Thorne snickered as his distressed advisor clutched the armrests of his seat for the third time on their journey. Clenching his teeth and staring out the helm with wide eyes, Ram appeared as if he was thrown out from a tower window rather than riding in the comforts of a military ship. Unlike most sensible pilots, Thorne took the terrified expression of his friend as a compliment.
Whipping past the pointed tips of pine trees, the ship tore through blades of frosty wind and snow-filled clouds. Thorne kept them bobbing in and out of the sky's dark cover, dipping lower to scan the mountainsides for life. Their search, however, did not stop Thorne from practicing every trick he ever learned in the flight academy.
"My prince, please!" Ram begged, his face paling – could androids pale? – after the ship twisted sharply to the left. He cast his gaze behind the two toward the body of the ship where the soldiers escorting them were seated. "At least be considerate of the soldiers."
"Oh they'll be fine," Thorne grinned. Leaning heavily on the steering wheel, he sent their vehicle spinning like the tip of a drill. His corkscrew jostled an actual groan out of Ram, a feat he originally thought impossible. It fueled his hunger for more thrilling tricks.
"Right men?" Thorne shot over his soldier once the ship had been leveled again. He expected a lively response as his squad mates at the academy had always given; whoops and hollers, just as pleased by Thorne's recklessness as he was. Instead, he was met with the moans of men ready to toss their dinners in the cockpit.
"We'll never find Princess Cinder at these speeds," Ram protested. He reached over the dash and adjusted the speed to a trudging pace that drove Thorne mad. "At least let us rest for a moment."
Throne's eyes narrowed. "I thought we agreed I would be the pilot."
"And you are, Captain." Ram gently pressed the button that read Autopilot. "I'm just suggesting you get your sleep before the more pressing search tomorrow. There is little chance we will find the Princess in this blizzard."
Sending a resentful glance out the window, Thorne held the comment sticking to the tip of his tongue about the likeliness of surviving a blizzard on foot. He doubted the loyal Iceland soldiers needed to hear that if they didn't find their princess that night, they might not find her ever. Alive anyway.
Scoffing, he stood from his piloting seat and stormed into the small living rooms in the ship's tail. There were only six beds – which was surprising enough with a vehicle its size – and most of the room was taken up by the hiking equipment that wouldn't fit in storage. Ram had said everyone would take shifts going to sleep, but so far it seemed as if Thorne was the only one expected to use the room.
Guiltily, he thought things better this way. Of course he wanted the men to stay healthy and fit for battle, but it would be a lot easier for him to hide his secret if no one even ambled in.
Thorne slid the door closed behind him, listening for sounds of nearby movement before walking deeper into the room. Certain no one would invade, he snuck over to his bedframe sticking out from the wall. Lifting the thin cushion masquerading as a mattress, Thorne dug out the blue box, plain except for the intricate crest decorating its cover.
Sitting himself on his cot, Thorne turned the smooth box in his hands while pondering why he took it in the first place. He didn't mean to steal something belonging to the Iceland royalty, but something about the box struck him. Was it the way it was so craftily hidden beneath piles of bland documents? Was it the unscathed condition of the box like it had been treasured for a very long time? Or was it that Thorne could not pry the box open for the life of him?
Whatever it was, he couldn't let the Artemisia ambassador get his hands on it.
The longer he stared at the moon-and-snowflake crest, painted with silvers and blues as it were crafted from real ice, the more he felt certain it was of the Luna Family. Where King Garan got his hands on such an artifact – or how – Thorne couldn't even guess. All he did know about the object was that it could be a cause for unnecessary bloodshed.
Bustling from beyond the door had Thorne scrambling to hide the box back under his mattress. Placing his pillow artfully over the bulge it created, he quickly tossed his legs up to appear as if he truly had been resting. By the time he shut his eyelids, a very rushed soldier burst his way in without apology.
"What is it?" Thorne groaned, acting as if his rest was actually disturbed.
The soldier saluted stiffly before answering. "Smoke, sir."
"Smoke?" He rose from his relaxed position, genuinely intrigued. Smoke could only mean one thing in the mountains – humans.
Following the soldier back into the cockpit, Thorne saw a bustle of people hovering by the dash and leaning into the window. They pressed themselves so close to the widow, fog began coating the inside. Parting the sea of uniformed bodies, he returned to his seat at the helm of his vessel. Ram decided to fill him in without needing to be asked.
In the distance, contrasting the darkness of the night, billows of a recently started fire filled the sky. Thin and light in color, the smoke came up in a thin line – a chimney, Throne guessed, as opposed to a wildfire. Pressing some small buttons on the ship's dashboard, he pulled up a map of the terrain below them. A small shack emerged on the screen, at least a few hours away.
No one said anything – there wasn't a need. Only one person they could think of would be occupying a decaying cabin in the middle of a snowstorm.
Throne turned to Ram with a smug grin. "We're going to have to go pretty fast to make it there by morning."
In response, his advisor shot up from his co-pilot seat and stomped to the small room smashed between storage and the medical center. Opening the hatch door, Ram stuck himself flesh with the wall where a thousand small lights flickered on. The last sound came from his arm plugging itself into the charging station and his eyes snapping shut.
I am so, very sorry. This chapter was supposed to be up weeks ago, and as an apology, you can expect another chapter sometime this weekend. I swear.
Everybody seems to be heading to the same place, which can never be good :)
Guest: Thank you so much! Sorry again for making you wait so long.
Cheesehead101: Thank you very much! I will update the next chapter sooner!
lunartic: I'm so glad to hear from you again! Yes my chapters are usually only 1,000 or so words, but I have a long one coming! And I, too, am SO excited to begin writing the other couples. Thanks for your lovely review!
Next chapter will be Winter - I'm 90% sure. And for those of you waiting on Hybrid's next chapter, it is coming! I'm hoping to have it up sometime next weekend.
Thank you to everyone keeping up with this story! Your reviews, favorites, and follows are very, very appreciated!