“Okay everything is all set.” Except for the horses. Lissandra thought in her mind. Luca glanced at her and expressed a worried look on her face.

“What about the horses?” Eliza’s voice sounded as if it came from far away. Her eyes looked sleepy and it felt as if she just wanted to go to sleep to never wake up.

“I don’t know where to put them.”

“Let me show you.” Eliza said as she wanted to get up. Luca, however, had a different idea and put her down at the floor.

“You’re staying her.”

“But…”

“No arguing you two. Luca will show me. I’m not letting you go outside today anymore Eliza, I don’t want anything happening to you.” Luca and Lissandra wrapped Eliza in her bedroll and got out of the tent. Luca guided Joe as Lissandra calmed Toby and followed him.

The two of them reached the part of the camp where all the horses stayed. Luca was warmly welcomed by the stable boy but the soldiers at a fire close by just stared at Lissandra asking themselves why the bride of their queen had showed up.

“Hey Luca, where did you leave your girlfriend? Or did you replace her?” The same soldier that asked Jonas some questions earlier was picking on his fellow mates again.

“Maybe it’s time you just shut up soldier.” Lissandra interrupted his question as she approached him. “I don’t like the attitude you’re showing towards the people friendly enough to help me.” With that Lissandra turned around and shifted her attention to the stable boy.

“My Queen.” The stable boy bowed as he tried to not look her in the eyes.

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Lissandra felt ignored by the fact that he didn’t want to look her in the eyes, as that was the custom for her people and it took her a while before she realised it was probably rude to look someone in the eyes if the person in question had a lower rank than you did.

“Pleasure as well my Queen.” The stable boy sounded surprised as if he didn’t believe the Queen was a pleasant person after all. “I will look after your horse for the time being. I am sure he will be happy to stay with the others.” Lissandra nodded. She kissed Toby on the head and waved goodbye, as he and Joe left with the boy.

“We need to go back now.” Luca’s voice sounded disturbed yet slightly worried and Lissandra agreed. There was no time to ask around and get to know the soldiers better, she had to take care of Eliza.

“Let’s go.” The two of them ran through the snow and tried to reach the tent as soon as possible. Some of the party members looked at them in disbelief, but Lissandra didn’t care at that point. Eliza was running out of time, and she nor Luca wanted to let her go.

The tent finally appeared in front of them as what they thought had been ages. They rushed inside the first part and saw it was just as dark as that they had left in. Luca kicked off his snow boots and searched for Eliza as Lissandra calmly put out hers and went for the fire. She blew on the fire and tried to get it on but realised it wasn’t working.

“Fire red, get warm instead.” A fire immediately lighted up the tent and the cold got slowly embraced by the heat. It also gave Lissandra enough light to see Luca holding Eliza as he was crying.

“She’s so cold.” Luca’s voice sounded broken and Lissandra saw the grew in his aura swallow the bright colours as she looked closer. Her aura view also told her Eliza was close to her ending as nearly everything glowed deep dark-blue instead of the normal flickering of an aura.

“Will she live?”

“I’m not sure Luca. She’s so far gone. I’m not even sure if I can help her.”

“Please help her!”

“Even if it means you might end up dead?” Lissandra didn’t even need to finish the question or Luca already nodded to her. She knew he would do everything, so it would be alright.

“Remove Eliza’s blanket, and sit down at the other side of the fire. There might be one way, but it’s dangerous, really dangerous.” Luca nodded and did as he said. Then he sat down on the other side of the fire as Eliza was sitting. She looked into his eyes and smiled, it was the last thing she did before passing out. Thomas wanted to run towards her but once glance of Lissandra stopped him from doing so.

“Energy of life come to me, essence of the pain set free.” Lissandra stood at the edge of the fire nearly touching Luca and Eliza. She however threw up her arms and drew the aura of both Luca and Eliza towards her. It took her a lot of effort to control Eliza’s, even though her body as so weakened. Lissandra knew it as the life magic fighting to take Eliza’s life, and not wanting to share any of it. In the end Lissandra managed to mix the aura of two of them and fell down.

“Two that will fulfil one destiny.” The last word sounded as a whisper and Lissandra curled up to see Luca rush towards Eliza, only to pass out herself.

