Dancing On Ice

Crossing Lines

Aeralie hit the deck when the ship rocked at the freezing of the sea.

Perry dropped to one knee beside her and helped as she sat up as Aeralie's head snapped up, her eyes wide as she looked up at the masts, watching the ice settle across the wood and along the sails, constantly cracking and refreezing in the wind.

"What?" she breathed, staring as her voice came out in a cloud of white, rising and vanishing in the breeze.

She shoved to her feet, stumbling as her bare feet numbed and ran to the edge of the ship, grabbing the side and recoiling as ice burned her skin before she looked over, staring down at the thick ice that covered the sea as far as she could see, all the way to the horizon.

"No... no, no, no, no, no," she said, whirling around, panic building in her face as she turned again, trying to find any trace of rolling waves.

"Aeralie," Perry said quickly, reaching for her but she shoved him aside, running to the other side of the ship.

"No. NO! He can't do this!" she cried, looking across the sea to The King's Command where the King's men and pirates were huddling in separate groups, shivering, their winter clothes not good enough to handle the arctic conditions. "Perry! I need to go over there!"

Perry swept her up into his arms and took off, dashing across the air and landing hard on the opposite deck, behind Cole and Dalton who were staring over the edge.

"Where's Kazimir?" she cried, running to look over the edge as well, expecting to see him on the ice below.

"He's trapped under there," Dalton said, pointing to the last place they'd seen him.

"Can he breathe down there?" Cole asked, not quite hiding his panic.

"Agh!" was Aeralie's reply, not hearing him as she pushed herself up.

Perry let out a shriek right before Aeralie threw herself over the side of the boat. He looked down just in time she see her hit the ice, kneeling down, pressing her hands to the ice, sliding her palms across the surface, feeling through the shivering that was starting to take hold.

"Perry, the cannons. They need to fire the cannons at the ice. We need to crack it," she thought at him, glancing up.

"We can't free up the whole sea," Perry shot back.

"No, it's not that. We need to get Kazimir out. He just needs a weakness."

Perry glanced over to Dago who seemed more focused on his bruising throat, then quickly relayed the message to Cole.

Cole turned instantly, moving to his crew and giving his orders.

The King's men didn't even try to resist them, they just watched at the pirates swarmed across the deck, running below to the gun deck and loading the cannons, tilting them down as best they could, aiming towards where Aeralie pointed before she scrambled back.

The tremors that went through her as cannonball after cannonball struck the ice felt like the entire earth had been rocked.

The cannon balls buried themselves into the ice but it was so thick they couldn't shatter it.

Dago looked down, a sneer curving his mouth as he and everyone saw that the assault had not broken the ice.

Cole, Dalton and Perry looked to Aeralie who had her hands pressed the ice again, concentrating.

The bang of something striking the ice from below reverberated through the air, another strike following close behind, then again.

Cracks around the cannon balls began to lengthen and deepen and Aeralie skated across to one, planting her hands down on the ball and pushing.