Chapter 1
Melora's eyes slowly adjusted to the dark lighting of the place she was forced to call home. Iron bars replaced where a wall might have been in a normal house, and concrete walls did nothing to protect her from the chill of the snow falling outside. A small gap in the wall, a place where a window should be, was no bigger than Melora's head, allowing her to see very little of the outside world.
Unlike many of the others who dwelled here, Melora did not keep a tally of her days etched into the concrete surrounding her. She didn't need to, for she was reminded of such things each and every day without fail.
"Ah, my favourite prisoner," said a smug voice on the other side of the iron bars. Melora's head snapped up to meet her captor's eyes.
"Good Morning, Elavier. What have I done to deserve your company today?" she deadpanned.
"I was hoping you'd ask," he replied, smirking at the girl. "Today, my little ice drop, marks the fifteenth year of your stay here in the prison of the Winter castle. How do you feel about being under my rule for fifteen years?"
"The same as I did the day you brought me here. Cut the small talk, Elavier, and tell me why you're really here. We both know that reminding me of something I already know is not the reason you have graced me with your presence. Tell my why and leave, so I can go back to being in peaceful solitude," Melora snapped, rolling her eyes from her place across the room. The man sent her a wicked smile, sending even more chills into the already cold space around them.
"Your tricks don't scare me," she huffed, sending him a glare.
"I am quite aware. In fact, this is why I'm here."
"To demonstrate my lack of fear for your methods of manipulating ice?" Melora added sarcastically.
"Do you want to know, or not?" Elavier grounded out. Melora stopped talking immediately. "That's what I thought. Your 'lack of fear' as you call it, means great danger to me and my power."
"Of course, it does," she muttered under her breath.
"I cannot risk having you compromise my leadership of this realm. Since you are not scared of my threats, I must use other methods to threaten you into remaining here for the rest of your life."
"And how do you think you will pull that off?" she asked.
The evil look he sent her made a shiver run down her spine. "Your mother."
Elavier waved his hand to someone she couldn't see down the hallway. One of the men he had made his slaves pulled someone in chains to in front of Melora's cell. The woman had aged a lot in the past fifteen years, which was understandable in the given circumstances, but Melora recognised her the instant she saw her.
"Mama!"
"Melora!"
Both women raced to the bars to meet each other. The once blonde hair on her mother's head had greyed over the years, and lines of concern were etched into her face. "They told me you were dead," Shay whispered. "That I'd never see you again."
"They told me the same thing." Melora grasped her mother's hand. A cry of pain from Shay's mouth stopped Melora short of words.
"What did you do to her?" she yelled at Elavier. "You beast!"
He cackled and shot a ball of ice from his hand. "This is one of many things I can do to torture and even kill your poor mother," he taunted. "But I will refrain – if you never try to escape, nor do anything I would class as suspicious."
"Don't do it!" Shay shrieked, raising her head and drawing in a raspy breath. "He's only going to use it against you. He'll kill me anyway. You need to get out of here, Melora, as fast as you can. You are a threat to his power; that's why he took you. He said that any threat must be disposed of. Go, Melora!"
Her head began spinning with all the information her mother was giving her. How could she possible be a threat? She couldn't stop Elavier – no one could.
"You need to promise me that you will leave as soon as you can," the woman murmured to her daughter. "I will be with you, if only in your heart."
"Mama," Melora cried in a broken whisper. But Shay was being dragged away, for she was not going to last the night. "You!" she hissed at Elavier. "You did this! Leave me be, you beast, and never come near me again."
Her forceful words were in vain, and she knew it. "You are forgetting who is the prisoner here. Last I checked, it was you in the cell," said he in a dangerously low tone. With one final glare, he coated her floor with ice and turned on his heel, stalking out the building.
Melora's feet slid out from underneath her, sending her sprawled across the now icy concrete. A white-blue butterfly flitted through the window-like gap in the wall and settled on her arm.
"You think this is real funny, don't you?" she groaned. The butterfly landed on her head and flew in amongst her hair.