“Daughter of Linea.” a voice called in Lissandra’s head. “Wake up.”

“But why?” Lissandra mumbled the words as she turned around to fall back asleep, but the voice didn’t let her.

“The winter spell.” The voice pushed her up and guided her awareness over the camp. The party members where shivering, and she was the only one able to help them. Lissandra took a deep breath and spread her hand over the tents.

“Winter, cold, stay away.” Lissandra took another breath and whispered the last words of the spell as well. “Let me protect the people who have less to say.” Then the dark voice in her head vanished and she passed out.

The following morning Lissandra was woken up by a noise outside her tent. She only had the time to splash water in her face before someone walked in on her.

“Hello, someone there?” A middle aged man walked into the tent and made his voice sound loud and clear. He had a sword in his hand and was suited in full battle armour.

“I’m here. Who are you why dare you to enter my tent, such early this morning.” Lissandra sat down next to the fire and didn’t fully feel rested. She and the man crossed faces but he didn’t show any kind of emotion at all.

“I was sent by my supervisor, sergeant Ian. He’s worried since Luca didn’t show up for his night shift.”

“I see. Please report back to your sergeant I forced Luca to stay in my tent, as both me and my maid weren’t able to keep the fire going last night. If it wasn’t for him we would have most likely frozen to death.”

“Alright my queen.” The soldier saluted towards her and went back in the cold. Lissandra however check on both Luca and Eliza’s aura only to be surprised both of them still lived.

“Luca, Eliza wake up. We need to get ready to leave, or people will question why we aren’t up yet.” Luca stirred as he heard Lissandra’s voice only a little bit back from where he was sitting.

“Does she live?”

“She does. But she’ll have to stay close to either you or me.” Luca nodded as he got up and left the tent. It as time for him to retreat for his morning duties.

“Oh, someone came to check on you for your night shift. I told them I forced you to stay inside to keep the fire burning since me and Eliza were too tired to do so. You better stick to that story.”

“Alright.” With that Luca left the tent and Lissandra was on her own again. She woke up Eliza and the two of them slowly started to do their morning routine. Eliza went to get the horses on her own even though Lissandra followed her in her mind. They saddled the horses and packed their belongings only to figure out they were the first to finish.

“I think we should get something to eat.” Lissandra said to Eliza.

“Indeed, let’s go to the cook area. I’m sure there would be some leftovers from yesterday’s dinner.” Eliza and Lissandra walked next to their horses and Lissandra payed attention to what everyone they passed was saying.

“Hey James, can you pass me the salt? This part has been frozen as well.” One of the soldiers yelled at the one running around with salt as they tried to remove the tents.

“Sure, give me a second, Jonas asked before you.” Lissandra was worried as she watched the soldiers breaking up the tents, but knew she couldn’t help them with her magic as she wanted to stay under the radar.

“Ah, my lady, I assume you would like to have some breakfast?” The chief of the kitchen appeared in front of her and pointed at the pan above the fire. “I’ll have to disappoint you. Everything froze overnight, even with the fires surrounding them.”

“That is alright. But I think you should check again, it seems to be quite warm.” As Lissandra was speaking she chanted the word fire in her mind while thinking of the pan above the fire.

“I think you’re right my lady. It seems the food thawed. Let me offer you the first bit.” Lissandra and Eliza ate their breakfast in silence as soldiers and servants joined them as well. Several of them sat down to have a small chat with Lissandra and she enjoying hearing them talk about their lives back home, yet at the same time longed back for her on room as well.

It took the party an hour more than usual to fully pack the camp again. Lissandra and Eliza took their place after King Roland and his General. It seemed that today they would finally reach the lower parts of the mountain and say goodbye to some of the cold. Lissandra was relieved about that, since that meant her spell had worked, and nobody died yet.

During the day Lissandra checked on Eliza. Her aura had changed since she used her life magic to bound Luca and Eliza and you saw the bright colours of Luca’s aura mixed with the deep dark-blue aura Eliza got from the life magic of the wizard. Lissandra had never seen such thing before, but she didn’t complain. It somehow worked out, yet she didn’t tell the two of them hat she had done yet, and at this point it as too dangerous to do so. She decided she would only tell the two of them about the connection they shared when it was a treat of life or death.

“Princess Lissandra.”

