Here it is. Chapter 18. Hope you all like it.
"There you go," Brynn said, fixing the collar of Indi's ceremonial armor. It was his original set of armor that he had when he first came to Arendelle. His hair was trimmed and combed. The pair of friends were in Indi's room. Brynn's armor was freshly cleaned, the insignia upon her chest gleaming like polished silver. Several scratches and bite marks on her neck from the battle, miniaturized from the transformation, were scabbed over, still healing. Indi had some similar ones slightly visible, but most of his were concealed beneath his armor. If they were lucky, the wounds would form into honorable scars.
"Thanks," Indi said, earning a smile from Brynn.
A knock at the door alerted the pair of another's presence.
"My lord and lady," a voice said through the door. "It is almost time for the ceremony."
"We will be out in a minute," Indi called, before turning to Brynn. "Shall we?"
Brynn nodded, and Indi opened the door, revealing the messenger Kai.
Kai nodded and led the pair through the halls. Indi and Brynn fell in step next to him.
"There is talk of you around Arendelle, Indi," Kai said.
"What do they say?" Brynn asked.
"Primarily, the battle in the town square," Kai said, his step not faltering. "There were more witnesses to that fight than you may have realised. They saw how the queen and the members of the Raptor Squad first attacked the demon dinosaur."
The title of Owen and Barry's pack intrigued him. "'Raptor Squad'? 'Demon Dinosaur'?"
"That's what the people call them. They talk of how you followed the princess to the fight, and took on the demon dinosaur. They saw of how you fought unwavering, and how even in the face of defeat, you attacked relentless, even distracting and bringing back your adversary's attention to yourself. They speak of Brynn, heroically re enforcing your efforts when you were near death."
Indi set a hand on his friend's shoulder in thanks. Brynn returned the gesture with a smile.
"They speak of your self-sacrifice, when you stunned them all, by returning from the dead with a massive explosion."
"Hm," Indi said. Thank you for sharing this information with us, Kai."
"My pleasure," the messenger said. They had reached the castle doors, which led to the courtyard. "Wait here for your cue when to be announced, Indi." The young warrior nodded, and stayed behind while Brynn and Kai went to their positions. Kai took his seat at the front of the crowd, and Brynn went to stand at attention with the rest of the guards. Normally, she would have gotten many odd looks, as any woman who stood with the guards would, but her actions towards the safety of the civilians of Arendelle did not go unnoticed, and she was promptly placed, by her majesty Queen Elsa, into the ranks of the royal family's personal guard.
Elsa stood behind a curtain that covered the stage, with a row of steps leading up to it. She was smiling passively, yet her manner was full of respected authority. Normally these things happened in a chapel, but there's was no where near big enough now to hold all of the being now in Arendelle.
When she was coronated as queen, she could not have imagined that befriending a mutant boy would have resulted in the massive change that had occurred in Arendelle. Ever since Indi had arrived, Elsa had: had, what were perceived to be, two large carnivores loose in her country, a murderer in her presence (though that was nothing new; she had attended judicial meetings several times, as was required for someone in her position), gone on a rescue/reconnaissance mission, rode a gigantic predator several times, witnessed two men control a pack of human sized predators, fought alongside them, surrendered herself to a maniac, and had a life-or-death battle play out before her between two gigantic predators.
If her parents were still alive, she doubted that they would believe her if she told them.
Soon, she was announced.
"Presenting Her Majesty Queen Elsa Of Arendelle." She came out onto the stage from the left side, and the throng before her rose and bowed in respect. Soon, everyone was reseated, and she took a breath, before beginning.
"It is hard to believe we have come this far." A few people nodded. "Nearly seven months ago, my friend Indi came to us gravely wounded. Since his arrival, we have gained: Miss Brynn Tyrannus, who is now a member of my guard, Mister Owen Grady and his associates, both human and raptor, and a whole plethora of refugees and their prehistoric companions. We welcomed them into our home with open arms, and gave them shelter. These changes have allowed us to grow in ways we could have never thought of before."