For as long as she could remember, Melora could understand ice butterflies. They didn't speak, but she always seemed to know what they were thinking, as if they were communicating like a normal person. It was her secret, the one thing Elavier hadn't found out about and taken from her. Although she'd met with the butterflies many times before, a different kind of aura surrounded the magical creature. Its wings seemed nearly glittery, like it had bathed in crystal. Something shifted within her.
"Help me out here," Melora muttered, standing and gliding across the ice to where she generally dwelled during the day. "I need to get out."
"Miss Melora?" said a voice in a hushed tone. "Come to the bars – come quick."
"Who is it?" she inquired in an equally quiet whisper.
"Someone who can help you escape."
She fell silent, then raised her head to see a man crouched on the other side of the bars of her cell. "How do I know you're not trying to trick me?"
"You'll have to take my word for it," he replied, "so come while you can. I have a key, but I'll need to return it within the next few minutes. Hurry, Miss Melora, there's not much time."
Melora scurried over to the man, unbeknownst to her who he was, or if she could trust him. "I'm going to trust you," she announced, "for I need this more than anything. But please, I beg of you, don't betray me."
"I won't."
He unlocked the iron bars which separated them. A small key was clasped between his fingers as the click sounded and she stepped through the opening. After she was out, he locked the cell again and slipped the metal key into his pocket.
"You must hurry. There's a hidden exit through the third door on the right. Then, head down the corridor and crawl through the little tunnel right at the end. It will take you outside. I can't help you from there. Be safe, Miss Melora."
"Thank you, from the bottom of my heart," she said, giving the man a grateful smile and running past the cells containing people. There were so many more than she had realised. The second she paused to get a second glance at some of the people she was passing, an older lady urged her on.
"We all want you to be free, dearie. Don't stop for us."
With one last glance at the encouraging look on the other prisoner's faces, Melora nodded and began sprinting to the third door. It was a lot further down than she'd imagined, and she was nearly out of breath by the time she reached it. The door was simple: wooden with metal hinges and a shiny silver handle. Melora tried the handle to find the door was locked.
"Come on, come on," she gritted out between clenched teeth. There was only so much she could do without making a racket and alerting someone. Pulling, pushing, and head butting didn't seem to do anything, so before she started pounding it, she spoke to the butterfly that remained perched in her hair.
"What am I supposed to do? I can't get through here, it won't budge. Help me, please."
The shimmery creature left her hair and flew over to the hinges which were slightly loose. Melora murmured some thanks and set to working at taking the door off its hinges. Her nimble fingers worked at the only way she could leave, pulling and twisting the metal rod that held the door in place until it moved beneath her grasp. She put all her strength into removing her hindrance of escaping, muffled grunts slipping through her lips.
The piece between her fingers suddenly gave way, leaving her stumbling backwards, supressing a shriek. The second hinge gave the impression of being easier, that was, until some men's voices sounded at the opposite side of the long corridor of cells. A hurried panic rushed over Melora's body as she freed the hinge. Relief washed over her, allowing the ability for her to pull open the door and step through.
"Did you hear that?" one man questioned the other.
"Nope. Nothing at all," a second one replied.
Before fear could take over her body, Melora took off to the other side of the corridor, quickly finding the tunnel that the man had told her about. There was no time to waste.
She launched herself at the dark space, taking a deep breath and preparing herself for the unknown. Melora had never felt claustrophobic in her life, but now was one time she most definitely was experiencing the walls closing in on her. Darkness crept into her personal space, yet she managed to remember to breathe.
"This has got to finish sometime soon," Melora said to herself and the butterfly which had reattached itself to her hair.
There was no light, no way to see what was happening in front of her, so she continued crawling, when her hands could find the ground no more. "At least I found this before I plummeted in head first," she started.
But alas! Upon trying to turn her body, Melora discovered that there was not enough room for her to do so. "I guess I am going head first after all."
She let herself fall into complete and utter darkness, finding her body sinking into soft, white snow.
"I did it!" Melora exclaimed. "We did it! I'm not a prisoner anymore."
The cold weather did nothing to stop her as she picked herself up and ran down the hill, away from the life she'd known for so long.
***