"How can I know who I am, until I find out who I was?"
-Jack Frost; Rise of the Guardians
DISCLAIMER: *sobs, breaks down, cries*
THE COLD EMPRESS
CHAPTER 2: SORCIER
"Weird." That was the only word she, a seven-year-old girl could use to describe them. Them, gnawing and reaching at her through the metal fence with glassy, dust-like eyes and mashed up rotting skin.
These creatures were called 'Wendigos'. They were demonic half-beasts who indulged in human flesh; and with four, ghastly, bony claw-like hands and sharp talons for feet, they could tear up anything, much less anyone within milliseconds. The Wendigo nearest to the child bared its blood-stained fangs, the grey skin stretching over their apparent skeleton structures. They were well-known in the kingdom of Arendelle, but the child had only heard stories of the demons and personally facing them brought on a tinge of slight curiosity and excitement.
There was no sunlight or warmth from the sky. It was another cold, wintry day in Arendelle, but the royal castle has not yet provided the children with big, warm, fluffy coats; or so she had been hoping for.
'I wonder what human flesh tastes like to Wendigos.' Her mind was whirring with different questions and filled with the curios insights of a child. 'If only they were able to talk.' She sighed, staring harder at white web-covered pupils. 'Curiosity killed the cat' was the saying, so as she continued to examine their features with great fascination, she failed to notice the single, creeping claw that was barely hooking onto the hem of her dress.
A pristine, white snowball suddenly shot through the air, barely passing the blonde-haired girl and hitting the fence, making the Wendigo withdraw its claw but further energizing them. She blinked in surprise as she slowly stepped back and looked behind to see someone running towards her. She stared at the figure; it was a boy, the boy with peculiar white hair and sporting an expression of annoyance and obvious distaste.
"Do you have a death wish, blondie?" he asked, hastily grabbing hold of her arm and roughly pulling her further away from the fence.
"I wasn't in trouble." She half-heartedly muttered, suddenly gaining newfound interest in the dirty cuffs of her dress.
He stopped; suddenly facing her with full seriousness. She slightly tilted her head in question; why was he so serious? Now that she noticed, the other children with them were all looking rather depressed; some of them with noticeable blood-shot eyes. Was something wrong? She asked herself.
Even when they were first brought into the castle and been given shelter in the dark, dirty stone-walled rooms, the boy with the white hair had never talked much less spared a glance at her.
The golden-haired child's thoughts suddenly shifted; how was her mother and father doing back home? Why didn't they come to visit her in the castle? Weren't they missing her? She clearly remembered the words her mother told her before letting the weird, scary-looking men take her.
"Be good, Rapunzel. They're not going to hurt you. Just follow the nice guards of his majesty. You are going to be protected in the royal castle for now; where the beasts outside the barriers won't reach you."
She was still staring at the white-haired boy, who tiredly ran a hand through his hair.
"Do you know where you are, blondie?" he asked once more.
"It's Rapunzel. And yes, we're in the royal castle, aren't we?" She replied with a smile. He simply stared at her with icy blue eyes, as if silently wondering if she had a screw loose. She began to hate his eyes; even more than the blank, white eyes of the Wendigos. His eyes seemed to show and reflect his personality well, or so it seemed to her: cold, unattached, uncaring, and remorseless. They barely had any difference in age and he looked like the kind who wouldn't blink an eye even when faced weaponless with tons of Wendigos.
"Why are you staring at me?" she asked a rather simple question. But his eyes remained steady and still. As if he was trying to turn her into a big block of ice.
He looked around the vicinity; the huge metal fence encompassing their little space of safety, the kids with ages ranging from five-to-twelve desperately muffling their ears and closing their eyes in obvious fear, and about ten-to-fifteen Wendigos surrounding them. He stepped closer to the girl, "Why," he whispered, "Why do you think we're here?" Her eyes widened in surprise at his question, her mind whirring faster.
"So that the big, scary creatures from outside won't harm us." She automatically answered.
He leaned in to whisper one more time, and his cold, chilling voice was the last thing her frail, innocent mind registered before the fence enclosing their feeble lives was suddenly lifted and opened. "We're here to kill."
"Punzie." Hiccup shook the girl out of her stupor. They were currently at the hideout; deep within the underground society of Ravenloss and hidden by various towers and run-down construction. It was quarter to eleven in the evening, and the two were still waiting for the arrival of their comrades. Rapunzel looked at her companion in sheer confusion.
