The Frozen Beginning (Elemental Diamond Book 1) (3 page)

A large, dark purple bruise has formed across the bridge of her nose and another peeking under the gauze.

Hesitantly, Glacier reaches to untie the bandage around her head, slowly unravelling it. Once it falls into a pile on her lap, she can see the large gash closed with a handful of crooked stitches, from her right eyebrow up across the centre of her forehead to the hairline.

Her hand flies to her mouth to muffle a sob as she looks at her broken face.

Her mind travels to the times her father would remind her how beautiful she is. But right now, Glacier felt anything other than beautiful.

I am going to have this hideous scar for the rest of my life
.
For the whole world to see just how
freakish
I am
.

Turning away from the broken mirror, Glacier leaps to her bed, bursting into a river of tears. Sobs wrack her entire body, paining her newly crooked nose as she shakes.

Glacier falls asleep to the sound of the wind blowing against the creaking walls of her room, tears dried to her cheeks.

TWO

THE DEAL

The brash sound of a banging door startles
Glacier from her slumber.

The sound is followed by heavy footsteps, then her father’s yelling. She gazes out the window and meets the breaking of dawn. Shifting from her bed, she throws off her covers sleepy and confused. Her feet glide into her clumpy slippers before she grabs her hooded sweater from the end of the bed. Glacier makes her way across the room, pulling on her jumper as she goes.

Kellen curses loudly. “What gives you the right to barge into my home uninvited?” His tone is vicious and annoyed.

It is unfamiliar voice that answers him. “Miss Wardgrave’s presence has been requested at the Chancellor’s Hall. She is to arrive as soon as possible. Any obstruction or disregard to Chancellor Staren’s request will be seen as an act of imprudence to the Chancellor’s authority, and will be dealt with in the most serious order.” The voice is hard and unwavering, his words rehearsed. The tone is powerful and confident, without room for questioning.

Crap! That sounds like the Chancellors’ Guard!

As silently as she can, Glacier opens her door, tiptoeing across to the spare room to where Mill and Castor are resting. Quickly opening the door and creeping inside, Glacier finds Castor on the bed wrapped in his mother’s arms. They watch the door silently, shaking like leaves. Glacier hurries to the small window, yanking it open. A powerful gust of air rushes against her.

“You guys cannot be caught in here. You need to go!” Mill nods her head in agreement, before nudging her son towards the window.

“Mill, you go first. I will help Castor out after you.”

Loud footsteps thump on the wooden floors, indicating there is more than one unwelcomed guest.

“You have no right! Now I am asking you to leave,” her father’s angry voice continues. This time, it wavers with anxiety.

Anxious to get them out unseen, Glacier hurries Mill out the window before picking Castor up under his arms. Mill grabs his legs as the two of them shimmy him out the small gap. Castor remains silent, Mill’s face clouding with fear of being caught.

If the homeless are found in already owned houses, they are severely punished for ‘piggybacking’ off those who can afford to pay the Chancellor for their houses.

Just as she is about to relinquish her hold on Castor, the door is pushed open. A man in a black dress uniform and military hat barges in.

His narrow blue eyes are sunk back beneath his prodding eyebrows and his nose is wide across his face with bushy eyebrows. His lean eyes take a lazy scan of the room before he realizes what is happening.

“We have two Critters exiting out the left bedroom window!” This man’s voice is also unfamiliar, as he calls back to the living room.

I hate when they call them Critters, like they are pests that needed extermination. They are elementals, not bugs you can just step on!

“Run!” Glacier shrieks as the Chancellors’ Guard advances on her. The sound of crunching ice echoes from outside the window, as Glacier is swooped into thick arms, hers pined to her sides.

“I have the girl,” the guard speaks in a calmer, though still loud, voice. Glacier’s ear rings at his shout.

Easily lifting her feet off the floor, he walks out of the room. His tight hold is uncomfortable and strenuous on her lungs as she tries to breathe past the rigid grip.

Once the two of them have joined the crowded living room, Glacier notices her dad reading a glass tablet with a frown on his face.

When he hears the footsteps of the man holding his daughter, he glances up with an outraged sneer.

