(Previous version) Queen of Ice, Sword of Iron, Heart of Crystal

Chapter 6 ~the Queen

Author's note: You guys might want to re-read Chapter 2 and Chapter 5 before starting this chapter, if you are an early reader who started before I published Chapter 6. I have changed / fixed some very important information about the lockets and the Ice Queen. Also, have fun, and don't forget to play the video above for some epic fantasy music! Thanks!
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The ancient Queen flew. Fast and far. The unforgiving North winds howled and shredded through her long, icy strands of snow white hair and her silken, billowing robes, pushing her and her mount forwards through the gray twilight of the stormy skies. Sharp winds swirled and rippled around her, carrying flurries of tiny snowflakes that blew past her pale face.
The flapping of great wings, dragon wings, rumbled like thunder in her ears, filling the skies above and below her. At least fifty or so of her aerial legion, her knights, armed and dressed in full armour, rode on the backs of these fierce, keen creatures, the ice dragons.

They had travelled all night from the Ice Castle, under the cold light of the stars and by the light of the moon. Now, morning was dawning, and the occasional glimpse of sunlight would pierce through the thick clouds, causing the crystalline edges of their outspread wings and serpent-like bodies to sparkle. Their scales shimmering in different tints and tones of blues, the dragons continued to follow the wind: diving up when the wind blew upwards, diving down when the wind blew more downwards.

Like the Queen, the dragons were ancient, beautiful, but deadly creatures. They were bred in the Icefire Mountains, where legends whispered that Isolde, the mythical goddess of winter, had once walked the earth. The dragons were said to be descendants, creations of the goddess, who had gifted them with a breath of winter. Rare as they were, now the Queen had several of them under her control, under her direction.

The Queen had imprisoned these dragons under her sorcery, so that they would serve no one else but her and her knights. So that they were bound to do the Queen's bidding, her cruel, vicious deeds.
It wasn't a far stretch to describe the dragons as the beasts of Icefire. In fact, their eyes glowed with it; the azure-white flames seeming to radiate from their gaze.
Flap, flap, flap, their wings stroked the air, and power coursed through their muscled bodies. Their long, barbed tails flicked back and forth.
Like her knights, the Queen was seated in the saddle, urging her dragon forward with her reins. Her three lead sentinels were positioned near her: two of them flying on each side, and one behind. The rest of her knights followed, riding their giant mounts. Screeches from the dragons could be heard from miles away.
The thundering of wings in the sky was echoed by the rumble of at least another two hundred ice knights, a fleet of her horsemen who rode on the backs of their white, swift-footed steeds. Their hooves stirred up clouds of drifting snow on land.
Banners and standards of the Northern Kingdom snapped and flapped as they charged through the barren, frozen wastelands.
Village after village, the Queen's army flew over and tore through, with most of their terrified inhabitants wise enough to flee. Most mortal towns were already deserted. Other people either cowered in their run down homes and shelters, or ran wildly in a fear and panic, helpless and at the mercy of the rampaging horsemen. Some people tried uselessly to defend themselves or fight back, and were immediately shot down by ice arrows or impaled by spears.

The Queen rode silently, her piercing eyes staring straight ahead. She couldn't feel the icy air ripping around her face - she was the wind and winter incarnate. She held the reins in one hand, as power, ancient and untamable, pulsed and flickered from her other clenched fist. She could do countless things with her limitless magic, and one of them, like the dragons, was controlling Icefire.
What a shame that the immortals of the Seelie Court had never appreciated her powers. The memories of her own mother, casting her out of the kingdom to wander, and the cruel, heartless mortal villagers who had tried to burn her to death at the stake would never fade away. In fact, they seemed to intensify everyday.
As her forces approached another village, she considered about diving low with her dragon and unleashing her powers to freeze everyone living within.... No. She thought better of it.
Let her magic build. Let her fury condense and collect, until it was a full blown blizzard. Straightening up in her saddle, she closed her eyes to concentrate, spiraling down into her age old magic, deep, deep, deep into the abyss.
When they reached the Enchanted Forest, she would finally unleash the full extent of her icy powers.
The Queen looked down for a second at the snowflake jewel dangling around her white neck.
The two people who were wearing those rose lockets were definitely headed in the direction of the Enchanted Forest. She could sense them with her mind. Even before Leslie had told her about the Festival, the Queen had been spying using her enchanted, feathered eye mask. Her snowy owls had later whispered to her of two young-looking maidens who were working in the salt mines, and wearing those glass lockets, glowing with a pink, rosy light. She was on their trail, getting closer and closer.
Perhaps there had been some truth in Leslie's words. With those two ridiculous rose lockets still intact and their wearers coming together, the Queen's magic would be held in check. Her powers would slowly wane, allowing spring, that dreaded season, to arrive once again.
She could not let this happen! She would never let this happen!
Her ice blue eyes flashed, reflecting the light from the eyes of the ice dragons. Her iron sword was sheathed at her side, the hilt gleaming in the early morning light, just like the faint scar across her face. The intricate, silver vest of armour and the belt she wore also gleamed like faraway stars.
No, the Queen thought. I will continue to suppress my anger for a bit longer. Until I have found my true enemies in the forest, until the time comes for me to smash those glass lockets and kill the people wearing them.
Then... and then... By the name of the goddess, would she wreak such destruction and death upon the Forest. She'd told Leslie already - she would destroy that Forest, and seize it for herself.
And the people who still refused to bow to her rule... she would freeze them to ice. Just as she'd always done to those resisting. Others would be either impaled by blades, spears, ice arrows, or cut to pieces by the weapons of her ice knights. Similar to how one of the Queen's ice knights had killed Leslie in her throne room. Blood would spill. Immortals and mortals alike would die. She would finally have her revenge. The dragons or the Queen herself would cause the trees and thriving plants to burn with Icefire.
She would transform the Enchanted Forest into a brand new part of her icy domain. The story of her tyrannical conquest of the kingdoms had already become a legendary tale of ice and blood. Now, she would become unstoppable. And her heart was ice, meaning she would not, could not, feel any remorse. After so much unimaginable heartbreak, she could never, never, bring herself to love or feel love again.
A smile began to curl on her lips, which were tinged slightly with blue. A serpent's smile. A predator's smile.