"What is it?" she asked; but the boy kept his silence, staring at the wooden doors. She followed his gaze, and in no time, the door opened with a huge blast.
In came Merida, quickly throwing her broken bow and arrows on the ground, muttering various Scottish curses and hoisting a cloaked, blood-soaked figure by the arm.
Hiccup couldn't even begin to comprehend the current situation in front of him. Merida's hair was slightly wet and coated with crimson and with her face smeared with the same substance.
"What is this?" Rapunzel asked with a slightly panicked look on her face, "What happened?"
Hiccup proceeded to help settle the unconscious white-haired boy on the couch while Merida blew sticky strands of hair from her face, huffing indignantly. "The Royal Militia happened."
She and Hiccup stepped back as Rapunzel approached Jack, hastily removing the blood-splattered cloak with quivering hands. Funny how she acted, she would think; after years of being exposed to death and blood, she still never handled these kinds of situation as calmly and coolly as Jack, Hiccup or Merida would.
"The conceited ice princess just had to go on an all-out idiot spree and assaulted the corporal by himself!" the red-haired girl exclaimed, slamming the wooden door shut with a wave of her hand.
Hiccup sighed, rolling his eyes heavenward; "Let me guess, he convinced, no, threatened someone from the neighboring areas to act as him and have you follow his double around town?"
The archer slammed both her palms on the table situated in front of her, "He damn right did; I just found out after the wee little lamb tripped on thin air and his hood came off!"
"So why exactly didn't you alert us first before chasing after sir do-it-yourself?" he replied, casting an accusatory glance at the red-haired girl.
"Oh, now it's my fault?" she resentfully exclaimed, now fully glaring at the brown-haired boy. She lifted her right sleeve and angrily ripped the makeshift dressing of an incision.
"You very well know that the damage could've been lessened if it was four of us out there." Hiccup pointed out; Merida, in response, let out a groan of vexation.
"I was running out of time!" she paced around the room back and forth, "Would you rather I came back dragging a lifeless body with me?"
"There would've been barely any injuries in the first place if only you had the inkling of informing us!" The boy retorted. Merida was about to respond, and the argument would've continued in sheer anger and infuriation until the golden-haired girl, who was trying to sing the healing enchantment for the last five minutes, spoke up with a wavering voice.
"You guys," she tiredly called out, and the two immediately ceased their aimless bickering. Rapunzel had torn off the blood-soaked clothes of Jack, exposing a huge gash running from his left shoulder to his lower abdomen, before gently setting the golden strands of her hair on the wound.
"The Royal Militia had skilled swordsmen." Merida bitterly whispered, feeling the last of her energy sapping away as she ruefully plopped onto the wooden floors. "I broke through the corporal's window and found Jack battling at least around fifty soldiers."
Hiccup scoffed, "Right. Two on fifty. What a clever, thought-out pla-"
"Would you just shut up?" Merida haughtily retorted.
Rapunzel then took a deep breath and began singing the healing enchantment; though her voice sounded cracked and dry.
Hiccup and Merida stared; they never got tired of watching how her brilliant, golden hair shone even brighter in its magical state. The wound began to slowly close and vanish and soon enough, what was left in its wake was a mere scar.
Rapunzel's golden hair began to lose its glow, and in a second, she slumped to the ground, pale and sickly white.
Merida helped the girl to her feet and sat her on the nearby chair. "That took a lot out of you, didn't it?" she concernedly asked.
"No, it's okay. I'm okay." Despite the lightheadedness and blurry vision, Rapunzel still managed to crack a smile.
"What're you still doing?!" the seven-year-old boy yelled, blasting ice and frost but effectively missing the oncoming onslaught of Wendigos.
All hell broke loose, but the golden-haired girl stood completely frozen; eyes wide and her brain going into panic overload.
'Where are the guards?' her thoughts burst inside her mind, 'We were supposed to be away and safe from the beasts, right? So why?'
"Move!" the boy with the white hair suddenly pushed her to the ground, and she feebly looked on as he barely froze the Wendigo. She was just about to be devoured, she suddenly realized; there were no guards or soldiers here, she noticed; they were all alone in the cage of hungry predators.
Ear-splitting screams filled her ears while blood and gore were splattering everywhere as the Wendigos fed on kids her age. They were all around her, everyone was running in circles, not knowing exactly what to do, the fence was back on its place, and they were all trapped. She heard a distinct growl coming from behind her and instinctively whipped her head around to face the snarling, bloody Wendigo as it cautiously approached her.
