Running. Running. Running for days. Running for nights. All of them blurred into one long miserable escape.
It all started that one fateful day when curiosity got the better of her. Kotone could hardly remember the male demon who had attacked her when she had snuck her way down to the ground where the men live. She had grown up hearing stories of how dangerous men were, how brutal, how harsh, how aggressive. They were the whole reason things were wrong with the world, according to the elder ice maidens. Kotone never understand it, having never seen one. They seemed like monsters from fairy tales they were trained to fight. Having been trained to fight from a young age, surely she could handle meeting a man herself.
Or so she thought. When a squad of sisters were sent to the ground to hunt for more wild ice mountain goats to bring back up to their floating island to raise, Kotone followed after them, using their ice ladder once she was sure no one would see her or track her. All she wanted to do was look around, find a man, fight him, defeat him, and get back to the floating island before anyone knew she was gone. Or maybe even bring back the man's head as a trophy, which could bring her glory among her sisters. She was one of the weaker fighters among them, which made her jealous of her other sisters.
The ground had been snowy, but full of evergreen trees and other hardy plants around her. Kotone watched the ground around her, sensing for her sisters who were off getting more goats. She jogged the other way, trying to sense for someone, anyone unfamiliar in the area.
When she came upon a lone demon, he was not what she had been expecting. A demon with ice blue skin and deep purple marking along it. He had long, shaggy, purple hair, but she could tell from the smell of him he was a man. She attacked him, but had misjudged his strength. She could not remember much after that, blocking it out. Only flashes of him knocking her down, dragging her by her hair, a flash of unexpected pain. Her sisters had found her the next day, healed her, and brought her back up to their floating island.
She was interrogated by the three elders in front of everyone, bound to a chair. The elders kept demanding she tell them everything that happened, refusing to believe she could not recall what happened to her. One of the elders got so frustrated with her, she went for Kotone's throat with a small, thin knife, cutting with precision into her vocal cords. Kotone wished that had killed her. The elder brought the blade into her throat, twisting it. Then she did the unthinkable. She healed Kotone, destroying her vocal cords for good by healing them misaligned improperly. She wished she had not been healed for it might have been better to die instead. The elder said if she would not tell them what happened, then she would never tell them anything again.
She was imprisoned after that, fearful for her life, fearful for the heat she started to feel burning inside of her. Her guards sensed it, too, reporting her to the elders once more. They brought her out of prison cell, berating her for falling pregnant by a man. They ruled she could live because she had potential to be a good warrioress one day, but her exploration to the ground may have ruined it all. They promised her mercy if, after the child growing inside her was born, she threw it from the island. That was what they had done with the last male born from an ice maiden decades ago. That ice maiden had spared her at the cost of her child, even though that ice maiden ended up killing her in grief of losing her son. Kotone agreed to it, thankful the lost ability to talk meant she could not be forced to tell them the plan in her mind. Silently to the unplanned son growing inside of her, she promised him she would escape and not allow anyone to kill him.
While imprisoned, the elders did drag her out once more to tell her the huntresses had gone after the man she attacked, the one who had been the father of her child. They were able to track him by sensing her essence on him. They threw his severed head before her, as if that mattered much to her anymore.
It took months of imprisonment before one of the guards finally got sloppy. One of the guards was foolish enough to leave her cell unlocked in her rush to get off of her shift. Kotone could hardly believe her luck. Once she was certain the guard was gone, she escaped, fleeing the prison and jumping from the island, feeling that was a better alternative than allowing her son to be thrown from the island to earned her own redemption.