"But the person at the center of this great movement is Indi himself. Without him, we would not be where we are today." Elsa looked up towards the castle doors, and called out. "Indi, come forth!"
Indi figured that was a pretty obvious cue, and opened the doors. The sunlight gleamed off of his armor as he walked up the aisle to the stage where Elsa stood. Climbing the steps, Indi saw the proud smile on the royal's face. He came to stand in next to her.
"Kneel, Indi," Elsa said. Indi went to one knee, and rest his right arm over his leg. He lowered his head. Elsa materialized a sword made of blue ice, which reflected the sunlight like a crystal chandelier. She gazed at it for a moment, before lowering the blade. She slowly and gently tapped the blade to each of Indi's shoulders, saying "In honor of the heroic acts of bravery you have achieved that resulted in the safety of my people and your people, in the name of the Lord, I command thee, arise Sir Indi Rex, Defender of Arendelle, and Protector of the Dinomorphs."
Indi rose, and the crowd went up in wild cheering. Taking a step forward, he started to transform. A white scaly foot hit the ground, and the crowd went silent. Another foot mirrored the first. Indi growled and inhaled, before releasing a blasting roar that threw back the hair of the civilians for many rows. He had been knighted, and would
"Dinomorphs?" he asked.
Elsa shrugged slightly. "I improvised." Indi smiled and Elsa led him back into the castle, where a great feast was held in his honor. After the meal, there was a dance. Indi felt odd with all of the attention.
People almost constantly came up to him and thanked him for his actions.
"Thank you, Sir Indi," they said.
Eventually, he had managed to escape the crowd to Elsa.
"I'm not used to all the attention," he said.
Elsa smiled. "You'll get used to it. You should know that that is how people will greet you from now on."
"Wonderful," Indi said rolling his eyes.
The music changed to a different song. "May I have this dance?" Indi asked, holding out his hand to Elsa. She nodded, took the boy's hand, and allowed him to lead her onto the middle of the ballroom. Indi effortlessly kept the up with the music of the Slow Waltz.
"You're normally absent from the balls and dances I organize, Indi," Elsa said. "Why is that?"
"Do you mean other than the pressing times and actions that have occurred since I came here," he began. At Elsa's nod, he continued. "I suppose I'm not a big fan of the crowds. Large groups of people surrounding me make me uncomfortable."
"I feel a story around this."
Indi nodded. "There is, though I'll give you the short version; it was one of my first missions I was sent on by Von Schwicke. I was sent to Spain to dispatch an earl that was planning an expedition to Isla Nublar, which would have resulted in Von schwicke's actions there being discovered. I managed to sneak into the earl's estate, and was just outside his bedroom door, when a group of at least ten guards surrounded me. I stayed calm,since I could take out one or two, and make my escape. However, one guard unquestioningly put a gun to my head and said something I didn't understand. Terrified out of my mind, I quickly jerked my head away, knocked the man out of my path, and bolted out of the castle."
"I honestly don't know what to say to that," Elsa said slowly.
"I do," a voice said from behind Indi. The boy turned around, and saw Brynn standing behind him, and had to repress the urge to roll his eyes in amusement. "That jerk needs to be strung up by his ankles and have a Dilophosaurus blind him with venom while Dimorphodons rip him open and gorge on his intestines."
Elsa raised her eyebrows in surprise, but mentally smacked herself; she new Brynn well enough to understand the reasons for the girl's demeanor towards Von Schwicke. Had she been in the same position and not brought up to be a queen, Elsa would probably be the same way.
Indi, however, merely chuckled at his friend's rough choice of words. "Brynn, you never fail to amuse me."
"I aim to please, Sir Indi," Brynn said, a cheeky smile on her face as she emphasised Indi's newly given title.
"Oh, not this again," Indi groaned. "If I have to hear 'Sir Indi' one more time…"
"Indi has some preferences that go against the customs of society," Elsa explained as Anna and Kristoff walked up to the trio.