"No, don't." her eyes locked onto her oncoming murderer as she sat still on the ground, willing herself to move but to no avail. "Go away. Please."
The girl sat helplessly, and in a flash, the Wendigo had moved to pounce on her. She shut her eyes close, screaming and crying as the ferocious beast hit her.
But then it took her seconds later to realize that the Wendigo wasn't munching on her flesh. It was lying still on top of her; and in its head protruded an icy stalagmite-like weapon that killed the demon. Blood gushed from the spot where the ice penetrated the beast's skull and dripped onto the whimpering girl.
"Stay still and you'll live." The white-haired boy said to her as his palm continued to blast ice after ice.
That was the very day Rapunzel was awoken with a grim downpour of reality; they weren't here for protection or any of those sweet, sugar-coated lies; they weren't here because the royal castle had to save the children from the creatures out of the barrier; they were here to either kill or be killed.
Jack had awoken with a brain-shattering migraine, body pain that made him groan every single time he had to move, and smelling of dried blood.
He sat up, rubbing the bridge of his nose and focusing his eyesight.
"You're awake." Hiccup monotonously stated, staring at him as if silently reprimanding him for the sins he had committed in his short life.
"What-" he spoke up, until Hiccup cut him by raising a hand up.
"You are not seriously planning to ask me what happened." He replied and continued to stare at him.
Jack gripped the side his head, feeling the memories of last night flood his senses. Rapunzel and Merida had fallen asleep in a messy, sitting position on the couch adjacent to him while Hiccup sat on a chair just across from him.
"The corporal's dead." Jack casually said, "Merida strangled him with her bow until it broke."
"See, this is exactly what I've been wondering about since last night; couldn't you use magic? I asked red over there, but she answered with either 'shut up' or 'go away.'" The brown-haired boy exclaimed.
"Their swords were dipped in some kind of substance where it blocks the mage's magic for at least a full minute or so. One slash and we were powerless." Jack monotonously narrated, "It smelled like the Lotus plant; or something similar to it."
The red-haired girl yawned loudly, stretching her arms and looking at the now-awake Jack Frost.
She stared for a full minute, until breaking the silence with a straight-faced question, "Are you daft?"
"Good morning to you too, Merida." Jack sighed and rolled his eyes, Hiccup snickering in the background.
"I'm serious, Jack." She replied, "What in the great land of Arendelle made you attack the corporal by yourself?"
"Can we just forget about this? We've got another client coming tonight." The boy insisted, getting up and walking over to the sleeping Rapunzel.
"Oh my lord, you really wanted to die, didn't you?" Merida asked in her thick, Scottish accent and watched as Jack carried the blonde-haired girl and laid her down on the couch where he was formerly treated.
"You could've just said so," Merida continued, Jack now sitting beside her, "I would gladly have the pleasure to stick an arrow through your heart."
The white-haired boy looked at her with bored eyes, "That's just harsh."
"Or," Hiccup joined in, "Did you want to be cremated?" he asked, opening his palm with fire floating directly over it.
Jack shook his head, "Hooray for friendship and camaraderie." He dryly declared.
"That's a what?" a little girl about the age of six asked the boy she shared the dark, dirty cell room in.
He was scribbling on the walls with a rock he found inside the dungeon but try as she might to comprehend the unfinished figure on the walls, she still had no idea what it was.
"It's a dragon, silly." The little boy answered her, "Look; these are the wings," he pointed to the mish-mash of lines, "And this is the head."
The red-haired girl tilted her head. "Are you sure you're not writing crazy letters on the walls?" she crossed her arms.
The boy gasped and pouted, "Okay, well let's see you draw a dragon then." He handed her the rock, to which she happily took and started to draw just beside his figure of a dragon.
Now he was the one tilting his head in comprehension.
"There you go." The girl proudly pronounced, stepping back and examining her work with a bright smile.
"That's not a dragon." He pointed to the drawing, "That's a chicken flapping its wings!"
The girl felt a vein pop as he laughed at her drawing. She threw the little stone, successfully hitting his forehead with a light flick.
"Hey, what was that for?" he asked, rubbing his forehead.
She simply stuck her tongue out and laughed at him, "My name is Merida. What's yours?" she asked.
"I'm Hiccup." The boy merrily replied, but seconds later, he found himself staring at the snickering little girl. "What's so funny?"
