Magic

26: Fighting and Frozen

Niomi's POV:

I ride through the forest, taking the way I left from the Hollow. I had left small patches of ice to mark my way, but I'm surprised no one tried to follow me. But I guess I was pretty clear that I didn't want to be followed, since I walled up the Hollow.

Yeah, I may have made an un-climbable ice wall around the whole camp. Hey, I was mad! When I reach the wall, I jump off Alden and approach the structure.

It really is a work of art, with small grains of ice running through the glassy surface. I put my hands against the cool ice and slowly will it to come down. When I open my eyes, the wall is gone, and I"m greeted by a warm looking home.

I walk towards the door, Alden slinking along behind me. I'm about halfway to the entrance when it bursts open and I'm soon surrounded by my old friends. Alden lets out a growl, lunging towards anyone who gets close.

I give him a small hand signal, to come to me. He stands with his back legs to my back, slowly turning us both in a small circle.I stop when we turn towards Winnie. I hold my hands up, surrendering.

"We mean no harm." I say simply, putting one hand on Alden's haunch. He settles a bit at this.

"Then why did you put a giant wall of ice around our camp?!" Henson exclaims. I laugh nervously.

"Well, I didn't want you to come after me. I needed some time to be alone. I think I got enough." I say, gesturing to my new outfit. They all seem to only have acknowledged it when I mention it.

Winnie gives the signal to lower their guards. All at once, people are swarming towards me, trying to say sorry and comfort me. But Alden is having none of it.

Whenever someone gets close to me, he barks and nips at them, trying to keep them away from me. I grab the big wolf by the ear, tugging him away gently.

"Hey! Hey, buddy! I'm fine! They're not gonna hurt me! I need you to stand down! Ok? Thank you, buddy!" I say in my happiest voice. This seems to calm him down a bit more, so he finally lowers his guard and sits on his haunches, itching to attack if anyone does something wrong.

That's when Hazel starts laughing. She is at the back of the group, almost falling on the ground with laughter. We all give her questioning looks, trying to figure out why she's laughing. When she looks up and sees us all staring at her, it only makes her laugh more.

"Do you guys not get it? Wow. I'm impressed, Nims. Only you would use ice powers to dress up like Elsa." She says, coming to the front of the group.

I smile at her, glad that she got the pun. I embrace her and then sigh.

"Finally. Now I can take these off!" I exclaim, throwing my hands out and down my body, melting away the ice dress and replacing them with my old clothes, the brown leather pants and the white, flowey, long sleeved shirt.

"That's better." I sigh, pulling my riding boots from my bag. I slip them on and give Alden a pat on the head. I signal that everything is fine and that he can wander around if he'd like. He takes off, exploring his new/old home.

The others just stare at him as he goes, then turn back, gaping at me.

"What is that?" Audrey asks.

"Him? Oh, that's Alden, the wolf that you guys wouldn't let me keep. So I trained him to come to me when I called. He loves me and I love him. It's great." I tell them.

They seem to except this, probably out of fear. I walk towards the house, everyone else following behind. I can here the Destrian-natives trying to figure out what Hazel and I are talking about. I just smile to myself and walk into the Hollow.

When I get inside, I throw my things down on my old pallet. No one has moved it or bothered to use it, so I plop down and lay there, with my eyes closed.

I hear the others come in, but I just ignore them. I feel like a nap....

"Niomi, did you hear me?" Winnie asks, shaking me out of my daze.

"What was that?" I ask, still laying on my back.

"We have the... a..... thing tomorrow." she says quietly.

"The what? What's going on tomorrow?" I ask, sitting up now.

"The... ah....." she leads off. I glance at the other people around.

Finally, Kaden pipes up.

"The battle! We have the, you know, battle tomorrow." he says gruffly. I roll my eyes.

"Well, you sound sooo excited for it. So, what's our plan? Or we just gonna wing it?" I ask, laying back down and closing my eyes.

"Well, we were planning to talk about it yesterday, but that was before you had a tantrum and left." Kaden says under his breath.

I just scoff at him.

"See, I wouldn't have gone anywhere if it weren't for a certain guy who doesn't like to share things with someone he supposedly cares about!" I say loudly, making sure everyone hears me.

I can feel Kaden's eyes on me, but I refuse to open my eyes. I feel a weight on the edge of my bed. I crack open one eyelid. It's Hazel.

"Nims, I think you need to remove yourself from this situation." she says calmly. What she doesn't know is that the fear in her eyes is overwhelming. I laugh darkly.

"Believe me, I'm not the one who needs to leave." I say, looking at Kaden. He huffs and rolls his eyes. I smile and close my eyes again.

"Just so you guys know, I already have a plan for tomorrow. You guys just sharpen your swords, make some arrows, and get prepared. Everything I need is already set and ready to go. I really do want you guys there with me, so I don't die, you know, cause that wouldn't be very good.." I lead off, opening my eyes at the end and gauging their expressions.

They all nod and seem to be willing to fight along side me. They quickly disperse, leaving me, and my thoughts, alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello!!! How is everyone? I'm great!!

I know this isn't the best, but I really wanted to get this chapter up, so we can get to the epic fight in the next chapter!! Be ready for it!!

I love you all and don't forget to comment, vote and favorite!! See you all very soon!!~Embior2

P.S. the pic on the side is Alden.