They moved on the mountaintop falling through the snow.
They were wearing down, moving slower. Morrigan fell to her knees from exhaustion, her face was almost completely red and she shivered. She looked ahead, thinking she could see faint shapes in the mist. Her breathing was quietly hoarse and she was thinking about death and it made her stomach tight.
"Let's rest for a bit," She heard Cara say and felt her hand on her shoulder.
Their faces and clothes were covered in snowflakes. Sandril shook some snow off his coat, and whined once before falling to his stomach.
"Are you alright?" Cara asked and it sounded silly to her considering where they were."
"Don't worry about me," though secretly she wanted to cry, wanted all the comfort anyone could offer.
Cara brushed some snow off her face and felt for a fever and told her she definitely had one. Morrigan sniffled and tried to stand, succeeded after a moment of wobbling.
"Let's just keep moving."
"Yeah, let's get this over with. I think I left soup on the fire back home."
They heard whooshing, different than the wind and looked at each other with confusion before looking up.
It was the dragon again.
Mindin hovered right above them, looking down at them. They took off running down the path, Sandril didn't immediately know what was happening but then ran faster than Morrigan had ever seen. Mindin circled around behind them and gave chase, melting the snow behind them, not aiming for them, just taunting them. She did it again, but got too close and the flames drew near.
"Cara!" Morrigan called, hoping some other form of magical power would awaken under stress.
Cara closed her eyes, her body lengthened outwards and burst into a blue and white sphere. The flames bounced off the sphere and catapulted back to Mindin who shrieked and stumbled in mid air. The dragon flew back the way they were heading, Morrigan watched her go, still in the safety of the bubble, and knew they weren't far from the lair and hopefully her father.
Cara's force field fell, leaving her weak, she allowed Morrigan to help her.
"Think your parents were onto something about you having powers."
Morrigan led on, leaving Cara. She looked terrified and exhilarated and couldn't shake the feeling she couldn't describe.
--
Galian was at the bars of her cell, pacing around. She knew the guard would be back soon and couldn't miss him. He finally showed, a mean looking brute.
"Sir," the Queen said.
The Brute stopped.
"The man who was in here with me, he's dead."
"So?" The Brute truly did not care. And he moved on again but didn't get out of earshot.
"Wait!" And he stopped again, not knowing entirely why. "Do you truly think Damos would approve if a prisoner of my standing died due to poor management?"
He didn't verbally agree, he was a brute but he wasn't stupid. He got his key ring out and approached the cell slowly.
"Up against the wall," he said and the Queen did as he asked. He kept his eyes on her, there was something alluring, Her stance not submissive, but suggestive, with a coquettish smile.
"I'm starved," she said, leaving no doubt what she wanted. She undid a few buttons of her blouse, his trousers stretched and she knew she had him.
"The King hasn't touched me in so long."
He probably knew it was a trick, but he didn't care. He could see the lace of her bra, white. He licked his lips and she bid him over and he threw the cell door open. He kissed her with force, squeezing her face, he was strong. The Queen wanted to vomit, but she kept up her performance. She moved down his body, sliding her fingers along, glancing up at him and he reached for his fly but she slapped his hand away letting him know she was in control and he was fine with that. With one hand on his zipper she used the other to unsheathe his sword and she rose and drove it into his chest then landed on top of him as he stumbled down and stabbed repeatedly until he stopped twitching.
Two more guards charged her as she emerged from the bottom floor. She managed to impale one on the blade but the other grabbed her and tried to slam her down into the floor as she kicked but didn't scream, not wanting to bring more. The only scream came from him as she sunk her teeth into his hand, making it spew blood and drop her and she spit out his flesh and ran further from danger. She retrieved the blade and escaped.
The blizzard had lessened in severity but the conditions remained harsh, the visibility far from perfect. There were more guards outside and they spotted her right away, she looked around for a way to run but the only path that made sense was the gate she'd first come through. The first reached her and swung at her, she jumped onto a food cart spilling frozen apples upon impact, arrows pierced the side and then she jumped out the other side and landed on her knees in the snow. She ducked under another swing of a blade near the far wall and ran the attacker through as he stumbled in the snow. Two more charged, she stabbed the first in the stomach and dueled the second and the duel ended with the Queen slashing his throat.
She took a ladder up the wall, dodging archers attacking with knives and used their momentary debilitation to try and climb down to the path below, she slipped on the second prong of the ladder and fell hard into the deep snow below. When the momentary shock wore off she knew she had at least broken her wrist but she didn't need her wrist to move so she continued on.
The Queen traversed the unfamiliar and unforgiving terrain. Sinking into the snow and stumbling. She was gone within walls of white and then she found a frozen lake, but did not see the drop and that was what took her. She toppled, head over heels over the edge, and landed only feet away from the frozen lake and ceased to move all together then.