Merida proceeded to feign having hiccups. "Oh no," she gasped, "Help, Hiccup; I'm hiccupping." She repeated this for a few more times, laughing louder at each attempt. The boy frowned at her teasing.
"Want me to drown you?" he asked, as she only laughed louder.
Soon enough, her laughter began to drone out and the silence once more reminded them of the sad, gloomy place they were in.
"Hey, Hiccup?" she called out once more.
The boy cocked an eyebrow, "What?"
"What're these for?" the girl pointed to a grey, metal contraption attached to her neck. Hiccup instinctively reached for the contraption attached to his neck; he had read about these.
"They're magic obstructers." He explained, "They block magic and can only be permanently taken off by the caster himself or by high, extreme magic concentration. They can be temporarily disabled, though; the time limit in which it disappears depends on the caster, and once the time limit is up, it appears on our necks again."
"Woah." The girl replied, "How'd you know?"
"We ran a library and bookshop back home."
At that very moment, the soldiers from the Royal Militia came and opened the gates of the dungeons, some of them having conversations about 'testing the midgets' and 'a great number of Wendigos.'
"Are we finally going home?" Merida turned to ask Hiccup, who simply furrowed his brows in question.
He didn't know why they were talking about Wendigos. He didn't know why they were leading them out of the dungeons. He didn't know where they were going. He didn't know what they were going to do. But he did have a bad feeling about what was about to happen. So as he walked beside the red-haired girl and the other children out of the dungeons, he poked her in the shoulder.
"I don't think they're letting us go home just yet."
In the middle of cold, wintry night, the eerie crescent moon shone down upon the cursed land of Arendelle. The various prowling beasts, demons and savage monsters of the deep, dark night were wide awake; stalking, clawing, and scraping through the protective magical barriers.
A peculiar persona wearing thick, woolen clothes and topped off with a fur-like coat of the colors red and gold stood on the roof of the royal castle, eyes scanning the horizon of his kingdom.
"Your highness," a tall, stocky middle-aged man wearing the uniform of the Royal Militia approached the king and saluted, "They're back again, aren't they?"
"Commander Rourke," he answered, eyes still not leaving the dark surroundings, "When exactly have they ever left?"
The rhetorical question was left hanging in the air. The commander cleared his throat, "This is the third kill inside the castle. What are your orders, sir?"
The king turned around, eyes gleaming with bottled determination; "Do you fancy yourself a good opponent in chess, commander?"
"Pardon me, sir?" the all-too serious commander sputtered, "Sorcier is on the move, your majesty. Soon there won't be enough left in the Militia to defend Arendelle."
The king walked in a slow, calculating pace to and fro, as if just comprehending the situation at the very moment. "You have not answered my question."
The commander clenched his fists, determined not to let the protective nature of being a leader show in front of his majesty's presence. "I do, your highness."
"Good." The king sent one of his cold, mirthless smiles his way and stopped in front of the commander, facing him though having to slightly look up due to the difference in height. "We are playing a game of chess, commander. And in order to capture the opponent's king, countless sacrifices have to be made. And what I need is a pawn. A pawn willing to sacrifice itself, commander. I need a pawn to act as bait."
In dungeon cell number thirteen, four children, namely two boys and girls, were all awaiting the verdict on their fates. Blank eyes stared at each other, some bloody and tear-streaked, the others still unbelieving and quivering at the memory of what they had just gone through.
It had been two days since their battle with the Wendigos, and in their group of about twenty children, it was only the four of them who survived. The magic obstructers were back on its place, on each of their necks, and they hadn't been let out since. The girl with the red hair spoke first, voice scratchy and rough. "My name is Merida. What're yours?" she asked, only to be replied by a deathly silence.
The little six-year-old girl looked down, and after a while, she started to silently sob. The white-haired boy spared a glance at the little girl and just after a moment of indecision, he replied.
"I'm Jack." Three pairs of eyes looked at the boy in question, Jack seeming to continue staring at the gray walls in silence.
"Jack," little Merida said, dragging her sleeves across her face, "You were doing this really cool stuff with your hands; you were, like, shooting ice and stuff."
Jack looked at the girl in fascination, "And you were blasting burning rocks out of thin air."
Merida cracked a slight smile and turned towards the brown-haired boy. "Hiccup helped me burn the rocks. He can control fire."
Hiccup sheepishly looked away; he wasn't sure why he was feeling paranoid around them. But then again, having trust issues when maybe about seconds later they would find themselves facing some kind of twisted test again was not the main problem around here.
