Hadia screamed loudly and knelt on the floor, whimpering. Lyana, on the other hand, couldn't take
her eyes off the bloody scene. The other men attacked now too, this time all at once. But her
protector took care of them with an ease that a shiver ran down Lyanas back. She had never
witnessed such brute force.
When all of their attackers lay dead on the ground, the tall man with the sword turned to face them.
His face was covered with small splatters of blood, but his gaze remained calm and cold. As if he
didn't care how many people had to let their lives through his blade.
Her maid got up, trembling, and went over to Lyana. The stranger walked slowly towards her and
the young women began to cling to each other in fear.
"Little sun princess," the man whispered, slowly stroking her cheek with his blood smeared fingers.
Then he grabbed her neck with his hand and picked her up.
Lyana felt how her breath went away and tried desperately to loosen his hand. But the man was far
too strong for that. He held her up in the air with such ease, that it was as if she weighed no more
than a feather to him. She thought she was going to die when he suddenly let go of her and she fell
panting on the floor. The princess gasped desperately while Hadia wept softly next to her.
"I'm going to tell you two girls how this is going to be," he explained while he went down on his knees and looked at her intensively. "Our pretty little sun princess here will accompany me and her maid will return to the castle and explain to her king that his beloved daughter has been imprisoned by the Ice Kingdom." His gaze wandered to Hadia, as if he were expecting some approval, but the poor maid was so in shock that she couldn't utter a word.
Annoyed the man groaned and Lyana hurried to appease him. "We will do exactly as you ask of us,"
she assured him.
He nodded satisfied and got up again. Then he put two fingers between his lips and a loud whistle
sounded. It did not last long and men on horses came from all over the place. One of them was even
riding a sledge pulled by wolves.
"King Ulric", the man on the sleigh shouted with relief, "we have looked for you everywhere."
"You found me," replied the tall man, who turned out to be king of the ice kingdom. "Baridi, may I
introduce my new prisoner. The little princess from the Sun Kingdom and her maid." A murmur went through the ranks and the men looked at each other uncertainly.
"The princess will accompany us, unfortunately her maid has to leave already. "You!" He pointed to
a young man with an eye patch. "Take her to the edge of the forest. I want her to arrive safely and
report to the king who is holding his precious daughter in his hands. "His eyes went dark. At that
moment nobody would have dared to contradict him, regardless of whether he was king or not.
Lyana comforted her maid and helped her get on her feet. "Nothing will happen to me. Just do what you are asked to do."
Hadia nodded slowly, but the tears still flowed as the young subject led her to the edge of the forest.
Lyana looked after her with a queasy feeling, then she felt a big hand on her shoulder. "You are of no use to me if you freeze to death." The king pushed her towards the sleigh. This was completely covered with fur and even the blankets were made of fur. Although she didn't particularly like the idea of being surrounded by so many dead animals, the perspective of warmth convinced her in the
end. As they passed the wolves, she noticed how much respect they had for the king. Even wild
animals could only submit to this dominance.
King Ulric spoke briefly to his men, then went back to the sleigh and sat down next to Lyana. His big, strong body radiated a pleasant warmth. Still, she was a little nervous. She had seen what this man was capable of. Better not irritate him. Especially as long as he didn't know what he wanted from her.
"Where are we going?" She asked cautiously as the sled started moving.
"To my castle," growled King Ulric, indicating that he didn't think much of conversation. So she kept her mouth shut, snuggled into the fur blanket and looked at the area. She was fascinated by it, she had never seen anything like it before. Everything was made of ice and snow.
"It's beautiful here," she mumbled rather to herself, but the King seemed to have taken the comment benevolently.
"Of course, since that's my kingdom." There was a certain pride in his voice, but it quickly changed
to the harsh tone from before. "We are there."
Lyana looked ahead. The forest grew lighter and there was a castle on a snow-covered mountain
that glittered as if it were made of ice. But that should have been impossible.
The closer they got, however, the better she could see the castle. It wasn't made of ice, but it was
completely covered with it. "You live here?"
"Can you see any other dwellings nearby?" Came back his response. He was right. While there were
small villages around their castle, there was not a single settlement to be found here as far as one
could see. Lyana hardly dared to ask because the king was already looking very angry, but finally
her curiosity won. "What about the rest of the people in your kingdom?"