She landed harder than she liked, but luckily enough into a piled up snow bank. She was weaker at healing than her other sisters, but thankfully she could feel the son inside of her kicking, which meant he survived the fall, too. Just in case, she healed him to be safe first and then her own injuries to the extent that her strength would allow her to. She ran for it as quick as her weakened and still partially injured body would allow her, not sure how long it would take for her sisters to realize she was gone and send huntresses after her. Eleven days she ran. She made it to an abandoned outpost, scavenging for food and supplies, find nothing even remotely edible. She searched every room, hoping to find some food. She had been meagerly fed in prison, and had zero food when she ran. She was just about ready to give up, when she saw and sensed others approaching the outpost out the bay window of the room she was currently searching. There a group of them, looking like a bunch of men and one woman. They were coming into the outpost. She panicked, climbing up into the alcove of the window to hide, hoping beyond hope no one would find her there. Men. Men were not safe. She learned that first hand. She felt a memory flash up in her mind. Heard herself scream. Felt a flash of pain.
A young man and a woman came into the room not long after that. She listened to them speak, the young man opening the window, but then closing it when the woman complained of the cold.
She waited hours, cramped inside alcove. She cursed her luck that one of the men, the young man from earlier, settled down in the room she was hiding in. She kept herself absolutely silent as he combed over the room. She felt him plunge the temperature in the room to the same one she felt growing up on the island. The cold made her slightly homesick. She had to get out of here before the men discovered her. She knew what men were capable of. She waited until the young man fell asleep, resisting the urge herself to fall asleep. Once she sensed him in a deep sleep, she slipped from the alcove. She crept silently towards the door. She had almost walked past the foot of the bed when he woke up.
He up, off the bed, and fully alert impressive speed. He had a light blue, semi transparent dragon curled around his neck. Icy coldness seemed to roll off it. She bolted for the door, scared of what he would do to her. He was in front of her, blocking the door. She recoiled from him, not wanting him to touch her. She was in no state to fight him off if he attacked her.
"Who are you?" the young man asked. The dragon on his neck snapped its jaws.
She opened her mouth, but closed it again. The dragon around his neck was nothing the likes of which she had ever seen. Part of her wanted to reach out and touch it, taboo though the idea seemed to her in the moment. She shook her head. He stepped towards. She backed away, shaking her head harder. She grunted, wishing she could speak properly, to beg him to not touch her. She raised her hands, pushing them forward and back to tell him to stay back. It did not work. He snatched her wrist out of the air. She felt fear and sadness snake through her.
"Who are you? Answer me," he looked her up and down, making her want to squirm. A sort of fear seeped into her blood, making her cringe. "Be quick about it." She shook her head. He would hurt her soon, she just knew it. She blink, feeling tears wanting to spring up. Instead of attacking her, he let her go and stepped away. "Are you hungry?" he asked in a voice as soft as velvet.
She stared at him, unsure at first what he was asking. He raised his hands up in the air, stepping away from her and going to his pack on the floor. He knelt down in front of it. He kept his eyes on her, but managed to locate and pull out an apple from the pack. He held it out to her. She stared at it, feeling suddenly ravenous. The child inside of her kicked. Both of them were hungry. She went over to him, snatching the apple from his hand. She pulled it up to her mouth, taking a large bite from it. It was a bit dry, but was the best thing she ever tasted. She could not bite into it fast enough.
"Hey, slowly, slowly, slowly," he cautioned. "You'll make yourself sick," he warned. He reached over to her, but she pulled the apple away from his reach. "How long has it been since you last ate?" he asked softly.
She bit into the apple again, taking a smaller bite as he advised. He was waiting for her to answer him. She was unsure how to tell him she could not speak, ever again. She took another bite, tasting the bitterness of the seeds this time. As she chewed, she brought her other hand up to her throat, twisting the air in front of her.
He clicked in. "You can't speak?" he questioned. She nodded slowly, taking another bite. The apple, small though it was, was almost gone. She ate the whole thing, pit and all. "If you come with me to the kitchen, I can make you something else. Something that will be gentle on your stomach."
She almost shook her head. She could not trust a man, could never trust any man. They were all that was wrong with the world. Yet here was a man who fed her once, did not attack her at all. She was almost tempted to lick the hand that held the apple. She nodded, her desire for more food outweighing her fear of him. She watched him put on his shoes and then lead her out of the room.