“Roland?” Lissandra’s face looked neutral as King Roland approached her to talk to her.

“I heard you allowed one of the soldiers to stay in your tent at night.”

“That is correct Roland. I was so exhausted and my maid felt sick, so I couldn’t make her stay up to keep the fire alive. I asked the first person who passed to take the job, and he did. I am soon to be their Queen after all.” It took a while before Roland answered, and Lissandra felt as if he was considering her argument.

“Alright then. I’m glad you and your servant are feeling better now.” King Roland sounded indifferent as he returned to his General at the head of the party. Lissandra refused to ride with him today as she was only used for show, and enjoyed her place between the servants. Eliza showed her where her place in the party would be, and that’s where the two of them stayed for now, until the time came King Roland would force Lissandra back at his side.

The last few days went by without something special occurring. The party kept the same routine as they had had the whole journey through the mountain, and here and there snow got replaced by grass. The nights grew less cold and Lissandra stopped using her spell to kill the cold. It gave her more energy for the spell she as going to use to travel through the land.

Elaine once explained to her that her speciality was the connection to nature. She would be able to shape the earth in different kind of shapes, as well as use them to travel fast without being seen. With one stack of energy you would be able to cover at least half the country, or at least that’s what she always told Lissandra. Lissandra had never really tried the enchantment, but knew it was her only chance.

On the 17^th day of the journey the party finally said goodbye to the mountains and went down the hill to end up in the city of Oyan, the first of the so many to come. It was that night that Lissandra retreated to her tent early and gave Eliza orders to not let anyone in or out. She was joined by Luca who was assigned as Lissandra’s personal guard. Lissandra suspected his sergeant assigning him to it, but she was relieved since she knew he would guard both her and Eliza with the best of his ability.

Lissandra stood on the ground and tried to recall the steps Elaine told her. It involved a lot of steps, and the first one was finding a place her feet touched the earth. She removed her socks and felt the earth under her feet while nodding to herself.

“This place is perfect.” She stood up and felt the power of the land flow through her. It felt like flying but different. She could feel through the mountains and snow, but on the other side she felt the side pushing into the land, trying to find a way to eat the land. The second step Elaine told her as to make a few random gestures in the direction she wanted to travel. And then the last step before saying the enchantment as to picture your destination in your head.

“Earth take me with you, send me to the place I don’t want to get though.” Lissandra felt that she was first pushed up into the air, but she sank deep into the earth right after. It only took a mere second for the earth to push Lissandra out again, and she looked at her surroundings. The earth had dropped her right at the front door of the cottage she had seen so many times already.

Lissandra knocked the door and waited. Then she knocked again, knowing the person living there wasn’t used to visitors at all. The door opened and a slightly surprised man stood in the doorway.

“Thomas!” Lissandra threw herself in his arms and he embraced her, to never let go again.

“Jonas, do you think that when we arrive back home, your wife will see have her belly stuffed up?” One of the soldiers laughed as he asked his fellow mate his question.

“I don’t think so. I’ll be returning to my home and it’ll be done with the quietness. I honestly wonder if I am going to be a proud father of a son or a daughter.” Lissandra felt bad that Jonas couldn’t see the birth of his child since he had joined King Roland on his delegation towards Linea. This was just another point that showed her King Roland wasn’t a good king towards his people and she wondered for how long that would still be going on.

Lissandra thanked the kitchen staff again and decided to call it an early night. She walked back towards her tent and as she checked her surroundings again and felt a sort of energy wave. A person on the left appeared. Lissandra tried to get a look at his face but had to look all the way up and failed. The men’s face seemed to be covered with his dark-brown hair which was waving in front of his face.

“So we meet at last.” A voice dark and deep assembled in her mind and it fit with the darker skin she saw underneath his hair.

“It seems we do.” Lissandra answered with her voice and stayed calm, not moving anymore.

“You are protecting the camp from the storm, even though they are not your people. For that I am grateful.” Lissandra nodded towards him, and was well aware of the fact the wizard had its own mind.

“I am simply doing what every Queen-to-be would do. These will soon be my people, and I can’t let them die if I have the strength to save them.”

“I agree, Daughter of Linea. This is why, I will not bother you till we are out of the cold, no matter what my master says. I refuse to see more men die.” Lissandra was surprised he used the title of the old days, but held her face straight.

