“That's wonderful!” exclaimed Bladefoot, visibly brightening. He suddenly didn’t look nearly as threatening. “You really mean that you can bring everybody in my village back to life?”
“I believe so,” Maximilian assured the Snow Troll.
“Then let's go,” shouted Bladefoot excitedly before he remembered where he was. “Er . . . I'm sorry my Queen . . . with your permission of course.” Atalai simply nodded.
“We'll start immediately,” stated Maximilian before turning to the Ice Queen, “and discuss that other matter on our return.”
Atalai surprised them. “I'll accompany you,” she said as she rose from her chair and signalled to a guard. “Prepare the sleigh,” she ordered and proceeded to the front of the palace.
Chapter 10
Ravjik
The Royal Sleigh, pulled by six stocky mountain ponies, made good time across the snow-laden countryside. During the journey Atalai did not utter a word but simply maintained her steely gaze ahead. It made the trip very uncomfortable for everybody else. Maximilian didn't try to make conversation and Matilda wondered what could possibly have happened between the pair to cause such nastiness on the part of the Ice Queen. Bladefoot, feeling the tension, kept his excitement to himself. It was a relief when the sleigh finally deposited its passengers in the central square of Ravjik, Bladefoot's village.
“We'll have to do this house by house,” declared Maximilian. “I don't have the power to do the whole village at once.”
“That's fine. We can start at one end and work our way down that side and then come up the other side,” stated Bladefoot, even though this would mean that his own house would be one of the last to be done.
“I hope you know what you're doing,” commented Atalai. “If any further harm comes to these people I will not be impressed.”
Maximilian had had enough. “I remind you that it was you who called on my help,” he remarked forcefully. “I will do my best to fulfil that trust but I won't tolerate spiteful comments.”
His strong words seem to have the desired effect on Atalai as she swirled her cape and climbed back into the sleigh without another word.
“Now,” said Maximilian quietly, “let's start, Bladefoot.”
The Snow Troll led him and Matilda to the first house at the end of the central road and opened the front door. Maximilian stepped inside to see two young children playing with a ball on the floor while their parents looked on from their lounge chairs. All were frozen into position.
“Amazing,” said Maximilian, appreciating the strength of the spell. “I've only ever seen a spell like this from my own Persian fairy, Peri. I wonder how whoever is responsible learnt how to do it.”
Matilda remembered Peri freezing anybody that threatened her in their previous adventures but the little fairy always returned them to normal once they had learned their lesson. This looked like it was meant to be permanent. She watched as Maximilian pushed back the sleeves of his coat and stretched his arms out in front of him.
“This should be a simple thing to reverse given that I developed the spell for Peri,” he declared as he waved his arms at the frozen figures and whispered his magic spell. Finally, he thrust his arms out at the frozen figures and shouted in a strange and ancient language, “Dara jani benelat voskan.”
(“Break the magic that holds.”)
And nothing happened!
Maximilian was stunned. The reverse spell had never failed before.
He tried again, “Dara jani benelat voskan”, with the same result. Nothing.
“This is a very powerful spell that I am using,” he explained to Bladefoot and Matilda. “It seems that whoever cast the spell to freeze these people has put a lock on it that prevents it being reversed. They meant business and wanted to cause long-term harm to these people. I can't do anything until I discover what the spell actually is. It's much stronger than anything I've used or seen.”
Tears were already running down Bladefoot's cheeks. His hopes had been dashed. He would never see his family and friends again. Matilda put an arm around his shoulders and gave him a hug, but she didn't know what to say.
“I'm sorry,” muttered Maximilian, feeling defeated and useless. “I really thought that I could do it. I seem to have met my match.” He walked out of the house with his head down. Matilda and Bladefoot followed behind.
From her position in the sleigh Atalai watched Maximilian come out of the house and, from his posture, realised that something was wrong. Although she felt a pang of sorrow for him she could not bring herself to put it into words. Such had been her love for her father that she could not yet forgive Maximilian for opposing her revenge on his killer.
Maximilian, Matilda and Bladefoot climbed into the sleigh without a word.
“You failed, didn't you?” accused Atalai and Maximilian simply nodded, head bowed. Matilda felt embarrassed for him.
It was another silent journey back to the Ice Palace.
Chapter 11
An Intruder
Night had fallen by the time they arrived back at the Ice Palace. After telling them that dinner would be ready in an hour, Atalai had a troll guard show Maximilian and Matilda to their rooms while Bladefoot returned sadly to the guards' quarters.
Matilda lay on her bed thinking about what had happened so far and decided that she should speak to Maximilian. She walked to his room and knocked on the door. When she heard him tell her to enter she walked inside to see Maximilian standing by his bed and looking very sad.
“Hi,” she said meekly. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, my little blossom,” Maximilian replied with a smile. “I'm just thinking about how I can solve this problem with Atalai. We can't keep going this way. It makes things impossible . . . apart from the fact that it seems that the spell on those poor people seems unbreakable.”
“Dinner will be soon. Maybe that will give you the chance to convince Atalai that things have changed,” suggested Matilda.