"What about you?" Hiccup asked the quiet, golden-haired girl who was hugging her knees by the wall next to Jack. She looked up at him with big, haunted, green eyes.
"Me? I'm Rapunzel." She awkwardly responded and shyly tugging at her hair.
"What powers do you have?" Merida asked, and at this, the girl became slightly fidgety.
"I don't think I have any magic powers at all." She looked away while the other three stared at her.
"You don't?" Merida asked; eyes wide and looking at Rapunzel, Jack, and back at Rapunzel.
"Yes." She childishly bit her lip. All she wanted at the moment was to hide her face and maybe crawl into a corner.
"You do have magic powers." Jack suddenly said, turning to look at the golden-haired girl. And in just that single, simple sentence, all emotions Rapunzel had suppressed for the last two days came crashing onto her in one cold douse of water. She started breaking into small hiccups.
Jack looked alarmed. "Hey, don't start crying too. I mean, why else would you be here?" He half-heartedly mumbled.
"But why," by now the girl had tears in her eyes, "But why couldn't I do anything?"
Merida moved closer to the girl, gently patting her hair, "It's okay; don't cry." She brokenly whispered, Rapunzel rubbing her eyes vigorously.
"I couldn't do a single thing!" she stuttered, her cries becoming more prominent. Hiccup, seeing the girl bawl, deeply sighed. He kind of understood Rapuzel; the feeling of hopelessness, of facing death and having nothing to do, he felt sorry for her.
"It's going to be alright." Hiccup convinced himself more than any one. "We're all gonna get out of here. Someday, maybe tomorrow, even; we'll all go home and forget this nightmare."
Rapunzel had managed to somehow cease her crying, "Yes, you're right." she wiped her tears and hugged Merida tightly.
"Oww, oww." The red-haired girl muttered, and Rapunzel drew back in slight surprise.
"What? Is something wrong?" she asked, and Merida sheepishly smiled.
"I kinda got… scratched?" she said, slightly pulling the cloth down her shoulders and revealing a reddish, yellowish, slightly deep claw mark. The other three children gathered around her in a second.
"It's yellow." Jack noted, "And it hasn't healed yet; it's been two days already."
"The wound is infected." The brown-haired boy quirked, "I read about wounds back home. But it says you're supposed to…" he put the back of his hand against Merida's forehead and drew back in surprise. "You're burning up!"
"Okay, what do we do?" Jack slightly asked in alarm, "Should I freeze her?" this resulted in Hiccup dramatically face-palming, and Rapunzel sending Jack a put-off look.
"I'm okay!" the red-haired protested, "Well, I think I feel okay."
"No, you're not." The golden-haired girl replied, biting her lip and face drawn into serious concentration.
"But… I think I know how to heal that." three pairs of eyes turned towards her.
"But I'm not sure! Mama told me to never sing the song. She meant never-ever-never." She quickly followed up, putting emphasis on each word. More staring ensued.
Rapunzel twisted the cuffs of her dress before looking at Merida's wound. "Okay, I'm going to try it now."
The three confusedly watched as the girl gently pressed the golden strands of hair against the incision wound, Merida slightly wincing at the contact. But when nothing special was happening, Hiccup and Jack exchanged a sort of weirded out look.
And then she started singing. Her voice was childlike and squeaky high, but what really surprised the three was her hair; it was glowing like real gold, and it continued to burn brightly while she sang.
Merida suddenly felt as light as a feather; the song was doing wonders on her. She felt the pain on her shoulder ebbing away, and the dizzy feeling she's been fighting for two days was replaced with immense clarity. It felt euphoric, she thought.
The song ended minutes later though, and she looked at the three apprehensively. "Don't look at me like that; I don't even know where mother got that spell."
Merida gaped at her, "Spell? What do you mean 'spell'? That wasn't a spell!"
"That wasn't?" the girl replied.
"That was awesome." Jack quipped, Hiccup rolling his eyes at the white-haired boy's lack of description.
"That was your power." Hiccup said with renewed vigor. "You have special powers, like us!"
The golden-haired girl's eyes widened in surprise and for the first time in a very long time, she giddily laughed. "I do? I mean, I do! I'm finally a superhero; like you guys!" she happily exclaimed.
"This is great!" Merida bounced up, now fully crushing the girl with a bear hug. "With you, the four of us will never die!"
The brown-haired boy slightly smiled, "I believe the word is 'invincible.'"
