Quick announcement!

From now on I'll be using the language Scots Gaelic in place of elvish. Every time I use it there will be a translation just underneath in bold like this.

I know this language is a thing already, but come on I'm not about to pull a J.R.R. Tolkien and create my own language for this book. I'll be using google translate so I apologize for any mistranslations.

***

Katherine had finally caved in and allowed me my sword.

The others had by now heard of Lizzie's challenge and everyone was now following me down the entrance hall towards the door.

"Bet you three gold coins Scott wins." Joey grinned to Joel, attempting a whisper, unaware I could hear him.

"You're on." Joel replied, limping along on his crutches as we stepped outside.

I found it annoying, them betting on whether or not I'd lose to the queen of the ocean. My hand tightened slightly on the hilt of my sword, but I said nothing. No matter how much I despised Joey, I was determined to win, even if that meant the avian won the bet.

I caught sight of Lizzie with her trident, pacing back and forth in the courtyard to the left side of the castle.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jimmy asked nervously, walking along side me. "I don't want either of you getting hurt-"

"I'm afraid that's going to happen no matter what." I said, refusing to look at him as Lizzie looked up and we locked eyes.

"Huh, you actually came." Lizzie said, though there was an air of mocking, and I knew behind those blue eyes she still thought me a coward as she had stated before.

My eyes narrowed as my grip tightened ever so slightly again on the hilt of my sword, and Lizzie reciprocated with twisting her trident upright in her hand, slamming the end almost into the ground.

I heard the others fidget behind me, before all filing towards the side of the castle, out of our way. It felt like an arena match, a gladiator fight for the others entertainment. But at the moment, I paid no attention. All that mattered was the woman in front of me and the ways I might be able to defeat her.

"Well?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Have you called me out here to fight with your weapon, or with your words?"

"Everything we say to you seems to go in one ear and out the other, so the latter would be useless in this situation." Lizzie replied, giving me my answer.

The smallest smirk played across my lips as I glanced Lizzie up and down. "Well then, I suppose we should get started."

"Don't be so cocky, King Scott." Lizzie growled, using my title like an insult. "This will be a fair match. You dare use the ice magic, and I win by default."

"And what happens if you win? The prize of victory, or have you got something else planned?" I asked, keeping the curiosity from my tone though it felt as if it were a monster, eating me alive from the inside. Did Lizzie want everything else? Or just the bragging rights to say she beat me?

"Ah. Yes, that. If I win, you leave my brother alone and leave." Lizzie said, her smirk growing.

"And if I win?"

"I'll leave you alone and drop the matter." Lizzie stated, and I watched as her webbed hand tightened around the neck of her trident.

"That doesn't seem like a fair prize considering I have everything here to lose if I fail to beat you." I said, narrowing my eyes at the queen.

"I called the battle, and you're in the wrong, it shouldn't be fair." Lizzie retorted.

"And tell me, how am I in the wrong? All I've done is walk down the hall you were present in." I shot back, trying to keep the anger from my voice, though it laced my words like a knife despite my best efforts.

"Are we going to fight, or not?" Lizzie asked with a growl, dropping some of her formal behavior. "Because you seem to be stalling."

"Me, stall? I say, I've been ready since we arrived. You're the one who has bothered with your 'rules'. If anyone's stalling, its you. And its probably because you're scared." I replied, my smirk growing as I watched rage flood into Lizzie's expression. Without warning, she struck, beginning our battle.

She sprinted forward, forcing the trident down towards, me prongs first. I brought my sword out, the blade sliding between the trident's prongs, stopping the sharp edges from my piercing my skull. I glared at Lizzie, before twisting my sword and bringing it down, locking both our weapons against the ground.

Lizzie retreated a few steps, pulling her trident from the lock, panting slightly from making the first move. I straightened up, raising my blade from the ground and holding it in front of me, both my hands wrapped tightly around the hilt, my palms pressing into its leather grip.

I felt my eyes begin to glow the familiar icy blue that came with my power, but I refused to break Lizzie's 'rules'. I would win, fair and square, and then I would be the one to brag over who had won. I denied the frost to leave my body as I watched Lizzie who seemed to be calculating her next strike. I didn't give her time to decide.

