Introduction

Hi there, thanks you for checking out this story. I originally planned for the Icecrown Saga to be three books long but as the years went by it got extended to four books and took the better part of three years to write…its not a fanfict of such, its more a sum of RPG parts, the core story is a combination of Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy VII however that doesn't mean it will follow it to the letter. In general this fanfict contains elements of animes, films and games but mostly RPG's from Golden Sun to Fire Emblem. Also the characters are based on game characters as well to make their personality and persona easier to visualise so Cassandra looks and sounds like the Cassandra from Soul Calibur but she has none of the back-story from that game and is just an isolated character in the story.

Because I fretted over the story for so long it wasn't until my friends all ganged up on me and persuaded me to release it on fanfiction that I finally gave in, the story is under X-over because I don't know where else to put it, this story means a lot to me and while I love reviews and comments please refrain from flaming me on character points etc I was only 14 when I started writing this! There may well be a few inconsistencies and little spelling mistakes hidden about in there as well but bear with me! Hopefully I should iron them out as we go along, anyway thanks again!

This story is dedicated to those very same friends that told me to put it on fanfiction…or else as they said… :S

I do not own any of the games/characters/locations or cliques described in this story, otherwise my work on earth would be done now


Chapter One- Cassandra and Hurin

He felt racking pain through his head, a throbbing ache that gnawed away at him, reminding him of the blow from behind that had felled him.

He could hear the howl of nearby wind and feel the kiss of the cold air on his cheeks, he opened his eyes.

Dirty, half rusted steel bars greeted him.

Weathered with age and rot they nevertheless surrounded him, confining him to an area about two meters either way. Looking down he could see the cave floor below him, soiled, old snow covered it, but outside of the cave he knew the snow still fell, white, pure and deadly, his cage was suspended from the sealing of the cave and was about a meter up from the ground.

He checked himself quickly, his hands, (half frozen as his warm gloves he had been wearing had been taken) fumbled the back of his head, feeling around his long black hair for…yes a large wet sore, someone had dealt him a nasty blow indeed.

He looked down over himself, he still wore his large fitting green fleece and woollen hiking trousers (which was a blessing with the cold) but his pouch and bag was gone along with all his equipment, money, food and drink.

Half closing his eyes again he thought back, meditating on the hazy past. He had been hiking through the great Skhol Mountain Range, a tall expanse of white, cold peaks covered in snow that ran across the northern lands. It separated the greater southern part of the continent from the northern tip of the land, an expanse of barren, lifeless tundra, but that was where he had been heading. North, from his southern town of Vale to the tiny northern town of Tundara where he knew somewhere his uncle lived, his last living relative.

He had made good time through the mountains. The weather had been poor, the snow deep, but the skies had been clear and he pushed on, following the winding trail through the mountains.

He had scarce walked for several hours when on the trail ahead he saw several men walking the opposite way of the trail towards him. That was fair enough, the trail was regularly used, there was talk of bandits but he had not let those thoughts sway him, he carried at his side a small silver dagger and the three men had their heads down and no visible weapons held at their sides, but their billowing black overalls made it difficult to know at a distance, he had pressed on towards them, without care.

Like a fool.

He had scarce passed them when he heard a rustle, felt the rush of air and then the crack of pain on the back of his head, and all had gone black, he knew now that these highwaymen had dragged him to this cave, far away from the beaten trail and now he was at their mercy…

Thinking of the evil of some people for a reason brought memories of the heroism of others. His own father had died several years ago, serving in a far off land, fighting for the king in the south, the great southern kingdom of Cartilge, a great city he had never seen nor visited, the first time he heard of it was when the letter came, telling the tail of the death of his father.

His mother had gone shortly afterwards, she had been old, she caught an illness and died swiftly, perhaps that was a blessing for her? Her marriage had not been happy, a dutiful life at home, alone, with a single son who was old enough to be his own man and care for himself, and yet now he was here, trapped by brigands.

Looking away from the entrance to the cave he saw another, slightly larger cage hanging next to his own from the cave ceiling. In it were two people. A slumped, tall black haired, older man with a somewhat weathered look, the cloak on his back was tattered and torn, the mans back was presented to him for he was hunched over in the corner of the cage and on the other side of the cage in utter contrast to he man the other was a young, slim woman. She wore a perfect one-piece dress made of light blue fabric that swept over her body and ended above her knees (wouldn't she be cold? He found himself wondering) she noticed him looking at her and she turned to face him flicking her short blond, cropped hair out her face somewhat and gazing over to him with blue, bright eyes.

"I see you've recovered, take it easy, it looks like they hit you hard." Her voice was warm, clear and most importantly, strong. "Who are you?"

"My names Felix Hardi of the town of Vale." Felix replied. "I was walking the pass to Tundara when I was taken from behind by thugs."

"Ah." The woman nodded understandingly. "My name is Cassandra; this is Hurin Buenos with me, my guide through these mountains, we too were ambushed, a net was dropped on us from above and while we were held down three men in dark cloaks knocked us unconscious, and when we woke we were here and you were too, I cannot say which of us was taken first."

