Ice Cave
We had only taken a few steps into darkness when I fell. It seemed like there was a hole and suddenly I was surrounded by blue sparkling light. I saw that the nutcracker had fallen too.
We fell then were pulled up then down again until finally we were spit out and dropped onto a fluff of snow. It took a second for my vision to clear. I saw the blue and red wooden man was lodged in the snow. I stood and dusted the snow off my clothes. "Are you alright?" I asked.
He nodded and looked around. "Now where did my sword go?" he asked more to himself.
I made sure I had mine. Then I looked around. It was light and I could see a slight golden glint. "Oh, I think I found it."
I picked up what I believed was the hilt of his sword. When I did I realized I had gotten more than I bargained for. There was his left arm his hand still clutching the hilt. It was the one Kenny had ripped off. "Uh?" I said.
If nutcrackers could blush he would.
"You know there's a really bad pun to this," I said laughing a bit.
A small chuckle escaped his wooden lips. "Yeah," He stood and took his arm and sword. He connected his arm back to his shoulder like he was popping it back into its socket. He grimaced. He looked at me with a half grateful face. "Um thanks."
I shrugged. "Whatever," I tried to pretend I hadn't just picked up a dissembled arm. I looked around. "So how do we get out of here?" I asked.
He seemed to just notice the problem. "I'm not sure. We must have taken a wrong turn," He stepped towards one of the icy walls. He hit his sword against it. It just bounced hard off the ice barely leaving a dent. He growled in frustration. "These walls must be ten feet thick."
"Of course!" I said throwing my arms up.
"Hey! I said that you should have stayed at your house," Snapped Nutcracker.
We hadn't even started looking for the princess and we already hit a dead end and with no way of getting out. I sat down and covered my face. Why did I even get involved? I wasn't a crier and I wasn't crying I was tired and my body was trying to heal itself which made the grogginess deepen.
The nutcracker felt bad about snapping at me. He sat down beside me and asked. "Is everything alright?"
I lifted my head to look at him. "I'm just really tired," I said. Then looked at my hands. The cold had brought the swelling down and they weren't red anymore. I sighed. "So you said you've been searching for the Sugar Plum Princess for years. And she can break the Rat King's spell. Does that mean you weren't always…?"
"A nutcracker," He finished. "I wasn't always this hunk of wood," He said miserably but he didn't say anything more.
This led me to think he was hiding his true identity. I thought about the nutcracker story. The nutcracker was a prince I remembered. "Ah," I said understanding a lot more. I figured he would tell me eventually. "So where are we going exactly. I know that we're going to the Sea of Storms but where is that?"
"The kingdom of Barthania," He said lost in thought.
I nodded. "So the Rat King…"
"Is not the rightful king to Barthania? Yeah."
"So who is?" Acting like I didn't already know.
"The prince," He said as if that summed it up.
"Prince what?" I pushed. "Did the prince have a name?"
He looked at me like he wanted me to stop asking questions. "Eric," He said bitterly. "Prince Eric."
Now this seemed very familiar. I was about to ask another question when I heard whispering. I suddenly saw a small blue light flying around. "What is that?" I asked.
The nutcracker laughed. "A snow fairy."
"Yeah, sure, a snow fairy. Makes sense," I said watching the fairy.
It flew close to my face. With a small explosion of blue sparkles the small light turned into a small blond girl with white/blue clothes and wings. It smiled at me and giggled.
"Uh do you know what its saying?" I asked the nutcracker. He didn't answer me. I looked at him and he looked like he was blushing.
He noticed me looking at him and he said "oh, yeah."
The fairy grabbed my pointer finger and pulled. It didn't have much strength and lost its grip. It tumbled into nutcracker's chest. It hit the hard wood with a thud and fell into the nutcracker's waiting hand. It stood up dazed and held its head. Shaking the daze it looked back at its wing which was bent. It glared up at nutcracker and began to speak, its voice sounding like a ringing bell.
"Well I'm sorry," He said to the fairy. "But you should have been more careful."
The fairy huffed and kept scowling. It was so cute!
With a smile I said. "Here let's see if we can't fix it," I held out my hand and the fairy dropped to my hand. I gently used my pointer and thumb to straighten the wing.
The fairy smiled and laughed. She flapped her wings and did a flip and flew away.
"Huh not even a thank you," Said the nutcracker.
I shrugged. I looked back to the walls of ice. "So we took a wrong turn?"
The nutcracker nodded.
"Alright then let's go back and take the right turn."
"It's not that easy."
I rolled my eyes. Of course it could never be easy. Suddenly I heard whispering again but more this time. I looked around and saw hundreds of blue lights.
"Whoa," I said under my breath.
The snow fairies danced around in beautiful patterns. It was amazing to watch. The fairy that I helped. Flew to me again. She giggled and said something. All the other fairies seemed to say the same thing.
I turned to the nutcracker. "What are they saying?"
He looked like he was blushing again. "They say that you're beautiful."
I rolled my eye and smiled. I turned to the fairy I helped. "Thank you," I told it.
It giggled and flew away and tried to dance with the others. After several frustrating attempts it flew back to me and pulled at me again. I realized it wanted me to dance. "Oh! N-no I can't," I said panicked. I couldn't dance to save my life.
I heard a stifled laugh come from nutcracker. This made me a bit angry.
The fairy had given up trying to pull me into a dance. She tried to reassure me. She did a shuffle step and gestured for me to do it. I remained still. Suddenly I felt a hand in mine. I turned to see nutcracker. The fairies had pushed him to me.
He was smiling nervously. "May I have this dance?" he whispered.
I couldn't just bluntly refuse him. It would be rude and he was royalty even if he didn't know I knew it. "I can't dance," I tried.
He suddenly led me into a step.
I gasped in surprise and stared at him.
His smile was a little more confident now. "Just let me lead," Then he led me into a dip.
Another gasp but it was a little less surprised.
Another step then another. I suddenly realized I was dancing. I spun then dipped then stepped. It was an amazing feeling.
I caught a glimpse at the fairy. She was laughing as if she was hopping this would happen.
We stopped dancing as the music faded.
The snow fairies did one last twirl and opened a doorway to the outside.
"That was amazing," I said breathlessly.
The nutcracker smiled and looked out at the new found sun. "I think that was their thank you."
We walked out into the sunlight. My first look at Barthania was breath taking. The tree smelled like peppermint. The snow wasn't cold. The sky was the bluest I've ever seen.
"Beautiful isn't it?" said the nutcracker from behind me.
I turned and nodded.
He looked so sad. "Soon it will just be a memory if the Rat King has his way."
An awful thought.
"Well then let's go," I said and began walking down a dirt path through a small wood.