, probably days, he thought, as there was no windows in the red room. So he had no idea of how much time had passed. As he began again, the door slid open, and in walked a female angel that appeared to be around his mother’s age. He wasn’t sure because full angels didn’t age after a certain point. Her hair was black, and as sleek as oil, and her skin appeared to have a golden sheen to it. Dyston thought she must be of high status, as two guards who wore ethereal armour were following her closely.

  “Hello Dyston,” she said, her voice appearing in his head. How did she know his name? “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

  “Why am I here? I don’t understand what I have done. And who are you?”

  “I am Ariel, protector of the Realm of Light, and it is to my understanding, that you have found the last remaining Archangel heir.”

  “Yes . . . what do you want with her?”

  “I just need to know that she’s safe. Is she in good hands?”

  “Not really. She was taken, as I was. That’s why I need to get out of here,” he told her.

  Ariel’s attention was stolen from him the moment one of her guards whispered something into her ear. When she looked back at Dyston, her golden irises blazed. She reminded him of a lion, fierce but beautiful.

  “Excuse me for a minute Dyston, I have some visitors,” she told him.

  Dyston’s whole body seemed to sag with disappointment, as he sat on the arm of a lounge chair.

  “Okay,” he replied softly. He was beginning to think he would never see Scarlett again.

  ~

  Lakyn led Scarlett into the foyer of the Chambers. The whole time her eyes were too busy gazing up at the sparkly black interior, that she hadn’t seen when Lakyn had come to a stop, and that someone had joined them. She crashed into the back of him.

  “Sorry . . .” she began to apologise, but soon shut her mouth as she noticed the woman with the flowing black hair and the gold eyes standing in front of them.

  “Scarlett I presume?” Said the woman, “I am Ariel.”

  “Yes, but how . . .” Scarlett was speechless.

  “I have heard all about you. Come,” she beckoned. Lakyn took Scarlett’s hand. She went with them reluctantly. Ariel led them to some double doors at the end of a corridor, just off to the right of the foyer. Scarlett expected their shoes to echo inside the cavernous place, but there was only silence. The doors contrasted sharply with the black all around, they were made of ivory with gold handles, and on either side was an ivory pillar intertwined with what looked to her like grape vines. The doors opened inward as soon as Ariel stood in front of them, as if they sensed her presence, and they entered. Ariel made her way to her seat, or her throne more like it. It was a large ebony chair trimmed in gold, it matched everything in the room. The walls were painted black and had gold feathers stencilled on them. There were two smaller dining chairs in the room, also black and gold, facing Ariel’s throne. And she gestured for
Scarlett and Lakyn to sit in them. They didn’t hesitate.

  “What brings you to the Realm of Light?” She asked. She reminded Scarlett of a wicked queen from a human story her grandmother had told her, about a girl with hair black as night and skin white as snow. She hoped Ariel wasn’t as evil as that queen.

  “My employees bought my brother here,” Lakyn told Ariel. Scarlett glared at him. How could he? She thought.

  “For what purpose?” Asked Ariel

  “For failing at his Task, he needs to be punished,” he told Ariel. Scarlett’s heart sank.

  “No!” She protested. She shot out of her seat. Ariel regarded her as if she were an insect she wanted to squash.

  “He means something to you.” It wasn’t a question. She tilted her head as if regarding her, figuring out if she should eat her or not. “That’s why you are here, is it not?” She asked with a cat-like grin. Lakyn looked as if he were in pain.

  “You lied to me!” he growled.

  “I’m sorry Lakyn, but did you really think I would choose you over Dyston? I had to get here somehow. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to find him,” she declared, as she started towards the door, only to be stopped by Ariel’s two guards.

  “I’m sorry Scarlett, but your boyfriend . . . you can’t see him.” Ariel told her.

  “Why not? You better not have had his wings torn out!” She turned, her irises glowing fiery orange, “he hasn’t done anything bad.”

