Hello, and welcome to Wings of the Icemark. It's been in my head for a long, long, long time (since Blade of Fire came out) and is out of my head and written entirely because of the bothering, poking, porcupine flinging, and general "you must write this" – ing of Silver Wind Neko. I would have let it fester in my brain because I'm too lazy to write all thirty-something chapters of it. Yes, it is that long. Posting the whole thing was my dare, and actually writing an Icemark fic was hers.
Disclaimer: Blade of Fire, Cry of the Icemark, their plots, characters and locations belong to Stuart Hill. I am just borrowing them for the purposes of this story.
Claimer: Anything you don't recognize from the books belongs to me.
The Wings of the Icemark
By Boomerang Fish
Chapter One - Crossroads
Glad to be home, Oskan Witchfather stretched his feet toward the fire in the Royal Apartments and relaxed. Far off, he could hear the sound of the citadel; voices and footsteps as everyone prepared for the feast. For a second, he felt something brush against his mind, leaving a short image – marching soldiers – but then it was gone. It was the Sight, showing him pictures of what might be. It was to be expected. It was the dark of the moon, when magic was most powerful. Not to mention the upcoming war with the Polypontian Empire – there were many possible events, and thus many visions from the Sight. It did not frighten him.
Voices drifted in from just outside the door. Cerdic and Eodred were horsing around loudly – again – but were stopped by Thirrin's sharp voice. Oskan soon realized that it wasn't Thirrin's voice but Cressida's. The Sight brushed his mind again. A burning building. The silhouettes of a man and a woman ran into the flames while improbable shapes – massive kites and flying ships – flitted through the smoke above them. The image faded to be replaced by one of a young man – barely older than Cressida – speaking to a large crowd.
At that moment the door to the apartments burst open and the twins entered, followed by the rest of the royal children, even Medea. "It's too quiet in here!" Eodred boomed.
"Not now it isn't."
"I hope we're not disturbing you," Thirrin said, entering after them. She understood that the dark of the moon was the night that Oskan had most of his visions, and tonight's would probably be filled with war and destruction.
"Not at all," Oskan answered, "Find yourselves some chairs." A face rose in his mind, accompanied by a twinge of Sight. Charlemagne – but he was older, or maybe it was not Charlemagne at all. His hair was cut shorter, he was thinner, and he had a small scar slicing through his right eyebrow. He was on a ship of some sort, but there was no sea behind him, only clouds. He turned to speak to someone else that Oskan could not see.
"Dad…Dad?" Sharley called.
"Oh…sorry. It was the Sight." Oskan said, rousing himself from his vision. He decided not to tell Sharley about what he had seen; the Sight showed possibilities, nothing was set in stone. Once Oskan had even seen a man walking on the surface of some distant planet! The future changed depending on people's actions, so no vision was ever certain.
He looked at his family again, drawing breath to ask what they had been doing while he was away on the Icesheets, but he never got the chance. Pain burst into his head, pain and the Sight. He moaned and squeezed his eyes shut as more visions than he had ever seen flooded in.
A statue of a golden lion, its paw on an outward-facing book. Around its base lay the smoldering wreck of some sort of flying machine, its charred frame like the skeleton of an enormous animal.
Two men fighting in what might have been an office while a small child sheltered behind a desk.
A victorious Icemark, but alongside the houscarles and fyrd stood Imperial troops lead by the young man from his earlier vision.
An explosion on a battlefield.
Cressida fighting an Imperial soldier on the bridge of a ship while beyond the windows a naval battle occurred – only it was in the sky.
Charlemagne standing on the envelope of one of the flying ships. He held a sword and prepared to fight a uniformed woman climbing out from the crow's nest.
A funeral procession winding past grand buildings of white marble.
The Icemark laid waste and the entire world controlled by the Empire.
Sand-ships chasing each other across the desert.
A group of people from many different nations, Thirrin among them, gathered together in a hall to sign a treaty.
More visions flashed by, too quick for Oskan to register them. And over it all Oskan heard a voice – neither male nor female, young nor old, but it echoed in his mind and carried an unmistakable air of authority. "The world is at a crossroads. What you see may come to pass, and it might not. The future of all depends on the outcome of the coming struggle. Oskan Witchfather, beloved of the Goddess, remember this. The one who bears his name must take up the mantle of the great king, and he will lead us into the future with the lost son at his side."