"Really? I thought it was 'immortal.'" Jack supplied, smiling alongside the other three.
"We should stick together." The red-haired girl suddenly turned to each, "The four of us, like a group." She smiled, Rapunzel nodding excitingly.
Jack still wasn't quite sure of what he was getting himself into. But maybe, just maybe; it wouldn't hurt to have some sort of bright hope for one last time.
"Yeah," Jack joined in. "The four of us; and 'till then, we'll be alright as long as we look out for each other."
The four of them had the look of determination in their eyes and they all smiled, willing themselves to stay strong. "The four of us; I like the sound of it."
"State the prey."
Commander Rourke surveyed the four cloaked people in front of him. The same four mages who assassinated three prominent soldiers of the Royal Militia, the same four who had been rumored to have over a hundred kills in seven years, the same four sorcerers he'd been keeping watch out for the past seven years of his life; Sorcier.
"Your target is one of the capital's most influential members of the council and the king's confidant. Maleficent." Commander Rourke didn't exactly know what he was expecting. Maybe some kind of reaction from the four, statue-like mages in front of him, that maybe hearing the name would make them lose even a second of composure. But they barely moved.
The commander breathed in sharply, strengthening his resolve and putting forth the envelope on the wooden table. Now came the hard part.
He tensed once the letter was levitated and brought towards Sorcier. The mage second from the right then silently read the letter. Still, no obvious reactions.
"Your request is accepted." He simply spoke after minutes of silence, "We will come to collect three days after the execution."
The assassin walked towards commander Rourke and for a split-second he thought of taking out the poison dart he had hidden on the sides of his boot. He stared hard at the criminal in front of him with renewed hate and folded the sleeves of his right hand uniform. Those suspected of making deals with Sorcier had never confessed to anything. The torture, no matter how bloody and downright painful, never seemed to be enough for the accused. They simply refused to talk and here is his chance to find out why.
The masked assassin tapped the skin just below his elbow and the blood clotted to form a small 'S', before disappearing completely. The commander clearly wasn't expecting something of that sort.
"Speak a word and the spell shall tear your soul and consume your body." Once the words were spoken, commander Rourke's eyes widened in horror and realization. The cloaked figure turned away, and the very second the lights flickered, he knew that the pawn was doomed.
Jack had been nine years old when thoughts of life outside the dungeons of the royal castle started to plague him. Of course, he had thoughts of being free, of not having to eat the green, slurp-like stuff they called 'food' twice a day, and of actually walking through the streets of the kingdom. He and his friends just had to be strong, he told himself.
They were still children, he hatefully admitted to himself; maybe they didn't know better. Maybe if they would gain a few years they would begin to understand all of this, all of what happened, and that things would begin to change for the better. But after having his nth battle with the Wendigos, he was starting to doubt if his life, their lives would ever change.
Children who had the special power of magic were still continuously being captured and locked in the dungeons, and the battling of Wendigos was still a monthly occurrence. For two continuous years, Jack, Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel managed to survive the onslaught; their skills had tremendously improved over time and their rare fighting ability had increased the number of survivors who returned from the caged battlefield.
Then a single occurrence was all it took to change their lives. It was during one of those cold, wintry days; nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary; just another day where they had fought off the number of Wendigos corresponding to their number. It had been extremely cold that day, and the children were on the snowy tracks, walking the long trek from the cage and back to the castle dungeons with the magic obstructers casted on their necks once more.
But the corporal overlooking the training of the children had other plans. That day, he called on three particular mages who had caught his eye two years past, and instructed some of his soldiers to lead the rest of the children back to the dungeons.
The three, namely; Jack, Merida and Hiccup were led inside a small cabin a little ways away from the caged battlefield, and they stood hopeful and somewhat nervous in front of the corporal. There was, however, one thing that kept invading their positive thoughts. Why were their hands bound behind their backs?
"Welcome, children." Said the strange man; he was tall and lanky, and standing beside the wooden doors were other two short, stocky soldiers. It was creepily quiet inside the small cabin, but outside it seemed like a blizzard had just began to brew.
"Aren't the three of you just adorable little midgets?" he exclaimed, parting his arms as if in a warm embrace. Merida, now eight-years old, furrowed her eyebrows and clenched her hands. They were bound up pretty tight, she noticed.
"Why did you call for us… err, sir?" Hiccup bravely spoke up the question that had been plaguing their thoughts, and the corporal tried to smile affectionately, 'tried' being the keyword.