"And you certainly have quite an amount of them," Indi said. "If I have a shilling of silver for every custom you Arendellians have, I'd be as rich as a duke!"
Elsa could only laugh lightly, while Anna seized the opportunity before her. "You'll get them all eventually. I mean, look at Kristoff. He's not royalty, yet he's seems to have caught most of the important ones. You could compare him to actual royalty, and they would match near perfectly."
"And who would we be comparing him to, exactly," Brynn ventured. "Because if we were comparing him to you, Princess Anna, he would exceed your mannerisms by a mile."
"H-hey!"Anna started.
Most of the group laughed good-naturedly, though Anna was still sputtering indignantly.
"Relax, Anna," Elsa said. "She's just teasing." Anna huffed, and proceeded to drag Kristoff away like a prisoner on her mission to raid the chocolates at the dessert table that was nearby. Elsa could only watch with amusement. "She'll get over it."
Owen walked up behind Indi, and slapped him on the back. "Congratulations, Sir Indi."
"Oh, for the love of Queen Elsa herself!"
The next day, soldiers were loading items on a ship; the vessel was smaller than the usual ones that Arendelle normally saw to her harbor.
Indi stood just inside the castle doors, waiting for no one in particular. It was hard for him to stop thinking about the coming journey; he had come to think of Arendelle as home. The prospect of leaving was hard, but he knew it was necessary to intercept Von Schwicke.
After an unknown amount of time being lost in his thoughts, Indi noticed Elsa come out of a doorway and strode up to him.
"Hey," she said quietly. "Are you ready to go? The ship is nearly done being loaded."
"Yes," Indi sighed out.
Elsa took his hand gently, and led him out of the castle and into the courtyard. The people parted and bowed as their ruling monarch walked among them.
Indi whistled sharply, and Lapsus and the three raptors approached their alpha, following him.
The boy led his pack out of the castle gates and through the streets, Elsa keeping pace beside him. Soon, they reached the docks at the harbor.
Brynn approached her male friend. "Are you sure you have to go?"
"Yes. I need you to stay here and look after everybody while I'm gone."
Brynn nodded, though she was reluctant.
Anna approached Indi, with Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf following behind her. "We'll hold down the fort in your absence." Indi smiled and nodded his thanks.
A soldier came up to Elsa, bowing before her.
"My queen," he said. "The ship is ready."
"Thank you for informing me," Elsa said. The soldier bowed once more, and left.
Turning back to Indi, the queen saw that Indi was looking at her expectantly. She nodded, answering the unspoken question.
Indi whistled, and motioned for his pack to go up the gangplank to board the ship. Elsa watched as the animals strode up. Suddenly, she felt a firm yet gentle pressure on her back, and the young queen was promptly pulled against Indi in a warm, gentle kiss. Time seemed to stop as Elsa closed her eyes and placed her hands on Indi's shoulder.
When they parted, Elsa turned to face the crowd behind her. Everyone was staring with huge, wide eyes, their mouths were hanging open (even Sven's), and Olaf's nose was on the ground. Elsa felt her face become very warm. Indi gave her a quick pat on the shoulder, before turning to walk up the gangplank to the ship.
The boat was unmoored, and began to pull away.
Indi looked up the North Mountain, and saw Elsa's ice palace gleaming near the summit like a gigantic crystal.
He slowly transformed, the boat still pulling away. He stepped forward, and gave off the loudest roar he could muster in farewell.
He was a Knight of Arendelle, Protector of Dinomorphs.
He was Indi Rex.
There you have it. This is the end of Part 1 of Jurassic Ice. I honestly can't believe we have made it this far. This story came out not long after Jurassic World came out; one month and two days to be exact. Throughout our journey together, I faced some tough times. I had several writer's blocks, but the reviews that you all, my faithful readers, sent in kept me going. I am eternally in your dept. Chapter 19 will be out at some point in the very near future, and will be labeled Jurassic Ice Part 2: Jurassic Alliances.
Once again, thank you all.
Rate and review.
This is Fossil Geek signing out.