I thrusted my sword forward toward her torso, and she barely had enough time to again catch my blade with the prongs of her trident, twisting it out of my hand just as the tip brushed her stomach.

My sword clattered to the ground, leaving me weaponless. I dove out of the way as she stabbed down at me with her own weapon, rolling across the ground on my back before picking up my sword and quickly getting to my feet just in time to parry another one of her attacks.

All of this because Lizzie decided to be the protective older sister? Seriously?

Our weapons clanged against each other, the sound of metal-on-metal echoing through the air. My sword almost vibrated out of my hands from the force of her blow, but I tightened my grip, twisting our weapons into the air, my heel connecting with her stomach as I kicked her to the ground.

Lizzie skidded across the dirt a few feet, before getting gracefully to her feet, twisting her trident to point at me like a joust. Her expression was contorted in anger as she glared daggers at me. I twisted my sword in my sweaty palm, ready incase she struck again as I debated what her next move may be. Offense or defense?

Offense, as always with the queen of the ocean. She went for my head this time, and I hit the ground to avoid getting my forehead impaled.

But a voice echoed in my head, a memory of something my sister had once said...

Lizzie's great at fighting but her stances aren't that strong.

Sweep the leg.

I narrowed my eyes, hooking the back of my knee around both her legs faster than she could react. Lizzie let out a gasp of surprise as she hit the ground, her trident clattering into the dirt. I jumped to my feet, kicking her over onto her back and holding the tip of my sword to her neck, quirking an eyebrow. "Is that defeat?" I asked a bit mockingly. From the corner of my eye, I saw the others, waiting for Lizzie's reaction from being pinned. It was very rare that Lizzie lost.

Lizzie's eyes widened in shock for a moment, but I saw behind her expression, a plan. She glared up at me, before her hand shot up, her fingers outstretched towards something behind me.

I frowned. What on earth was she doing? But my ear twitched as I heard running water rushing towards us, and before I could move, a geyser smashed into my back in between my wing joints and shoulder blades, enveloping me in water and sending me flying across the ground.

I bit back a shriek as I spiraled out of control, unable to stop myself from smashing shoulders first into the dirt, skidding across the mud cushioned by my wings. I tumbled across the ground a few feet after coming to a halt.

I pushed myself up from the ground with a grunt, my shoulders stinging from scraping against the earth, my body pounding from the force of the water. I was also soaked, and I felt frost slowly begin to replace the water, crystalizing over my limbs.

My nostrils flared as I got to my feet, glaring at Lizzie, my fists clenching. The woman was back on her feet, the water flowing around her in strands that reminded me painfully of Erin. She had her arms raised around her, ready to conduct the water to her will.

She raised an eyebrow at me, almost mockingly, smirking.

I heard whistling from where the other emperors were gathered, and saw Joel cheering Lizzie on, clapping while propping himself up with the crutches under his arms.

My eyes flicked quickly to the other rulers. Gem's expression was...stern. That was the best way to describe it. Despite not being involved, her staff was in her hand, her knuckles white around the wood. Jimmy was biting his nails, and we locked eyes for a moment before I turned back to look at Lizzie.

"Buh, buh, buh, no ice magic." Lizzie said, her tone teasing, her eyes glinting as she saw the frost growing on my body.

My face contorted in rage. This was hardly fair. Surely since she was using the water I could use my ice? But no- I wouldn't break these rules. Not this time.

"So? Do you surrender?" Lizzie asked, her eyes narrowing down at me in triumph.

I didn't respond. Instead, I positioned myself to sprint at her, my eyes flicking at my sword between us.

"Ah, so we're going to play this game." Lizzie said with another small smirk, the water following her arm as she too positioned herself to attack.

I watched as the water slowly swirled around her, looking from her to my sword. Without my magic, I needed it to win. And I was going to win.

I ran. I ran straight towards my sword, and Lizzie knew. She slashed her arms down towards me, and the water cracked down like fatal whips. I narrowly avoided them, skidding to the side as they hit the ground, digging a few inches into the dirt. I dove for my sword, but overshot, and missed it, but instead of turning around I continued to speed for Lizzie.

Her eyes widened for a second, before narrowing again. My heart pumped with adrenaline as she slashed the stream of water toward me. I hit the ground, sliding right under it and I felt it whoosh over my face is if it were a blade made of steel. Probably would have cut through me like one too if I hadn't avoided it.