“Then we agree.” With that the wizard vanished and Lissandra resumed her walk to her tent. The wizard did the same, and Lissandra saw him disappear into the night.

It was colder in the tent as the night before when Lissandra entered. She saw Eliza was sound asleep in the small room made for a servant and smiled. Lissandra sat down on her bedroll and oversaw the camp again. It was a bit more difficult to do because of the place of the camp, but it in the end she pictured all of them.

“Winter, cold, stay away. Let me protect the people who have less to say.” She whispered those worlds again, creating the invisible barrier once more. It drained more energy than last time, and as she was already exhausted the barrier wasn’t stable at the beginning. It took her a few moments to concentrate again, and then she finally stabilized the barrier. It was now set for another night of dark and cold.

“My queen?” Eliza was sitting next to Lissandra’s bedroll and hoped she would wake up.

“I’m up. Did anything in the camp change?” Lissandra got out of her bedroll and changed into her warm clothes. She wore a deep blue cloak and with a warm dress underneath. The cloak had been a gift of Elaine when word was spread one of the Princesses would be leaving to marry the Southern King. She had sent it after the party to give it to her, and it held a solemn note.

“This cloak will protect you not only from the cold, but also when you want to go unseen it will grant you that wish.” Lissandra knew exactly what Elaine had meant with that, she wanted her to at least visit Thomas once to explain what is going on.

Lissandra knew her father would have been honoured that one of his daughters had been given a gift of an old relic of their people, but he wasn’t aware. The cloak had been from Lissandra’s mother who had given it to Elaine to keep it save till a situation occurred which was proper enough to pass it on to the next person.

“Nothing has changed my Queen. But somehow I got ordered to stay with you during the day instead of Osvar.” Lissandra nodded, that meant the wizard was keeping his promise and wouldn’t do anything till they were out of the mountains.

“That’s good.”

“Indeed. I’m sure Luca would be relieved to hear this as well. If I see him I’ll pass him the news.”

“That’s alright. Let’s pack the tent and all the other belongings for now. Can you retrieve Toby from the stable boy?” Eliza nodded and put on her coat as well. She stepped outside into the freezing cold and was on her way.

Lissandra first packed her bedroll and then made sure her magical artefacts where still save before she packed the rest of her belongings. Everything was already standing neatly in the tent, and the inside layer was already rolled up when Eliza returned with Toby. Lissandra felt them arriving and went outside.

“Hey Toby, how’s my boy?” She petted him on the nose and stroke over his fur. He responded to her by nearly licking her hair but she just dodged him time.

“Yeah, it’s good to see you again too.” Lissandra let Toby to the entrance of the tent and carried all her belongings outside. Together with Eliza she made sure everything was safely put in the saddlebags and they took the last part of the tent down. This part was unique as it folded itself to a bag with leftover space. Lissandra put her most important belongings inside, which where her magical artefacts and the book Thomas had bought for her on her seventeenth birthday. It had something magical and that’s why Thomas got if for her, but at the same time it meant more to her than she would be able to explain.

It took a while until the rest of the camp had finished packing. Eliza and Lissandra were waiting at the start of the party, where some of the members had already assembled as they watched the others clean up.

“Ah, Princess Lissandra there you are.” A soft voice appeared from the side of her. She stared into the eyes of a woman unknown, yet it felt as she was staring in the dark. The woman’s hair was just as dark as her eyes and Lissandra didn’t know what to think of her.

“The King sent me. I am to give you this cloak as a gratitude of him. It was warm and will help you protect against the cold. He would be pleased to see you wear it during the trip.” The woman handed over a cloak which looked like a regular piece of clothing according to Lissandra.

“Thank you.” Lissandra accepted the cloak and checked it on magic. Even though the wizard gave her his word she wasn’t sure. When there was a positive outcome she decided it was worth wearing it.

“Queen no!” Eliza screamed as Lissandra was trying to put the cloak over her own. “That thing is poisoned. It reeks of sweetness but at the same time smells a bit bitter. It’s bluefly without any doubt.”

Lissandra closed her eyes and tried to picture the poison on the cloak. It took her a lot of concentration and Eliza was standing next to her, facing the worst.

