Loyal

Chapter Five

Snow didn't feel the cold, but she couldn't say she missed it.

The snow making it so hard to see, the frost biting at everything.

She had used berries and a little of her own blood to redo Icicle's war paint.

Stripes around the eyes and on the cheeks. And a spiraling blizzard painted down one side of Icicle's neck to her hoof, matching Snow's own tattoo.

The gates opened for her as she pulled down her hood. Everyone here knew who she was.

The Azripa, cold death, Sheidaz, Aztrikova, ice shadow, Azswis, ice dagger, Sonchakripa, the lightstalker.

But some didn't know her assassin identities. They simply called her Azkwin, the princess of snow.

The trig word for queen used to be kwin, but it was now reigna, leaving kwin to mean princess or any female royalty.

So they all kept well out of her way until she reached the palace gates, where she was stopped.

"I'll need your name and purpose here," a tired guard stated.

"You don't know who I am," Snow raised an eyebrow.

The guard didn't look up, "I'm tired. It's been a long day. I can't be dealing with self righteous peasants right now."

"And you just got yourself fired," Snow said, "You have five seconds to let me in before you're also dead."

He looked up lazily, saw her through the blizzard, and looked down again, "Miss, please move away from the gates before I remove you."

Idiot.

"What's your name?" Snow asked.

"Westen," he answered, "Now move or be moved." More guards circled around her.

That's the second time this week. Wow, people needed to stop underestimating her.

A moment later, he clutched his throat, trying to breathe through the blood. Then he collapsed.

"Would anyone else like to follow in his footsteps, or are you going to let my granddaughter into her own home?"

The other guards looked up to the wall to see their queen's disappointed face scowling at them. They scattered.

"Hello, my dear little Snowflake," there was Queen Nia, condescending as always, "The palace has been rather boring without you."

"Hello, grandmother."

As a princess, Snow didn't have to refer to Nia as her majesty or something like that. But looking at the wicked woman, she didn't know if it was more scary to be her granddaughter.

"I hear your training went well," Queen Nia said as she guided her granddaughter off of the horse, sending Icicle to the stables.

"It was strange to train with the other clans, but I agree that it was a wise idea," Snow replied, "The only clan close to strong enough to challenge us would be Trikru, but they follow the coalition to strictly to try anything."

The ice queen nodded, "Good work. You will train with the royal guard tomorrow morning. And you should know the mountain men caught Echo. After training, you will rise to Polis to train under Lexa's eye once again. Go rest."

"Yes, grandmother," Snow nodded and turned to walk away.

"The tattoo artists are that way," her grandmother reminded as she pointed in the opposite direction. Snow quickly walked that way, entering the tattoo shop.

The brute who owned the shop smiled, "Ah, Sonchakripa, good to see you again."

"Three names this time," Snow gave the man the names, which he added to small spaces in the pattern.

"Soon, you'll need a new branch of the blizzard down your back," the man informed her.

Snow nodded, thanking him, "Mochof."

She fell asleep in her room, which was a small stone room with a mirror in one corner and a small bathroom in a separate branching room.

No bed. No pillows. No blanket. And the window was jammed open, letting the snow in.

That was her grandmother's way of saying she was disappointed in what had happened with Trikru and Skaikru.

So she knew. Great.

The following morning, Snow woke up. The cold room was uncomfortable, but she didn't mind.

Grabbing all of her weapons from the small pile in the corner, she walked outside ready for training.

The royal guard was a group of skilled young men and women, none of whom bore the Azgeda scars on the side of their faces.

Unmarked to be untraceable spies and assassins, like Snow herself.

They were all orphans from all over the kingdom, left with the ice queen from the ages of five to seven.

But none of them had been trained since birth. None of them had trained with the other clans.

So she beat them all in seconds, as usual.

After training, she'd barely broken a sweat, and yet the others were groaning in pain and exhaustion.

"Well done," Queen Nia said, "Now you leave for Polis. Be there by sundown."

Snow nodded, mounted her horse, and raced through the snow, around the trees, across the border to Polis.

Unlike most people, she didn't need to leave her weapons outside. Her job revolves around her blades.

"You'll have to wait in line," a guard said.

Snow removed her hood, "No I won't."

The guard saw who she was and moved. The people from various clans lined up in the hallway all parted for her.

"Azripa," they all muttered.

"Princess Snowflake," Lexa smiles as she saw Snow enter the throne room.

Snow bowed her head, "Heda." Commander.

"I heard your training with the other clans has gone well," Lexa smiled, "You are being assigned to Tristan's Trikru army. You will follow his orders as if they are my own. You leave at dawn."

In the last week, Snow had been from Trikru to Azgeda to Polis, and now back to Trikru.

"Yes, Heda," Snow nodded, keeping her head bowed down as she left the room.

The Commander was the only person in the world that Snow bowed to. She didn't even bow to the ice queen.

But she held her head up high as she left the room, spending the night at the marketplace, looking for anything new.

And that's when she saw a jewelry stand that sold strange chains and pendants.

Among the necklaces was a small circle of frosted glass, designed to look like frost on glass, "How much?"

"For you, princess, free," the shopkeeper wasn't afraid of her, but still respected her.

"Thank you," Snow took it gently off of the stand and handed the shopkeeper a small handful of silver.

He tried to give it back, but he needed it far more than she did.

When she arrived in her small room in Polis, she put on the necklace.

She hadn't seen it in a while. Queen Nia had sold Frost's necklace after everything that happened.

So she added the pendant to the necklace carrying her own, a frosted glass circle with a snowflake inside.

It felt good to have something of Frost back, especially before a fight.

Through the rest of the night, she sharpened her weapons for battle.