Then the vision was gone, and Oskan swam toward consciousness. When he opened his eyes, everyone except for Medea was staring worriedly at him.
"Eodred, fetch wine. Cressida, keep out the guard." Thirrin ordered. Then she addressed Oskan. "What did you see?" Oskan told everything, describing the visions in great detail and ending with what the voice had told him. Everyone in the room stared at him, except Medea, who had left silently.
"Do you have any idea what it means?" Cressida asked after a long silence.
"None. But in most of the visions you and Sharley weren't that much older, so if they're going to happen, they will happen soon." As if Cressida's question had been the first trickle of a flood, everyone else in the room began speaking at once.
"Ships can't fly, it's impossible?"
"Who were the other people you saw? The young man and the uniformed lady, the little kid, the two guys fighting?"
"Who's the 'one who bears his name' and the 'lost son'? Whose name? Lead us into the future how?"
"Can't spirits ever just say, 'do this, and this will happen'?"
"Maybe because if they did, then we would just sit back thinking that the future would just happen, but events would be changed by our own inaction," Sharley said quietly, "It's something Maggie told me."
"I suppose that's right," Eodred said, "But still, it'd be helpful."
"It would…" Sharley said absently. He couldn't shake the images of himself standing on the flying ship and fighting. He couldn't fight, though he'd always wanted to; his weak leg made it impossible. Yet he knew that his father's visions almost always came true. There was a faint chance that they might change due to someone's actions, and Sharley held on to that. Even though he despised his boring life, at least it was safe.
"Well, we just received a report from the werewolf relay that might help clarify some of the visions a little," Cressida offered, "The werewolves talk to the birds and small animals in the Empire's lands, and they've told us that the Emperor just died."
"Well, that's good!" Cerdic said happily.
"No it's not," Cressida snapped, "The old Emperor didn't agree with Bellorum. When he wanted to kill all the people who tried to secede from the Empire after the last war, the Emperor forbade it. And in the five years since those wars ended, Bellorum's tried to get clearance to invade the Icemark twice. His supporters are the majority in the Senate, but he was always stopped by the Emperor. And when he proposed 'cleansing' the Icemark – basically, killing everyone, not just soldiers – that was vetoed too. Not to mention the fact that it was the Emperor who approved budget plans and troop allocations – now that he's dead, Bellorum can just do whatever the heck he wants. He can throw everything against us, all the soldiers and weapons that the Empire has. He was limited last time.
"The Emperor is succeeded by his son, who is only three or four years old. But the Senate acts as his regent now, and as I said, the majority of Senators support Bellorum. And if Bellorum decided to just kill the new Emperor and seize power for himself, he could. He's probably considering it."
"Oh, fantastic!"
"Well, it doesn't change our strategy at all. We'll just have to fend off everything he throws at us, just like last time. Except for one thing," Thirrin said sadly, "Sharley, you'll have to leave."
"What? Why? I should be with you…" Sharley gasped. In his shock, his weak leg gave way and he fell sprawling on the floor.
"That reason. Your weak leg means you can't fight, and you would only be in danger here. You're the obvious choice to lead the civilian population into exile. And you won't be alone – I'm sending Maggie with you."
"But I should stay here; you're my family, what if I never see you again!" Sharley almost wailed.
"Sharley, you can't do anything to help here. I'm sorry. And Bellorum will have learned from the last war with us, not to mention everything that Cressida said…there's a good chance that we'll fall, even with all the allies gathered from the start."
Sharley didn't say anything. He knew his mother was right, with his weak leg; he would only be a liability. But he felt it was his duty to stay. Half formed arguments whirled around in his head, but he knew none of them could ever convince Thirrin to let him remain in the Icemark. He stood up and limped to the door. He didn't want to stay in that room with everyone looking at him with pity and the horrible news hanging in the air. I'll be leaving the Icemark, leaving home, leaving everyone. I'm not even sure where I'll be going, or if I'll die there. And what if the Icemark falls? He had to find some way to convince Thirrin to let him stay. But it was hopeless - he was sure he would cry. But through his sorrow and fear he remembered Oskan's vision – him standing on the envelope of a sky-ship while it flew, fighting someone.
He supposed that his father's visions were coming true after all. They usually did. Then another one swam into his mind; the Icemark conquered, the whole world ruled by the Empire. Even if he had only the smallest role to play in future events, he would try his best to keep that most terrible of Oskan's visions from coming true.
A/N:
Review please, and tell me what you think!
-Boomerang Fish