I jumped to my feet out of the slide right in front of Lizzie, my fist making contact with her jaw before she could react. I ran right past her, skidding to a halt and whipping around to face her again with a smirk.

Lizzie had staggered backward from my punch, but she turned in anger, her blue eyes filled with rage as the water returned to swirl around her. But then she grinned, and that could only mean one thing-

Before I could even finish my thought, water erupted from underneath my feet, shooting me ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty- I lost count around there- feet into the air. I screamed as my stomach dropped and I began to fall towards the ground, spiraling as I tried to regain control.

Time seemed to slow down for a minute as I glanced the sky as I fell, rolling in the air. I spread my wings out to try and catch air before I hit the ground to slow me down. And it worked. I hit the earth feet first, my knees bending and threatening to buckle, but I kept my balance.

I looked up at Lizzie, slowly straightening up, my hair and clothes and everything really sopping wet. The glare of hatred, and anger I gave her was almost unmatched, and I saw fear flit quickly across her face before her jaw clenched.

I made a growling sound inside of my throat, before launching myself at her. "Ann an ainm Terrath tha mi gad mhallachadh!" I cried in elvish, raising my hand towards her.

(In the name of Terrath I curse you!)

Instantly, the earth began to rumble, and I felt a power unlike my own coursing through my veins. Unlike the ice which felt cold, quick, and sharp in my body, this felt rough, steady but strong.

Lizzie's eyes widened as she stumbled backwards as the earth continued to shake, before sharp rocks pierced the surface, straight in a line towards her.

Funny because most of the things I do aren't straight.

Lizzie shrieked, diving out of the way of the speeding rocks bursting from the ground towards her. "I SAID NO MAGIC!"

"Nuh uh, you said no ice magic." I corrected, grinning in triumph.

The others were in absolute shock. And to be honest so was I. The only explanation I could think of was Aeor. He was on my side again, was he not?

Lizzie glared straight back at me, raising her hand as her trident came zooming back towards her. I braced myself as the trident came flying towards me like an arrow. I ducked as it shot past my head, the sound of it whizzing over me still ringing in my ears.

I glanced backwards, and saw the trident come to a full stop midair before coming straight right back at me. I yelped, hitting the ground again. But it just kept coming. It would stop and turn, stop, and turn and try to impale me. I couldn't catch a break.

I dodged and weaved around the prongs, but I was getting tired. I couldn't keep this up for much longer, but I wouldn't give in.

Lizzie's eyes narrowed as she held her hand out, making the trident target me. She flicked her wrist, and the trident stopped. I paused, wondering if she had decided to finish using it. But I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Without warning, the trident shot towards me like lightening. My eyes widened as I attempted to jump out of the way, but a sharp blinding pain shot across the side of my head, just over my temple. My vision on my right side went blurry as I staggered sideways, unable to think as the pain pounded in my head. She had grazed the burn Fwhip had left, and it was almost unbearable as the wound reopened. My hand flew to the spot, and it was quickly covered in hot and sticky blood. I felt it quickly drip down the side of my face, over my jaw and down my neck onto my shoulder.

If I hadn't moved... Lizzie was actually trying to kill me.

I couldn't tell where the pain was coming from after my moment, my body now flooding with uncontrollable rage. Overwhelming rage that I hadn't felt since the war. The rules seem to melt away from my memory, insignificant and useless. Lizzie wasn't playing fair, so neither would I.

Lizzie looked somewhat terrified as she caught the trident as it came back to her. She took a step back, as if she were just now realizing what she had done.

"Scott no!" Gem shouted, but too late.

My arm flew forward, frost and ice exploding from me in swirls of cold, biting at my face and fingertips. Like daggers, the shards of ice shot towards Lizzie fast as arrows.

Lizzie covered her face with her arms, the water conducting itself into a shield in front of her. It stopped the ice, but as soon as it hit the liquid, the shield frost solid, falling to the ground with a thud and shattering into millions of pieces.

I wasn't thinking straight anymore, blinded by rage I could hardly see who or what was in front of me. My only goal? Destroy the woman who dared to try and beat me.