“Take your hands off my daughter! You have no right!”

The man standing proudly in front is a skinhead, standing straight with the other two flanking either side of him in military hats and uniform identical to the man behind me. Beside the man in the centre of the room, are two other men.

Skinhead speaks calm and collectively, “Actually Mr Wardgrave, with the warrant you're holding,
you
have no say in the matter. Any attempt to impede us will be considered a deliberate act of treason.”

He is the man who had spoken earlier
.

His smug tone and opaque grey dress uniform indicates to Glacier that he is a highly ranked guard in comparison to his colleagues. His hands are clasped loosely against his torso. His flanking officers have theirs behind their backs, their gazes forward.

Glacier’s eyes catch sight of the pistol sitting against the skinhead’s belt. The hover disk it floats against glows ice blue.

She swallows thickly at the sight of the weapon. A bead of sweat forms above her unscarred eyebrow.

The skinhead turns, finally acknowledging Glacier’s presence. She remains tightly held in the arms of the brutish guard, as the bald man scans her with beading eyes.

The man tuts at her appearance. “My, my. You copped a rather violent beating, didn’t you my dear?” His voice seems playful as he jokingly states the obvious.

Glacier gives no reply. She only glowers in his direction.

He ignores her childish frown and continues, “I am High Chancellor Guard Thomes. I have been sent by Chancellor Staren to collect you.”

Her father continues to fight them, “I understand why you men are here, but you have no official grounds to take her on!”

Her father’s eyebrows are creased with worry, his lips pulled in a menacing frown. Distressed.

“The Chancellor of Hydren requesting the presence of Miss Wardgrave is plenty grounds, Mr Wardgrave.” Thomes smug smirk has Glacier’s molar’s grinding with irritation.

What in the bloody world does the Chancellor want with
me
?

Trying to shake away from the guard, a quiet groan escapes Glacier’s lips when he squeezes against her injured shoulder and back.

Thomes claps his hands together, a wicked smile on his lips. “Officer Bogg, please escort Miss Wardgrave to the car––”

“She’s not going anywhere!” Kellen shouts.

Everything quickly erupts in chaos.

Glacier watches as her father’s hand rises in front of his body. The glass of water on the coffee table quivers, the liquid dancing against the edges.

The water spills up from the glass as Kellen’s arm rises, his fingers spread. His eyes blaze a brilliant blue, as the water weaves around the room, before suddenly driving up the nostrils of the two men behind Thomes. They gag on the water as Glacier’s father drowns them, his fingers slowly clenching into a fist.

A small pop booms past the choking gasps and rushing water.

The water falls to the wooden floor like heavy rain, leaving large messy puddles. Glacier’s body retracts, trapped in her chaotic mind, as everything around her happens much too quickly to comprehend.

Kellen’s eyes dim to their original dark blue. They meet Glacier’s briefly before he falls forward, hitting the ground heavily. Glacier watches her father’s still body with intensely wide eyes, waiting for movement. A slow puddle of dark red pools, past his neck and around his shoulders, soaking his shirt.

Glacier’s chest heaves as she tries to breathe past the anguish, but her lungs refuse.

I
can’t breathe. Someone help my dad!

Glacier briefly glances back to Thomes. He lowers his hover gun back to the disk on his belt, his eyes blank. The pungent metallic stench of blood fills her nostrils. Glacier gags for fresh air.

“Dad!”

Glacier hears the loud scream before her throat starts to ache. She smells the saltiness before she feels the gushing tears.

Struggling against Officer Bogg, she kicks and screams, her eyes trained on her fathers’ unmoving body.

Glacier throws her head back, ignoring the brutal pain she feels resonate through the cut on her forehead and her aching nose. She hears a sharp crack, and at the same time her head feels like it has been kicked. Glacier hears a wail close to her ear, a vicious growl following. The arms around her torso move up, dropping her feet to the ground. The same arms wrap around her neck in a chokehold, pulling tight. Glacier scratches at the arms like a vicious animal, throwing her legs about wildly.

Dad, help me!

When the air refuses to pass her lips, Glacier’s eyes droop close. The last thing she sees is Thomes pointing to her father’s body, speaking to the recovering guards behind him.