The other man, Hurin gave a groan from the corner and turned to look towards Felix with weathered brown eyes, his voice was rough and southern in origin. "Ah the bitter irony." He started not looking at Cassandra next to him. "I was promised forty silver pieces for this trip to Tundara but when the bastards took her purse they found closer to six silvers."

Cassandra had the dignity to look slightly offended and was just about to offer a reply when the sound of footsteps from the cave entrance caught the three prisoner's attention.

Coming into the cave brushing the snow from their cloaks the three men that Felix had seen walk by him came forwards, the leader reached up and pulled down his hood revealing a face full with scars and black teeth. He moved past Felix to the cage with Cassandra and Hurin and ran his thumb along the half-rusted bars.

"Well, well, now that we've covered our tracks we can have a proper look at what we've caught." He leered at Cassandra who drew herself away from the edge of the cage to the merriment of the other two brigands. "Some little children far from home eh? Heh, heh, heh."

Cassandra from the centre of the cage spat in the man's direction. "Let us out of these cages and I'll show you what little children we are!"

The man backed away to avoid the spittle and laughed again with that same stupid grin plastered on his face. "Now what would be the point of that, we just wanted to thank you for the money, the generous helpings of food and water and we thought we'd come back and say good bye to you all."

He turned away and began walking around the cage while Felix suddenly noticed that one of the other brigands held his pouch and had his knife at his side. The pouch he could do without, he had only been able to save up enough silvers for a nights stay at an inn but the knife was good steel and he could ill afford another one.

"Hey you can't leave us like this." Felix tried knowing he probably sounded naïve. "We'll starve."

The lead brigand by now had made it back round to join his fellows by the cave entrance. "Oh come now, what would be the point in killing you, the bars are not so strong that they will hold you forever, just work away at them and I'm sure you'll be free in sometime. Just be happy we're 'honest' men otherwise we might not leave you 'intact'." He leered at Cassandra again who glared back at him defiantly, with fire in her eyes.

"Right then, good luck making it back to civilisation then." The lead man waved over his back as he turned away and moved out of the cave, raising his hood again as he and his two sniggering followers vanished out into the falling snow.

Cassandra sighted and slumped back. "Well there they go, just like that, now what do we do?"

"Quiet" Hurin urged, the man had turned back round again to the bars, his back to Felix again. "I've been working on these bars since I woke and it won't take much longer."

"How are you doing that?" Felix asked leaning forwards trying to see.

"I have a file concealed in my footwear for just such an occasion." Hurin replied impatiently, still hard at work. "Just a bit more…" there was a loud clunk and Felix saw one of the rotten bars fall away. "Ah! There we go." Hurin grunted before careful sliding sideways out of the cage and dropping down to the cave floor.

"That looked easy." Cassandra moved over to the broken bar and slid out to land on the greyish snow. "Why did you not do that sooner?"

"Because we are all unarmed" Hurin patiently explained to her like a teacher to a student. "And I knew they would return, if we had just escaped they would most likely have killed us or worse." Hurin finished and moved up to Felix's cage and for a moment carefully walked round the cage before coming to a halt. Then pulling a small black piece of metal from his sleeve he whittled it back and forth against the bar until with a dull clang it dropped to the cave floor.

Hurin turned away as Felix gingerly lowered himself down, out of the cage onto the snowy cave floor. Cassandra meanwhile was looking around the cave carefully but all their belongings were gone, however by some old wooden sticks she found a small, half rusted chopping knife.

Hurin moved over and took it from her, she gave it without complaint, it was the only thing that would serve as a defensive weapon and Hurin was older then both Cassandra and Felix by at least fifteen years and he looked like he knew how to handle a blade.

"Well…" Hurin shrugged. "If we get ambushed by anything larger then a hound we will be better of tackling it unarmed…"

"Its better then nothing" Felix argued moving to the cave exit. "We should be safe if we can find the path again before nightfall…"

He reached the cave exit and looked outside feeling his words melt away. They were half way up a snowy mountain, snow fell around them, visibility was limited and a permanent gloom was all around.

"We could have been prone for hours…" Hurin spoke aloud appearing next to Felix. "Right now if we're going to survive we should make our way down the mountains and attempt to reach Tundara before it goes completely dark."

"Agreed!" Cassandra moved up on Felix's other side. "We'll be safer in a group, Hurin you're the tracker, you lead on."

"Don't worry I will…" Hurin grunted starting off, outside the cave. "And I haven't forgotten the payment you promised me."

"Ha-ha." Cassandra laughed slightly, grinned at Felix and then moved out into the snow.

Felix took a deep breath, the snow reached out to him, he had no choice and he followed in her wake after Hurin, down the slope.


Crossover Points (A brief summery of where some of these ideas/characters came from)

Here is a brief summery of points of inspiration...

Felix - Character inspiration from the main character of Golden Sun, The Lost Age, its an awesome game for the GBA and i was playing it when i started this story and his name kinda stuck :P

Cassandra - Female character from the Soul Calibur, why exactly i decided on her image for one of the most important female characters in the book is anyone's guess

Vale - The hometown of Felix both in the GBA game and in the book!

'he whittled it back and forth against the bar until with a dull clang it dropped to the cave floor' - Handy isn't it in RPG's, whenever you get locked in jail you are always able to get out reaaaalllly easily!