“Ye . . .,” but that was as far as Maximilian got. He was interrupted by loud shouts and screams from the passageway outside his room. He ran to the door, closely followed by Matilda. What they saw outside stunned him. Two troll guards lay unconscious on the floor and Maximilian just caught sight of a dark figure disappearing around a corner farther up the passageway. He set off in pursuit with Matilda behind. Whoever it was, his destination was in the direction of the Queen's quarters.
As the pair rounded the corner at the end of the passageway they saw the figure, dressed completely in black and wearing a mask, opening the doors of rooms along the corridor.
“Stop!” shouted Maximilian, and the figure turned towards him. He saw the intruder reach inside his cloak and watched as a magic wand was produced. As the wand was pointed at him, Maximilian
clapped his hands together and, just in time, produced a magic shield in front of himself. The intruder was obviously confused and shook the wand as if it was malfunctioning.
Suddenly everybody's attention was drawn to a doorway farther down the corridor as Atalai appeared from the dining room to see what the commotion was all about. The intruder pointed his wand at her and Maximilian had to once again act quickly. He threw out his hands towards Atalai and chanted a quick spell which produced another spell shield around the Ice Queen. The intruder's wand was once again useless.
As Maximilian and Matilda approached him, the intruder, realising that his mission was hopeless, reached under his cloak again and took out a small ball. He threw it heavily onto the floor and it immediately exploded. The corridor was filled with a dense cloud of smoke. Maximilian had to cover his mouth and nose with his hand as he grabbed Matilda's hand and ran forward, searching for Atalai. He found her near the doorway to the dining room and held her tight until the smoke gradually cleared. He had feared that the smoke bomb may have been used to cover Atalai's kidnapping. It soon became clear that it had only been used to cover the intruder's escape.
As more troll guards appeared, the
Ice Queen turned to Maximilian and said, “You saved my life. How can I thank you enough? I can't believe that you did that after the way I've treated you.”
“I could not have stood by and watched you in danger,” replied Maximilian. “I treasure you too much to allow that to happen.” Atalai leant across and kissed her saviour on the cheek. Matilda smiled.
A guard approached them. “My Queen. we found a knotted rope attached to a grappling hook on the rear wall of the palace,” he reported, “ but the villain had disappeared by the time we got there.”
“Thank you,” said Atalai, waving him away. “Well, at least we know how he got in here.”
“Yes,” agreed Maximilian, “but how did he know where to find you?”
“What do you mean?” asked Atalai.
“The intruder came straight to this area of the palace,” explained Maximilian. “How did he know that you would be here? You could have been anywhere in the palace. And he was obviously after you.”
“Yes, I hadn't thought of that,” said Atalai. “It's all a little frightening. Do you think it has anything to do with what happened in Ravjik?”
“Who knows?” pondered Maximilian. “But in my experience coincidences like this rarely occur.”
“Well, we can discuss it over dinner,” said Atalai, putting her arms around Maximilian and Matilda. “I hope this experience hasn't dulled your appetite.”
“No,”stated Matilda. “I'm starving.” They all laughed, more from relief at their narrow escape than from humour, as they headed for the dining room.
Chapter 12
A Clue?
Dinner that night had gone really well. It seemed that the problem between Atalai and Maximilian had been solved but they still had the mystery of the locked spell to figure out, as well as why Atalai had been a target and how the intruder had known where to search for her. They agreed that the puzzles were growing by the hour.
The next morning Matilda decided to go to the entrance chamber to inspect the displays that she had noticed when she arrived. She didn't tell Maximilian who had gone off for a morning walk to clear his head and think about a plan of action. As she walked through the palace she was amazed at the increased number of troll guards she saw. It was clear that nobody else would get into the palace without permission.
Once she reached the chamber she became enchanted by the detail of the long and exciting history of Frizland. The displays, which were set behind glass walls, were arranged in chronological order from the first king, Frederik, who had settled his people in this new land, right up to the assassination of Atalai's father, her ascendancy to the throne and the War of Tears. It was this last event that captured Matilda's attention most. She carefully studied the drawings of the battles, the maps and the many scrolls detailing the progress of the war. It was one particular scroll that excited her. It was about the surrender of Dakar, the leader of the Drakespear people.
When he had surrendered after hiding out for six months in a cave he had been questioned by Atalai. The details of this had been taken down by a scribe. Dakar had condemned the way the Ice Queen's raiding parties had treated his people while they were searching for him and had given this as his reason for finally surrendering. The fear that the people who had helped him would suffer further had driven him out of hiding. Although it was recorded that the Ice Queen insisted he was lying and was a coward, Matilda could not help feeling sympathy for him. He had rotted away in prison to protect his countrymen from what he believed was ill-treatment.
Had he arranged for some kind of revenge after his capture? It seemed to Matilda that waiting over a hundred years for that to happen was unlikely . . . unless somebody had waited until they had a weapon that could achieve their goal. And. besides, a hundred years in Frizland was not regarded as a long time with people, including trolls, living up to five centuries. But why target the Snow Trolls of Ravjik? She had to discuss this with Maximilian so she went searching for him and found him returning from his walk.
