Fire Against Ice

• Willow Unsworth, Grade 5, Quaama Public School
• Short Story
• 2014

Finalist in the 'The Text Generation 2014' competition

Tamala raced along the edges of the cliff face, when finally, she reached the border between the two kingdoms at war. She dismounted the elegant ice creature named Nateera. Tamala collapsed in the snow, and drifted off to sleep.
Voices echoed in her mind, she woke up, startled. Then she realised they were real voices, from the Fire Kingdom. Nateera darted out from the shadows. One of the men grabbed his crossbow and aimed straight at her. Tamala couldn’t let her die. She pulled the hood of her cape over her head so they couldn’t see her, grabbed her knife. She raced out behind them; and stabbed the man with the crossbow while mounting Nateera. She flew off instantly, before the men could get another glimpse of her.
She couldn’t walk into the Fire Kingdom with an ice creature. So she jumped off Nateera, it knew the way home. She crossed the border and headed to the Fire Castle. That’s where the red crystal cave was.
She entered the kingdom, and was shocked. If her father (the King) knew the Fire Kingdom was this weak, he would have attacked by now. Everywhere there were people lying, on the cracked, mouldy path, to the castle leaving it red with blood. The castle itself was fractured and messy with holes showing the rooms inside.
It was hard to believe that one person was responsible for this tragedy. That one person was her father. He had stolen their sacred gem. Both kingdoms have one. Now she understood that they were the only things that kept the kingdoms alive. Luckily her father hadn’t known that. She walked up the path to the castle watching the death and the suffering going on. Already as she walked past, the people’s wounds started to heal and the cracked pathway joined together, as it once was. The people stared and cheered, thankfully, as two guards halted her.
“State your business here stranger” the first guard shouted with his spear pointed at her chest. She took off her hood. The guards grabbed her and dragged her up the castle steps. Even though it hurt she didn’t protest this was her only chance to make peace with the Fire Kingdom. As soon as their king saw her face, she was forced to her knees and thrown in the dungeon. When the king finally agreed to talk, she showed him the crystal, and explained what she was going to do. If an ice person takes it, then only an Ice person can put it back.
The deal was that if Tamala put the crystal back, then the Ice Kingdom and the Fire Kingdom would live
In peace. Both of them were happy with the decision.
She put the red luminous crystal back in its rightful place. The damage that had been done was changed. From then on, her father started to believe in her and there was peace between the kingdoms. No war, at least not yet!