— Chapter 27 —

Icicle

Icicle felt mad, mad at Queen Glacier, mad at Winter, and worst of all, mad at herself.

Mad at the queen because she couldn't understand how important Hailstorm's return is. If Glacier's dear little Snowfall had gone missing, would the queen do nothing? Icicle thought she absolutely would do something.

Mad at Winter for lying and betraying her and taking over all of her efforts to find Hailstorm, the queen got mad at her but she didn't lecture Winter before she left, bet he took all the credit for his return to look important for once.

And mad at herself because she had just turned out as a disappointing dragon, she disappointed the queen herself, and her parents most likely are soon to be informed of her actions, and then they might be disappointed too.

But she can't be disappointing, ever since she was born she was supposed to be perfect, a dragon that wouldn't just meet expectations, but surpass them every single time.

Icicle knew that she's faster, stronger and better than basically nearly any other Icewing here, and the only reason she can assume for Snowfall being number 1 in the rankings during Hailstorm's absence while she's number 2 is purely due to a slight showing of bias from the queen.

And talking about the queen, she had also got in mind for years the goal of at some point be the one to challenge Glacier and win so there would be a Queen Icicle, no Queen Snowfall, just Icicle. It also should mean that surely her parents couldn't ever get disappointed at her again because she'd be the one making all the rules and laws, far above Tundra and Narwhal.

And Hailstorm… He once had been very inspiring, a motivating factor to aspire to get better and catch up to her brother, to surpass him, she had dreamed often of being number 1 in the rankings while Hailstorm was right behind at number 2, the greatest siblings in the Ice Kingdom's history, and their parents would be even prouder.

But now, what will it be of her? Will the queen demote her? She cannot go below the Third Circle or else she won't be able to live at the castle, Glacier should be aware she can't just send off a princess like her.

She decided to just storm into her room, storming onto her bed in a perfect way, the same way she lays down, then perfectly pulls up the polar bear rugs to cover herself completely so they can't see her, she's not going to leave her room unless someone important actually comes to her and demands so.

And… She did not sleep at all the previous night, having to watch over both her brother, and sadly her stupid brother too, so before she realized she had fallen asleep.

And sadly, someone did come over hours later, close to nighttime, she heard footsteps that immediately awoke her and then a voice she didn't want to hear yet.

"So, all of you are back as I was told," Narwhal's cold voice entered her chambers.

Icicle's eyes opened up from below the rugs, and she quickly got off the bed and stood upright in her father's presence.

"Father," Icicle said, bowing her head. Currently she's still higher ranked than her parents for the time being, but she's already under thick ice, disrespecting them wouldn't help her.

"Ssso…" He hissed now. "Your mother and I have been told of what you've been up to, and what you've been doing, that you were captured like that is rather underwhelming."

Having one of her actions described as underwhelming by her father felt like a slap to the face, but she contained herself.

"I am aware, father, I promise these mistakes won't happen ever again," she said sternly, just sitting upright and never stopping looking at Narwhal.

He just nodded his head slightly. "Good, you cannot fail again," he said, and Icicle mentally shivered, he's just stating it, knowing it's a fact, if she were to do something wrong once more… There would be consequences.

"And speaking of failure, tomorrow at sunrise the Ranking Ceremony will be held, so hope that Glacier doesn't throw you too deep down." Narwhal finished and then turned then left, leaving Icicle mentally panicking in her room.

At sunrise? Is he expecting that to be the next failure on my part? But I cannot control this part, only the queen can, she thought quickly, realizing she's between a sword and a wall at this point.

It did not matter the many years where she had given peak performance and did everything without issue, she did something wrong once and now she's about to fall into the deep end.

Well there's nothing she can do, just pray that Glacier is a good queen and realizes she can't just throw her off like trash.

Icicle stormed out of the castle now at night and quickly caught a walrus and she ate it all, her rage is making her feel hungry, and the hunger is making her madder, but finally she satisfied her stomach and then stormed back into the castle, to her room, and just fell atop her bed to rest.

Hours later, the sun rose, and Icicle immediately rose with it, standing up on her talons as she got off the bed, she'd always been an early riser, she had to wake up before basically anyone else as that meant she had extra time that others wouldn't to get productivity going, she had grown used to sleeping for 7 hours to beat most other Icewings by an hour and her strategy had truly proved effective through her life, like most of her other plans and ideas.