They walked back to the entrance chamber together and Maximilian read the scroll that Matilda pointed out.
“Very interesting,” said Maximilian. “I think that this needs to be followed up - and the first thing to do is to talk to Atalai to see how accurate this story is. She might also be able to give us more details about our friend, Dakar.”
They proceeded to the meeting room and sent a guard to ask the Ice Queen to join them.
Chapter 13
Reviewing The Facts
“Matilda has discovered something that might give us a clue as to why there have been these sudden attacks on you and your people,” explained Maximilian when Atalai was seated. “What we need now is more information about what happened at the end of the War of Tears.”
The Ice Queen's face reddened. “Let's not start that argument all over again,” she declared. “I thought we had put it behind us last night.”
“Yes, yes,” Maximilian assured her, realising that he had entered dangerous territory. “What happened in the past stays in the past as far as I am concerned. However, to solve our problem we need to pursue every possibility. Don't you agree?”
Atalai seemed to relax. “I suppose so,” she admitted.
“Right,” said a relieved Maximilian. “Now Matilda will explain what she has noticed.”
Having the spotlight put on her when Atalai was obviously so sensitive about the subject made Matilda very nervous. Her hands were sweaty as she began.
“I went down to the entrance chamber this morning to look at the displays and to discover something about Frizland's history,” she began, looking directly at Atalai. “When I came to the War of Tears I read the scrolls and was particularly taken with the ones about Dakar's capture. If anybody had a reason for revenge it was him.”
“I remember that day very well,” said Atalai, staring into space. “I despised that man for what he did to my father. I wanted him to at least say he was sorry but all he did was complain about the way my army had treated his people.”
“But the record shows that he thought he had cause to be angry. He said that it was the reason he surrendered,” explained Matilda.
“He exaggerated,” replied Atalai. “I think that he had simply had enough of hiding out in that cave. And besides, what happened to his people is what happens in wars. Sometimes the innocent people get hurt.”
Matilda could not believe how cold Atalai's words sounded. The hurt from losing her father had placed a cruel streak in her heart.
“The scribe who recorded the conversation couldn't put down the feelings in that room,” commented Matilda. “Did you feel that Dakar was angry enough to want revenge?”
“M-m-m,” said the Ice Queen thoughtfully. “If I had to guess I would say yes . . . but he really had no reason for revenge. It was all in his mind. Besides, he was in no position to do anything was he? He was in chains in a dungeon.”
“That's true,” interrupted Maximilian. “But what if he had arranged everything before he surrendered?”
Once again Atalai looked thoughtful. “But why wait over a hundred years to do anything? You would think that whoever he had arranged to carry out revenge attacks would have done it straight after Dakar surrendered, wouldn't you?”
“Not necessarily,” said Maximilian. “What if they knew that you were too powerful at the time, which you were, and were afraid that their people would only suffer more?”
“Suffer more?” shouted Atalai. “Are you taking his word against mine? I repeat I did not order my troops to mistreat the Drakespear people.”
“I'm sorry,” said Maximilian hurriedly. “You misunderstand me. I'm only saying that this might have been their thinking and the reason they didn't act at the time. Can you see that?”
Atalai settled down. “Possibly,” she conceded.
Matilda interrupted. “What I thought was that they may have been waiting until they had some way of taking revenge that would really hurt you – like the spell on the Ravjik village. Perha
ps they had no way of hurting you at the time.”
“There is no doubt that the spell is only recent,” commented Maximilian. “I've never seen anything as strong as it before.”
“Where did they get it from, then?” asked Atalai.
“I don't know,” replied Maximilian, “but I believe I do know how to find out. I'll explain later. Just now we need to discover who is behind the attacks and why.”
“What sticks in my mind is that cave Dakar hid in . . . and the people who helped him,” said Matilda. “If we can get those people to talk we might have some understanding of what went on and what he was thinking before he surrendered.”
“I agree,” said Maximilian. “We need to travel to Drakespear.”
“Is that possible?” Matilda asked Atalai.
“Of course,” she replied. “I'll arrange it immediately.”
“Harumph,” coughed Maximilian. “How can I put this? Er . . . I think it would be best if you didn't accompany us, Atalai. The people are more likely to open up to us without you there.”
“I didn't intend joining you anyway,” stated the Ice Queen frumpishly.
“Whew,” thought Matilda. “That was close.”
Chapter 14
Drakespear And The Village Of Tetra
As it turned out, a blizzard struck Frizland that day and Maximilian and Matilda had to wait until the next morning before they set off for Drakespear. Atalai had once again arranged for her sleigh to transport them on the four hour trip. They were well rugged up and warm as the stout mountain ponies pulled the sleigh through the snow fields. The sun had come out after the storm and the countryside looked magnificent.
At last they crossed the border and the village of Tetra came into view. This little village, nestled in a valley at the base of the Drakespear Mountain Range, was the one that gave aid to Dakar as he hid in the mountains above. They were the last people to see the Drakespear leader before his surrender. Perhaps they had the answers to the attacks on Frizland and who was behind them.