"Don't run from me," he requested before he stepped out the door.
As she followed, her eyes roamed over the area where they walked. She studied him. He was strong, slim, foreign. He was not quite demonic from what she could sense. She planned to just eat whatever else he would give her and then she would run from him. He lead her to the kitchen and made her a bowl of noodles in broth. She pulled the bowl towards herself as soon as he sat it down in front of her. She burned her hands on the side of it, smarting at the feeling of it.
"Slowly now. I know you're hungry, but you must eat slowly," he told her softly. He reached his hands down to hers, but she flinched hers away without thinking about it. "I won't hurt you. I can heal those if you wish."
She pulled the noodles over to herself by the chopsticks. As she began to eat, she was starting to think maybe this man was not as bad as the other man she met was after all. Maybe he should not have touched her in the bedroom earlier. If her sisters were hunting her, which she figured they would be by now, him touching her would mean the huntresses might go after him as well because her essence would be on him. He had not harmed her, at least not yet. She did not quite want him to die. He had not done anything to harm her. Maybe this one man was not as bad as all the others she was told about...
She had been so focused on eating, she foolishly let her guard down. He had left and came back with another man, an immensely pale one at that. She heard the pale man gasp. She had been drinking down the broth when they both came in.
"Where did she come from?" the pale man asked.
"I told you. She was hiding in my room, likely in the alcove. I sensed her earlier, but didn't know what it was. She was sneaking out of my room when I woke up. She's starved and pregnant. We have to help her," the young man.
He wanted to help her, not harm her. Now her desire to leave intensified, but only because she did not want her sisters to kill him for helping her. His friend though. He might harm her. She was taught you could never be too sure with men. They were all monsters on the inside. She should remember that.
The pale man looked them both over. "Don't let her leave. I'll get the others. Don't touch her either."
Get the others... She felt a surge of panic at that. The others... The young man might be okay, but she had no clue about the pale one, let alone the others. She felt slushy and sluggish from the food in her stomach. She looked towards the back door she had used to break into the outpost. It led to the abandoned gardens. She could feel the young man watching her. She lifted the bowl up, licking the rim, savoring the slightly bland flavor and trying to throw the young man off guard.
He was looking at the back door, too. "That leads to the pantry. No exit." She held her breath. He just lied to her... She suddenly felt unsure if she could trust him anymore. "Gama will be back soon. You'll be safe with us." He stepped over to her. She kept herself still, watching him carefully take her dirty dishes away.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye, feeling a strange, warm feeling at the sight of him. He did not have any reason to be so kind to her. She wished he had not touched her, nor just tried to lie to her to get her stay with him so he could keep helping her. This was the second man she ever encountered. Men were not supposed to be kind like he was being. She started to feel guilty about the fact that he touched her earlier. The huntresses might go after him now, thinking he helped her or harmed her.
He stepped back over to her, putting himself between her and the back door. She took her eyes off of him, hoping he did not know she was just studying him. He reached a hand over to her. Before she had time to flinch away, another man entered the room. "Don't touch her!" the newest man shouted. The new man came into the room, so did the rest of the men who had been with them and the woman.
Kotone rose up, backing away from the kind young man. The new man had a vicious look about him, a knowing look. He knew what she was, even if the young man did not. She dreaded not running away when she had the chance. She stood up, rushing away from the table and the young man. This new man looked like he wanted to kill her the second he laid eyes on her.
Another of the men spoke up, "so he did find himself a true ice maiden. She doesn't look that dangerous. Like a wisp of a bit."
The new man shook his head. "Don't let her looks fool you." He stepped towards her menacingly. He raised his arm up. A rock sword formed around it. The young man might have been kind, but this man was anything but. She needed to find a chance to flee for the back door. She was scared, they thought she was weak. She could play off that.
"What are you doing?" the young man asked, looking between the two of them.