So she had some time to catch herself a seal outside and come back out when other dragons were starting to step and crowd into the main hall before breaking into formation and smaller groups.

Icicle found Hailstorm and grouped close to him, he looked tired and was still rubbing his eyes.

"Did you not sleep?" Icicle questioned in a whisper.

"I did, just not very well…" Hailstorm admitted.

"Well, you must try to focus anyway, in a few minutes we'll see what your fate will be," she said in a serious tone.

And my fate… She thought with anger.

Hailstorm just nodded and looked forward to the Rankings.

Every Icewing aristocrat was here at the main hall, and they all looked to the same direction: the one that Queen Glacier was walking from, she moved slowly and regally and made it to the front of the wall.

"Greetings, before having a couple of rank changes there are some news to share," Glacier said in a serene tone, as straight to business as always. "Yesterday, Prince Hailstorm was brought back to us after disappearing two years ago, so I want to officially welcome him back," the queen stated, everyone's eyes going towards Hailstorm as the dragons around politely clapped. Hailstorm stood still, just looking off to the queen.

"And Hailstorm just some months ago had his name taken out of the wall under the assumption that he wouldn't return, but now he's back with the tribe, the one who once held the record of staying at the top for the longest time, so after through deliberation considering he also hasn't acted as an Icewing for years, I've decided this will be his new starting point before his 7th hatching day."

Glacier had taken Hailstorm's name, which had been off the wall, and then she placed it at the 5th spot of the Third Circle, at the very middle.

Everyone looked at Hailstorm once more, clearly nobody ever expected to see him on the Third, so close the Fourth which would have meant he'd need to leave the palace if he landed there.

Glacier must think this is so gentle and nice, but I can see her intent, she's basically telling us that Hailstorm is just a middle of the road dragon, Icicle thought angrily, she wished she could just go and challenge Glacier for the throne, but 5 is too young, she only has one shot at this. At least she really doubted Snowfall would challenge Glacier before herself, so she's got at least 2 or 3 years.

Yet when she looked at Hailstorm, he just looked calm and not as distraught as he should be, and she now hoped he'd take it seriously to get back to the First Circle, their parents wouldn't like it if he stayed at the Third.

"Next, Princess Icicle had nearly placed the tribe in a great imminent danger and acted in ways completely unfitting for a noble. With the danger almost brought down upon us, I have to lower her ranking," Glacier announced.

And everyone stared expectantly as Icicle's name was scratched off he First Circle, at the front row she was able to see Snowfall looking at the wall with great interest, and even though Icicle can only see her back she was sure she must be smugly grinning to herself.

And then Icicle wasn't able to think anymore about Snowfall as she felt her eyes widen and her mind stopped working, her breath stiffened and she watched with horror…

As Glacier placed her name on the Seventh Circle, Icicle is in last place. Everyone's gaze fixated on her, but she didn't look at anyone, just at the wall, and her own name at the very bottom of it.

No… No No NO NO NO! Was all that she could think, her mind screaming and shouting a lot of insults and profanities at the queen.

Not even her worst nightmares could have prepared her for this, because it was absolutely impossible to imagine herself ever going below the Fourth Circle, using the 4th as simple punishment by not letting her live in the palace until she goes up one circle.

But the 7th? She's now officially the worst dragon in the palace, even newborn dragonets are higher than she is. During her stay at this Circle she'd be forced very far away from the palace, at some distant outpost without any sort of luxury or comfort.

Dropping from second place to dead last… What will her parents think? She dared to turn her face to the side to look at them, and they were looking back. Their expressions looked as calm and collected as always, but she was able to see it in their eyes, an expression she never thought she'd see directed at her: Disappointment.

Icicle immediately looked away from them, she did not deserve this and she knew it, Glacier is wrong, she can't be the worst dragon in the tribe.

She can't be worse than Winter.

Winter… Now it has to be his turn to be moved around the rankings, Icicle kept her eyes completely open, unblinking…

"And lastly for this ceremony, Prince Winter's actions might appear imprudent and against tradition and what an Icewing should act like, but they worked to bring back Hailstorm to us, he acted with bravery and smarts, fitting an Icewing. Facing an enemy is something we're all used to, facing one's own family when they step out of norm requires a significant degree of discipline that few could follow through, and that's why I shall give Winter this rank," Glacier announced.