“You’re right.” Lissandra saw a vague blue aura but it immediately slipped away as she spoke. She took a part of the snow and rubbed it over the clock, and then she saw the signs disappear.

“I’m going to pay Roland a visit. He won’t be getting away with this.” As Lissandra tried to give Toby orders she saw the camp had fully disappeared and knew it wasn’t the time. She gestured at Eliza and the two of them took their place in the party.

It was getting even colder as the day continued but nobody said a thing. Roland and his General let the group and Lissandra followed them as she made sure the gift didn’t touch Toby in any way, she was in no position to lose her horse. At some point Roland turned to Lissandra.

“You spend a lot of time at the regular fires, why does a noble born lower herself to speak to the servants?” Lissandra sighed and knew she would have no way denying her presence at the fire.

“In Linea there is a custom everyone is equal, no royalty should be placed above the regular inhabitants, nor people should try to kill each other.” Roland looked her in the eyes and he saw hers burning. They weren’t the deep blue ones like they used to be when they first met, but Lissandra’s eyes were burning with passion.

“We love the people, and would protect them at all cost. It means we don’t give others presents they don’t need and we don’t try to kill the person who protects us from the cold.” She looked back at Roland with her eyes as fire, hoping her message got across. Then she left a note on his aura, marking him as a traitor. It would only last a few days, but she as sure someone else than her would spot it.

Roland continued to ride in silence till the end of the road, there he knew he had to make the decision which road to go and he looked at the map his General carried with him.

“Everyone, we’ll be going down!” The general’s voice echoed through the mountains as he voiced the decision of the king. Lissandra knew it would only be a matter of time before they would reach the end of the snow now and felt strange. Soon she would say goodbye to the place she knew as her pocket and dive into the unknown.

“My queen?” Eliza coughed and stammered as she tried to get Lissandra’s attention.

“Eliza what’s wrong? You seem so pale.” Lissandra looked at the girl and saw her lips were blue.

“Nothing, my Queen. I’m fine.” Lissandra didn’t buy the answer and opened her mind. There was a deep dark-blue circle blocking most of Eliza’s aura, and Lissandra immediately knew it as magic. It seemed like the cold of the icy ground was slowly being transferred to her servant.

“We’ve stopped for the night. Our tent is to be placed somewhere on the side. Luca should soon know where.” Eliza rubbed her hands over her arms and put them under her armpits afterwards as she spoke.

“Okay, I hope he comes soon, I’m longing for heat.” The two of them waited as Lissandra wondered why the wizard didn’t keep his promise, he didn’t want anyone to die either. Or, he had placed the spell on her servant before he said that.

“The king ordered me.” A deep dark voice appeared in her mind again. “I can’t undo it, even if I tried. It’s life magic, the most powerful of them all.” With that the voice disappeared again, leaving Lissandra in the dark. She was still wondering about what the wizard had said when Luca appeared from the camp.

“Eliza!” There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I thought you were with Osvar?”

“I got assigned to stay with the Queen today.” Luca looked relieved as he heard that. He wrapped his arms around Eliza and felt her cold body lean against his.

“Luca. You have to show us now where we can put the tent.” Lissandra was growing more and more concerned about Eliza as she saw that Thomas’ aura only pushed a small bit of the blue away, but not the most important part.

“Okay my Queen.” Luca rushed through the camp as Toby and Joe, Eliza’s horse, followed him. It took them a moment to pass the main fire and Luca turned left straight afterwards. The tree of them ended up at an open space surrounded by tents but yet felt the stirring cold howling through them.

“Here we are.” Lissandra was quick to take action, she unfolded her bag and put her belongings in the middle of the open place. She gestured Luca to help her to spread the tent as it already flipped open creating the shape. They were soon to put the rods on the inside and the tent was standing. Lissandra gestured both Luca and Eliza inside as she did the rest of her unpacking herself. The last thing she did was putting the second layer of the tent over the darker one, only to realise she had to fully walk around the tent to check if it was standing strong enough.

In the tent there was nearly no light, and Eliza struggled to light the candle that was in the middle. Luca wrapped his arms around hers and helped her. He felt the wind blow through the tent and pulled Eliza closer to him, shielding her. Lissandra walked in on the two of them with her saddle bags and excused herself to gather the rest of her belongings.