Kotone backed away, trying to get closer to the back door without looking like that was what she was trying to do. She ran away from the new man to the cupboard on the same wall of the door. She leaned against it, allowing the very real fear she felt to show fully on her face. When the new man reached her, she cowered before him. She felt desperate to flee now, before he could kill her with his rock sword, but she saw no opening, no chance. Maybe he was going to kill her now, after all... Her fear doubled.
The new man stood over, looking like a cold executioner. "You know what you are and you know what your sisters will do when they find you. I'll make it quick and painless. They would draw it out."
She wrapped her hands around her stomach, wishing for an opening to run, or to at least try for it. She wanted to live. She wiped at her eyes, not wanting to die crying like a coward.
The young man asked in shock, "what are you doing?"
"She has to die and she know it. Otherwise she'll draw her sisters down on us as well," the new man explained.
She wanted to speak, wanted to explain she did not mean to risk their lives. She wanted to beg them to let her live and let her run. She wanted to live and give her son a chance to live as well. No words to could leave her mouth though.
The young man kept talking, "what are you talking about?"
Another man spoke, "the ice maidens. They're a race of warrioress demonesses who hate men, seeing them as the root of corruption in the world. This one is far too young to be pregnant immaculately like they all are supposed to be. She's been impregnated by a man, which would be a death sentence for her and her child after he is born. She's being hunted likely, has been hiding from the huntresses for some time. Anyone who helps her will be hunted down and killed as well by them. Especially if they touch her because her essence would be stained on them."
Kotone listened, surprised at how he was almost accurate in what he was saying. In reality, she could have been spared if she allowed her child to be born and thrown from the island, something she was determined to not allow to happen. At least dying her by the new man's rock sword, at least meant her son would die less gruesomely, less painfully... She did not want either of them to die though. She brought her hands to her eyes, fighting and failing to hold back the tears that wanted to spill. She felt emotional when they turned to gems in her hands.
The new man drew his feet farther apart. "I'll kill her and then we need to flee. We need to run as far south as South goes. Hopefully the huntresses won't pursue us if we leave her dead body here."
She lowered her head, tensing up, waiting for it all to just end.
"NO!" the young man yelled.
Kotone looked up. The young man stood in front of her, his own sword of ice clashing with the new man's rock sword. "Get out of the way, you foolish boy," the new man growled.
"I won't let you kill her. What crime could she have committed to be murdered by you? We can take her with us, down south. She'll be safer with us," the young man pleaded. He hardly knew her, so why was he defending her so?
Another man, the one who knew about ice maidens, called out, "Back away, Izo." Izo... The young man was named Izo. "She's not worth dying for. We won't be safe if she's left alive and the huntresses come after her."
Izo shook his head, confessing, "I touched her. Earlier in my room. if you want to kill her, you'll have to kill me, too."
The new man scowled. "That can be arranged," he said cruelly. He stepped back from Izo and her. Kotone eyed the door, wishing for a chance to run for it. "Shinobi, kill them. Do so without touching her, or we'll have to kill you, too."
Kotone decided the second anyone moved towards them, she would sprint for the door. A slim chance to make it was better than no chance.
"No," the woman mewed.
"Airi," one of the men said her name like a warning.
The women, this Airi, shook her head. "He's supposed to lead the shinobi with me one day. Alongside Haru and I. You said." She looked over at Kotone and Izo. She looked forlorn, but determined. "I'll do it," she ruled, stepping towards them. Kotone gasped, seeing the woman gather a ball of water out in front of her. Kotone felt a plan forming in her mind at the sight of it.
The pale man gave an almost laugh, "drown them, girl, just like your mother would have."
Izo stayed in front of Kotone. "I don't want to fight you, Airi," he said.
Kotone would. She rose up silently, ready to make her move. She stood up next to Izo, eyes trained on the water ball as Airi spread it out before her in a large circle. Kotone raised her hand, freezing the water circle to ice and spreading it out thinly in front of Airi, creating a barrier between the two of them and the others. It exhausted her unexpectedly, made her nearly throw up. She doubled over, trying to will the contents of her stomach to stay there. Izo grabbed her by the hand, running out the back door.