As she slotted Winter's name.

In the…

First Circle.

First Place.

Snowfall had visibly looked up in shock and surprise for a moment, and meanwhile Icicle's whole world was twisting around her.

She had never managed to touch the first place yet, first Hailstorm, and then Snowfall always half a step ahead.

And now Winter got to first place before her, both her siblings beat Icicle, and she wanted to scream if she could right now.

But instead her mind quickly raced, realizing something. She's at the very last spot, Winter is at the very top.

Her parents would absolutely not take any other possible solution to this, they surely even expect it by now, Icicle had disappointed them just once, Winter multiple times, they have to rather her be up there.

So she could…

But before her thoughts finished, she snapped back to reality when Winter suddenly stepped forward.

"Your Majesty… May I be allowed to speak?" Winter asked.

Everyone was silent, staring at the prince, this is absolutely unprecedented, so what is he doing!?

Glacier looked at Winter for some seconds, before giving him a nod, allowing him to talk.

"Queen Glacier… I… Do not believe my rank is… Right," Winter said with a lot of hesitation in his voice.

WHAT!? Icicle's mind wanted to scream.

It's already bad enough that her foolish brother ever got an underserved first rank, but to actually say NO? He does not deserve it, but refusing it makes everything worse, their parents will be mad, everyone will point at them for having a son that refused first rank!

"Prince Winter, care to explain this?" Queen Glacier asked at the very odd request, and meanwhile Snowfall had been also looking at Winter with a baffled expression.

"I… Feel that I don't…" Winter let out a sigh. "I don't deserve first rank, bringing back Hailstorm was merely the least I could do after he got taken due to my fault when we got too close to enemy territory, and I did not act like an Icewing should, Snowfall should stay in first place."

For the first time in their lives, it appeared like Icicle and Snowfall agreed on something, and that agreement happened to be both of them staring simultaneously at Winter in completely bewildered shock, and even though Snowfall is the one that comes out winning with this, hearing that from him must be a lot.

"Are you certain about this choice?" The queen asked, managing to keep the same tone as always despite how unusual this is, and Winter nodded.

"I simply request to be placed in some other rank, but to be outright number 1 wouldn't feel correct, I believe I should work out more for it."

There was absolute silence at the great hall, no Icewing had ever heard something like this, Winter is utterly insane.

And finally, the queen broke the silence.

"What you request is something that has never occurred before, not even once has someone refused to get to the top. But I assume you already realized that asking for this wouldn't be very like an Icewing, right?" She said, and once more Winter nodded, this time slowly.

"So of course, that isn't befitting someone in the first place, so let's change that."

Glacier then scratched off Winter's name from first place, and lowered him by a single rank to second place… Icicle's former ranking.

"Thank you, your majesty," Winter said slowly, giving her a bow then stepped back to the crowd with clear tension. It makes sense because if you could kill someone by just looking at them, Winter would be dead from Icicle's gaze.

And Winter would be dead too either tomorrow or in a few days if he had just stayed at number 1.

So now with the ranking ceremony over, and Icicle simply feeling her parents stepping closer, Icicle knew what she had to do. She quickly walked forward towards Snowfall, who had approached Winter, her and Lynx trying to strike up a conversation.

"That was an interesting display back there, Winter," Snowfall said with a smug expression, her face showing she was happy to still be number 1.

"2 is a perfectly good number, I'm number 3 so we're all close now," Lynx said with a smile, simply looking happy for Winter and not questioning him when she should do that.

"Snowfall," Icicle suddenly interrupted them with a short hiss, the princess quickly turning towards her with surprise.

"Oh, Icicle, what is it?" Snowfall said, snout up, not holding back at all the smug aura around her, she must be feeling so cocky now that her only real competition had plummeted down to the very bottom, and possibly assumed she'd never really need to see Icicle again if she's at some far outpost, thinking about this made the thought of having to deal with her instead of Winter less irritating.

"Princess Snowfall," Icicle said trying to uphold a calm and neutral tone, not lowering her voice so her words are perfectly audible to others. "I just thought that it would be important to tell you something you may find relevant."