Lizzie backpedaled as my anger overflowed into frost, spreading across the ground rapidly, crystalizing blades of grass as a chill wind whipped through the air. Dark clouds swirled overhead as I approached Lizzie, my fists clenched.

Fear again flitted across her face, before her expression tensed and she clenched her jaw, her blue knuckles turning white around her trident.

I flicked my wrist, and the frost shot at her like spears, but she blocked them with her trident, dodging a few. Yet I still drew closer.

Lizzie panted, and I saw even from my distance the frost creeping over her skin as I continued to drop the temperature around us. It was well below freezing now.

Lizzie's eyes widened as the ice began growing and freezing between her scales, panic filling her expression as I continued to approach.

The others were shouting something, but I couldn't hear a word they said, either because the storm around me was too loud, or my thoughts were drowning them out completely.

Lizzie collapsed to her knees, her hands clutching at her upper arms as the cold became too much for her body, her breathes coming out in white puffs, almost like smoke.

I crouched down in front of her, smirking at the terror in her face. I don't know why I did this, I hardly remember what I did next, or how I did it. With my mind still hazy, I reached out and flicked underneath Lizzie's chin, forcing her face upward for a moment.

As if in slow motion, Lizzie was blasted from the ground in a wave of glittering ice, throwing her into the air. I slowly got to my feet as she skidded across the earth, lying in a heap on the ground, frost coating her scales.

"LIZZIE" I heard someone shriek before a figure ran past me. The dark blonde crouched beside the woman, panic filling his brown eyes as he looked frantically up to me then back to the motionless queen. Several others ran towards her, but one approached me, her red braid swishing behind her as she hurried over.

I hardly heard what she said, glaring past her at where Lizzie was laying, wanting to deal a final blow, hopefully a fatal one if the woman wasn't already dead. But the other woman in front of me blocked them from my sight. I hardly understood what she said, narrowing my eyes at her as I looked into her own green ones.

"Scott snap out of it!" She finally said, and I felt a sharp pain in my cheek as she slapped me across the face. I staggered to the side and felt the overwhelming urge to freeze the woman to the ground, but then I did. I snapped out of it.

I blinked. "Gem?" I asked in confusion, feeling the side of my throbbing cheek. I felt cold, very cold, as I looked over the wizard's head at my surroundings. As soon as I came to my senses, my eyes widened at what was going on around me. Snow hung midair, and I immediately raised one of my hands, summoning all the ice and frost back which I had become relatively good at. But a chill still hung in the air. I stared at the few gathered around Lizzie, and I instantly knew what I must have done.

I hurried over, shoving someone who I assumed was Katherine considering the yelp that left their mouth, aside to see Lizzie in the frost-covered grass, ice caught between her scales, shivering horribly. I swore to myself in elvish, crouching by her side, panic flooding my bones. I pressed a hand to her forehead, closing my eyes as I tried to pull the ice from her body. Unlike when I had tried to unfreeze Gem, the frost released its hold on Lizzie, flowing back into my hand and soaking into my skin.

The woman's shivering slowed down after a moment, and I sighed with relief. I looked up, only to be met by a glare of rage from Joel. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Gem. "We should go." She said in a hushed voice.

Fear rippled through my body like waves. I had ruined it. I had ruined everything. Again. Again, again, again. Nothing I could keep, nothing could stay the same...I always had to break it.

I got to my feet slowly, my limbs aching, tears pricking in the corner of my eyes from the trident wound on the side of my head, stinging just as the burn had two years ago.

I felt Gem's soft hand wrap around one of my hands, leading me backwards away from the scene of the freezing ocean queen. Finally, I managed to take my eyes off the woman, screwing them shut to avoid looking at her as the wizard led me back towards the castle. Surely I would be sent home, leaving my sister in the hands of these people who cared nothing for her. Who didn't even see her as a person.

"Scott, its okay." Gem said in a quiet voice once I assumed we were out of earshot. "She'll be fine."

"But what if she's not?" I asked, my voice breaking as I attempted to speak. What would Jimmy think? We had just made up and I had nearly killed his sister less than an hour later. "This is all my fault-"

"It really is not." Gem responded, and I opened my eyes to see the concerned expression she wore, her red eyebrows tilted upwards the slightest. "Both of you were in the wrong, we all know that. Both of you are to blame for what happened, not all the weight should be on your shoulders for her getting injured. She almost killed you." Her fingers brushed the side of my head just as she finished, and when she drew her hand away, I saw the blood coating her fingertips. "We need to clean that up anyhow."

