Peace and its Shadow

Chapter 25: Journey of Danger and Death

The Icewing had arrived and was waiting for Peacemaker. Peacemaker was busy gathering his things in his bag, with the guards outside, ready to escort him to one of the palace entrances. He also took some extra strawberries from breakfast and shoved them into his bag.

After a few hugs, goodbyes, and promises of being safe, Peacemaker slowly walked through the hallways, the guards on either side of him. The sun shone brightly on Peacemaker, making him squint his eyes a little.

Finally arriving, Peacemaker saw the Icewing waiting for him. The Icewing appeared to be male, with silver scales and a faint blue coloring to some parts of his body. They were waiting in some sort of stance that Peacemaker believed he read about. In the Ice Kingdom, they're very strict about everything, even just sitting or waiting for an event. Mink a few times had told Peacemaker that things were getting a little better but Peacemaker can see how Mink still acted upon some of the qualities. She always bowed to any authority figure, she walked at a dead, even pace with her head up and spine straight, making her appear taller. The Icewing seemed to wear armor on the chest and legs that reflected the sun, making it stunning and hard to look at. They also had a knight helmet that covered most of their face. Peacemaker instantly thought of a dilemma just seeing the Icewing.

Peacemaker couldn't read much if anything from the Icewing.

The helmet covers any facial expression and the strict stance of sitting completely up, wings fully folded in, and snout a little turned upward allowed no body language. The best Peacemaker could observe studying the Icewing briefly was a little movement of shaking from his legs. Peacemaker guessed the stance must be uncomfortable to be in.

"You must be Peacemaker, the visitor to the Ice Kingdom upon Princess Mink's request," the Icewing stated, with a cold voice. There was no hostility but no warmth to it.

"Yes, yes I am," Peacemaker nodded.

"Well then, are you ready to leave?" the Icewing inquired. Peacemaker nodded once more. He watched as a Skywing guard handed the Icewing a small chest. The chest was made from smooth stone, and a simple lock was kept in place. Peacemaker was curious about what could be in the chest. He didn't have enough time to make some conclusions as the Icewing gestured to Peacemaker to come along.

Then like that, they both took off. Peacemaker spared one more glance back at the Sky Kingdom. He noticed Cliff, Dusky, and Bumblebee in the distance. Dusky was doing a small wave, Cliff was raising his talons as high as he could, and Bumblebee was right on top of Dusky, using him as some sort of extra height to wave similar to Cliff. Peacemaker smiled and waved back, he wasn't sure if they were able to see Peacemaker due to how far he was, but he hoped they saw.

The palace of the Sky Kingdom was getting more distant, as Peacemaker and the Icewing continued flying near each other. Peacemaker took another glance at the Icewing, their height was similar to Winter with a little more bulky body. Peacemaker guessed that in the Ice Kingdom, the Icewing would be around third to the second ring. Peacemaker had read about the rings earlier in the year. The Ice Kingdom system was divided into seven rings to show the status you had in the kingdom...well used to. According to Mink, Queen Snowfall had broken the gift of Order using the Gift of Strength. Peacemaker remembered how Mink laughed when she remembered how Queen Snowfall allowed her to destroy some stuff in the Ice Kingdom. Peacemaker wondered if he had seen that magic traced from Mink and Queen Snowfall when Peacemaker used his...glowing eyes(?). He should think of a better name for them.

Mink had described it as a tiara, maybe the crown enchantment covered it up? Now Peacemaker was curious, are the magic auras different? What about a...dream visitor? Would that glow differently? If it does then is it based on who enchanted it? Wait...what if there's a way to see if Peacemaker was an enchantment. What if he just looks in the mirror, or at himself?