~

A harsh irritation across Glacier’s wrists wakes her from the hazy darkness. Her mind remains as foggy as her sight.

Her back is set straight by the backrest of an uncomfortable chair. Her arms rest on thin armrests. Glacier blinks a few times, trying to clear the fog over her eyes before she tries to rub them.

Her wrists snag on what feels like a smooth, plastic tie. Through the fog clouding her sight, Glacier can see thick white cable ties holding her wrists down to the wooden arm rests. Tugging a few times, the sharp ties dug into her skin harshly. She hisses at the burning discomfort.

“Finally, you’re awake.”

Her head shoots up, flicking her frizzy curls back past her shoulders. Everything spins around in her head like a tornado from the swift movement.

Squeezing her eyes shut until she doesn’t feel sick, she slowly opens them again. This time her vision clearer. Standing in front of her is a man Glacier had only seen a handful of times on the projections around the region.

Chancellor Gord Staren.

He has been Chancellor of Hydren for the past twenty-four years, elected when he was twenty. His light blonde hair is highlighted with grey streaks. His sapphire eyes are surrounded with worry lines and crows’ feet. His white dress shirt is loose over his frame, but his white-spotted blue tie hangs from his collar respectfully.

His desk is large, easily too big for a small man like him. Despite it dwarfing him, he has attempted to match its size with unnecessary accessories to make it seem smaller than it is.

After a quick glance across his desk, Glacier’s eyes latch onto a family picture sitting on the corner of the table. In the corner of the photo is a girl Glacier has run into in the past, under the arm of the Chancellor before her.

Aleena Staren, an astoundingly awful girl from what Glacier has experienced. Remorseless, and brutal. Beauty like Aleena’s, with her long mahogany waves and crystal blue eyes, is effortlessly overshadowed by her foul personality.

Glacier’s eyes shift back to the Chancellor, her eyes empty with the memory of her father.

Dad…

Glacier crushes her eyes shut, trying to block her last image of him, so stiff and unmoving. A lone tear escapes, trickling down her cheek quickly. Using her shoulder, Glacier wipes her face awkwardly, taking a deep breath.

“I am sorry about your father.” The Chancellor’s unapologetic voice sounds through her ears.

Glacier takes no interest. Her only thoughts are of her somehow dreaming up this terrible nightmare. Glacier turns her head away, her eyes still clenched together tightly. The death surrounding her the last few days were returning to haunt her, taunting her soul.

First Mr Michaels, and now her father.

Who would be next? Mill? Castor?

They are the only two left that Glacier cares about.

“But he resisted the order I had sent with my Guard.” The Chancellor continues, “He was advised that any obstruction of my request would result in the most serious of punishments. He also attacked my personal guards, which itself is a crime punishable by death. He sealed his own fate.”

His remorseless words torture her with the memory of her fathers’ execution.

Still, Glacier remains silent, her head facing away in a disrespecting manner. She purses her lips as she tries to move her legs, finding them bound to the chair legs the same as her wrists.

“Glacier – may I call you that?”

Still, Glacier sits motionless and unresponsive.

“I have a proposal for you.”

The Chancellor now seems excited, despite referring to her fathers’ death seconds ago.

“I am offering you the opportunity to be part of the Hydra team, in this year’s tournament.” The Chancellor says proudly as he mentions Hydren’s competing team.

Glacier’s eyes stretch wide with surprise.

The sixth participant in the tournament has never been chosen from the lower class citizens of any region. It is considered an immeasurable honour to be selected by the Chancellor to represent your region.

After a moment of disbelief, Glacier’s eyes flash dangerously at the offending Chancellor.

After what he did, he asks me to be a part of that stupid tournament!

“Bloody oath, your eyes! How is that possible?” He says when he catches her gaze for the first time. His stare is perplexed, his lips opened in awe.

Her eyes being two different colours has always been a quality that not many people are fond of. Something that no one has understood.

Ignoring his reaction, Glacier gapes at his atrocity.

“You have my father, my only family, executed for
protecting
me from your brutish men, and then expect me to accept your offer to be the sixth for that barbaric tournament?”