"Well, let's just say that someone had seen the way you three fight. And he wanted to… ah. Praise you in person. You kids just have to stay quiet and wait. He's a-coming, alright." He laughed in the way that most villains would in a fairytale story, "And he's coming with sacks of gold."
The man had committed two fatal mistakes that faithful afternoon; misunderstanding and underestimating. He had misunderstood their true ages; in his eyes were two nine-year-olds, and a female eight-year old. But in front of him stood three able mages who battled for their lives every single day in fright, darkness and cold for two whole years.
The villain grinned evilly, and that was all that it took for the three to step back cautiously; silently and individually thinking of a way out of their current predicament.
"Why did you call for us?" Jack repeated the question, blue eyes gleaming ice cold. The corporal, unused to even a slight disrespectful tone of voice glared at the boy.
"You fix your tone this instant, boy." He threatened.
The white-haired boy scoffed, "Or what?"
Hiccup slightly nudged his friend, but the boy didn't seem to care as he kept his mocking look on his face. The corporal stood up and strode towards Jack, towering and completely overshadowing the boy.
"You will follow orders and sit quietly as ducks." The man hissed, his foul breath overcoming the three. He turned around and began to walk away, until Jack, beginning to realize that they've been played for fools began shaking in anger.
He was completely livid inside. His blood was starting to boil despite the cold weather as he was beginning to perceive just what the man was planning to do to them.
"You're nothing but a two-faced, lying, pompous bag of dirt." The white-haired boy angrily hissed, and for a second, Merida and Hiccup exchanged a contemplative glance, before slightly nodding their heads as if in comprehension.
The corporal slowly turned around, face red with rage and imaginary steam coming out of his ears; but before he could even utter a single word, Hiccup and Merida rushed on full-force. The little red-haired girl forcefully thrust her head against the belly of their oppressor while Hiccup immediately kicked his shins, immediately sending the man to the ground with a loud thump.
The scene occurred all too very quickly that both soldiers guarding the door seemed to be slightly taken by surprise, before they began to regain their senses and immediately took action. One rushed towards the white-haired boy, who had been seemingly about to break through the glass window and mauled him to the wooden floors. The other quickly grabbed hold of Hiccup and tied both his arms and legs with an extra rope.
The tall, lanky corporal, on the other hand, got up with a sneer, wiping away blood that was dripping through his nose and roughly grabbed a fistful of red hair, immediately eliciting a loud, hurtful cry from the poor girl.
Jack and Hiccup struggled futilely against the extra binding ropes on their hands and feet while Merida screamed in agony.
"You little brats need to learn your place!" he threw the girl to the ground. Jack's eyes widened and the sight of his friend lying injured and helpless on the floors sparked something within him. Something was starting to spread throughout his very being.
"Let us go!" Hiccup bit the other soldier's hand who was trying to gag him, and thus receiving a painful slap to the cheek.
"You want to know why you're here?" the corporal cackled as his men tightened the gags around the three. "Someone wants to buy you. Yes, they're willing to pay me loots of gold if I can bring the best fighters in the dungeons of children! And even if you do get caught out there again, you'll just have to end up in the dungeons again; where I can sell you again."
Then throughout the ordeal, the sound of someone knocking on the wooden door was heard. The corporal immediately straightened his uniform and motioned towards one of his soldiers to open the door.
The three immediately ceased all movement, however, when the door opened to reveal an all-too-familiar blonde-haired girl.
The soldier looked down at the little girl, who seemed all too frightened and about to cry, "I-I'm sorry, sir. There was an unexpected avalanche and we all got separated in the middle of the blizzard."
The short, stocky soldier glanced at the corporal, who nodded and motioned for him to let the golden-haired girl in. She stepped in, and the soldier closed the door before bending down to eye level with the girl, "What about the others?"
"They're all dead," she whispered, and suddenly, she fiercely looked him in the eye. "And so are you." Before the man could even react, the girl had already revealed the silvery dagger hidden inconspicuously behind her back and stabbed him in the heart.
"Just what do you think you're doing?!" the corporal bellowed, him and the second soldier moving towards the girl. Rapunzel lunged at the second man, blindly flinging her weapon around and managing to somewhat wound him in the gut; until her long golden hair was viciously pulled by the corporal behind her.
The small dagger went skittering across the floor whilst he lifted the girl up, sneering as Rapunzel let out an ear-splitting cry. She looked to the ground, where the second soldier was beginning to bleed to death and where her three friends stared at the unfolding scene in horror and loathe, screaming through the gags and desperately trying to free themselves of the ropes.