We were by the doors before I knew it, but I stared at the ground as the grass at my feet turned to marble and crystals as we entered. My muscles ached, pounding like small, individual heartbeats that clouded my head more than I could bear.

I felt as she led me into the living room, sitting me down on the couch as she bustled about to try and find things to clean my wound. Surely Katherine was out still helping Lizzie. My hands clenched around the cloth around my knees as Gem sat down next to me, my eyes fixated on my lap.

Gem let out a small sigh from beside me, before I felt something press against the side of my head. I flinched from the sting, but otherwise I ignored it. This pain I was used to by now. I should be used to by now. Show no weakness. Show no weakness like Erin did, how she powered through her pain to achieve what was necessary at all costs. In some ways like Xornoth, who kept going despite knowing he would lose, despite knowing it was all over. Like my father told me, weakness is humanity's greatest flaw, therefore we elves show none of it.

But his words felt like poison, making me sick to my stomach. He had been wrong about so many things, and over the years I'd learned vulnerability isn't weak, feelings aren't weak. However I still couldn't shake what had been pounded into me since I was a child.

"Done." Gem said, in what felt like no time at all. I felt the side of my head. The stinging sharpness Lizzie's trident had inflicted on my temple had turned into a dull ache, a flicker of pain shooting through my nerves every few moments. But it was bearable.

"Thanks." I replied, my voice hoarse from keeping my jaw clenched and trying to keep my scream of frustration inside of myself.

"It'll all be okay, Scott." Gem reassured after a moment of silence in the room. She swept her long red braid over her shoulder, tilting her hat upwards to see over the brim to look into my face.

I nodded in response, before returning my stare back to my lap. And we waited in silence.

As soon as I heard people entering the castle, I retreated to my room. I didn't want to speak to anyone. Fear penetrated my very bones that I'd be thrown away again, outcasted back to the frozen kingdom I called home.

I paced up and down my room, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, the same thoughts swirling in my head almost in circles to the point where I couldn't break the cycle of terror and panic.

I jerked to a halt as I watched my door open, as if my feet had suddenly been glued to the floor. My hands froze midair in front of my chest as I had tried to calm myself down with odd hand movements my old friends used to call strange.

The first thing I saw was pink hair, until the door fully opened and there stood Lizzie. Her hair had been pulled into a braid, and her face showed complete exhaustion. She had a blanket clutched around her shoulders, and by the looks of it, she was alone.

I didn't have any words to speak, it was like someone had come and taken them from me as easily as an object I could have been holding in my hands.

Lizzie didn't speak for a moment as well, her sharp blue eyes looking me up and down, and despite seeming tired, she kept her regal posture and aura that always made me question if she were about to scold me.

Slowly, she held one of her hands out. "Good job."

Her words were crystal clear and piercing...yet, confused me. "What?" I asked lamely as I glanced down at her hand before locking eyes again.

"You won. Fair and square." She added after a moment, gesturing to her hand as if asking me to shake it.

"But it wasn't fair." I said, raising one of my eyebrows at the woman.

"I made it unfair; you evened out the playing ground. You won." She answered, her expression remaining stern as she looked me up and down, her eyes focusing on the reopened wound on the side of my head just for a moment.

Almost timidly I reached out, taking her scaly hand in mine and shaking it once, up and down. She let go after a moment, her arm dropping back to her side. Then she gave me a small smirk. "We're both warriors, I've realized. We pick up our weapons and fight to the last breath. I respect you for that."

And then she left the room. Just like that.

***

FINALLY. Finally, its finished! I'm not sure why this took me so long. I'm very sorry for making y'all wait. I got sick again so yeah, fun. I hope y'all enjoy this anyhow.

I'm starting to miss writing about Erin (hint, hint) so yeah...expect something cool next chapter. I've got some sick stuff planned. Can't promise when it'll be out though, still not feeling 100% and I've been a bit burnt out lately.

Anyways, have a great day y'all! Your feedback is appreciated :)