  “He failed in his Task, he must be punished,” Ariel told her, echoing Lakyn. This angered Scarlett. She felt her whole body heat up and the fire coming to the surface.

  “Mess with Dyston, and you mess with me,” she told them, flames appearing from her fingertips as she turned to leave. As the guards tried to stop her, she burned them and they dropped to the ground, screaming. She ran out into the corridor.

  ~

  Dyston lounged on the love seat, his boots up in front of him. He was bored out of his brain. That was when he heard the screaming. He shot to his feet and stood alert. It was coming from the other side of the wall. He ran over to it, and put his ear against the wallpaper, listening. Nothing, it had stopped. He was about to pull away, when he heard another sound. A more familiar sound, it was her voice inside his head.

  “Dyston, where are you?” she called.

  “Here, in the red room,” he called back with a smile.

  “Where is that?”

  “To the left of the foyer.”

  There was silence as Scarlett ran across the foyer, burning more angel guards along the way.

  “Black double doors?” She asked.

  “Yes, Hematite.” he told her.

  She tried them but they didn’t budge. “They’re locked.”

  “Stand back, I’ll try.”

  Scarlett stood back. From inside Dyston ran towards the doors and kicked with all his might. There was an almighty bang, but the doors still wouldn’t budge.

  “Sorry,” he told her, “try with your Trait.”

  “Okay.” Scarlett focused all her energy on the doors and sent a fireball sailing towards the handles.

  “That won’t work here,” said Ariel, gliding towards her.

  “Please release him, he didn’t do anything wrong. There are worse crimes than failing a Task,” said Scarlett

  “True, but I was only going to do what I was asked to do.”

  “What were you asked to do?”

  Ariel didn’t reply. Instead, she just unlocked the doors with the skeleton key she had pulled from a chain attached to her waist. The doors slid open, and there he stood. He was a little ruffled, but as beautiful as ever. Scarlett wanted to run to him, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

  “No, you are no longer his Task,” Ariel told her, stepping forward and grabbing Dyston by the arm.

  “What?” Scarlett asked in confusion.

  “It’s ok Scar, it’s better than the alternative. I’m sure you saw the bridge,” he told her, his kind chocolate eyes holding hers.

  “Can he have another Task?” she asked Ariel, but secretly she didn’t want him to have any other task but her.

  “No. From now on, he is purposeless.”

  “And what does that mean? Can’t he come back with me?”

  “No, an angel who has been stripped of his Task can never leave the Realm of Light.”

  Scarlett felt as if her heart had been torn out of her chest. As Ariel began to lead Dyston away, Scarlett decided what she had to do. It was the only way to free him, she would do anything for him.

  “Then you can take me, the last remaining relative of the Archangels, I will forever be in your debt,” she told them.

  “Scarlett, no!” Dyston cried, struggling against Ariel’s grip. Scarlett just held his gaze.

  Chapter Eleven

  Debt

  Ariel smiled cunningly.

  “Scarlett, do you even know what a blood debt is?” asked Dyston, still struggling in Ariel’s grasp. She let him go and he ran to Scarlett’s side.

  “I read about it in a textbook,” Scarlett admitted.

  “But that’s in the Fourth Year textbook.”

  “I know.” She held his gaze.

  “As much as I hate to break up your lover’s reunion, we have formalities to get through,” Ariel interrupted.

  “Please don’t do this,” Dyston pled.

  “It’s my choice Dyston, and I choose to free you,” she told him, before stepping away, “lets do this.”

  “Very well.” Ariel led her back into the foyer and over to the elevator. Dyston followed close behind like a lovesick puppy.

  Once they stepped into the elevator, Scarlett asked the one question that had been eating at her.

  “So what will happen after the ceremony? Can we leave?” The Ceremony of the Blood Debt rarely happened anymore, but it was essentially, a deal in blood that an Archangel made, as a sacrifice, or a swap for another angel. And since Scarlett was the only surviving one with Archangel blood, the deal was now valid.