"You little wench," he hissed.
Rapunzel gave one more look of defiance, before kicking and punching the corporal. In that very instant, the corporal had grabbed her by the collar before squeezing her neck. She instantly choked, still kicking as he held her away and intensifying his grip.
This was the final straw. Upon seeing one of his closest friends literally at the brink of death, Jack snapped. His senses went into overdrive, his eyes becoming bluer than the azure skies, and all sense of rationale flew out the window. The temperature inside the cabin dropped to absolute zero in a millisecond, and upon seeing the certain ice mage, the tall, lanky corporal gasped; dropping the girl to the wooden floors.
Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel all stared wide-eyed as the boy glared at the corporal with icy, petrifying orbs.
"You can't use magic," he stated, pointing a finger at Jack and slightly backing away in fear. "The magic obstructer is still in place!"
Blue orbs stared coldly at the officer, the temperature still dropping and icicles and frost started to gather in the corners of the room. A resounding crack followed the emanating silence, and the man's jaw dropped at the sight of the fissure in the metal magic obstructer.
"You will perish." Jack declared in a low growl, the bindings on his hands and feet turning to solid ice. The corporal sat dumbfounded as the little nine-year-old boy broke free of the ropes, and with it, the magic obstructer blasted into shards of ice before completely dissipating into thin air. He silently raised his palm towards the shaking corporal.
"Stop; I order you to stop this instant!" that was his second fatal mistake. He underestimated his opponents. Without missing another heartbeat, a sharp icicle shot from the palm of the boy and impaled itself onto the corporal's chest. He dropped dead and cold to the wooden floors.
The white-haired boy hurriedly crouched to the ground and began to free the binding ropes from his friends. He set his palm upon each of their magic obstructers, and in minutes, they all permanently broke and vanished.
In the aftermath, they found themselves sitting and staring at the horrible scene in front of them; three men bloody and dead.
"I can't believe I actually killed two people." Rapunzel mumbled, still slightly coughing and rubbing her throat.
"I can't believe we were about to be sold into slavery. That the officials from the Royal Militia were actually human traffickers." Hiccup added, hugging his knees as the blizzard continued its death toll outside.
"How did you know we were in danger?" Merida asked Rapunzel, who was trying to wipe off the blood smeared on her hands.
"The avalanche really happened. Our hands were still tied together when the soldiers saw what was coming. They cut off all our ropes and ordered us to run. Then I remembered that the three of you were left behind, so I started to run back. I got hold of a dagger which was left in the chaos and snow, but when I reached this cabin, I heard disturbing noises." She looked at them with her bright green eyes.
"Then I killed them." she buried her face onto her hands. "I killed two people."
Silence followed afterwards, but Jack broke it with a sigh. "There's nothing wrong with what you did. You simply killed beasts. Beasts who were disguised as humans."
The three looked at Jack, mixed emotions and expressions painted on their faces.
"This is our chance," he told them, "Our one shot at freedom. Outside this cabin lies the whole kingdom."
"You do know that we can't go back home, even if we manage to escape here, right?" Hiccup seriously asked Jack, and Merida gasped.
"But why not?"
"We can't. The Militia will be after our heads now. And we don't want to endanger our families. I mean, I wouldn't; but would you?" The brown-haired boy replied, casting his head down.
"Then we'll just have to stick together." Rapunzel joined in, looking at the three of them. "The four of us."
"The four of us." Merida echoed, "But where will we go?"
"There's only one place in the whole kingdom where we could last a day of survival," Jack started. By now, the frost and icicles were already starting to melt. "Underground."
The blizzard was starting to calm, and that was the cue for the four to get up. But just before they were about to close the door to their pasts and seal their fates for the future, Hiccup noticed a slightly messy blood-handwritten word by the second short, stocky soldier.
"A dying message." He called out to his friends, "It says… Sorcier. It translates to 'Sorcerer' in English."
Jack shrugged, "I guess we're Sorcier from now on."
"Yeah; the entire Militia will be on the lookout for us, for Sorcier." Merida mentioned.
"But we'll somehow manage to survive. Because we'll be alright; we'll be alright as long as we look out for each other." Rapunzel recited, remembering the exact same words of the white-haired boy two years ago.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This chapter comprises of their back story. I apologize for any sort of mistakes on the grammar and spelling. Thanks for reading. :)
OracleOfAges: Thanks! :DD