Snowfall raised an eyebrow at this. "And THAT would be…?"

Icicle took one step closer to Snowfall, her expression unreadable as she leaned closer and hissed. "Good luck during the Diamond Trial."

Snowfall froze in place, eyes wide open in shock, Winter's face turned to look at her, and Lynx was looking at Icicle with a clear frown.

And then Icicle stepped back and walked away to train.

The next two days until the trial felt blurry for Icicle, as she was going to partake on the trial she'd been allowed to remain at the palace until then. And she had talked to her parents immediately after the ranking ceremony and they sounded… Satisfied enough with her choice.

"Consider this," Narwhal said coldly. "If you fail again, that will be the last time you get to make a mistake, so you better don't end your life in a disappointing manner, since having Snowfall gone would benefit us all greatly."

Icicle knew that of course, if Snowfall dies during the trial, then the path to challenge Glacier and become queen of the Icewings first becomes so much easier that Icicle with certainty could rule before turning 10.

She tried to not think about the alternative where she loses, her parents had filled her in about how the trial truly goes with its Two steps, defeat the frozen dragon, then defeat the other combatant if they're still alive, so she either kills Snowfall, or Snowfall kills her, those are the only ways this can end.

And as much as she despises admitting it, Snowfall did not make it to first place out of luck and her connection to the queen by virtue of being her daughter, she was fierce and an excellent fighter, possibly one of the very few that could match Icicle in duel.

So the days were blurry for her because most of the time she just spent training and practicing, sharpening her already sharp serrated claws, improving her evasiveness and more. She recalled how she got bested back at the mountain by his brother's annoying winglet and that reminder just drove and motivated her further to not lose a fight ever again.

Polarbear, the big and bulky Icewing at the training center that's always willing to help dragonets in training even in more practical ways, didn't seem that willing eventually after the 4th time that Icicle had slammed his head down on the ground during training.

And then at last it was time, as Icicle stepped out of the palace she was Snowfall coming right behind, and they met up with Queen Glacier outside, some other members of her court were coming as well, including Icicle's parents coming from one side, Winter and Hailstorm next to them.

From the other side, she spotted the other princesses, Princess Crystal and the very young Princess Mink, Snowfall's siblings.

They're all here now to see which side of the family ends with one less… She thought, standing upright and still on her spot.

I… Have to feel slightly bad for Princess Mink at the very least, hopefully she'll simply move on and forget eventually. Icicle caught herself feeling a hint of sympathy towards the youngest dragonet, and she quickly pushed that away.

"Princesses Snowfall and Icicle, the time has come for the two of you to partake in the Diamond Trial, which is held as per tradition in the Diamond Caves, follow me," Glacier announced and she took off, soaring above on the sky now, with everyone present here and also some guards following after the queen southwest.

Eventually after an hour they had arrived at an evergreen forest, the trees completely coated in thick white snow, the woods here being at the base of a gigantic white cliff, and at the side of this cliff there was a wide cave entrance.

Icicle, Snowfall and Glacier landed right in front of the cave mouth while the rest of the group landed some distance away, and Glacier looked at the two contenders.

"Princesses, your task is simple. Enter the Diamond Caves and search until you find the frozen dragon by the river chasm. Touch one of these spears to her." She took two gleaming, diamond-tipped spears from one of her guards and handed them to the cousins, one apiece. "Whoever returns shall take first place in the rankings. The other ... We bid farewell."

Icicle received her spear and moved it on her talons slightly, it was longer than average, felt light and not cumbersome, so a weapon she should be able to handle without issue.

She looked at her side, there Snowfall was standing, also testing the spear on her talons, she looked unbothered at first glance, but Icicle perfectly knew how to read her enemies, a moment of hesitation, of weakness can be Snowfall's downfall in battle, and staring at her she was able to tell based on her eyes movement, that Snowfall was scared.

Poor little princess Snowfall. Icicle mentally snarled. After years of acting superior and so smug to me due to being exactly one step above, now she's afraid? She should've known this was coming one way or another, I'd show my superiority. And her own mother, the queen, cannot stop it, her daughter will die today… But don't worry, Glacier, you'll be able to join her in just a few years.

Icicle then looked back for a moment, Narwhal and Tundra had unreadable expressions but she knew they were thinking "Don't disappoint us."