  “Once you sign your blood over to me, you will be forever indebted to the realm and I,” explained Ariel.

  “But that doesn’t mean you have control over her, does it?” asked Dyston

  “No, it just means that I can call on her at any time.” Scarlett could tell that Ariel was hesitant to admit that she was of lower rank. She looked over at Dyston who was silently leaning against the wall of the elevator, watching her. She moved towards him.

  “You don’t have to do this you know,” he told her, taking her hands.

  “I want to,” said Scarlett, pulling them free. Dyston wanted to ask what was wrong, but the elevator doors opened, and Scarlett realised they were in one of the castle’s turrets, It’s walls depicting the materials the Chambers were made of. A dark brown natural stone, that appeared to be slimy or wet; brimstone, Scarlett thought. It was ironic, in a land full of angels.

  “Wait here.” Ariel told them, before stepping out. Scarlett was now alone with him and her guilt.

  “Scar . . .” As soon as they were alone, Dyston eliminated the space between them in a heartbeat. He ran his fingers over her cheek, but Scarlett turned away and walked to the window. She didn’t want to look at him, let alone have him touch her. She felt she wasn’t worthy. Down below, she noticed the menacing grey waves crashing against the sharp rocks. She wanted to be in those waves right now, having them toss her about, and throwing her onto the rocks like a form of torture, anything to get away from what she had done. She felt his warm breath on her neck. She wanted very much to throw her arms around him and make herself one with him. But she couldn’t. And she probably never would.

  “Scarlett,” he whispered in her head, “why wont you look at me?”

  “I can’t,” she finally said.

  “Why not? Look, if it’s about the debt, yeah I’m mad, but I can live with it.”

  “It’s not that.”

  “Then what is it?” he placed a finger on her chin and turned her fa
ce towards his, “Please look at me.”

  “You’ll hate me when you know what I did just to get here,” she told him, not meeting his eyes, tears were forming in hers.

  “If it’s just barbequed bodyguards, honestly I don’t care,” he laughed

  “Dyston please.”

  “Sorry. Jokes aside, what did you do that was so bad, that you can’t bear to look at me?” He asked. Scarlett turned her body away from him again.

  “If this is about me being too protective, I’ll hold back, I promise.”

  “You are too protective, but that’s not the point. Oh man! I’m so stupid!” She walked to the centre of the room and grabbed onto a gold chair, hunching over it like she was about to be sick.

  “Scarlett?” He stepped closer, but not as close as they had previously been standing. She sensed him near her again, this time she spun around and met his eyes.

  “I persuaded Lakyn to bring me here,” she said in a rush

  “Persuaded? How? My brother is not easily persuaded.” He said. Scarlett stared at her shoes; she was so ashamed that she had fallen this low.

  Dyston’s heart felt like a ship’s anchor plunging into the gloomy abyss of the ocean.

  “Tell me you didn’t.”

  “Don’t make me feel worse than I already do,” Scarlett expected him to explode and hate her, break up with her, do anything but this.

  “No it’s my fault,” he said. Scarlett looked at him again; this time there was no sign of a rainbow.

  “What do you mean?”

  “If I hadn’t interfered and fallen for you, then we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

  “What are you talking about? I thought I was the one who screwed up?” Surely he must be in denial, she thought.

  “No I screwed up first. I fell for you and caused myself to be brought here for judgment, leaving you open to all kinds of evil influences.” Scarlett tried to speak but Dyston continued, “I’ll deal with him later. Right now, I’m just glad to have you back,” he told her, hugging her close. A lie, it felt like a lie, her face was probably sweating her betrayal. But she let him hold her anyway, after all, she did have legitimate feelings for him, she just felt as though she wasn’t deserving of him. That was the moment Ariel chose to walk back into the room, shadowed by Lakyn.