She felt dizzy from what happened next. Izo had his enlarged ice dragon underneath them. He used it to flee from the outpost and into the night with her.
They fled that way, together, for days on end. He stole a pack from a stranger's tent for her, insisting only she have the food that was inside of it to eat. He spoke to her often, voiced echoing the tired daze his mind must have be clouded it. His plan to take her across the sea to run, his promise to protect her, his insistence that they stick together in spite of the fact that he was better off without her, his family with an emphasis on his mother, his childhood and how he missed his twin sister and younger brother, anything and everything that seemed to be on his mind.
As he talked, she wondered about him and his parents. He said his mother was half angel, half human. Kotone had never heard of an angel before, but had heard humans were weaklings who bred fast and died young in the south. His father was a half elf, half demon who grew up in the wilds of the demon territory. Izo reported he was an fire demon, but that made her wonder how Izo ended up like an ice demon then... An ice demon who had tried to heal her throat...
When they reached the port, they were turned away at the fort nearby, warned the seas were too frozen to sail through. They were told to leave, because of her and that her sisters were hunting her. Neither of them had seen a huntress yet, but the thirty days was not up yet. A stranger gave them a bag of food, but that was all the kindness they got. She had to tug him away from the fort before he wasted anymore energy.
On top of his dragon, he ruled they would go south somewhere. He decided they would go to the village near the Alaric Castle where his parents and younger brother still lived, but not to the actual castle itself. He insisted she needed more food. He knew people in that village, betting someone would give him supplies and let them on their way without telling his family he passed by. It was not safe for them to know he had an ice maiden with him. That could risk drawing the ice maiden down on them, too. He could contact them after they were sure the ice maidens were not tracking her anymore. The plan was after getting more supplies, they would flee farther south, to the capital where his sister was married to the crown prince. She would keep them safe. There were so many people in the capital that they had to be get lost in the shuffle.
It got warmer as they traveled, but he was getting weaker. She could tell the ice dragon they rode on was getting slower. She was finally able to coax him to eat some of the food they had, but by the seventh day of their running together, they ran out. Kotone felt her son kick inside of her higher than usual, as if trying to remind her that he was still hungry. She also noticed her lower back began to ache from the constant swaying on the ice dragon.
"We're near the village," Izo slurred. "The Alaric Village..." he was panting, tiring out. She felt a wave of pity for him go through her. He needed a rest more than she did. "Just through those trees," he pointed sluggishly over to the West. "The castle, though, is that way." He pointed Northwest. "That's where my parents and brother would be..." He voice was slow, but full of longing.
Kotone looked back at him, eyes full of pity that he would get so close to his family, but be unable to see them. All because he touched her... All because he was kind to her...
At the sight of him, she grew concerned. He looked sickly, stray hairs from his disheveled braid on his back sticking to his neck. He was sweating slightly.
"My sister is in the capital... though we can... we can go... to her. It's... the best option..." His head nodded as he spoke.
Kotone shook her head, reaching a hand to him, to feel his forehead. He was hot, burning up. She felt the ice dragon disappear abruptly beneath them. She landed on the balls of her feet, but he landed on top of her, bringing her to the ground with him on top of her. She winced, feeling an ache swell up her lower back.
She crawled her way out from under him. She tapped him on the shoulder. No response. She tapped him again, harder. Nothing. She checked to see he was still breathing. Thankfully he was. She grabbed his hand, trying to drag him. He was too heavy, even though he had hardly eaten. She dug her heels in the ground, yanking with all her might. She fell back on the ground, landing on her backside. She brought her hands to her face, not sure what to do.
She closed her eyes, trying to sense for someone in the area that could help him. He was in no state to travel anymore. She sensed four people, not far off from them, hoping they were women. She planned to get them to Izo without touching them, get them to help him, and then flee on her own to the capital, maybe, like he originally planned.