Hailstorm was looking back at her with his eyes quite open, shifting on his talons. Today he also looked tired as if he hadn't slept much, and that added to his already worried expression, he wasn't able to maintain a serious face.

Hailstorm… You're different, but you have nothing to worry about. I'll come back outside as number 1 in the rankings, and I'll help you become what you once were, a true Icewing that can follow right after me in the ranks, making a perfect family…

After she thought that, she finally looked at Winter, and he wasn't even looking back at her, merely looking pathetically at the snowy ground so she wasn't able to get a read on him.

Perfect family… Besides the weak link, it'll bite at us to have such a stain for longer, but at most when I'm queen…

She didn't finish that thought and just looked back to the cave, waiting for Queen Glacier to signal the start of the trial, although she was surprised when she looked back to the queen that she had approached Snowfall and held one of her daughter's talons on her own, just looking at her without words, but even from this outsider perspective Icicle was able to tell the love that emanated from her expression.

Has this finally cracked Glacier enough to show her emotions? Interesting… Bid your farewells, your daughter is not coming back.

After that short showing of affection, Glacier had stepped back to the front of them, giving them an affirmative nod so they now stepped forward and into the caves.

Icicle had gone first of course, she had to show Snowfall that she was not nervous in the slightest and is confident enough to both be first, just as she'll be in the ranking soon, and that if Snowfall attempted an attack from behind she'd just deal with it.

The Diamond Caves appeared to stretch for miles through the cliff, filled with twisted tunnels that all looked the same with the walls covered in multiple layers of ice. There appeared to be many paths so there were many frustrating hours of just wandering and walking in silence besides the sounds of their claws scratching the ice below.

At times there were some differences in the path, tight caverns where they had to keep their wings and tail tucked close to them as they could barely fit through. A sudden giant gap separating both sides that they had to jump across because the ceiling was low enough to prevent them from directly flying through, and the worst was when they had to creep along narrow edges with absolutely nothing but an abyss at their side if they slipped and fell.

But at last after a terribly long time, they found the river chasm, and even Icicle had to pause her movement for a moment after witnessing this view.

This one cave was vast and tall, and all over it was literally with frozen dragons, so many dozens that they must be close to a hundred at least, each of them had a different expression in their face beneath the eye, most looking terrified, others looking as if they had died while in massive pain, a few others looked resigned as if they just accepted their fate.

"I had no idea every contestant remained down here like this," Snowfall finally spoke after hours as she stepped forward, stopping near some of the dragons as she carefully examined their features closely.

Icicle didn't respond, after the initial surprise she just kept moving. All these dragons down here are all failures, the ones that were weak. Icicle couldn't bear looking at them much longer in case she imagined herself as just some statue until the end of time, the statue of someone weak that will be eventually forgotten.

She walked around the cave, Snowfall going around one of the sides, and she knew both were looking for the same thing: The frozen dragon of the trial.

It was most evident the frozen dragon wouldn't just be one of these many randoms around, it had to be recognizable, something that looked like a test of strength and courage.

But as they kept wandering around, Icicle began to grow more and more frustrated upon being unable to spot it, she even went and examined every individual statue in case she had missed something, but nothing.

Icicle and Snowfall met up at the middle of the cave after both had looked from all sides for absolutely no results.

And Icicle was angry, huffing and breathing heavily, no, no, this couldn't be right, they had to be missing something, but after a long while of searching it had become clear to them.

"Where is it!?" Icicle shouted out of nowhere, startling Snowfall. "Where is the frozen dragon!?"

With no dragon, the first step of the trial couldn't ever be achieved, the trial that Icicle desperately needed to win to prove her value was ruined, if the both of them stepped out and explained what happened, she knew that'd be the end of her, with no way to quickly go up the ranks it meant she'd be on the lower Circles for some time, more than she'd ever should have been, going from the bottom and back to at least the Third Circle to stay at the palace could take at least months even with her skills and dedication, and her parents wouldn't look at her on the eye, by that point she might have turned even more disappointing than Winter's existence.

No. She thought with a burst of rage. That's not happening, I am Icicle, proud daughter of Tundra and Narwhal, I've been high on the rankings for most of my life and that won't change.

Nobody has to know. I'll just skip to step 2 of the Trial.